Playroom Entertainment Game Review: Monkey Memory

Monkey Memory - get it here!

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I have another great game by Playroom Entertainment up for review (three more to follow!): Monkey Memory! This card game relies on students' recall of visual information, which makes it a great activity for individuals who are trying to hone their short term memory skills. Monkey memory is quick and easy to learn, and consists of sturdy and durable cards (always a plus when playing card games with children!). The recommended number of players is 2-8 and the age range is 5 and up.

The object of the game is to correctly identify an item that is missing from a set. The game consists of 10 matching object cards (e.g., cards that depict every day items, such as a shoe, keys, banana...), as well as solution cards (a card that pictures all of the items from the object cards). Each player receives a solution card, while the object cards are separated into two identical stacks. The cards of one of these stacks are displayed in a line on the table, so that all of the players can see. The second stack is placed upside down on the table. (The directions say to only use 7 of the 10 pairs, although you could easily use all of the cards to make the game more challenging)

Example of game play.

Players take turns being the dealer, with the oldest going first. The dealer turns over a card from the second stack one at a time, covering the last revealed card  as the other players watch. The last card - the mystery card - is NOT revealed. Players have to rely on their memory to determine which object has not been revealed and use their thumb to cover the item on the solution card. Players who guess correctly, get a point (point cards are included in this game, as well). After each turn, another player becomes the dealer and chooses seven new pairs of object cards. You can modify the difficulty of this game by deciding how many card pairs you will be using.

This game would be a fun activity to use with students who are learning to utilize memory strategies (e.g., subvocalization, visualization, etc.)!

~Viola