TOS Crew Review - Nature Nuts

Nature Nuts is a trivia card game for 2-6 players, ages 8 and older, from the company Griddly Games.  It can be used as a stand-alone trivia game, as well in conjunction with their Wise Alec Family Game.

The game is very compact - 4 sets of different colored cards, plus a die with several colors on it come in the box, which conveniently has the directions printed right on it.  There's no extra packaging to mess with, so the box it comes in is also the box it is stored in, which makes it good for traveling and clean-up.

The rules of play are very easy - a player rolls the die, and either picks the colored card that the die indicates, or follows the specific instructions outlined for that color (for example, rolling a blue means the player can pick whatever color card they want).  The cards have two questions on them - one is worth 3 points, the other is worth 7, and difficulty is proportionate to point value.  The player picks which point value of question they would like to be asked, and if they get it correct, they get those points.  Pretty simple!  Players can agree to try to reach a certain amount of points, or play for a certain amount of time, to determine who wins.

Here's a brief video demonstration:

Three different trivia topics are covered - Plants, Animals, and Earth.  There's a set of "Wise Alec" cards, as well, which bring a spin of silliness and energy to the game.  The Wise Alec cards don't have trivia questions - instead, they have ways to earn bonus points, or even lose points!  Some examples of the activity suggestions on the Wise Alec cards include doing a penguin impression, having a jumping competition, or doing various yoga positions.  Environmental correctness is promoted through encouragement to recycle and have a compost pile, as well as other suggestions.

For the most part, we enjoyed Nature Nuts.  The questions were challenging (it is definitely accurate when it suggests ages 8 and over, as some questions I didn't even know the answer to!), but part of the fun was learning new and interesting things when we got questions wrong.  The kids especially enjoyed the Wise Alec cards, finding them funny and fun to do.  The amount of time the game takes is really up to the players, so can fit into any time slot, making it easy for some quick, fun family time even on busy nights.

However, there were a few small drawbacks that I found.  On a practical level, the cards are thin and rather flimsy, so they are easy bent or torn by overly rambunctious players or too much use.  Also, while we believe in being good stewards of the earth God has given us, we are not very into the modern "green" movement, so sometimes the environmental emphasis seemed a little overboard.  In the same way, we don't practice yoga, so those cards were not something we made use of.

Of course, as with any product, what are potential negatives for my family might be potential positives for another's, so please take into consideration your own viewpoints and convictions on those topics!

Nature Nuts, as well as other Griddly Games, can be found at various retailers, priced right around $15.

To see what other TOS Crew Members thought of Nature Nuts, be sure to head over to the TOS Crew blog!

Disclaimer: I was given this product specifically for the  purpose of reviewing here on my blog as a member of TOS Homeschool  Crew. I received no other compensation in regards to this review.