Connect Four Keychain > Reviews (1)

One of the many things that my children got in their “crap bags” this Christmas (translation stocking fillers!), was this fun little game, though this is the one game that has caused me the most headache, due to how small some of the parts are!

The toy in question is - “Connect four - keychain”.

As you may have gathered by now this is a novelty game, a miniature of the original classic game connect four, unfortunately on a much smaller scale.

The game itself is set in a blue plastic tray, around 3 ½” long and 2 ½” wide, within which is held the lattice “cage” needed to hold the counters in place during play.

On the base of the tray there are around 15 tiny counters for each payer, with two being the maximum number playing in one go, and being coloured red for one player and blue for the other.

Before play you simply slide the lattice across the top of the tray with in turn pushes it up into a standing position over the centre, where there is a small ridge to place the lattice on to stop the counters from coming out until the game is finished, where you then simply lift the lattice for the counters to fall back out again to restart the game.

For those of you unfamiliar with the game, the idea is to take it in turns dropping a counter into the lattice, with the first one to make a line of four of their own coloured counters being the winner, though this much more challenging than you would think, with your opponent trying to stop you at every turn!

The downside and difficulties with this game, well in fairness as good an idea as this is the size takes the fun away from it!

The main bug bear was the counter size, this may well be a great game for those of you restricted with room and wishing to take something away with you that can be held within a pocket or in this case on a keychain, to keep boredom at bay when stuck travelling or camping, but for a over exuberant 6 year old who will not or simply can’t wait to have a game with his equally exuberant older sister, soon spells trouble.

The counters are miniscule, as they of course have to be for a travel sized game such as this, but they seemed to be very lightweight and almost charged with static, throwing themselves from the tray every time someone dared to get near it, meaning game play had to be halted every couple of minutes to find the counters under the settee!

My other problem was the lattice itself, though reasonably sturdy considering its small stature, didn’t have any sort of clip to hold the lattice upright, so as soon as you start a game and gently knock the lattice, all the counters fell from within meaning that start of a new, and yet unfinished game, but the counters falling out again, I swear I spent more time looking for the counters than my two did playing the game!

This said my kids did enjoy the game, and due to it’s size were quite happy to take it with them wherever they went, with it taking up no room at all in transport.

The good thing about this design was how the lattice was positioned when not in play, sliding down flat over the tray, and securing all the counters into the base of the tray making them very secure, and this after it has travelled around for a few hours in my son’s pocket!

Longevity of product and play, as long as you play carefully, is endless with me remembering how addictive this game can be once being played, and especially when there is a scoreboard involved!

The product itself has yet to show signs of wear and tear, though I would imagine if dropped or rough handled it would soon start showing them!

Price wise these are available for around the £5.00 mark and a good few different variations from -
www.basicfun.com.
There are a few different travel sized games available, with the “hungry hippo” game looking fantastic!

This is a nice enough game, and even though the game is stated to be suitable for age 3 and above, I would recommended that this be a travel game for the slightly older and less heavy handed!

Thanks for reading x