Orchard Toys have blasted off in 2014 with a brand new game called Rockets and Comets.  This fab new game gives a space theme to the traditional game of Snakes and Ladders and is aimed at children aged 4+, with 2-4 players.

Rockets and Comets comprises a jigsaw style play board with spaces numbered from 1-100, a spinner, 4 coloured astronauts with plastic stands, a dice and instructions.

Monkey, was looking forward to teaching Teddy the finer points of Zooming up Rockets and sliding down Comets and hoped we wouldn’t get sucked into too many black holes.

I love the idea of jigsaw play boards, it’s another added element to the game.  Monkey can count up to 20 but not beyond that at the moment.  It will be great to use this board as a teaching aid, especially when we puts the board together.

As I always make a point of mentioning, Orchard Toys games and puzzles are always full of detail, with bright and engaging graphics.  Rockets and Comets is no different.

Our astronauts launched off from Earth, would they make it to the moon? Who would get there first?

As Monkey is the youngest we let him roll the dice first.  Rockets and Comets is a great game for improving number recognition and counting skills.  You move your astronaut the relevant number of spaces.  If you land at the bottom of a rockets vapour trail you can zoom up to the rocket.  If you land on a comet, you’re not so lucky!  You have to slide down to the bottom of the flame tail.

If you land on a black hole, the spinner comes into play.  Spin it around and see where it transports you.  Sometimes you move up the board, sometimes you move back.

You can imagine Monkey’s delight when he was the first to land on the Moon!

We were on our countdown and decided that Daddy P should really be recruited for our space mission. Monkey was on a roll and wanted to beat both of us!

It certainly wasn’t Daddy P’s day, we left him in our vapour trail and Monkey and I zoomed off to the far side of the moon.

The smile on that face says it all really. Played twice, won twice.

He did get a bit frustrated at times, he wanted to zoom up the big rocket on the board with the longest vapour trail.  Monkey got upset when he didn’t land on it.  It made me smile, it reminded me of playing Snakes and Ladders as a child and willing myself to land on the biggest ladder.  Times have changed but the thought process is clearly still the same!  Monkey is getting so much better at taking turns.  You can really see a difference in his behaviour.

We’ve really enjoyed playing Rockets and Comets and I can see it being a firm favourite in this house.  It really is a classic game, with a modern twist.  We regular have space themed play here, and this game works well as a follow on from puzzling with Who’s In Space?

Priced at £9.50 this game is in line with similar games from Orchard Toys, we give it the big thumbs up.

If you like what you’ve been reading, watch this space as I have a giveaway for Rockets and Comets coming up soon.  Let the countdown commence!

disclaimer:  we were sent this game in exchange for an honest review