Kids can move construction materials around town in this "puzzle-and-play" game.
Ravensburger, the company behind games like Disney Villainous and Pusheen Purrfect Pick, released Big City Builders, a construction-themed tabletop game for preschoolers.
Ravensburger describes Big City Builders as a “puzzle-and-play” game. The game was designed to help kids build fine motor skills, color matching skills, and decision making skills, as well as help them practice taking turns and following directions.
Big City Builders is for 1-2 players with a recommended age of 3+. The game includes two sets of instructions for children of different ages. Specifically, one set of instructions is for younger children, while the other set is for older kids. In this way, the game can “grow” with kiddos as they get older.
Big City Builders features a variety of construction site tiles and colored road tiles that families can connect like puzzle pieces to form the city layout for each game (to be clear, the town can have a different layout each time families play). From there, families will place material tiles (representing things like beams and paint cans) at each construction site. The game will have players move these material tiles around the city using plastic trucks.
For younger children, the game challenges two players to work together to move the construction materials to their designated sites (each construction site has a required material). At the beginning of the game, the materials will be at the incorrect sites, so players will need to move the materials around the game board until everything has been moved to the correct location. In this easier version of the game, there are no traditional winners or losers. Instead, everyone will win when the materials have been delivered correctly.
For older kids, the gameplay is a bit more complicated. The materials will also begin at the wrong construction sites, and players will still need to move them around the city to their correct destinations. However, rather than being able to freely move their trucks around town, players will need to take turns rolling a colorful die that has sides matching the colors on the road tiles. Each time a player rolls the die, they’ll be able to move their truck to the next road piece matching the color on the die. Each time players correctly deliver a material, they can collect the material tile for their personal score pile. The player who delivers the most materials wins the game.
Finally, in addition to being a game with rules to follow, Big City Builders was designed to be used as a regular toy for solo or group play. That is, kids can use the trucks included with the game (as well as add in any other items they may own) to have some imagination-fueled playtime. (For reference, the game’s tiles and road pieces are made of thick chipboard and the trucks are made of sturdy plastic, so it should hold up well over time.)
Big City Builders is now available on Amazon and at other retailers for $24.99.
Disclosure: SuperParent received a copy of Big City Builders for coverage purposes.
Brandy Berthelson has been writing about video games and technology since 2006, with her work appearing on sites including AOL Games, Digital Spy, and Adweek. When she’s not gaming, Brandy enjoys crafting, baking, and traveling with her husband.
