A great way to introduce littles to tabletop games.
Ravensburger, the company behind games like Big City Builders and Marvel Villainous, recently released Rainy Ranch, a tabletop game for the youngest players in the family.
We had the chance to check out Rainy Ranch.
Rainy Ranch is a cooperative tabletop game for 1-4 players with a recommended age of 2+. The game challenges players to move four kinds of farm animals into the barn before it begins to rain.
Rainy Ranch was designed to help littles grow their fine motor skills, color matching skills, and shape recognition, as well as help them learn about the concepts of taking turns and following directions.
Rainy Ranch is an incredibly simple tabletop game that requires no skill or strategic thinking to play. That is, the game is based entirely on luck and “the roll of the die.”
The game features sturdy chipboard pieces that can be connected like a jigsaw puzzle to form a barn. Two of the barn pieces have indentations designed to hold chipboard cutouts representing sheep, horses, cows, and pigs. The game also features a chipboard rain cloud that has indentations that hold raindrops. The object of the game is to move all of the animals into the barn before all of the raindrops are placed into the rain cloud.
Rainy Ranch includes two large dice, and families can choose which one to use during each game. One die features silhouettes of the game’s animal species, as well as pictures of a raindrop and barn. When this die is used, players will roll the die and place a matching animal piece into the barn or a raindrop into the rain cloud, depending on how the die landed. If the die lands on the barn symbol, the player can choose any animal to move into the barn.
The other die features colorful circles that match the colors of the animals and raindrops, as well as a red star that represents the barn. When this die is used, players will roll the die and must determine which piece to move based on the color that appears on the die.
If players are able to move all of the animal pieces into the barn before the rain cloud fills with raindrop pieces, they win. If the rain cloud fills up first, the animals get wet and the group loses.
Rainy Ranch is an adorable, simple game that’s a great option for introducing very young children to the world of tabletop gaming. We appreciate the fact that the game’s components are quite sturdy, since this means they should hold up well to multiple play sessions over time. Plus, littles can use the components as simple jigsaw puzzles even when the game is over.
If you’re looking for a game to play with the youngest kids in your family, we recommend checking this one out.
Rainy Ranch is now available on Amazon and at other retailers for $19.99.
Disclosure: SuperParent received Rainy Ranch 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.
