Illusion
WE PLAY 2 LEARN
Game Ratings
FAMILY
8
YOUNG KIDS
8
OLDER KIDS
8
ADULTS
7
Overview
| Players | Playing Time | Best Age | Educational |
| 2 - 5 | 10 - 15 minutes | 5 - Adult | Spatial Perception |
| Skill | Luck | Strategy | Social | Game Type | Play Style |
| 80% | 20% | 30% | 70% | Cards | Competive |
Illusion packs a lot of family fun into a small package. It will be hard to find a game with a simpler set of rules and that's a great thing for this game. This allows for fast paced and engaging gameplay that the whole family can enjoy. From ages 4 to 90, everyone can have fun with this one. And watch out, that 4 year old might just beat the whole family; ours did in one of our games!
This game is appropriately named, the varying shapes and combinations on the cards will have players doing a double take to make sure they are seeing things correctly. Each turn a player must decide where the next card fits into the row of cards already laid out, sorting them from lowest to highest amount of a specific color. That sounds easy enough, but those wild shapes make this a constant challenge. This is great for building spatial perception, a skill not often found in board games.
How to Play
LEARN THIS GAME IN OUR HOW TO PLAY VIDEO!
Official Rules
The official rules are available here.
Enhanced Rules
If you want to include younger kids in your games, make sure to check out the tip in our Custom Rules section.
Fast Facts
How many players?
- Playable with 2 to 5
- Best with 2 to 4
What ages can play?
- Playable for ages 5 to Adult
- Best for ages 7 to Adult
The basic premise of this game is quite simple and young kids can definitely play competively. In fact, our 4 year old has beat the whole family a number of times at this game. However, we've noticed that while very young kids can often do quite well at picking the best spot to place a new card, they can sometimes have a bit too much fun challenging others choices. This is not unexpected at this age, but it can throw off the rhythm of the game if they frequently start challenging incorrectly. This is why we say it's probably best for 7 and older. But it's still well worth trying with young kids to see how they handle it.
Can different skill levels or ages play together?
Yes, different ages can play this game together quite well. As long as younger kids have a decent sense of spatial perception they will be able to compete against older siblings and parents.
How long does it take to play?
10 - 15 minutes
Will we get bored after a few games or does it have good replayability?
This game is very replayable. The fast pace and quick game time will help with this. There is also enough variability in the order cards are drawn that no two games will be the same.
Setup/Cleanup
How much work is it?
Low. Setup is simply shuffling the deck of color cards and then the 12 arrow cards.
Would kids be able to do it on their own?
Yes, but at least one of the kids will need to be able to accurately read and compare the percentage values on the back of the card if they want to play the whole game without parents or older siblings.
Will parents have fun too...
...when playing with the kids?
Yes, this is a game where parents will not need to "hold back" when playing against kids.
...without the kids?
Yes, this is not designed as a kids' game; it is a fun and fast paced game for adults too. While it's not a deep strategic game, there is still enough challenge here to hold an adults interest.
Educational Value
What skills will this game help develop?
Spatial Perception
This game will excercise spatial perception, an uncommon skill for board games. Not only will the amount of area covered by a particular color vary from card to card, but the use of different shapes will often make it challenging to determine the correct answer. This will require all players, not just kids, to carefully examine the cards and view them from different perspectives.
But will my kids actually have fun playing it?
Yes, this game is fun and fast paced.
Custom Rules
Include Younger Kids
Remind young kids of the current arrow color
We really like that younger kids can play and compete in this game. The main difficulty they seem to have is forgetting that the color has changed and making decisions based off the previous one arrow card. And to be honest, this can be a problem even for adults too. So we make a point of reminding younger kids which color they are judging when it's their turn, especially if the arrow card just changed.
Do you use custom rules we haven't thought of? If you have found some other ways to customize the rules, please share them with us through our Contact page. We're always interested in new ways to improve gameplay.
Where to Buy
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