We decided to crack open a box of Quacks of Quedlinburg and have a play!
I played the game with my wife, daughter Izzy (age 10) and son Jamie (age 7). Although the box says 10+ my kids are quite used to board games (as you can imagine!) and neither struggled with the game. We also played from the "Big Box" which can be found here
In Quacks of Quedlinburg you compete to make the best magic potion by selecting ingredients at random from a bag of purchased chips, but there's a catch! If you get more than 7 points from white chips your potion explodes which has consequences down the line!
Essentially the better your potion the more victory points you get and the more money you have to spend on better chips, so whilst early in the game your potion might be small by the end rounds you will be brewing cauldrons full of goodness! You also have to decide which chips to buy as the original game includes 7 different types, all of which have a different effect.
In the big box you also get the herb witches expansion, which adds everything you need for a 5th player, and some extra chips for your potions and the herb witches who give 3 unique effects during each game.
The original game includes 4 different sets of chip effects, and herb witches adds another two, meaning that you can change the game significantly so there is plenty of long term fun here.
I would definitely give this one 5 Stars. It was highly enjoyable for both the kids and the adults and over the last two weeks it has seen more use than any other board game we've ever opened. Although it can be played for a bit of fun there's also some tactics involved to get your brain working, and a test of nerve as you really want to just pull one more chip from your bag!
What Izzy (age 10) had to say: I love the Quacks of Quedlinburg because you get to make a potion and there are so many different ways to play. Plus there is always an advantage for the people not winning. Overall it is a great game that I enjoy playing with the family.
What Jamie (age 7) had to say: I love Quacks because it is fun and there are lots of different ways to play so you never get bored!