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Rock! Review by Dr. Anne Margaret Wright

Out of the Box Publishing Inc.
609 Bennett Road
Dodgeville, WI 53533
800-540-2304
http://www.otb-games.com/

Rock breaks Scissors. Paper covers Rock. Scissors cut Paper. Who doesn't remember this great game that was often used to resolve a dispute, or just played for fun. Out of the Box Publishing has turned this childhood favorite into a fast-paced, two-person card game. Rock! ($9.95) has 60 cards, 20 of each for rocks, scissors and paper, and a handy tin to store the cards. The rules are similar to War, where each player receives half of the deck and both players turn up one card simultaneously to see which card wins. Here's the challenge, though: it's not the player who plays the higher card that wins, but the player who first correctly calls out the winning card! And to keep things interesting, there are four varieties of each symbol. For example, the rock cards include traditional looking rocks, a Roman column, a Stonehenge-type figure, and a stone figurine. The paper cards include a paper airplane, an origami swan, an "in" box full of papers, and (my favorite) a paper chain of children. The scissor cards have three different types of scissors and a pocketknife with a little pair of scissors. So for each turn, the players have to figure out which item each card represents, which card is higher, and then call out the correct answer to win. The player with the most cards at the end wins.

My family loved this creative trip down memory lane wrapped in a card game! The game is fast-paced, taking only a couple of minutes for one round, and the rules are simple enough to learn quickly. Unlike War, which is totally luck, Rock! involves skill through quick thinking. The cards are colorful and creative, and we loved the different types of shapes. For an extra challenge, try continuing the game until one player has all of the cards! Or, for a short game, just play through the deck one time and count up the cards. And, shh, don't tell the kids, but Rock! also helps with critical thinking skills, processing speed, and the ever-important skill of thinking something through before speaking!

Product review by Dr. Anne Margaret Wright, Senior Product Reviewer, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, January 2009

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