Mermaid Beach - Card Game Review

Gamewright was founded in 1994 by four parents whose kids wanted great games. From the start, their mission has remained clear: Create the highest quality family games with outstanding play-value. Guided by themes and experiences that transcend age and salted with a bit of irreverence, their games are designed to foster laughter, learning, friendship and fun.  Over the years their family has grown to over 50 games, 150 awards, and countless happy players.

My family has received and played games from Gamewright before. They've provided hours of entertainment for me and my kids. They have games for people of all ages and rules can be downloaded from their site if you've lost or misplaced them from your game.

One of Gamewright's newest games, Mermaid Beach, is a fun card game of matching and counting.  For 2-5 players ages 6 and up, the object of Mermaid Beach is to collect the most shell points by playing matching pairs into the discard pile.  The winner is determined by whoever has the most points when one player is either out of cards or holding only the Sea Monster. 

There is a Beach deck and a Shell deck where players take turns trying to make matches and getting the most points.  The Sea Monster is the biggest point breaker and players want to try to rid of it quickly.  There are special cards in the deck, such as seaweed and mermaids, that give you the chance to make designated moves. 

I've played Mermaid Beach with the kids a few times and we always have a great time with it.  The card illustrations are colorful and it didn't take long for us to catch on how to play.  We had to do a couple of trial runs to get the rules completely right but, after that, it was a breeze.  It's a game of strategy to decide when your special cards should be played and to decide the best way to make the most points.  Although this card game has a summery tone, it'd be fun to play any time of the year.

I received game for review from Gamewright.  The opinions within this post are of my own and I was not influenced in any way.  Please do your own research before purchasing products.  Your opinions and results may differ.