Couriers get a bad name. Everybody has heard, or even experienced, stories of couriers not treating parcel deliveries with respect. Stories of parcels being thrown, dropped, kicked etc. We have just had a parcel delivered, and thankfully it was delivered perfectly. Our parcel did contain a game that not only couriers will love but so will kids and families. Inside the box was This Side Up, a game where you can experience flipping parcels for yourself in the electronic parcel-flipping reaction game from Ideal!
This Side Up is an electronic parcel flipping reaction game, suitable for solo play or competition with friends and family. It is suitable for players age 8+. This is an electronic game, so it does require batteries – 3xAAA (and they are included).
In the box:
Nothing. The “box” is the game. The game looks like a parcel box complete with dents, parcel tape, heavy, fragile, caution, recycle and This Side Up stickers. Basic game instructions are on a removable sleeve around the game. There is a traditional paper instruction leaflet on the inside of the carboard sleeve.
The game can be played by one player or in multi-player mode. It has 4 games:
- Game 1: Solo – a single player game which uses just the box’s label colours.
- Game 2: Solo Extreme – a single player game which uses just the box’s label colours and the caution word stickers.
- Game 3: Party – a group game which uses just the box’s label colours.
- Game 4: Party Extreme – a group game which uses just the box’s label colours and the caution word stickers.
The idea of the game is to listen to the voice commands for a colour or word and flip or throw the parcel so that the correct sticker is facing upwards. Score as many points as possible before flipping the box the wrong way or dropping it.
On each side of the “parcel” is a different colour sticker and caution label. Players must listen for the voice command and throw/flip the box in the air, catch it with the correct colour sticker facing upwards (or the correct caution label) and repeat. With each successful catch the game speeds up, how long will you be able to keep it going?
- FLIP, CATCH, REPEAT!: Follow This Side Up’s voice commands, flipping the parcel until the correct colour is facing upwards. You must be quick to follow the parcel’s instructions, quickly flipping and catching the box to keep the correct side facing up before time runs out.
- DON’T BREAK THE BOX: As the instructions get faster, can you keep up without dropping the box and ‘breaking’ the contents?
- SO REPLAYABLE: This Side Up is addictive to play! Can you get the highest score?
- CAN YOU TAKE ON THE CHALLENGE?: This Side Up is the family reaction game you will find hard to put down, with 4 fun, fast games to play!
- PLAY TOGETHER: See if you can get the highest score and challenge your friends, or work together to master This Side Up together.
Overall, I love this game and have become addicted. It is so simple to play but very challenging. It is a simple game, but one that drags you in to challenge yourself to beat your highest score or even to play with a group of friends or family members.
This Side Up is a wonderfully addictive reaction game. It puts listening and observation skills to the test as well as hand-eye co-ordination. And you certainly need quick reactions to listen, flip and catch.
The game is very easy to play. There are no components to set up, no cards to deal, no fighting over who is having what playing piece. Pick it up, press the play button and off you go. The game only has 2 buttons – one to turn on and start playing and the other to cycle through game modes.
The game volume is quite loud, and by default it was in the highest volume. This generally wouldn’t be a problem but at high volume I found it hard to understand the word “yellow”, the other words were fine (maybe it is just my hearing). When putting it into the lower volume I found that I could understand it better and was still loud enough to comfortably hear correctly and follow the instructions. Volume is easily changed by pressing and holding both buttons for 1 second.
The game has 6 different colours to flip through (blue, yellow, red, orange, green and purple) and different caution words (heavy, fragile, caution and recycle). This gives the game a good variety of words to listen out for and make it a good challenge. You must be quick to find and flip to the correct word.
I like that after a few seconds of inactivity the game puts itself into sleep mode to preserve the batteries (just press one of the buttons to wake it up). I also like that if you quickly press and release both buttons together you can hear the current high score for that game mode.
This is a plastic box that is going to get dropped a lot. The “parcel tape” around the edges and corners is rubberised and does a good job of protecting the box. The box itself feels good quality, thick and strong durable plastic. We have dropped it a lot and no cracks or breakages have occurred and the speaker, buttons and internal parts all seem to be holding up. As long as you are not being silly and throwing it too high or too far I think it will hold up to general play perfectly.
Solo play is excellent, just try to beat your or others highest score. Party mode is just as much fun, the last player not to drop the box is the winner.
This Side Up is a fun and very addictive game. Whether you are 8 or 88, you will love the challenge of trying to beat your score. Excellent fun for solo or group play. Put your listening and parcel throwing skills to the test with This Side Up!
Rating: 5/5
RRP: £24.99
For more information, visit www.johnadams.co.uk. Available to buy from Amazon here.
