If the Minions are involved, you know things are about to get silly.
Wonder Forge‘s Despicable Me 3 Linked Up Game challenges players to connect the dots, but not get crossed. This simple concept turns into a great strategy game that really makes kids ages 6 and up put their noggins to the test.
Set up is easy: Kids connect the four game board pieces in any arrangement to form a square. Players shuffle up the deck of character cards, flip three face up for everyone to see, and then set the rest of the deck next to those three cards. Then they sort the links by color and place them in a pool. Each player takes one link of each color from the pool.
Each of the cards feature a favorite character from Despicable Me 3—Gru, Dru, the Minions, etc.— and a colored link. On each players turn, they can choose to play a link or take a link. If they choose to play a link, they have to use one of their colored links to connect two out of the three characters on the face-up cards. Once they do so, they can add those two cards to their collection. The goal is to collect four cards of a kind first in order to win! (Unless you’re playing with four players, then you only need three.)
If they can’t play a link—maybe they’re links are not the correct size to link up, or they have no links left—they can choose to take a link from the link pool. They have to take a link that matches one of the links on the three face up cards, and then place that card in the discard pile so no player can collect it.
Sounds easy enough right? The strategy comes in to play in multiple ways throughout the game. First, players must figure out which link up will make them most successful—for example, which Dru to Gru connection can they use the links they have, etc. Kids can slide already placed links to make room for their own link up, but they cannot pick up any of the links’ feet. They also cannot cross another link, as all of the links’ feet must be flat on the board at the same time.
Players also have to get strategic about which cards they discard when they take a link. They have to decide which link size they need themselves, but also be wary of which cards other players need to make a set.
Although it takes a bit of brainwork to master, Despicable Me 3 Linked Up is simple gameplay that leads to challenging fun. This game will challenge kids to get craft and mischievous, much like the Minions themselves.
