Make'n'Break game from Ravensburger

Every Tuesday Eddie has a friend over after school. On warmer days they might be playing football in the garden, but when it's raining and cold, they stay indoors and either jump into the Minecraft world, or watch their favourite Youtubers.
LEGO and board games often come to the rescue from boredom too. I'm a big fan of board games, as they teach you how to think strategically, plan your moves in advance, communicate if you play as a team and boost spacial skills.

Ravensburger Make'n'Break game is aimed at children aged 8+.
Younger children might enjoy it as well, if you opt for easier blueprint cards.

Let's open the box, what do we find inside?
There are 10 building blocks of different colours, 80 Blueprint cards, 1 timer, 2 dies and a card tray.

You might be familiar with the original version of the game. This box, however, also offers an action version, which is totally fiendish.
Race against the clock to build the structures on the challenge cards.
The beauty of the game is that you can choose whether you want to make the game as simple or as hard as you like.

The more structures you complete within the time limit, the more points you will score. The player with the most points wins the game.

In the Original game you start by rolling the die and then setting the timer to the number that was rolled.  As soon as the player or team is ready, the controller pushes the green start button.
Take the card from the compartment and reveal it. You have to create the structure which appears on the blueprint card.

There are 3 types of blueprint:
- Fully coloured blueprints - all building blocks must have the correct colour and position
- Partially coloured blueprints - All coloured building blocks must be in the same position as shown in the blueprint, the colour of the other blocks is ignored.
- Monocoloured blueprints - block colours are irrelevant.

As you hurry to build the structures featured on the cards, you will discover some super easy ones and some quite challenging. The structures on the higher scoring cards will take longer to construct.
But as the cards are shuffled before the game, it is a bit of a roulette, you don't know which cards you will get.
Be careful when building, and try not to knock the structure, or you will have to start again.

If you play as a team, you must remember to touch only those 5 blocks you have chosen at the beginning of your turn. You have to coordinate your efforts.
Once the structure is complete and correct, you break it.
The game ends after three full rounds of building, i.e. after each team completes 3 turns.

If there are only 2 players, you can use all 10 blocks to complete any of the structures.

This is a fun entertaining game, which could be enjoyed by the whole family.

Action version of the game is more complicated and challenging. In addition to the time die you need to use the action die, which shows the game modes to be employed during your turn.

For example, if you come across the symbol "Describe it!", one team member becomes an architect, while the other is the builder.
The architect gives verbal instructions to the builder as to where to place each block. The builder must rely on the architect giving precise instructions, as they are not allowed to peek at the blueprint card.

Fingertips - each member of the team may only use the tip of the index finger of one hand. This mode needs a lot of coordination, especially when lifting blocks.
It is as hard as it sounds, but is also great fun.

There are other modes - like Risky Business, when the team decides how many blueprints they are going to attempt this turn, and a very tricky Vertical/Horizontal mode, when one member of the team may only use the vertical blocks, and the other only horizontal.
It's all about the team work, coordination and strategic thinking.

This game will make an excellent gift for a birthday, or how about having a fun afternoon after a Christmas meal?! If you have competitive board game players in the family, they will enjoy this fast-pace game.

Disclosure: We received the game for the purposes of testing and reviewing. All opinions are our own.