Pop! Pop! Piñata! by Hasbro

The other night we did something that families rarely do these days. We had dinner together and then sat down to play some good old fashioned games. One of the first we tried was Pop! Pop! Piñata! – and what a great deal of fun it was.

It was simple to assemble and you can be up and running in a couple of minutes. The children loved it, and remembering my childhood days playing Buckaroo, it took me right back to the fun of Christmases past. The game is based on a Piñata donkey full of little gifts and it requires a skilful touch to win. This is a good time to mention that the game does include lots of very small plastic ‘gifts’, which could pose a choking hazard to a child under 4 (hence the 4+ age suggestion). Each player has a cup and they take it in turns to try and open the Piñata and get the most prizes – too soft and no gifts fall, too heavy and the entire piñata spills for all to grab … the skill is in mastering the “between touch”, where a few gifts fall just for you to collect. The person who collects the most gifts wins at the end of each round.

The game is a chaotic, rambling round of fun. It gets quite competitive, I warn you now! My daughter, Millie-Mae (9) said that she loved it and wants to take it to school for golden time. My 7 year old son, Toby, said “This game is awesome – I keep winning! Can we play it again’! All in all it was a great start to a really fun, family evening.

Oh, and it comes apart easily for when you want to pack it away.