Set Junior Board Game For Kids

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I love Set. If you haven’t played this fast-paced card game, grab a copy of the kids’ edition, called Set Junior, and get everyone started on a lifetime of fun.

Set Junior Game on Amazon

This game can be played solo or with multiple players. Much like the original, the junior version has players find three cards to create a set. Each card has three attributes: shape, color, and number. Numbers range from one to three of each shape. Colors include red, green, and purple. And the shapes are diamonds, squiggles, or ovals. A set consists of three cards that each have the same attribute, or all different attributes across the three cards. For instance, you can have three cards with one oval per card. Then the ovals must be all the same color or all of them must be three different colors. You can’t create a set with two green ovals and one red oval.

Easy to learn but hard to master, Set Junior takes it one step further by adding a board. On one side, they have three squares with nine boxes printed on the board. Each box matches one of the Set cards. Each row, column, and diagonal creates a set, giving kids and adults alike examples of winning combinations. Players take turns drawing cards and matching them to the pictures printed on the board. When a player completes a set, they get a token. The player with the most tokens wins. The kids’ version has thicker tile cards that can’t be bent or easily torn, so they hold up well to repeated playing with younger kids.

Flip the board over to reveal a space with empty boxes. Place ten cards on the empty spaces. Players then yell set as soon as they spot a set. They then pick up the cards, and fill the empty spots with new cards from the deck. Play continues until you run out of cards. The person with the most sets wins.

If, like my kids, the game ends too soon, you can trade in each set won for a token to keep count. Then reshuffle the cards and continue laying them out as needed. This trick extends the game for even more fun, until you run out of tokens. Again the player with the most tokens wins. 

Set Game on Amazon

Once your kids master the junior version, you can upgrade to the Set card game. It comes with 81 cards, and takes up much less storage space since it doesn’t require a board. You lay the cards on any surface and look for sets. The regular version also adds an additional attribute, the fill of the shape. Shapes may be solid, striped, or empty, forcing players to match or differentiate even more types to create sets. Once again, cards can be combined in any number of ways to create sets.

No matter which version you choose, kids and grown up alike can enjoy this stimulating visual matching game as they race to collect cards.