Bata-Waf Card Game Review

Our grandkids came over to visit last week, and Abby taught them how to play our new Bata-Waf Card Game while they were here.

Easy to Learn

A very simple and straightforward game, it is designed for ages 3-6. So it was perfectly suited for James and Ellen.

After dealing all the cards, evenly split among the players, each simultaneously turns over the top card on their stack.

Whoever turns over the biggest number (which is always paired with the biggest dog) wins all the upturned cards in that round.

If two (or more) players turn over the same number (hence, the same-sized dog), whichever is the first to call out “Bata-Waf!” wins the round and gets to keep all the face-up cards.

The older kids and adults in our family grew bored with this game long before the little ones were ready to stop playing. Fortunately, the cute cards lend themselves to lots of variations in game play.

Many Ways to Play

You can use the cards to play GoFish (Deal five cards to each player, stack the remaining cards in the middle of the table, and take turns fishing from the stack when another player doesn’t have the card you requested. Player with the most pairs at the end of the game wins.)

Or kids can practice placing the cards in order from 1 to 6. You might even race to see who can make a complete set the fastest.

Or place cards face down in a 6 x 6 grid on the table and play memory. Players turn over two cards at a time and keep any pairs that match.

Ellen even enjoyed simply sorting all the cards by color/ number.

You can even use the cards to explore elementary math topics, like relative size of numbers (“See how 5 > 2 but 1 < 4?") and addition facts ("How many ways can you add up to 6?" The ways pictured -- 3+3, 2+4, 5+1 -- immediately spring to mind. But you can also add 2+2+2 or 3+2+1 or even 1+1+1+1+1+1 to make 6).

If you have little ones who love games (or dogs or colors or numbers or learning — or all of the above), then give this Bata-Waf Card Game a try.

It is available from Timberdoodle both as an individual product and as part of their 2022 Preschool Curriculum Kit.

While you’re on the Timberdoodle website, I’d encourage you to look around. We love everything we’ve ever ordered from this small family-owned company!

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PLEASE NOTE: As a member of the Timberdoodle blog team, I routinely receive free or deeply discounted products in exchange for writing honest reviews. Opinions expressed in these posts are 100% my own. I’ve been a happy and enthusiastic Timberdoodle customer for decades — long before I ever started blogging for their company.