Oh, the things we do for our grandmas.

Designed for kids ages 6 and up, Thames and KosmosMonster Trap is a tabletop board game that challenges players to work in teams and rid a mansion of beasts before (terribly frightened) Grandma Frieda spots them. Included in the box is one mansion maze, a monster sack figure, four sliders, eight handles, a deck of monster cards, six location cards, 12 eye tokens, four discard tiles, an hourglass, and a rulebook.

Before kids can start playing, they’ll need to assemble the sliders and insert them into the maze. This is just a matter of inserting a handle on one side, sliding the rail through the slot, and snapping the second handle in on the other side. It should take no more than a few minutes.When it’s time to go monster hunting, kids can take turns randomly placing the 12 monster tokens throughout the maze. There are designated spots within the mansion, but it’s up to kids to decide which one goes where. After the monsters are set, they can reveal a monster card from the pile. This card indicates which creature they’re looking to catch.

Once young ones have identified the location of their monster, they simply place the sacked monster figure on top of it and then flip the hourglass over to start their turn. Now, it’s time to move those rails.

In teams of two, kids must use the four sliders to maneuver the plastic sack figure through the maze and into the trap in the center. This is how they’ll catch their monster. One player controls the horizontal sliders, while the other uses the vertical. If kids can move their monster to the middle of the mansion and trap it in the pit before the hourglass runs out, they can shout “monster trap” and collect their card as a point. A great teamwork exercise, Monster Trap teaches kids the importance of communication and patience.

If players fail to drop their sacked figure into the hole before time runs out, or they knock over their figure, they’ll be forced to throw one of their eye tokens in instead. This effectively ends that team’s round. Once all of the monster tokens or eye tokens are gone, the game is over. Whichever team has pushed the most monsters into the trap at that point wins. Games take about 20 minutes, so players who missed out can join in on the fun shortly after.

Packed with action, Thames and Kosmos’ Monster Trap is an innovative and exciting family game that helps kids build on their gross motor skills, hand-eye coordination, and verbal communication skills.

Monster Trap will be available in June 2017.

About the author

Joe Ibraham

Joe Ibraham

Joe Ibraham is the Art Director at the Toy Insider, the Toy Book, and the Pop Insider. He creates all graphic content for the Toy Insider, the Pop Insider, and the Toy Book social channels, including promos and stagnant graphics, as well as all signage, programming, and media graphics for various networking events. Joe shoots, edits, and manages all YouTube content for the Toy Insider and Pop Insider brand, including Play by Play videos, event videos, and other promotional videos. When he's not in the office, you can find Joe in the gym or hanging with his friends and family. He loves music, basketball, and art in a variety of forms. He STILL wonders why Drake and Josh is not available on Netflix.

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