Pretty, Pretty Princess by Hasbro is a game I recently discovered with my 8-year-old that apparently was all the rage nearly 15 years ago. I must have missed it then because I was only raising my son at the time, and he never would have sat for two minutes with a game like this. But, we discovered that it’s fun enough for my daughter to play several times a day. In fact, at one point, she played it with a couple of dogs. Real dogs—I’m not kidding!
We were at my cousin’s house for the holidays and his wife grabbed the game from a back bedroom where their now 20-year-old daughter had stashed it away.
The point of the game is to move your way around the board, collecting jewelry along the way. Each of the four players picks a color for his or her jewels and the person with all of the jewelry AND the gold crown at the end of the game is the winner—but they can’t be wearing the black diamond ring when it happens.
The game is so simple and stunning and lots of fun for all ages. I played with my daughter, as did my cousin and his wife (and his dogs). There is nothing better than seeing your rough-and-tough 40-something cousin wearing earrings and a pretty pink necklace, you know? And seeing them on the dogs? Well, that takes the cake.
We went to find a version online and only saw one for about $100. That’s more than I’m willing to spend, so we’re going to keep looking. Heck, we may even create our own version if we don’t find one soon.
Is there a game from your past that you think could be popular again?
Desiree Miller is a member of the 2013-2014 Toy Insider Parent Advisory Board. She is also a blogger at Stress-Free, Baby!. You can follow her on Twitter at @DesireeMiller!
