Zooreka

The race to build your ultimate zoo 4 players ages 8 and up

Back when my kids were young enough to eat off the kid’s menu, we were excited to see that Wendy’s had games as their toys in the kid’s packs. We were lucky enough to get Zooreka. Of course this is a smaller version of the real game and although we would have loved to have played the full version, we never did get a copy. So in this game review, I will cover the Wendy’s kid’s meal pack version.

Object

The object of Zooreka is to be the first player to build their zoo by collecting four habitat cards.

Playing

Our copy of Zooreka came with a special dice (although cardboard) that has three bananas, two paws and one tree on it. The bananas represent food. The paws represent animals and the tree shelter. On your turn you must choose what you think you’ll roll and show your choice by turning your selector card so what you chose points into the middle of the playing area. Next, you roll the special die. If you were correct in your guess you get a card with that symbol on it.

The next part is collecting habitats. To earn a habitat, you must have collected and traded in two food cards, one animal card and one shelter card. Once that is done you can choose a habitat from the pile. These cards are pie piece shaped. Each are a quarter piece and fit together into a circle.

Winning Zooreka

To win, a player has to have earned four habitats.

What we Like

First, the art work in Zooreka is great. Next, the kids loved getting to choose and build their custom zoo. There are lots of options so everyone can get an animal that they like. As an additional plus, the habitats made for great conversations and learning opportunities. In fact, the whole game gave us reason to discuss animals and their lives—what they need and like—always a hit with young children.

What we Don’t Like

First, having to guess what you will roll is tedious. How many times do you have to roll and guess shelter only to roll a food? Second, the game can take a long time. Often, we would simply take a token for what we rolled and even this way it could take a long time. Next, you would often end up with a pile of food tokens that you would never be able to use.

Conclusion

Although Zoorkea is out of print, I would recommend picking this game up second hand if you have younger kids. It’s nicely done and a great way to learn about animals. Keep your eye out for Zooreka and add it to your Family Game Shelf.

Other games that young animal lovers will like are Zebra Races (a game you cant find anywhere else), Lost Puppies, Max and Give A Dog a Bone and There’s a Moose in Your House. Or you can shop animal games here. Canadians can shop for animal games here.

For games for the whole family, read our game reviews, dice games and card games.