Game Review: Sleeping Queens

Sleeping Queens was invented by a 6 year old girl who woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep.  When morning came, she started drawing pictures and presented the game to her older sister and parents.  They thought it was a great idea, and helped get it illustrated and on the market. 

You start with 12 Sleeping Queens upside down in the center of your play area.  You use the kings from the deck to wake up your Queens.  Each Queen is worth points, and whoever collects the right number of points first wins!

The blue-backed cards are the Queens, waiting to be woken up.

Besides the kings, the deck has knights you can use to steal other player's queens, dragons to defend against the knights, sleeping potions to put queens back to sleep, and magic wands to defend against the potions.  The court jesters also make an appearance.

There are also number cards, which can be discarded to get new cards.  These can be discarded in singles, pairs, or by making an addition sentence.  i.e. If you have a 3, a 4, and a 7 in your hand, you can discard them for 3 new cards because 3+4=7.

Sleeping Queens is an adorable game that is simple for school-age children.  The recommended age is 8, but my 5 and 6 year old can play it easily. Sometimes my 5 year old needs help with her "math problems", but she can figure out some of them on her own.

Besides the simplicity of the game, I love the artwork.  The queens and kings are all themed and whimsically illustrated.  It doesn't take long to play.  It is a great addition to any family's game collection.