Who Wants to Play Fun Family Chess? {A Review}

If you are looking for a way for both the beginning chess players and also the practiced ones in your family to enjoy a one-on-one game together, Fun Family Chess by Brain Blox could be just what you seek!

What is Fun Family Chess?

Fun Family Chess is a color-coded, learn-as-you-play educational game that can easily teach children and adults how to play chess using a specially designed board game that involves rolling a chess cube, matching the piece shown on the cube and your own playing piece, and moving the way a reference card shows you to do so.

The chess set can also be used for standard chess play, which means everyone in the family can enjoy it no matter what their chess skill level is!

The Fun Family Chess set includes:

• a cloth lined, hinged wooden chess board

• 32 painted wooden chess pieces in soft pouches 

    

• a chess cube

• 2 reference cards

• a full-color chess book with instructions for the learn-to-play game and traditional chess.

The Fun Family Chess instruction book makes playing the roll, match, and move learn-to-play chess game simple and fun for new players while also challenging practiced players with an outside-the-chess-norm combination of luck and strategy.

If you are not an instruction book sort, you can also learn how to play both the beginner version of chess and standard chess on the Brain Blox chess videos page.

What did we think of Fun Family Chess?

Our Fun Family Chess set has gotten plenty of use since it arrived in our mail.

My middle child was the first to play Fun Family Chess with me. She said:

I liked it. It was a lot more difficult than I thought it would be, because you cannot strategize the same way as when you are playing chess, because you do not know which piece you will be allowed to move next. I felt like this made the game a bit more about luck, but it also made you think differently.

She also said:

If I was a new chess player, I think it would be a helpful game, because it shows you how each piece can move and helps you practice that... I also played regular chess... I really like the darker pieces. I think the color looks nice. I also like the bags the pieces go in and the lining the box. I think the game set would be good for people who are beginning to learn chess and people who just want to have a new chess board.

My youngest child, nine, who also already knows how to play chess, willingly played the learn-to-play game with his sister and with me just to see what it was like. 

He said:

It is actually good for beginners, because it teaches them the basic moves, and I also think it is good for people who have played it for a while, because it is actually harder in a way if you know actual chess, because you have to roll the cube to move a player, which makes you plan a different kind of strategy.

Like his sister, my youngest also played traditional chess with the set and thought it was "pretty normal. It's a good beginning chess set, but, don't use the cube on pavement, because it may get chipped." (Yes, he learned that through experience, but chipped cubes and ripped pant knees are par for the course with this sometimes rough-and-tumble, sometimes cuddly-and-more-sedate child!)

My oldest child, thirteen, did not want to play the learn-to-play game with me, because he already knows chess and said, "It's lame." (Yep, he's so very thirteen!)

Thus, when my oldest child tested the game with me, he purposely tried to lose, but, then decided to go for the kill at the end with just three pieces, taking me by surprise!

My oldest is the only one among us who does not think the learn-to-play game would be the best to teach new players, because, he says,  "it could be confusing for people to move from luck to strategy." That said, he agrees that "the game board is well-designed and sturdy... and can travel well."

So, overall, Fun Family Chess by Brain Blox has been a welcome addition to our family's game stash. We have found that even as a family with some chess experience, the beginner game challenged us to think and experiment with new strategies to account for the luck quotient and that we believe the specially designed game could help new players learn how each piece in standard chess moves before worrying as much about strategy. Thus, I would not hesitate to recommend Fun Family Chess to any family looking for a way to introduce chess to new players while keeping practiced players playing, too.

Learn More

Read the reviews.

We're not the only ones who have been trying out Fun Family Chess. You can find all 57 reviews at the Homeschool Review Crew, including some video reviews.

You might also enjoy clicking over to the Brain Blox website, where you will find free kids' journal printables, videos, and freebies related to Brain Blox, another cool product I will be reviewing soon!

Plus, of course, you can connect on social media:

Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube

Whatever you do, if you're looking for a simple, fun, affordable way to teach young and old alike how to play chess - or just to enjoy a traditional game of chess - it's all there with the Fun Family Chess  set!