Chutes and Ladders Super Hero Squad

I have to admit that I am not the biggest fan of Chutes and Ladders. Wasn't much of a fan even when I was a kid. But I didn't buy the game for myself, obviously. I got it for my 3 1/2 year old son, so it's his opinion that matters most here.And he LOVES this game.THE GOOD:The game play is what you'd expect from Chutes and Ladders, which is essentially a race across spaces numbered 1 to 100. First to 100 wins. Spin the spinner, move ahead the appropriate number of spaces, climb up if you end up at the bottom of a ladder, slide down when you end up at the top of a chute. The spinner moves pretty smoothly and is easy for little fingers to get moving. The numbers are large and clear for little ones to read. Games are typically pretty fast-moving, and kids of different ages can play Chutes and Ladders together. The game is great for number recognition, sequencing, counting to 100, and other early math skills. It's also a good way to introduce the concept of taking turns to a preschooler. It's also a good opportunity to teach good sportsmanship - winning and losing with grace - though that's a skill that preschoolers aren't likely to master for a few years...Making this version better than the basic edition (and worth a few bucks more) is the addition of characters from the Super Hero Squad. My son is BIG into superheroes right now, especially SpiderMan, and he loves to choose which superhero game piece he'll hop around the game board. He gets a thrill out of the heroes and villains added to the ladders and chutes.THE BAD:From a parents' perspective, this game can be... tedious. It is, after all, a very simple game, and it can be a bit boring for an adult. The game can sometimes drag on if people land on chutes over and over, sliding players further away from the goal.But the game keeps my 3 1/2 year old interested even when I'm hiding yawns of boredom behind my hand. From his perspective, it's a blast. So I'll say this is a 5-star game, well worth the purchase!

This is a GREAT version of the game! We first bought the newer version of the basic game but the graphics were terrible. The squares were light green and dark green and very hard for my son to distinguish between one and the next. It was too busy and the similar colors made it hard to play. THIS version is not as crowded but still very fun. The board spaces are easy to distinguish. My son likes that the ladders involve superheroes doing good deeds and the chutes involve bad guys doing bad things (breaking things, etc.). My son recently turned 4 and this is a great game for his age. There are 8 characters you can be as you play.

We purchased this for my 4 year old for a Christmas gift. He absolutely loves it! We can't play it enough!! He is a huge superhero fan and the Spiderman and Friends theme makes the game more exciting for him. There are lots of characters to choose from, and my only criticism is they send only 4 plastic pieces for playing at a time....if you want to use one of the 4 other characters....and in our case the little 4 year old of the house is always wanting you to switch them out...you are always having to pop the pieces open and switch out the cards. Not a big deal I realize but defiantly wouldn't have been too much trouble for the game makers to put 4 more plastic playing pieces in there. All in all a really fun game for our family to play to spend quality time together and for our son to enjoy as well.

This board game has cute colorful comic book heroes and villains. My son (3 y.o.) adores it, and even my daughter (5 y.o.) likes looking at all the pictures. Each chute or ladder is sandwiched between two drawings that either show heroes doing good things, thus being able to use the ladder, or villains doing bad things as they go down the chute. However, the art is a little busy and when playing the game children can get distracted or lose their way. It's not so great having so much color when actually playing the game. The characters children can select from are good for boys, but not so nice to girls. My daughter asks me to read story anthologies of children's comic book stories, and through no pushing of my own, really enjoys some of the characters. However she has only one female super hero to chose from here (Phoenix), a character who is not even shown on the box art, and is not well represented in kids books about comics. My daughter has no idea who she was, and just chooses Captain America because that's a character she knows. A bit sad.One good creative thing you can do is swap super hero pictures in and out of the player pieces. If you have a printer you can make your own pieces very easily. I just printed off some of the characters my daughter likes (DC characters too, because... why not?). Now our game includes Wonder Woman, Mary Jane Watson, Storm, and even Olaf from the movie Frozen. This fun side project extends the life of the game. I sometimes give my children blank paper and have them draw their own (tiny) superheroes.The game itself? It's classic Chutes and Ladders, with a few problems. I wish it was a basic set so the numbers are more easily seen. The ability to do simple addition and subtraction is not really possible here, taking away the one educational aspect of this game. Still my kids enjoy playing it often.

This version of Chutes and Ladders is a great twist to the classic game. This is a great version for a child who loves the Marvel super heroes! We play this game on a very regular basis because it is one of my boys' favorites. The rules are the same as the regular Chutes and Ladders, but the board is decorated in Marvel heroes. The cool part about this game is the heroes are on the ladders and the villains are hanging out by the slides. It is very fun!The only complaint I have is the game comes with 8 pictures/cards of different players, but only 4 holders. Once you put the 4 cards into the holders you really can't get them out and exchange them. We have tried, but stopped before we broke the holders. I wish it came with more holders so you could have more guys to choose from, but other than that this game is great!