Game: Halli Galli

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jsper — 2008-09-11T13:33:03+00:00

Promotional sheet in german

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Emil 109 — 2008-08-26T10:06:30+00:00

Greek edition

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wizhyun — 2008-07-10T01:09:17+00:00

Halli Galli Korean Edition by Korea BoardGames

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wizhyun — 2008-07-10T01:08:50+00:00

Halli Galli Korean Edition by Korea BoardGames

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fangirl — 2008-06-22T16:43:05+00:00

McCain Halli Galli Cards backside

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fangirl — 2008-06-22T16:39:18+00:00

McCain Halli Galli Cards

Thread: Re: Card distribution

cdunc123 — 2008-06-09T18:10:16+00:00

Thanks, Jim, it does help!

Craig

Thread: Re: Card distribution

jimmcmahon — 2008-06-09T16:30:46+00:00

I just checked the card distruibution. (I have the Amigo/Gigamic version with me now, other versions should be the same) Each fruit has the exact same distribution, which is:
1: 5 cards
2: 3 cards
3: 3 cards
4: 2 cards
5: 1 card

Hope that helps!

Jim

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swuyau — 2008-05-05T09:30:06+00:00

Side of box

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swuyau — 2008-05-03T00:59:23+00:00

Back of card

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swuyau — 2008-05-03T00:57:56+00:00

Simple rule: 5 similar fruits - ring the bell

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fangirl — 2008-05-01T17:35:20+00:00

McCain Halli Galli backside

Thread: Re: Card distribution

cdunc123 — 2008-03-17T02:31:58+00:00

Yeah, you're right. I guess I had in mind a new game -- call it Halli Jungle Blink. Use Blink cards, use the 5-same-shapes idea of Halli Galli, and use the grab-a-totem idea of Jungle Speed (my totem would be a non-bruising small nerf ball). All combined it wouldn't be like any of the three games but it could be fun -- I haven't tried it yet.

I've even been tempted to really mess things up and after each successful totem-grab roll a die: 1-2 = 5 same shapes and you grab the totem; 3-4 = 5 items (whatever shape) of the same color and you grab the totem; 5-6 = EITHER 5 same shape OR 5 items of the same color, and you grab the totem.

As I have said, I haven't tried it yet. I wanted to duplicate the distribution of numbers in Halli Galli so far as possible. Since for each shape (i.e. fruit type) there are 14 cards, are there three 1s, three 2s, three 3s, three 4s and two 5s? Just a guess.

Thread: Re: Card distribution

Karlsen — 2008-03-16T03:48:15+00:00

You couldn't really use the blink deck and have remotely the same game, as Halli Galli is all 1-5 of the same fruit, nothing at all really like the Blink deck. Blink is pattern, colour and/or number recognition. Halli Galli is pattern recognition and arithmetic to or from five.

We have both and the kids love them both.

Beware the blood rule though

Thread: Card distribution

cdunc123 — 2008-03-15T21:45:47+00:00

I'm thinking about getting Halli Galli, but I'm tempted to try it out with my Blink deck first (sans bell -- maybe I will have my kids grab a nerf ball instead, using the same principle as the totem in Jungle Speed).

I see there are 56 cards in 4 fruits, with 1-5 fruit pieces per card. That means 14 cards of each fruit. I'm curious what the distribution of numbers is. That is, for fruit X, how many cards with 1 piece of X? How cards with 2 pieces of X? And so on.

Thread: Halli Galli - A general perspective

Ratio — 2007-08-21T02:28:06+00:00

HALLI GALLI – A REVIEW

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(image uploaded by EJKemp)

Overview:
Halli Galli is a 2-6 player card game which plays like Snap in the sense that pattern recognition and quick reflexes are important, but the game also has a mathematical element involved. Each card in Halli Galli differs by fruit type (1 of 4 types) and quantity (ranging from 1 to 5) that is displayed, though there are some repeated cards. Players place cards face-up from their own decks onto their discard piles, and compete to be the fastest to ring the bell if a sum of exactly 5 of the same fruit type is obtained from the top-most cards of the players’ discard piles. The player who rings the bell first collects all the discarded cards, and the person who is able to collect all the cards in the game is declared the eventual winner.

Flow of Play:
The deck of 56 cards is shuffled and dealt equally among the players who hold their piles face-down without having looked at the cards in them. They take turns to flip the top-most card over and place it in front of them. Successive cards are placed on top of their previously discarded cards to form personalized discard piles, with only the top-most cards being visible. If there is a total of 5 of the same type of fruit displayed on the recently-discarded cards, players will attempt to ring the bell as quickly as they can—the fastest player to do so gets to collect all the discarded cards. However, the ringing player has to give a card each from his face-down pile to the other players as a penalty, in the event that the bell is wrongly rung.

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Those cards are mine! (image uploaded by Red Wine Pie)

If a valid ring is made, the ringing player collects all the cards and places them at the bottom of his or her deck. He or she then places a new card from the top of his or her deck to signal the start of a new round. This continues until 2 players are left in the game. Here, the 2 remaining players can choose to continue play until one of them has won all the cards. An alternative (and much quicker) ending would be to conclude the game once a player has won the discard piles which are on the table at the time when the 3rd last player (assuming a multi-player round) is eliminated. Once the discarded piles are won and collected, the player with the larger deck of cards in hand wins the game.

Luck-Skill Balance:
The only skill involved in this game is the ability to recognize patterns and count quickly, while the luck factor revolves around the quickness of each player’s reflexes (some might say this is a skill though) once a sum of 5 of the same fruit type is displayed.

Rules Book – Layout & Complexity:
The rules book is very short and concise so it is very easy to understand the game from 1 or 2 reads of it at the most. There is little need to refer back to it during games due to the inherent ease of gameplay. The rules are written in several languages which makes the game very friendly for groups with different language-speaking players.

Components:

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One of the cards used in the game (image uploaded by Boomer)

The card material is of relatively good quality, though I doubt if they will be able to withstand wear and tear that is associated with a fair amount of usage. It is advisable to obtain card sleeves (the Yu-Gi-Oh sized ones come to mind) for the cards to extend their durability.

The bell is no different from those which one might find at the store, though I would have the impression that it is made to withstand a lot of pounding by the players during gameplay.

My Thoughts:
Like all card games, Halli Galli plays quickly within a reasonable amount of time, though there is a tendency for a round to be dragged far longer than expected if players take turns to collect the discarded cards. Barring that, there is an incredible amount of fun to be had, as players compete to identify 5 of a fruit type and be the first to ring the bell.

Halli Galli is highly recommended for families looking to have a great time, or for party gamers who prefer extremely light but intensely fun games.

Thread: First invocation of the Blood Rule

Karlsen — 2007-01-10T11:12:33+00:00

Game: Halli Galli
Date: 10-Jan-2007
Location: Home
Players: Daughter the Elder, Fraser aka Karlsen

We had just finished a couple of games of Cluedo, including what was possibly the quickest game evar, when Daughter the Elder demanded a game of Halli Galli.

It is fair to say that we play competitively. We are already well accustomed to resolving the question of who got the bell first by the answer to the question “Whose hand hurts the most?”. The person identified is the person who wins the cards.

Play had been progressing for quite a while. Daughter the Elder is a “spot the single five” specialist, if a five card came up, then nine times out of ten she would be the first to the bell.

I however, was the arithmetic specialist, I would be beaten by the straight fives, but if it was a four and a one or a two and a three of the same fruit showing then I would beat her to the bell the majority of the time.

This was the first time that I have noticed such a clear delineation in our playing styles.

Tonight we had to invoke the blood rule. In a grab for the bell I got there first but our hands rammed together and the impact of her finger and my fingernail managed to draw blood! Well more of a paper cut really, but we have managed to progress past the sore and bent fingers

As the traditional Australian Football League blood rule requires the player to leaved the field, we decided to call the game. Since Daughter the Elder had the larger stack of cards, the game was called in her favour.

Fraser McHarg 10-Jan-2007

Thread: Halli Galli with a three year old

melissa — 2006-11-10T04:08:09+00:00

After watching us play games with Biggie last night, Otto demanded a game too. Specifically, she demanded Halli Galli.

There were some very important rules for me to learn, playing with her.

What I call plums, she calls love hearts.
What I call limes, she calls plums.

Fortunately, we agree on strawberries and bananas.

The game went like this:

She would play.
I would play.
Eventually, one of us would play a 5. When she noticed, she would clap and cheer.

Otto: "Five!! Hooray!!"
Me: "What do we do when there is a five?"
Otto: "We ring the bell. Yay!!"

Sometimes, though it was my turn.

Otto: "There's five, mummy. You have to ring the bell. It is your turn."

Then there was excitement. I had 2 strawberries facing up, and she played the five of strawberries.

Otto: "Oh no! That's more than five!"

[I play my next card - one "plum" - on top of the two strawberries]

Turns out, she understands the concept of subtraction - there are claps and cheers for the five remaining strawberries (which I persuaded her to take).

A little later, I played a two of "love hearts" to her three.

Me: "How many do 3 and 2 make?"
Otto: *gasp* "Five! You need to ring the bell!"
(pause)
Otto: "After this can we play Catch the Match? And after Catch the Match, can we play Blink? And after Blink, can we play Make 'n' Break?"

We called the game a tie, eventually. There's only so much co-operative play one person can take.

Did it work as an activity for her? Yes, definitely. She had a great time.
Did it work as a game? Well, no. For starters, she's not really adding numbers yet - we had to count them out. More importantly, though, she's not very keen on playing competitively - well, not most games, anyway.

We'll enjoy playing this properly with her in about a year's time - but for now, it's a fun activity as long as we don't let it go on for too long.

Thread: Review from Gameblog

msaari — 2006-05-10T12:21:40+00:00

Halli Galli is an entertaining speed game. Each player has a deck of cards. The cards are turned over one by one in turn, so that each player has a discard pile in front of them. Whenever the top cards of the piles show exactly five fruits of a kind, players must race to hit the bell in the middle of the table.

The first player to whack the bell gets all the face-up cards and adds them to his or her stack. Then play continues, until players are eliminated one by one as they lose their cards. When two players remain, the one with most cards wins the game. It's all very simple.

However, while it might be simple and very derivative of certain traditional card games, Halli Galli sure is great fun. It's clear, elegant and entertaining. The mad rush to hit the bell (the most excellent component in itself, the sound and the feel of ringing the bell is just so satisfying), the excitement when your pile is running out, it all comes together in great entertainment.

The rules are very simple and thus the game works well for the whole family. I would be apprehensive of playing this with a mixed group of adults and children, however, as sometimes when several players try to reach the bell at the same time, accidents happen. The bell kind of hurts, when you hit it first and then two or three hands slap on top of yours.

However, for groups of adults or groups of kids, Halli Galli should provide many good laughs and lots of entertainment. The only drawback is the same as with any speed game: some people are simply so much better in these games that the fun is diminished. However, Halli Galli isn't hard, so the skill differences shouldn't be that pronounced.

Thread: Children want a rematch

seppo21 — 2005-10-02T22:14:38+00:00

First Game: Halli Galli

We had just finished dinner and were waiting for our gaming guests to arrive when my eldest daughter requested that we have ago at this game. Immediately, daughter number two chimed in wanting to play as well. We have actually played this game before. However, the girls found it much more fun to hit the bell than actually play the game. Granted, the younger one really couldn't count. However, the older one was able to count.

This game went pretty much like the others that we have played in the past. We each lay cards down until there is a group of five on the table. Then I hit the bell and the girls giggle. Tonight was a little bit different than the other games. For one, I was awfully jumpy and hit the bell early a few times, giving cards away to the girls. In addition, Hope was unable to contain herself and hit the bell several times. I went ahead and enforced the one card penalty. I don't think she particularly liked that, though. It did have the desired effect to keep her from randomly hitting the bell. Grace did manage to get to the bell ahead of me one time. Perhaps this is a sign of better things to come. Needless to say, I ended up winning this game.

Final Result:

Stephen defeats his young padawans

So far, the girls are not really much competition at this game. However, we still have a lot of fun playing -- mostly because they get such a kick out of the bell getting rung. In fact, we will generally play several games in a row. I guess it is nice that they can have fun without needing to win. I hope that is something that they never lose. That might be difficult considering how competitive their father is At any rate, I look forward to many more games of this in the years ahead. Total game time was about 10 minutes.

Thread: Exploring the number 5

melissa — 2005-06-17T02:09:53+00:00

Halli Galli is an enormously enjoyable and sneakily educational game for children aged from about 4 (the box says 6). Clearly derived from Snap, the mechanics are familiar – players turn over cards, then hit something if the right combination is revealed.

In Halli Galli, there are four “suits”, each showing a different fruit (limes, plums, bananas and strawberries). Cards have face values of between 1 and 5, and there are multiple cards of each denomination and suit.

The deck of cards is divided equally between the players, face down. Each player, in turn, flips the top card of her pile and places it face-up in front of her.

Unlike in Snap, where the “right” combination is a matching pair, here players are waiting to see exactly 5 of a particular fruit. When this happens, the first player to ring the bell provided takes all the faced cards and adds them to her pile. Players are eliminated when they have no more cards to flip.

Halli Galli is more than just a snap-like game of speed. The numeracy focus in the early years of primary school is on building – and internalizing – an understanding of number. Halli Galli strongly reinforces this, with the combination of different numbers to reach 5 (either by addition or by subtraction) building that deep understanding of the number. It’s interesting to watch different children play and see their different levels of progress:

Yum! Banana! (Otto my 2 year old is clearly not really ready for this game yet)
There’s a 5! Ding!
4 and 1 (or 3 and 2) is 5! Ding! (It’s interesting to watch this progress from counting to adding to just “knowing”)
There’s a 3 – I hope the next card is a 2!
There’s a 4 and a 3 and a 2 – if the person with the 4 plays a different fruit on top of it then there will be 5.
There’s a 4 and a 3 and a 1 – so if the person with the 4 plays a 1 then there will be 5.
This game is too easy. Let’s play Tigris & Euphrates.

Halli Galli is popular with all my six-year-old’s friends, even those who are less mathematically able (although, as you would expect, the kids who are good at maths seem to ‘get it’ faster). Sadly, many kids that age have never been exposed to games and the concept of turn-taking seems harder for them to learn than the rules of Halli Galli. (Of course I am sure that that would never be the case on BoardGame Geek!)

The only quibble I have with the game (other than the possibly weird choice of fruits for suits) is the playing time, listed on the box as 15 minutes. If the kids are evenly matched, the game can go for much much longer – I think our first game went for at least 45 minutes.

I’m looking forward to playing this with Otto in a couple of years.

Thread: Session Report

seppo21 — 2005-02-24T22:08:55+00:00

Only Game: Halli Galli

Grace asked if I would play a game with her after reading her story. She wanted to play the game with the fruits where you ring the bell. I knew exactly what she was talking about. However, it was odd given that she only played a single game several months ago. In Halli Galli, each player is dealt a hand of cards, each of which has from 1 to 5 of the same fruit pictured on it. The fruits used in the game are bananas, strawberries, plums, and pears. In order around the table, each player turns up one card at a time. When exactly five of a single type of fruit is showing, the first person to hit the bell takes all of the cards and places them beneath their stack. Once all of your cards are gone, you are out of the game. Play continues until there are only two players left. After the current stacks are taken, they count their cards, with the winner being the player with the highest total. When we are playing with two, we go until one person has no cards left.

Most of the first game was just an attempt to get Grace to turn cards over without first looking at them. This took some coaching in the proper method of drawing the card away from you rather than toward you. It took her a little while, but by the end of the third game, she was catching on. The new problem we had with her drawing like this is that she was so slow that she was actively displaying her card for quite a while before laying it down. This is not good for a game in which speed is of the essence. Fortunately, she improved on this by the end of the third game as well.

At any rate, I won the first game on one pass through the deck, which is exactly what I expected. She seemed to get as much enjoyment from me slapping the bell as anything else. This is akin to our playing of Slamwich earlier this week. At any rate, Christine asked to join the second game, so I knew I would have some competition. As it turned out, it wasn't a lot of competition. I was still much quicker than either of the two of them. One time, I was too fast and was forced to give up cards to each of them. Then Grace repeated this. Still, they both ran out of cards in their decks, leaving me in sole possession of cards. Since Christine was not interested in another game, Grace and I played a third. This time around I tried to help her a whole lot more in picking out when groups of five are on the table. Unfortunately, he is still at the point where she must count each of the fruits available instead of recognizing the pattern and proceeding from there. This kind of gives me an unfair advantage. At any rate, I was able to win this game as well.

Final Result:

Stephen -- 3 wins

As long as she likes to play for the sake of playing, I'm all for continuing. As I mentioned earlier, I was kind of surprised that she chose this game. She has not mentioned it since we played it last. At the time, I knew she liked it because of the bell-ringing aspect. She does seem to be getting better at the pattern recognition, so hopefully, her abilities in games like this will improve. Our total playing time was about 20 minutes.

Thread: Session Report

markrollings — 2005-01-30T21:16:03+00:00

I brought this game out for it's first playing at my parent's house while we waited for other guests to arrive. It was easy to explain, very quick to play and cause much laughing.

I absolutely love the game as a filler but regret that I was so good at it (winning in about 9/10 of all rounds) that it's unlikely my family will want to play it again. I think I must have had a misspent youth playing computer games that has given me lightening reflexes!

I would still use it as an ice breaker or filler given the chance.

Thread: Session Report

seppo21 — 2004-08-23T15:33:52+00:00

My wife and I have slowly been indoctrinating our families into German Style games. For the most part, we have been quite successful. Since most of them live nearby, we've instituted a Monday gaming night for family and friends. This was our first gathering.

The players: Stephen (Myself), Christine, (longsuffering wife), Heather (Sister-in-law), Alexis (Heather's Friend), Maria (my sister), Matt (Maria's husband), Mike (my brother), and Grace (4-year-old daughter).

Second Game: Halli Galli

Grace was still with us and had wanted to play Fluxx. Unfortunately, not being able to read makes that difficult. I then pulled out Halli Galli because I thought this might be a game Grace could play with us. I originally purchased this hoping to be able to play with Grace. While there was a time such speed games were something I thrived on, they now run my nerves ragged. Furthermore, I should have picked up more on Maria's being averse to chaos in Fluxx.

Things started off pretty good for me. Many years of playing a game called Squeak had honed my card reflexes to a pretty sharp edge. The first few times that 5 fruits appeared, I was able to hit the bell first. Then Matt and Maria began to pick up a few now and then. Grace's main interest was in ringing the bell. Unfortunately, she was nowhere near fast enough when it mattered. We ended up ignoring the rule about giving cards to other players in her case.

Maria's nerves were so strung out, that she began to be a factor in the game. Unfortunately, she was sitting next to me, and it started to rub off, having a negative effect. Christine and Grace tapped out pretty quickly since they were not pulling more cards in. A little while later, Matt followed. It was down to me and Maria. I already had a huge card advantage. I still managed to get the last pile as well, putting me well beyond reach.

Final Scores:

Stephen -- First
Maria -- Second
MAtt -- Third
Grace -- Fourth
Christine -- Fifth

The game was very quick and exciting. While everyone seemed to have a pretty good time, it will not likely make it back out for a while. I think we all lean a little more to the sedate side of the continuum. Total time was about 20 minutes.

Thread: Session Report

Sailsa — 2004-06-13T17:35:40+00:00

After Ticket to Ride we had about 1/2 hour until we had to go to our movie so I pulled out Halli Galli. This is a short little game which is basically who can react the fastest. Each person lays a card from their face down pile, covering any previous cards they have laid. Each card has 1-5 pieces of a certain fruit on them and if there are ever exactly 5 of a fruit showing then whoever hits the bell in the center first gets all the cards. However, if you hit the bell and there are not exactly 5 then you give each person a card. When only 2 people are left with cards then whoever has the most is the winner. Is it a great game, no, but it is really fun. We played 2 games which I really enjoyed (probably because I won them both. I've never lost this game which might skew my opinion of it.) Everyone else enjoyed the game as well except for Denise who never even tried to hit the bell. She teaches sign language and didn't want to have her hand slapped. But that didn't matter because after the two games we were done for the evening and off to see Harry Potter.

Thread: Session Report

Dan Bosley — 2002-05-20T11:36:18+00:00

We then decided to try Halli Galli, a recent acquistion of Rick’s - the fruity-tooty party game. The game consists of a snazzy bell placed in the center of the table, and a deck of cards, which is dealt out entirely face down to all the players.

The cards have assorted fruit on them. As we were learning the game, everyone was looking at my purple plums, so I ended up having to hide them further down...

The cards have anywhere from one to five of a single fruit on them. One by one, quickly, in sequence, each player flips over his top card and places it face up in front of him. It might be one banana, or 2 strawberries, or some other number of different fruit. You must flip the card up in such a way that your opponents see what’s on your card a split second before you do - that’s why you want to flip them fast, so you too can see your card as quickly as possible.

As soon as there is EXACTLY FIVE showing of any one kind of fruit, players race to whack the bell in the center of the table. So if player A has one strawberry showing, and player B turns up a four-strawberry card, (and no one else has strawberries showing) then WHACK - DING!

The successful player gets to take ALL the cards so far played to the table of ALL the players, and add them face down to the bottom of his fruity pile. In other words, this is a form of multi-player WAR.

If you whack the bell and you are wrong - say you whack it and there’s actually 6 strawberries showing - then you must deal out one card from your fruit salad to each player as your penalty. If you end up running out of cards, then you are out of the game.

And of course, there’s lots of bluffing - either real or unintentional! You can make a noise or a sudden movement with your hand when a card is turned over - and someone else may whack the bell when they shouldn’t have. Or you might honestly believe there are 5 fruit showing and start to make a move, but then at the last second, realize your error and stop your hand in mid-slap.

The game progresses until there are only 2 players left. At that point, whoever has the most cards wins.

Each card you turn over covers up your previously played card. Which can lead to some interesting tension. And possible hand damage....

Say there are 7 bananas showing when it comes back to your turn. And your currently have 2 bananas showing on your top card. Whatever card you flip over is going to cover up your 2 bananas - which means (unless the new card you are flipping happens to also be a 2-banana card) that there will now be exactly 5 bananas showing . And whoever slaps the bell first when there are exactly five fruit of one type showing takes all the cards on the table. And every other player knows that very fact..... - so just how fast can you flip that card?

Diane was wiped out in short order. Her fruit-counting abilities were sadly deficient. However, on the plus side, she then got to drink her drink in relative peace and calm. This was a good thing, especially in light of the fact that I had had to go out and buy some more liquid nourishment so that we had more than one bottle of any one item. Well, yes, we have one Rickard’s Red, one peach cooler, one coke, one ginger ale, one Sleeman Honey Brown lager, one hard lemonade, one root beer, etc. etc. etc. You mean you wanted to have a 2nd of the same thing? Hmmm.....that’s a novel idea.....

Shari was next to fall. Obviously, the only conclusion to be drawn from this is that men are simply better with fruits than women....

Out next was Jeremy. He too was thirsty, and the fruit juices in the game just weren’t cutting the mustard.

Corwin was 4th to have to start drinking again.

Which meant the last 2 players were Rick and myself. Now earlier in the game, Rick had gotten down to one measly card. But he was fast of eye and quick of hand, and made a brilliant comeback, grabbing enough fruits to stock a small orchard. I too was quick of hand - but Rick was quicker.

Final scores:

Quicker Rick - *30*
Almost as Quick Dan - 26
Kind of Fast Corwin - 0
Not Really All That Fast Jeremy - 0
Dawdling Shari - 0
Slothful Diane - 0

All 6 of us rated the game a 7. A fun game - good for a laugh and some tendon damage.