Fraser
Australia
Melbourne
Yep that was 12 Power Grid maps back to back over two days. Worth doing, but possibly not in such a concentrated burst.
Ooh yes, now a little to the left - my nose is itchy. No, no the other left! Now what colour is 12 supporter badge going to be I wonder?
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The Caveat
The game is Color Clowns, but in my part of the world it is spelt colour, so except when referring to the game I will use the “our” spelling.
The Box
Quite a sturdy box, ours is over twenty-five years old and only has a tear in one corner to show for all those years. It is quite colourful, although the photograph on the front does scream out mid to late seventies.
The entire rules are printed on the back of the box.
Size 21.0 x 25.4 x 3.0 cm (8.25 x 10 x 1.25 inches for the imperially inclined).
Weight 340 grams (1 lb 2 oz for the imperially minded).
The Dice
Two – Comes with two special wooden six-sided dice. One for shapes with two sides each of circle, square and triangle. One for colours with two sides each of green, purple and orange.
The Board
Four player mats, each with three colour clowns. Each colour clown has three places to play the “translucent tiles”. The torso (square), head (circle) and hat (triangle).
The Bit & Pieces
Thirty-six translucent tiles. A set of four circles, four squares and four triangles in yellow, pink and blue.
The Theme
In a word – Colours.
Learn about making colours change and recognising shapes using clowns.
The Objective
To be the first to change the colours of the clowns to green, orange and purple.
The Players
Two to four players, ages four to seven or five to eight depending on which part of the box you read 
The Starting Player
Left as an exercise for the players to determine.
The Rules
o Each player, in turn, rolls the dice
o Players must then place a tile matching the shape on the die on a similar shape of a clown on the board so that the colour now created on the board matches both the die and the frame surrounding the clown.
o Example 1st die Triangle, 2nd die Green – Player may either place a yellow triangular tile on a blue triangle on the board, or a blue triangular tile on a yellow triangle [Observant readers who have studied the photographs of this game will note that the yellow triangle on the player boards actually has an orange boundary and thus the example of the blue triangular tile is actually an illegal move]
o If a player cannot place a tile correctly, the turn is forfeited.
o The Winner is the first player to construct the clowns in their new colours.
The Play
With younger children it would be worth considering the removal of the “… and the frame surrounding the clown” part of the rules which is contradicted by the example to make play a little easier, i.e. less forfeited turns.
The game starts quickly enough, roll the dice and place the appropriately shaped colour tile to create the required colour. Once you have approached the halfway mark of the nine shapes on the player board things begin to slowdown though as players roll combinations that they have already completed and thus must forfeit their turn.
As the game progresses towards the end game these forfeits become more common. It’s just roll and pass the dice, but it can still get irritating, particularly for the younger players. In a game with daughter the elder (for research purposes only of course) out of the total of thirty-six rolls between us, twenty-three were forfeited turns. The final part of the end game is just waiting for the precise roll you need, i.e. Orange Triangle, a one in nine chance.
The Verdict
Described on the box as another “growing up” game which seems to mean that it is educational and has a place at a particular developmental level but your children will grow out of the game.
In terms of recognising shapes and colours and creating colours with a combination of the coloured tiles and player boards Color Clowns is a good educational tool for pre-schoolers but will probably only requested occasionally after kindergarten or school.
Color Clowns in a nice educational tool, but thanks particularly to the tedious end game not a great game.
Fraser McHarg
[edited to include images now that you can do new fangled such things]
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Yep that was 12 Power Grid maps back to back over two days. Worth doing, but possibly not in such a concentrated burst.
