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.