Checkpoint Charlie

A simple deduction game aimed for younger audiences. They've cleverly used cats and dogs and the Cold War to flavor the theme. Parents will have to develop alternative themes for kids who're too young to understand what 'Stasi' means...PROSThe artwork is cartoonish albiet well done and each character has a name, a clever tactic to ensure player remember the name and not what the character looks like. Since all the cats have the same pose, with subtle graphical variations, some players will struggle to differentiate, thus, observation is a component of the game.Rules are fairly straightforward and the kids were able to quickly grasp mechanics in the first round. The rulebook is text heavy and mercifully with a few examples.CONSYou will need to sleeve the cards with quality plastic, the cards will bend quite often. Since each clue token is hidden under the player character, a lot of card bending occured during play. Also younger players easily lost track of which clue token side was "up", since all clue tokens are double sided for varied play.OVERALLUltimately this game won't survive a few rounds, depsite the dual sided clue tokens, the game can become quickly repetitive. For the price on BGG, this is good value. Young graduates from this game should try OH CAPTAIN!