Introduction
Since I play Tally Ho! primarily with my kids (my 5 year old daughter and 4 year old son) I thought it might be appropriate to ask them what they think of the game. So here is their review of the game, in interview format. The questions don't follow any particular structure, but I hope you find their answers interesting and entertaining.
The Interview / Review
Q. What do you like the most about the game?
Daughter: That it's really fun. That the bears eat the hunters. And the hunters can shoot the bears back.
Son: I like part of it. The part where the bears eat the hunters.
Q. Do you like to play with the optional rule that the hunters can turn their guns?
Daughter: Yeah, because then they can shoot better.
Son: Yes, then the animals can't escape.
Daughter: But if I was the bears I wouldn't want the hunters to turn their guns.
Q. Which is your favourite animal?
Daughter: The bear and the pheasant. The pheasant can be called the "pleasant pheasant" and the bear can eat people.
B. The Duck. Because the fox likes to eat the ducks, as well as the pheasant pleasants.
Q. Is the game good enough by itself (i.e., it doesn't need expansions or fixes)?
Both: yes.
Q. What would make it a better game?
Daughter: If you turn your gun as many times as you want in one turn.
Son: If there are no tiles left on the board and all the animals have been eaten. Then you would have eaten lots of animals and you would be pretty fat – like if you have a baby in your tummy.
Q. If you could add an animal what would it be?
Daughter: a wolf
Son: a kangaroo
Q. What would these animals do?
Daughter: A wolf would have to be blocked in by trees. And the lumberjacks could move the trees. If you block the wolf on the sides of the board you get three points (1 per tree) and if in the middle you get 4 points (1 per tree). Also, the wolf can eat anything.
Son: The baby kangaroos can go close by their mamma. 118
The kangaroos can hop over trees and they can push trees down. And the wolves can eat leaves from the trees.
Q. If you could add a person what would it be?
Daughter: <PERSON> – then the wolf could eat her.
Son: A policemen. And a dog!
Q. If you could add more vegetation, what would it be?
Daughter: Red roses.
Son: No answer [he was rolling on the ground laughing at his last answer]
Q. Do you like the components?
Daughter: I Like the pictures. I like the blue background on some of the tiles.
[Son was still rolling on the ground laughing]
Q. Which game is better than this one?
Daughter: Chess.
Son: Battlelore
Q. Which game do you like less?
Daughter: Der Schwarze Pirat
Son: Froggy Boogie
Q. Are the rules hard or easy?
Both: easy.
Daughter: Because you just have to make sure you have more points than anyone else in the game.
Q. How long does the game take?
Daughter: Just a couple of minutes – ten minutes
Son: 2 hours.
Q. Who wins most often:
Daughter: Sometimes me and sometimes him.
Son: Me.
Q. What is the highest score you've ever had:
Daughter: When I ate both of the bears.
Son: The game we just played. I don't know.
Daughter: But I won that game. I had 63.
Son: But I meant only with daddy and me.
Q. How old do people have to be before they can play?
Daughter: Probably 3
Son: I think 6.
Mom [chiming in]: but you're not 6.
Son: I mean someone else.
Mom: so you think you're smart enough but not someone else?
Q. Is this game best for adults or for kids?
Daughter: for kids
Son: For both.
Q. Any final thoughts?
Daughter: It's really fun. Mostly like chess.
Son: If you had a baby in the forest then the baby would get eaten.
And with these observations the interview came to an end. I hope that gives you some idea of how a four and five year old view this game, a perspective that I'm sure will be of benefit to some, although for how many I cannot vouch for. 547