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I own all 3 of Big Potato Games ColourBrain series. You’ve got standard ColourBrain for grown ups, then Disney ColourBrain which was a huge hit with my little girl. Now Junior ColourBrain has hit the market. All these games play in a very similar way, which may precipitate the question, ‘Joe, why on earth do you have them all!?’ Well I’m glad you asked because the answer is very simple, they’re all absolutely brilliant at what they do! Let’s have a quick look at how they play and then we’ll talk about what makes Junior ColourBrain stand apart from its siblings.
Colour Brain Gameplay
The ColourBrains take a novel and engaging approach to the classic quiz game formula by supplying each player with all the answers to every question before the game has even begun. Each player or team receives a set of 11 colour cards, all sets have exactly the same colours, and a colour capture steal card. Now a card from the main deck is read which will describe a person or thing. From your set you’ll lay face down the card or cards that match the colours of the thing described on the question card.
Colour Brain also has a nifty catch up mechanism in the form of the colour capture card which can be used only once per game to steal 8 random colour cards from the player or team ahead of you in points. That team will now have to attempt to answer the next question using only the three remaining cards in their hand before regaining all their cards again thereafter.
Primary Colours
One way that Junior differs from the other ColourBrains is in its box size. While the other boxes are by no means huge, this one is much more travel friendly. It’s a throw it in your bag and go type box which makes Junior the ColourBrain of choice for travel gaming. The downside is of course that it only holds 120 question cards as opposed to the other games which have closer to 300 cards. That’s still a fair bit of replayability though, providing you don’t have a photographic memory!
You’d think that the range of questions would be very similar to Disney ColourBrain but, despite what conspiracy theorists may suggest, Disney doesn’t have a monopoly on kids entertainment! Popular culture for young ones expands so far outside the Disney universe and this junior version does a great job of covering that wide range. Some examples: The most common colour of Pokemon? The star on Captain America’s shield? The 3 different turtle shells in Mario Kart? Pah easy! Red, green and... orange? No wait, purple... no... sorry got distracted there, back to the review!
It’s not just pop culture questions either, this is where the Junior version bridges the gap between Disney and grown up versions. There’s an excellent range of entertaining general knowledge questions too, for example: An Elephant eating candy floss? A flamingo juggling walnuts? Or a donkey holding a bottle of Sprite?! Each card lets you know how many colours you need (in the above cases 2), and gets brains, old and young, whirring trying to figure out the answers.
Colour charts
Perhaps the biggest difference in this junior version of the game is that it only facilitates two players or teams. It’s head to head if you will. But this allows for a simpler method of scoring. The winning player or team simply take the card, first to 10 cards wins. It also allows for a softer scoring system whereby the closest answer wins the card. It still retains the colour capture system though so the trailing team have that one chance to catch up.
The age recommendation for Junior ColourBrain is 6+. Disney ColourBrain is recommended for 8+. My personal opinion is that those recommendations should be the other way around. My 5 year old daughter loves the Disney version (and regularly destroys me at it!) whereas some of the questions in Junior left her a little flummoxed.
Final thoughts
Junior ColourBrain is another excellent implementation of Big Potato Games winning party game formula. Although it cuts competitors down to 2 it actually allows for teams of any size so there’s no reason for anyone to be left out. What it lacks in deck size it makes up for in portability and sheer range of topics. While it doesn’t replace either of its predecessors in my mind it does supply an excellent variation in theme. These new topics appeal to a really wide audience too, not just in age but in interests also. Junior does a great job of bridging that gap between Disney and the original with it’s use of pop culture as well as more general topics.
The almost multiple choice style questions with the set of colour card answers given to each player means that everyone always has at least a chance of getting the question right. This helps keep everyone engaged and by no means does it make the game too easy. In fact some of the questions really made me think, I find any of these games fun to play, even these ones aimed at younger players. Junior ColourBrain is a brilliant game that encourages and rewards memory and perception skills. If you’re looking for a new party game that can be played with a wide range of ages and abilities or if your a fan of the other games in the series then you’ll love Junior ColourBrain in all its glorious technicolour!
