The
Hasbro Gaming Crate just launched and the first crate will ship in August! This new subscription promises "Game Night Delivered!" with three brand new games for families and adult game nights.
*Disclaimer: This box was sent to See, Shop, Love! in exchange for an honest review.
Hasbro Gaming Crate is a quarterly subscription (ships every three months) and sends an exclusive collection of three games curated by Hasbro gaming experts. Boxes are $49.99 every three months plus shipping. Crates currently ship to the U.S., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and APO/FPO boxes. You can also skip a month or cancel your subscription at any time.
The Crate is available in two options:
- Family Crate: Family friendly games for the whole household
- Party Crate: Games curated specifically for adults
When I input my address into the checkout page it added $15.87 for shipping, so I am assuming the shipping cost will depend on your address.
This is a review for the very first Family Crate, which will be shipping in August of this year. Each Crate also has a theme, and this one is "Family Staycation."
I loved playing board games as a kid and I have great memories of laughing and playing them with my parents and brothers! I think the Hasbro Gaming Crate is such a fun and unique subscription and a great way to get your family and friends back into playing board games!
The box was well packaged with all of the games in plastic wrapping over their individual boxes and little squiggly pieces of paper for padding. There was an informational card inside and a packet of mini staycation challenges (pictured above) from other Hasbro games.
The featured game for this Crate is
Mask of the Pharoah. It's for ages 10+ with two or more players. It's a collaborative virtual reality game with an included VR mask. Players will find themselves in a mysterious world of pyramids in Ancient Egypt, and the objective is to reconstruct a maze based on the clues and descriptions given by the person wearing the VR mask. I bet this game would be a hit with kids because it perfectly integrates digital devices with a good old board game.
Since the true companion app doesn't launch until August with the shipment of the Crates, Hasbro sent me an invitation to download a beta version of the app. I installed it but unfortunately could not get it to launch because it kept giving me an error message saying Hasbro wasn't a verified account with Apple or something like that, so the app wouldn't open.
Here are all of the pieces included in the game. As you can see, the maze board and player pieces are all in punch-out sheets. The mask also needs to be assembled and I have to admit that I could
not figure out how to put it together! I tried for a good 10 minutes before I just gave up. There are pictorial instructions in the instruction booklet but I'm not great with that type of instructions (i.e., ones without words) so I couldn't get everything to line up right. Maybe an adult with better visual learning skills would be able to put it together faster than me!
The next game is
Leo Goes to the Barber for ages 6+ and two or more players. In this game, players will guide Leo through the jungle to get to his hair cut appointment on time. Players work together and use matching and memory skills to move Leo forward to the barbershop.
All of the pieces for this game were also included in punch-out sheets. The memory pieces have animals and colors on one side and jungle on the other. There's also a clock piece and Leo cards.
The last game is a card game called
Tricky Wishes. It's for ages 8+ and three or more players. To win the game, you have to find three kinds of wishes: one superpower, one gift, and one world harmony. Players take turns swapping and shuffling the cards to collect the highest-scoring set.
I think
Tricky Wishes is my favorite game of the three. I always liked card games like this as a kid and even now still as an adult. The illustrations are really great, too.
I haven't bought any board games in years, but based off of a cursory search on Walmart's website for other Hasbro games, they range in price from $12-$30. Not including shipping, the $49.99 price for this Crate equals about $17 per game. To be completely honest, I think the games are fun and really cute for families and kids, but I found the quality of the actual boards and pieces lacking. I was surprised to find that the boards for
Mask of the Pharoah and
Leo Goes to the Barber were made entirely of punch-out cards. I remember getting board games with actual big boards that you'd fold out and move the little pieces around. That being said, the pieces are sturdy and well-made, it just seemed a bit odd to me. But again, I haven't bought any games in a while so maybe that is how they're all made now?
Bottom Line: The Hasbro Gaming Crate is a bit on the pricey side after you include shipping, but I think it's a fun way to bring board games into the home. I like that they have two options, one for families and one for adult game nights, and that each Crate has three exclusive games. I guess the fact that they are exclusive also adds to their value over other games you'd find in stores. If you're a board game fan, I think this Crate is a great option!