HABA 306483 Moonlight Castle, A magically colourful collecting and sliding game for 2 to 4 heroes, ages 5 years and up, English version (Made in Germany)

Kids loved it

It looked pretty and was simple to set up.Sadly playing proved more complicated. Three adults all read the rules and interpreted them differently so it was a very muddled playing and didn't really feel like we had a clear mission for how to win.It was a bit slow to play and didn't really keep the kids attention.Sad as the wizards and tiles felt like they should have been good, it just somehow wasn't.

It had a little bit of a learning curve. We had to resort to a You Tube video to understand how to play. Once we got it , our grandchildren enjoyed playing it with us. Not mind boring for an adult.

It’s challenging to find a game that will be fun and interesting for all of my kids (age range 3-8). This one manages to do it (although the younger ones need a little help, they still enjoy it). The 3D nature of the game gives it a wow factor. The pieces are beautiful and the sliding mechanism is super fun for little ones, definitely the favorite part of their turns. There’s not a ton of strategy (maybe more on the advanced fountain version that we haven’t tried yet) but enough to make little brains work a bit. It’s not a cooperative game, but there is a common enemy, the owl magician, which makes players feel like more of a team rather than just competitors. I think we’ll likely play it quite often.Drawbacks:-The setup is lengthy, especially the first time.-There were a few things that weren’t really explained in the rules, like whether you could collect and use pebbles on the same turn or need to have all required pebbles before you began a turn, so we just made a few decisions on how to play.-The cardboard pieces are decently sturdy, though we are not fully deconstructing the castle between uses because I think it would start to wear out, but the screens that come for each character are thin, glossy paper that can very easily bend or tear.-Storage isn’t great—it’s just an empty box with no depressions for various pieces. There’s a cloth bag for the pebbles, but it doesn’t have a drawstring or any way to close it. We ended up putting all the smaller pieces in the bag and using a twist tie, then putting rubber bands around the stack of jewels. I mean, it could all be stored loose, but then you have to sort everything out next time plus run a greater risk of losing small pieces if the box comes open.Altogether, I think this is a unique game with good replay value that my kids will ask for frequently. For the price it’s pretty well made and worth the cost.

The pieces come on various cardboard “plates” and you have to punch out pieces at first. Two of the game pieces were already separating (see pics). After literally 15min of setting it up and another 30 minutes of trying unsuccessfully to decipher the instructions we finally watched an online video to figure out how to actually play this game. Once I watched the video, it was easier to understand and we had a fun time.Overall it’s a decent game and fun for my six year old girl. However, it’s definitely harder to learn that most other board games. Also the excessive amount of pieces (with inconsistent quality) and setup can be a turn off.

Our whole family enjoys playing this game!!!

This is a fairly fun game that encourages pre-move thinking and planning. Assembly takes a bit, so on your first play expect to spend a bit of time getting everything ready and understanding the rules. I recommend learning the rules and even playing a demo round by yourself so you can understand it well enough to explain to kids.The basic gist is: there's a stack of tiles (hidden inside the castle) that get dealt out as the path in front of the castle. There is a thing in the back you use to push and dispense tiles from the castle onto the path. You remove tiles by matching the gems on the tile and get various rewards when you do so. You get gems by moving around the board (kinda the weak part of the game, unless you play the more advanced rules).A game lasts about 30 minutes, and you can pretty easily adjust that by how many tiles you include in the stack (which is great if you have kids with lower attention spans...)