Schmidt Cockroach Poker (Multi-lingual edition),8-9 years

This is a really fun and simple game with some nice individual card art. I was surprised that despite there being eight of each critter in the game, each card has individual art. A neat touch. The cards are a bit on the thin side but have a reasonably good feel to them and are quite flexible. They are not cheap, stiff card like some games. The game is language independent (i.e. there are no words on the cards) and the German box "Kaker Laken Poker" which I received is an international edition which includes English rules (rules in many languages can be found on the internet). It's a game for children or families and can also be enjoyed by like-minded adults over a drink. The only thing it has in common with Poker is bluffing, and then it's not usually necessary to decide whether the person is telling the truth. There is no winner in Cockroach Poker, but there is a loser or runner-up. Everyone else collectively wins. What basically happens is that a player chooses a card from their hand (all cards are dealt out at the start) and passes it, face down, to a player of their choice, saying (maybe lying) about what the card is (e.g. 'this is a rat'). The receiving player must decide to either accept the card or pass it on. If they accept it they must say whether they think the person passing it is telling the truth. If the receiver is correct, the passer has to keep the card face up in front of them. If the receiver is wrong, they keep the card face up instead. If a player doesn't want to accept a card they may instead pass it on to a player who has not yet seen it. The passing player looks at the card and says (maybe lies) about what the card is. The sequence continues until a player accepts the card. The last player to receive the card must accept it, saying whether they think the final passer is telling the truth or lying. The first player to have four cards of the same type face up in front of them is the loser. It sounds very random and chaotic but a surprising amount of strategy does emerge (though not an awful lot). It makes for a very fun game but I would recommend 5 or 6 players. There are special rules for a 2 player game but this doesn't work as well.

We are a family who like to play board and card games. Excited to get this one (opted for the German Edition). Both my boys, 7 & 9 yrs picked it up very quickly and love the icky pics of all the creatures on the cards - grossing mum out every time we play and keeping them giggling throughout. Great ‘small box game’ with really nice quality cards and colourful, interesting artwork. Great to take in your bag to keep children happy when travelling or at restaurants etc. Recommended.

I love Cockroach Poker. It's easy to learn and quick to play. It definitely needs a big (ish) group as the two player can lack a little frisson. Essentially the entire game is trying to palm off cards to your opponents, until one player has a full house and looses. What you do is take a card from your hand and offer it to a player, face down, and declare what it is. That player can either say you're lying/or telling the truth OR look at the card and pass it to another player, continuing the cycle. Once you're playing it all clicks into gear. My only complaint, as someone who loves portable games, is that the box is kind of huge for what is a deck of cards. It definitely would benefit from coming in either a smaller pack or having an inner sleeve. My version is the German version, but it comes with very well written English instructions and the cards themselves have no text and have great art.

Good quality, played with 11 year old girl to 75 year-old man. It is good. Older people found working out what animal was what a little taxing at first. Only problem is that two people can become involved in a tit-for-tat battle, leaving everyone else as spectators. Still, most laughter we've had at a games table as a family. It turns out some of my kids simply can't lie (and these are teenagers!). It almost replaced Ligretto and Sushi Go Party as the new family favourite.

Fantastic, wonderful game, the whole family loves it. So simple but so much fun, the kids love the opportunity to bluff and double bluff. Quick to set up and tear down with a small footprint, a perfect little game. Can’t recommend highly enough, our new favourite family game. Don’t mind the German name, it’s complete language independent.

we were at the airport and was told our flight had been delayed and a family happen to sit next to us (my 8 year old) and started playing, we started watching and listening and joining in. great fun, easy to play with easy to guide instructions, all picture cards and you need a good poker face ha as soon as i got home i bought the game. thanks to the lovely family who was kind enough to share.

Nice little card game that is easy to learn for kids and has lasting appeal. Whilst okay with 2/3 players the game really comes into its own with 4+ players as a card gets passed around from person to person with various claims of which beasty (cockroach, spider, fly, toad etc) is on the card until the last player in the group has to work out who was lying (potentially everyone) and who was telling the truth (normally nobody).

My kids love the game. Very simple, bluffing mechanism. Lots of fun if you are in the mood for silly card game.