Size Matters
- Board's Eye View
- 10 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Before anyone's imagination runs away with them, Size Matters is not a risqué-themed game that will result in you getting stern warning letters from your HR Dept if you bring it to work. In fact, it's a simple small-box real-time speed game for younger children - and, yes, it's a card game that it would be safe for them to take to school.
The game is designed by Ralf zur Linde and it takes 2-6 players - tho' really the only limit on player count is the practical one of how many you can have sitting round a table in equal reach of the cards. The Size Matters deck comprises 48 cards. On each card's face is an image: 16 different (3 copies of each). The items depicted clearly rankable in size order. They range from an atom (the smallest) to a galaxy (the largest), and even quite young children will appreciate which items are larger and smaller than others.
On the back of each card is a size indicator: an arrow pointing at an elephant (the largest), a bear (the second largest), a butterfly (the second smallest) or a ladybird (the smallest). From the face-down deck, nine cards are laid out face up in a 3 x 3 grid and only when the ninth card is placed can players see what is indicated on the back of the next card in the deck. They are then in a race to touch the card that meets that requirement (ie: if the arrow on the card on top of the draw deck is pointing to the butterfly then the correct item in the grid will be the one that is the second smallest. The player who is first to touch the correct card wins it. If there are two or three correct cards (you could have duplicates or triplicates in the grid), all are available to be won by different players. Cards that are won count as victory points, and the game ends when a player collects 7 points/cards.
As with all real-time and speed games, Size Matters can be quite frenetic so it's good that players are merely touching rather than snatching the cards, or else this game wouldn't stand up to the wear of more than a couple of plays. It's a step up from Snap! because it involves some light reasoning and mental processing, particularly when you're looking for the second largest or second smallest rather than the largest or smallest. It's a card game therefore that has educational value for children age 5-7.
Size Matters plays quickly. Most of our plays have run to around 10 minutes but the game can run longer at higher player counts so, instead of 7 cards, you might want to consider setting a winning target of 6 or even 5 cards when playing with five or more players. We picked up our copy direct from publishers Moses Verlag at this year's Spiel Essen and the rules are only in German. We'd hope to see an English version but even this German edition is easily playable because all the cards are entirely language independent.