Friday, May 04, 2018

Kids Stuff || Summer Fun With Mölkky



The sunshine is coming this bank holiday weekend and we are so excited to get some fresh air, head to the coast and have some outdoors fun (and food) with the family.

When we head for the park or beach, we always fill a bag with games, balls, kites, alongside all the buckets and spades, lunch stuff and oodles of sun cream! Every year we invest in a new game or activity of some kind, but quite often they only get one summer's worth of use, so more solid toys and games are always a great investment.

As wooden toy fans too, we were delighted to receive a new game for Summer called Molkky to review. We love bowling and skittles, so I knew this would be a hit and being solid wood, it's built to last so can be used again and again over summer (or any time really) as well as being light enough to take in the beach bag.




The Molkky game is a traditional game from Finland with 12 numbered pins, suitable from ages 6 and up for two or more players. Instead of a ball, you play this by throwing another tube of wood underarm at the pins. The pins have to be knocked to the ground (not leaning on another) and the number on that pins/pins becomes your score. The pins are then stood upright again where they fell and you take it in turns to throw until someone reaches exactly 50. If you go over 50 your score goes back to 25, so you have to be careful to get only the numbers you need near the end! We used to play a similar game with darts, so it's taken me back. As Soph is only (nearly) 4, we will have to bend the rules a bit when she joins in, but this is perfect for our maths addict Alf!




In the box you get full instructions of how to set up the game as it's not in a normal 'pin' formation, but you soon get it banked in your memory making it quicker to set up every time. You stand a fair distance away so it's pretty tricky, especially near the end where you need only certain numbers! It is really fun though and I'm sure it'll become a classic here as much as it has been in Finland.




I love that there are no restrictions to this game, younger players can have help counting or you can just play a normal bowling game to make it easier. Older players or those that need to can play sitting down easily enough and it's slightly different to the usual skittle type games making it a bit more interesting too. This would make a great present for summer birthdays, Father's day fun or just to add to your collection. The game is manufactured from wood that has been logged from sustainable managed forests with the PEFC-certificate, making it environmentally friendly too.

We love our Molkky set and right now this very set is on offer in Tesco for just £15, making it the perfect investment for the warm summer days, that can come out again year after year for all the family to play. The kids have enjoyed our practise runs in the garden and we will be taking it to the seaside this weekend to play with all the family.



Have you played Molkky before?