Cupcake Race Game

We are always on the look out for new and fun games we can play as a family.  I especially love games that, once the girls learn them, they can play as a group by themselves without any adult assistance. We have just found such a game and it has immediately become an instant hit.  As soon as I saw that it had to do with colorful cupcakes and "baking" I knew we must have it. Introducing: The Cupcake Race by Endless Games.

A cupcake board game - how fun!

With a houseful of mini bakers I knew they would love this as much as I would.  Cupcakes, frosting, sprinkles - we love these things in real life and now we can play the game version.  The goal of this game is to travel around the board collecting cupcake wrappers, cake, frosting toppers and colorful tiny sprinkles.  The first person to the party in the middle gets to top their cupcake with a bright red cherry and is declared the winner.  The nice thing is, once the first person crosses the finish line, the others can keep playing until they receive their cherry too.  A win win.  Here's a shot of the very colorful board.

Cupcake Race game is for 2-4 players.  Each person picks a party hat as their game piece.

When you open the box it comes with all of your "baking" supplies:  Brightly colored cupcake wrappers (they are plastic not paper), four flavors of cake, four flavors of frosting, and four bright red cherry toppers.

My girls LOVE to mix and match flavors

It also comes with a bag of 48 mini plastic sprinkles.

These are very tiny - so this game is for preschool aged (4+ and up)

Now all you have to do is gather some willing game players

This was our very first time to play.  Look at those smiles!

To set up the board, you just want to put all of the supplies in each corner.  As you travel around the board you will stop in each corner and pick up the pieces you need.  You actually can collect sprinkles along the way if you land on a +1 or +2.  There are a few lose a turn and move back spaces as well, so try and avoid those.

The girls love setting up all the supplies almost as much as playing the game

To make the first move, the youngest player goes first.  The spinner is attached in the actual game board, so I love the extra bonus that there is not a chance of it getting lost somewhere or being separated from the game.  Not only do you use the number to count out your spaces, you also used the colors to help pick the color of your chosen sprinkles.  When you land on a +2 for example, you get to spin the spinner twice.  Whatever color it lands on is the sprinkle colors you get.

Love that this is attached within the board itself

So we played a very rousing first game.  My middle child things that it's even better if your mini ponies watch while you play

Luckily the ponies have color coordinated with the game board

We had a blast trying to get to the finish line.  Here's a shot of our completed cupcakes:

So fun and colorful.

How cute.  The most fun I'd say is when you are at the final stopping point trying to collect all your sprinkles so you can move on to the party.  You must stay on that spot and spin until you have all 12 sprinkles.  In the instructions there is a way to make it "harder" for older kids by having them get one sprinkle of each color before they can move on.  Or the younger kids can just put whatever random sprinkles they earn and then move on.  My girls loved placing the sprinkles where they wanted them to complete their "design".

I guess the best sign that it is a good game, is when the girls start teaching it to friends, family, and neighbors. Yesterday they took it outside and taught our neighbor kids how to play. They also took it over to Grandma's house last weekend. 

They almost look good enough to eat!

By the way, we are not getting paid or anything to review this game, we just loved The Cupcake Race so much I wanted to blog about it.  I found it online at toys-r-us (It's usually around $16.99), but it was out of stock in the local stores.  We went on a quest after that to find it.  It was not at Walmart, or Target, but we eventually found it at Fred Meyer.  It was perfect because Fred Meyer was having a 20% off board games sale, so i go the whole thing for around $15 including tax.  

Also I now have major props for this company, want to know why?

Well I knew that with those tiny little sprinkles it was only going to be a matter of time before one of them got lost.  Since you need exactly 12 sprinkles and it comes with exactly 48, a lost sprinkle could make the game not work.  Sure enough two weeks in (and we were being extra careful too) we couldn't find a sprinkle.  I looked on the website and couldn't find a replacement parts order form, so I called the main phone number and the super nice lady at the other end immediately took down my address and sent out a whole bag of sprinkles.  Free.  Free shipping.  Just sent it to me.  I thought that was fabulous.  Now I have an extra set tucked away and can replace a sprinkle here or there as needed.

So there you have it.  It's a game about pretend cupcakes, teaches colors and numbers, and my girls just love it.  Thought I would pass it along.