Continent Race Geography Educational Board Game for Kids, Tweens, Family, Friends, Teachers and Classrooms - Learn About Flags & Countries Around The World

I bought this game because I'm presently pandemic homeschooling (hoping to stay on track to rejoin but also not aspiring to not flex or find new possibilities in the different). In the fall we explored the United States and used a magnetic puzzle as a gentle/friendly introduction to the terms and topic. As a single working parent of one twice exceptional 6th grader I liked favoring a tool my kid could explore solo, we could play with together, and that sparked next steps in knowledge and research. I remember, very fondly, learning my states and capitals via my mother's childhood USA puzzle--that I felt very powerful figuring out the information using the puzzle--and I think my child had this kind of experience playing to learn with our magnetic puzzle. This spring, my child's school is exploring explorers/world history and so I went looking online for a world puzzle :) initially imagining we could just shift the pattern we had if I bought a new map. Unfortunately :) it's not really that easy. While there are lovely world map puzzles of a variety of prices and detail, none I found was really a textbook page made tactile. The more affordable detailed pieces fit badly together or had reviews that noted several inaccuracies. The fancy puzzle $50 puzzle you can find on Amazon has very concerning shipping damage reviews. It's hard to make a world puzzle--there are a lot of countries, the countries are not entirely a stable/settled configuration, and scale is a challenge...too big and it's a floor puzzle, too small and it's a continent tool. I ended up buying two things from Amazon to try--a world geo puzzle, not a bad size/ok quality/something to put together--and this game. I really liked the video reviews on Amazon that explained how to play the game--I think I was really sold via being able to see how the game worked and the quality of the items included. I liked the seller email I got that followed up on my purchase by letting me know about the videos and letting me know what to do if there was shipping damage. We opened up the game and played a first round right after our shipment arrived this evening and I find myself so pleased/with exactly what I was looking for that I had to write a review. Every piece is well printed on quality tagboard/cardboard. The gameboard is a beautiful color coded world map--legible, accessible, the right detail level for a middle schooler, ready to be used in many ways. The cards come with little bands (a nice touch) and might be used a stand alone flashcards (they have flag, country, capital). The notebook sized continent cards have abc list of the countries on one side and a clear labeled map of the continent on the other side. I love that there is easy increasing difficulty (and clear eventual speed and skill). We can work cooperatively to figure out which continent the countries we have are from/where the countries are on the map/to find the countries in the abc list. But we also could be rather competitive once we know which countries make a set. Though there is a lot of initially unfamiliar content in the game, the game does not take too long to play and nothing unfamiliar feels frustrating. You are invited to learn country X exists, has a capital/flag, is here on the map, and has a relationship with these other countries. I love the orange cards/extension pieces and the way that feature gives a questions for the whole group piece to the play. This game was a great ordering experience, is a high quality product, and delivers the inspiring teaching tool ground I need to introduce the world to my child in ways that meet her where she is/represent the complexity of the world/ethnicity/nation (something that is important to me as someone who teaches nation to college students :)).

**UPDATE: The game has been updated since my original review. Byron's Games sent me a free copy of the new version to thank me for my original review (see below). I don't live at the same address (where they sent it) so I can't speak to the new version but I can definitely speak to the company having great customer service and really believing in their product. We're still using our original game two years later. I highly recommend Continent Race and Byron's Games! Our family loves this game. I have a degree in Geography and I wanted to share my love of the world and its cultures with my children. But, learning Geography starts with the basics of knowing where everything is before you can understand how environments and the people who reside there interact, and how conflicts arise from that. I wish I'd had this game to prepare for my location tests in college; studying would have been a lot more fun. Keep in mind that this game is NOT a mindless entertainment game. If you're not interested in learning Geography, this game will be tedious. Pros: -A fun way to learn world Geography for anyone old enough to read (Geography quizzes are not always fun and that's the best alternative to this game.) -Great instructions and decent construction of the game materials. -Great for classroom or homeschool learning. -Different levels are built in for varying skill levels (my nine-year-old loves the challenge of the orange mystery cards.) Cons: -World Geography is continually changing so this game could be outdated in a few years. (An app version is in development and would manage this problem) -It was VERY thoughtful that they included plastic bands to put around and store the cards but an earth-friendly compostable alternative would be better. -Our biggest disappointment was that the country information on the cards is too basic. The flags are great but they could at least include capitals too. (We will probably write the capitals on the cards ourselves.) -Although there are increasing skill levels we felt we weren't challenged enough and the game ended too soon (but I guess that's partially a pro because we didn't want it to end!)

I bought this game to use in my homeschool co-op to help us learn world geography this year. When I got an email from the seller thanking me for buying her son's game, I was suddenly skeptical of what I had ordered. (I feared it would be rinky-dink, poor quality.) But when the game arrived and opened it, I was VERY impressed! The quality of the product is surprisingly high and is very sturdy, and I am confident that it will hold up for a whole year of classroom use! The rules are written clearly and easy to understand. I like the challenge element that is included. (We plan to use it for upper elementary, MS, and HS classes.) I think the way the "suits" are thought out was clever and cute. (Olympic rings) The explanation for disputed countries was good and helpful. The whole game is impressively thought out and thorough! I only gave it 4 stars simply because we haven't played it yet, but so far it looks great and will update my review after we've played it.

Our entire family loved playing this game this weekend. More importantly, my restless 8 year old loved it. It was a lot of fun and even the adults learned which continents various countries are. A well designed game that's good value for your money.

What a fun and low stress game for the whole family! This educational game teaches young and old all about the countries of the world. The boards and cards are bright and colorful and easy to understand. My 8 year old LOVED playing this game and left it out tonight so he can play again tomorrow morning. My 5 year old liked to match the country name on her card to the large continent cards. Perfect to practice her reading and budding geography skills. Absolutely buying a few more games to give to my children's school for rainy day classroom activities and for gifts.

This game rapidly became my 7 year old niece’s favorite. She quickly learned some new country names and locations. She rapidly identified those she has visited and within a few weeks beat the adults who were playing. She even “helps” correct errors by other adult players.

I'm going to echo the reviewer who said "The game doesn't even use the maps included. You use only the cards to match colors." This was not what I expected. It is a nice, quality game but the point of it is to collect sets of four color matching cards and one set of two. It was so confusing to start because I thought there must be more to it, but no. The map and continent/country lists are completely superfluous from the game. My toddler likes it, so we're keeping it, but it is not really worth the $35 cost. Kudos that a portion goes to charity but this game is 1.5-2 times more expensive than other quality learning games such as those from Peaceable Kingdom. To make the game better we study all the countries on the map and go over the flag and capital. I really wish I had better things to say about it. If you're on the fence, skip.

I got this game for my 12 year old who hates school but loves social studies and history. We did end up watching the instructional video to get going, but after that we were off and running. It’s a fantastic game for kids and adults. I can truly say I enjoy every minute of play and we’ve played for hours and hours since we got it. We’ve played with Grandpa, too, who was a history major like mom and he was stumped several times by some of the new, disputed nations. Highly recommended. You can’t go wrong with this purchase. I just wish there were more games from this company.

Petfect way to learn capitals and flags just playing

My son loves it!

Not as challenging as we had hoped, but still a fun game. A great way to learn more about geography

Fun game

This is a great game for the young geography lover. The game is really simplistic but the cards offer more educational opportunities with Capital cities and populations.