Published by Minikin Games on behalf of the charity Absafe, Splash Safe is a simple game for children designed to teach and encourage water safety. It uses a mix of party and trivia game mechanics to raise children's awareness of safety issues while playing a light competitive game for 2-6 players, or more if organised into teams.
The game is played on a grid of initially face-down tiles laid out in a 6 x 6 grid. You can try other layouts but, for us, the 6 x 6 grid seemed to work best. In addition to a pawn that each turn you move one tile orthogonally or diagonally, players each have 15 counters. On your turn, having moved to an adjacent tile, you flip the tile you just left. If it's a trivia tile, you have to answer a trivia question (it'll either be a 'true or false' question or multiple choice) and you get to place one of your counters on the tile if you answer correctly. The questions all relate to aspects of water safety so players are likely to learn by playing.
If the flipped tile shows it's a 'task', the player has to draw a task card and carry out the indicated task in the 30 seconds or so as timed by a sand timer. These vary from mimes to tongue twisters to physical exercise tasks. Children will find most of them quite easy but they help to punctuate the game and so retain players' attention. As with the trivia cards, successfully completing a task lets you place out one of your counters.
Finally there are cards that, when flipped, require a player to find the matching picture; so, for example, a picture of a bare foot that's stepped on some broken glass calls for you to find the First Aid Kit. It isn't just the player whose turn it is who can claim the pair - it's whoever spots it first and calls out 'Safe!' . If the requisite tile is already out (once flipped, tiles are always left face up) this aspect of the game becomes a variant of the familiar card game Snap. If the card hasn't yet been revealed, then players need to be alert so that they are first to spot the pair and call 'Safe!' when it does get revealed.
Tho' flipping tiles in a grid can be fiddly and Jeremy Varcl's design isn't going to win any awards for novel game play, Splash Safe is nonetheless an easy-to-play game that children will enjoy and which has useful educational content. As well as a family game, we can see Splash Safe having a role in primary schools or among Cub Scout and Brownie groups.
Shown here on Board's Eye View is a preview prototype of Splash Safe. The game is due to come to Kickstarter in September and all profits will go to educating UK school pupils about safety.