There's an understated elegance to Rush Hour, one of the most inspired and intriguing sliding block puzzles we've so far encountered here in the lab at gadgetshop HQ. It's designed to challenge players of all ages, teaching logical progression, problem solving and sequential-thinking skills. And that's just to open the box. This multi award-winning puzzle - and its inventor Nob Yoshigahara - have picked-up no fewer than 21 gongs in the past decade; a surefire testament to its longevity, durability and worldwide appeal. The objective sounds easy in theory. Drive your red car out of the playing grid and escape to freedom. But in order to so, you'll first need to set up the traffic on a game grid to match one of 40 playing cards, then shift all the blocking cars and trucks out of your way. This is more easily said than done, as a clear and transparent set of rules then come into play. To proceed, one simply needs to move one vehicle at a time, in a long sequence of moves designed to free the red car from the logjam and out of the parking lot. All of which will have one scratching one's noggin- and driving one to the web for a solution. Brilliantly infuriating - and infuriatingly brilliant.This captivating game could have been made with London's rush hour in mind. In fact Rush Hour was invented by American games company Binary Arts. In the US it went down a storm, winning various prizes including a national award from Mensa.

The objective of Rush Hour is to move the little red car out of the snarled up traffic gridlock that the game begins with. Rush Hour arrives with 40 challenge cards, which depict various gridlock scenarios to set up your traffic jam to. Use the coloured Troublesome Trucks and Aggravating Autos to reflect the chaos on your particular challenge card. Then all you have to do is move the blocking vehicles up or down on the grid in order to free up the escape route for your own red car. And yet this wonderfully simple concept is enthrallingly more difficult to execute. Who knows, maybe the real London rush hour is easier on the nerves than the Binary Arts version.

The challenge cards themselves offer four different levels of complexity and all solutions are printed on the back.

Yet not only is Rush Hour great fun but it can also boast strong educational benefits, teaching problem solving to children of seven years plus. In the US Rush Hour is used in some primary school maths classes. Even a smart four-year-old will find some reward by trying to replicate the traffic set-up scenario of the challenge cards.

Rush Hour can be enjoyed by one player or various players competing.

Suitable for children from 7 years old and all adults who enjoy an ingenious little challenge.--Victoria Mackenzie

A good gift - A+, 18 Nov 2008
I bought this last year for my then 5 year old son, but my 8 year old daughter enjoyed it more at the time and now they both play it - very good toy - keeps the mind going - even for the adults. Good for keeping them quiet for a while. Very durable - just don't lose any of the cars, (which shouldn't happen if they pack it away in the provided bag). I am now buying 'hoppers' this xmas in the hopes that it brings as much pleasure and quiet time!

Traffic jam, 07 Jan 2008
Bought this for my son for christmas. Thought it might be too difficult for him as he wasn't 5 until end Jan. However after only a little while he could easily do the beginners section! He really enjoys the game and concentrates quite hard whilst doing it! Great game would highly recommend!

A simple concept but great fun, 31 Dec 2007
Based on previous reviews I purchased this as a Christmas present for my 9 year old neice and have to agree with previous comments - this is an excellent toy. It had my neice, her parents and myself captivated for hours as we worked through the levels. Highly recommended.

Great fun for the whole family, 29 Dec 2007
What a great success this Christmas. A simple idea that kept everyone captivated for hours. This is an excellent educational toy for children, working out the strategy of getting the red car out of the grid by moving other cars really gets them thinking. Easy to set up with varying levels of ability suits everyone. My 8 year old can manage the beginner levels, whilst the expert levels keep the adults guessing for hours! Even my 92 year old nan found this enthralling, playing for ages. For the price this is superb value for money. The game itself is superb, buy it - you will not be disappointed.

Fun, makes you think and ideal to travel with, 23 Oct 2007
Like many of the reviewers here I bought this game for a kid's birthday, in this case my 9 year old niece. On the day I spent more time playing it than she did (which she wasn't entirely happy about!).

The game itself consists of a plastic gameboard, the size of a desk calculator, in which there is a drawer holding the puzzle cards. The board and game pieces (around 20 pieces) come in a handy carry bag. You'll need the carry bag to keep everything together neatly, but you don't need to tip the whole contents out to find the pieces you need, since there are not many of them and they are not tiny.

As a side note, since the pieces are not tiny and are brightly coloured you can easily find them if they fall on the ground.

As the playing the game, well it really makes you think and is also very fun. You get a smug feeling of superiority when you finally manage to figure the puzzle out.

The puzzle difficulty ranges from very easy indeed to ferociously difficult. The hardest puzzles had me stumped and I am supposed to be pretty clever! But don't worry, the puzzle cards also have the answers (on the back) so you can figure it out like that if you need to!

Although there are 'only' 60 cards or so, they are easily replayable as you are not going to remember the pemutations of every one.

I recommend this game, fun for all ages, intelligent and easily portable.

I'm already looking forward to visting my brother again so I can have another go...

In this great edition of Trivial Pursuit everyone in the family gets to show off their knowledge and you can be sure that there are plenty of questions to intrigue and entertain whether 10 or 100 With the questions being for both adults and children it means that the playing field really has become equal and so everyone stands a chance Remembering that the player that completes their pie with the various category pieces of pie wins the game Now are you ready to go out there and become a champion

A good gift - A+, 18 Nov 2008
I bought this last year for my then 5 year old son, but my 8 year old daughter enjoyed it more at the time and now they both play it - very good toy - keeps the mind going - even for the adults. Good for keeping them quiet for a while. Very durable - just don't lose any of the cars, (which shouldn't happen if they pack it away in the provided bag). I am now buying 'hoppers' this xmas in the hopes that it brings as much pleasure and quiet time!

Traffic jam, 07 Jan 2008
Bought this for my son for christmas. Thought it might be too difficult for him as he wasn't 5 until end Jan. However after only a little while he could easily do the beginners section! He really enjoys the game and concentrates quite hard whilst doing it! Great game would highly recommend!

A simple concept but great fun, 31 Dec 2007
Based on previous reviews I purchased this as a Christmas present for my 9 year old neice and have to agree with previous comments - this is an excellent toy. It had my neice, her parents and myself captivated for hours as we worked through the levels. Highly recommended.

Great fun for the whole family, 29 Dec 2007
What a great success this Christmas. A simple idea that kept everyone captivated for hours. This is an excellent educational toy for children, working out the strategy of getting the red car out of the grid by moving other cars really gets them thinking. Easy to set up with varying levels of ability suits everyone. My 8 year old can manage the beginner levels, whilst the expert levels keep the adults guessing for hours! Even my 92 year old nan found this enthralling, playing for ages. For the price this is superb value for money. The game itself is superb, buy it - you will not be disappointed.

Fun, makes you think and ideal to travel with, 23 Oct 2007
Like many of the reviewers here I bought this game for a kid's birthday, in this case my 9 year old niece. On the day I spent more time playing it than she did (which she wasn't entirely happy about!).

The game itself consists of a plastic gameboard, the size of a desk calculator, in which there is a drawer holding the puzzle cards. The board and game pieces (around 20 pieces) come in a handy carry bag. You'll need the carry bag to keep everything together neatly, but you don't need to tip the whole contents out to find the pieces you need, since there are not many of them and they are not tiny.

As a side note, since the pieces are not tiny and are brightly coloured you can easily find them if they fall on the ground.

As the playing the game, well it really makes you think and is also very fun. You get a smug feeling of superiority when you finally manage to figure the puzzle out.

The puzzle difficulty ranges from very easy indeed to ferociously difficult. The hardest puzzles had me stumped and I am supposed to be pretty clever! But don't worry, the puzzle cards also have the answers (on the back) so you can figure it out like that if you need to!

Although there are 'only' 60 cards or so, they are easily replayable as you are not going to remember the pemutations of every one.

I recommend this game, fun for all ages, intelligent and easily portable.

I'm already looking forward to visting my brother again so I can have another go...

No longer available from Amazon, 27 Dec 2007
I ordered this version because I already have the 2006 edition, which is what I received. After a few emails, a replacement order was sent. I was let down again as they had, for a second time, sent the same wrong item. I have now asked for a courier collection for both wrong items and a refund. Unfortunately, Amazon have listed both the 2001 and the 2006 edition with the exact same name "Trivial Pursuit Family Edition". So to recap, if you want this 2001 edition, don't buy it from Amazon, because you won't get it! Note, my ratings are for the item itself, not Amazon's incompetency.

Brilliant General Knowledge Game, 18 Apr 2007
Trivial Pursuit was a very educational game good for general knowledge, sports , geography and the arts. I first learnt about Zsa Zsa Gabor's famous phrase 'I would never hate a man so much to give him back his diamonds' from this very game. I had some classic duels with my dad (a controversial 7-6 loss some 18 years ago) and it provided me with hours of pleasure that I hope to transfer to future generations.This game hasn't aged ; maybe the questions but you do get refresher packs for that (do you ?).

Just my style, 09 Jan 2006
I had actually played this version at a friends house and bought it because playing the original version was just a little too hard. The original version drags out for a long time if the questions are not great. This family version is ideal for a more relaxed game. We play it by going round the board answering the kids questions (cos they are not exactly for kids) and for a piece of pie we used the adult questions. Much better, and more fun. Feels much more satisfying when you get around the board answering questions than just dodging them all the time.

But for a famliy version, the questions were fairly hard for the kids, in that respect, it was not great. More for adults who weren't born to attend the NASA programme.

Very disappointing, 04 Jan 2006
As a trivial pursuit fan I was looking forward to being able to play with all ages, and I have to say the questions worked well with a 10 year old, but there were nowhere near enough questions - we had questions twice just in our first game - extremely frustrating and very disappointing. 200 cards each of adult/child is obviously nowhere near enough, and this is not a cheap version either.

disappointed, 26 Dec 2005
I bought this for a big family with range of ages. When we'd played an older version the kids cards were much easier and had multiple choice options - this allowed 9 year olds to play against mum and dad. This version, however, doesn't offer multiple choice and the 'kids' questions (specified for under 14-year olds) are just too hard! My 12 and 14 year olds can't answer them, much less the 10 year olds. Very disappointing Christmas evening trying to play this and kids getting frustrated.

The 3 minute word game with 4 x 4 and 5 x 5 word grids. Featuring electronic timer, which lights up when your time is up. For 1+ players.

A good gift - A+, 18 Nov 2008
I bought this last year for my then 5 year old son, but my 8 year old daughter enjoyed it more at the time and now they both play it - very good toy - keeps the mind going - even for the adults. Good for keeping them quiet for a while. Very durable - just don't lose any of the cars, (which shouldn't happen if they pack it away in the provided bag). I am now buying 'hoppers' this xmas in the hopes that it brings as much pleasure and quiet time!

Traffic jam, 07 Jan 2008
Bought this for my son for christmas. Thought it might be too difficult for him as he wasn't 5 until end Jan. However after only a little while he could easily do the beginners section! He really enjoys the game and concentrates quite hard whilst doing it! Great game would highly recommend!

A simple concept but great fun, 31 Dec 2007
Based on previous reviews I purchased this as a Christmas present for my 9 year old neice and have to agree with previous comments - this is an excellent toy. It had my neice, her parents and myself captivated for hours as we worked through the levels. Highly recommended.

Great fun for the whole family, 29 Dec 2007
What a great success this Christmas. A simple idea that kept everyone captivated for hours. This is an excellent educational toy for children, working out the strategy of getting the red car out of the grid by moving other cars really gets them thinking. Easy to set up with varying levels of ability suits everyone. My 8 year old can manage the beginner levels, whilst the expert levels keep the adults guessing for hours! Even my 92 year old nan found this enthralling, playing for ages. For the price this is superb value for money. The game itself is superb, buy it - you will not be disappointed.

Fun, makes you think and ideal to travel with, 23 Oct 2007
Like many of the reviewers here I bought this game for a kid's birthday, in this case my 9 year old niece. On the day I spent more time playing it than she did (which she wasn't entirely happy about!).

The game itself consists of a plastic gameboard, the size of a desk calculator, in which there is a drawer holding the puzzle cards. The board and game pieces (around 20 pieces) come in a handy carry bag. You'll need the carry bag to keep everything together neatly, but you don't need to tip the whole contents out to find the pieces you need, since there are not many of them and they are not tiny.

As a side note, since the pieces are not tiny and are brightly coloured you can easily find them if they fall on the ground.

As the playing the game, well it really makes you think and is also very fun. You get a smug feeling of superiority when you finally manage to figure the puzzle out.

The puzzle difficulty ranges from very easy indeed to ferociously difficult. The hardest puzzles had me stumped and I am supposed to be pretty clever! But don't worry, the puzzle cards also have the answers (on the back) so you can figure it out like that if you need to!

Although there are 'only' 60 cards or so, they are easily replayable as you are not going to remember the pemutations of every one.

I recommend this game, fun for all ages, intelligent and easily portable.

I'm already looking forward to visting my brother again so I can have another go...

No longer available from Amazon, 27 Dec 2007
I ordered this version because I already have the 2006 edition, which is what I received. After a few emails, a replacement order was sent. I was let down again as they had, for a second time, sent the same wrong item. I have now asked for a courier collection for both wrong items and a refund. Unfortunately, Amazon have listed both the 2001 and the 2006 edition with the exact same name "Trivial Pursuit Family Edition". So to recap, if you want this 2001 edition, don't buy it from Amazon, because you won't get it! Note, my ratings are for the item itself, not Amazon's incompetency.

Brilliant General Knowledge Game, 18 Apr 2007
Trivial Pursuit was a very educational game good for general knowledge, sports , geography and the arts. I first learnt about Zsa Zsa Gabor's famous phrase 'I would never hate a man so much to give him back his diamonds' from this very game. I had some classic duels with my dad (a controversial 7-6 loss some 18 years ago) and it provided me with hours of pleasure that I hope to transfer to future generations.This game hasn't aged ; maybe the questions but you do get refresher packs for that (do you ?).

Just my style, 09 Jan 2006
I had actually played this version at a friends house and bought it because playing the original version was just a little too hard. The original version drags out for a long time if the questions are not great. This family version is ideal for a more relaxed game. We play it by going round the board answering the kids questions (cos they are not exactly for kids) and for a piece of pie we used the adult questions. Much better, and more fun. Feels much more satisfying when you get around the board answering questions than just dodging them all the time.

But for a famliy version, the questions were fairly hard for the kids, in that respect, it was not great. More for adults who weren't born to attend the NASA programme.

Very disappointing, 04 Jan 2006
As a trivial pursuit fan I was looking forward to being able to play with all ages, and I have to say the questions worked well with a 10 year old, but there were nowhere near enough questions - we had questions twice just in our first game - extremely frustrating and very disappointing. 200 cards each of adult/child is obviously nowhere near enough, and this is not a cheap version either.

disappointed, 26 Dec 2005
I bought this for a big family with range of ages. When we'd played an older version the kids cards were much easier and had multiple choice options - this allowed 9 year olds to play against mum and dad. This version, however, doesn't offer multiple choice and the 'kids' questions (specified for under 14-year olds) are just too hard! My 12 and 14 year olds can't answer them, much less the 10 year olds. Very disappointing Christmas evening trying to play this and kids getting frustrated.

Worth every penny!, 18 Mar 2008
A great game that stretches the brain and encourages healthy competition. By no means just for the children. The universal appeal of the game, simplicity and quality of the unit make Super Boggle a worthy buy. Get one now!

Concentration Please!!, 28 Feb 2005
My daughter received this toy/game for Christmas and I can honestly say the adults enjoyed this more than the kids! The unit is much better than the previous version as there are 2 platforms in which the letters sit. The side with more letters are better for the kids as they can spot more words.
A simple shake of the unit to jiggle the letters up activates the battery powered timer...saves the bother of someone watching an egg timer!!
After 3 minutes the unit constantly flashes to inform players that the time is up.
Educationally this is pleasing. It certainly enhances those literature skills especially for children (although not particularly KS1 ages). The unit is fairly compact and not too bulky either therefore it's easily stored away when not in use.
Just be careful not to lose any of the cubed letters!!
8 out of 10.