If you are a regular reader of the The Strawberry Fountain then you will know that as a family we are huge lovers of board games and often enjoy a good games night or Sunday afternoon gaming session. We are also lucky enough that we get the opportunity to review new games on a regular basis and this week we have been playing the Frenetic game. You can read our full review below.
What is the Frenetic game?
FReneTiC is a word game for ages 8 and over. It is similar to other word games in that you have to create words from given letters, however, the main difference is that with Frenetic you are creating words from the letters or symbols of the periodic table and that the score is calculated by adding up the atomic numbers of symbols. The other difference between this and most other word creating games is that this one is played against the clock so it becomes a fast paced, quick thinking game and the longer the round goes on the more letters and symbols you can use to create words.
Our Frenetic game review
When I first read the description and the instructions I was worried this was going to be too complex and confusing but it is easier to understand than I expected. Once you get going it seems to make sense, however it does require a lot of concentration and certainly isn’t a game you want to play after a few drinks as the maths scores for each word can go quite high and you need to make sure you use the letters in the order they appear on the tiles if the symbol has more than one letter.
One of my concerns when we got this game was that we would need to know the periodic table in detail, which I don’t, however you don’t need to as the symbols and atomic numbers are on the pieces for you to see. You do however, need to be able to spell and count quickly in order to play.
This game can be played by individuals going head to head or by teams. personally I think that if some of the players are 8-9 then teams is better as although most 8-9 year olds can spell to a high level the way some of the letters are in twos does make it harder to create words and also the added pressure of the time limit can make them frustrated too but for those over 10 I think playing head to head would be more fun.
Overall, I love the concept of this game and I love how educational it is. As as well as the obvious support it offers for spelling it also subconsciously improves your knowledge of the periodic table and the atomic elements which will be really helpful for high school aged children. However I don’t think it can necessarily be classed as fun game. We didn’t sit there laughing and joking like we normally do during our games nights and we all really had to really concentrate with a couple of us getting annoyed on more than one occasion. If you are looking for educational fun the I would recommend this but if you are looking for light hearted family games then I would recommend you check out our list best family games of all time instead for some inspiration.