Clarendon Games Cake Stacker - Fast-Paced Card Game for Family Fun - Cake Cards - Ideal for 2 to 4 Players - Quick to Learn, 20 Minutes Playtime - Race to Stack Your Way to Victory!

I got this primarily for my wife who loves these sort of games but also for the rest of the family to play over Christmas.The first thing to say is that the game rules are very tough to follow from the supplied instructions. I read and re-read, then got a cup of tea and re-read and only now do I think I've got it... I hope. I've tried to decipher them below but will deal with the what you get first.The game is supplied in a nice little box and inside you have a printed A4 instruction sheet and the pack of circular cards. The cards feel good quality - on a par with an average deck of playing cards.In conclusion, (and if I'm right about the rules!), it looks like it will be a pretty frantic game when we do play it. I've a feeling the points system may be too complicate for the younger members of my family so we may just do it on who finishes first or who has the most completed cakes.MY TAKE ON THE INSTRUCTIONSEffectively you have up to four players. Each player picks a specific deck of cards with a kitchen tool printed on one side - Player 1 Piping Bag, Player Two Wooden Spoon, Player 3 Whisk and Player 4 Rolling pIn.Each player shuffles their own deck of cards before laying 4 cards out in front of them. Now when everyone is ready, everyone starts turning over their own deck of cards. If they reveal a "starting card" (an empty plate with the cake name - eg Red Velvet), they stick that card in the centre of the table. Now everyone can start to layer up that specific cake if they have either the correct sequential layer card in the 4 cards in front of them, or if they have turned over the correct layer from their deck.The person who puts the finished crumb cake plate on top of a completed cake wins that specific cake pile. You can keep four exposed cards in front of you so if you use one of them you can replenish it from the ones you are turning over.The game ends when a player gets through all of their deck of cards. You will then need to make sure you have a pen and paper ready to tally up the scores.- The player who finished first gets 10 points.- If you have won a complete cake from the centre of the table during play you get 5 points per cake you've won.- Finally you must deduct however many cards you still have left from the amount you have placed in the centre. You start with 24 cards so deduct how many you have left in your hand from 24 and that is how many additional points you get.Whoever has the most points, wins that round. You then play again and it's first to three rounds that is the overall winner..... I think.

I was quite excited to try this game as I thought it will be nice game to play with family and friends but then I read the instructions and I didn’t quite understand how are you supposed to play it. I get it to the part where it says you have to go through your stack of cards but I don’t know if the game ends when everybody’s gone through that stack of cards or you get to continue using you stack of cards again and again till one of you finishes and has none in his hand. It is a bit confusing.Also the images of the cake are nice but you kind of struggle to realize which layer goes first and which layer goes next. So maybe a number would have been great to be placed on the card as well so on the first layer you should have a one and on the second layer you should have a two and so on.May be fun to play if you make up your own rules and try it that way. Might be fun playing with kids

Cake Stacker from Clarendon Games is a game for 2-4 players. There are basically four decks of 24 cards, each player having one deck, and the aim of the game is to stack cards to build layer cakes. The instructions suggest playing three rounds to decide on the winner. A round stops when someone has laid all of the cards in their hand. The cards are colourful and the high quality with a nice cardboard box that doesn't take up too much room in the cupboard.I do have a couple of issues with the game though. The first is that it's a bit of a free-for-all where players don't take turns but instead have to use 'work piles' to lay their cards from. Whilst this is not an issue, if a player is not as used to the game as others, they will be at a disadvantage and go slower at laying cards than the others. However, played as a family this game can be quite fun. The scoring system leaves something to be desired because it seems more complex than it needs to be. Lastly, there seems to be an instruction missing from the instruction leaflet regarding what to do if you cannot lay a card on your work pile or one of the cake stacks in the middle. I have assumed that in such an instance, you put that card at the back of your deck and draw another but it could equally well be that if you can't lay a card, then you have to wait for another player to lay a card on a cake stack that allows you to lay your card.Overall, it's a fun little card game and without the box it's very compact for travelling (just a deck of 96 round cards).

The media could not be loaded. This is an easy enough game but I have added a twist.I am using this is class (home economics) and in order for the pupils to place a card down they have to answer a question. The winner is the one who uses all their cards.Great game for the whole family.

I was hoping this could be a fun game that my family might relax with but two facts actually made it stressful for us to play.First, some of the instructions on how to play are unclear. For example, do you make one discarded pile from your stockpile or just lay those extra cards anywhere not on your work piles? If the goal is to move all of your stockpile and workpils into the center why does the game end when one player simply exhausts their stockpile?Second, this is a free-for-all style of game, not turn based. Yes, that makes it fast-paced but that is often stressful for our family to play. Since our goal when we play games is to have fun, not to feel stressed, this was a turnoff immediately for one family member. We won't be playing again.