Turtle Splash Dexterity Game Overview

I bet you’ve been wondering where we’ve been lately. We’ve been super busy with Scott working on game designs (his latest game, boop., won a Mensa Select Award as well as an American Tabletop Award!) and me volunteering my time on the GAMA Board of Directors. For those who aren’t familiar with the organization, GAMA (The Game Manufacturers Association) is the trade association for the game industry which just had it’s annual trade show a couple weeks ago. We’ve also been traveling a lot to conventions like TantrumCon and Great Plains Game Festival and a few others. It’s been hectic, but great for our mental health.

But one thing that attending conventions does is it helps ensure we’re actually getting to play games. With the girls now college-aged, they spend the bulk of the year away from home and the balance using our home as a base of operations between seeing friends and part time jobs. They aren’t around to play so we make our own opportunities. One game we recently played was Turtle Splash! from Lucky Duck Games. Ironically, it was while the girls were home for break!

I originally had a chance to play this at one of the conventions last summer. The artwork is super cute and despite looking like a children’s game, it’s actually fun for adults that enjoy dexterity games. Not convinced? Let me walk you through it. Setup is simple: assemble the river and lake, placing them in the center of the table with turtle and swim ring tokens nearby. Shuffle the animal tiles then create a face-down 3×4 grid. Each player takes a personal board then places a ball token on the first space of each row.

Turtle Splash is a game about hide-and-seek. All the animals in the jungle are hiding and the turtle slides down the river, splashing along in hopes of revealing their location. On a player’s turn, they’ll flick the Turtle down the river toward the center of the lake.

Depending on where the turtle lands, the player will flip 1, 2 or 3 animal tiles. The center of the lake awards three, along the edge of the lake is two and failure to make it there results in one.

For each revealed animal that matches the next animal on the active player’s board, they move the beach ball one space to cover that animal. If they’re unable to match any animals, they receive a swim ring token. This allows them to flip one additional tile on their next turn.

The first player to finish all three rows on their personal board wins. It’s part memory game, part dexterity. It’s one of those games that’s fun to give your brain a break between more complex titles. Since it’s labeled as being appropriate for ages 5-9, I’ll refrain from commenting on how humorous it is when children have gone to bed and adult beverages are involved. Turtle Splash is only about a 15 minute game so it’s a great opportunity for parents to play without feeling bored. Turtle Splash is one of the many titles by Lucky Duck Games that’s making a splash. Their TikTok content is a lot of fun, but you can also get information about upcoming games and promotions by following them on other social channels like Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. If you’re ready to add this one to your game arsenal, ask your local game store about availability or order direct from the publisher’s website.

What types of games do you enjoy playing with the younger gamers in your life?