Guest Author - Lynn Little

Ages 5 and up

Players 2 to 4

Playing Time 20 minutes or less

The folks at Briarpatch have a series of fun 'I Spy' games that will test your scanning and reflex skills. I Spy Seeing Doubles is a simple game that can help develop memory skills and visual scanning skills.

To play the game, first shuffle the 48 card deck. Then deal out all cards to all players. Players then place their cards face down in a pile in front of them. Either place one card face up in front of you or two if at least 3 people are playing the game. Then roll the action die.

The action die has three possibilities of how the turn will be played. Basically you will be looking for objects on your cards or on your friend's cards. Next it's time to roll the four picture dice.

Now you are ready to find common objects. Look on your cards for objects that are depicted on the dice. When you find an object, remove the card and place it in your discard pile. Replace it with another one. Your turn is over when you can find no more matches. The player who has the most cards wins the game.

I Spy Seeing Doubles is a fast card game that can be a lot of fun especially when you are able to look for objects on all of the cards. It also can be a good learning tool for kids since they will be developing skills that will help them with reading. Scanning skills and memory skills are something we use when we read.

Even younger kids might enjoy this one, provided their attention span will hold up. If trying to play with younger children, play with half as many cards or play until someone collects five cards. That's really the joy of playing card games is to have fun even it means making your own house rules to fit the situation.