ITZI, a Super-Simple, Super-Fast Card Game Named Best Game Night Game Is Sure to Be a Hit with Your Family -- Makes a Great Gift Idea This Holiday Season. (Review)

Disclosure:  I was sent samples from the vendor in exchange for an honest review. All views shared are mine and mine alone.

Last year I shared a review of TENZI, a fun dice game the whole family will enjoy playing during family game nights. 

My girls really enjoyed this game, and we still play it during many Saturday game nights, as it is a quick game, that will have everyone laughing and having so much fun...just be warned, you may find yourselves getting competitive and want to win, or play until you win! :-)

So, when I heard the folks at TENZI released a new super-simple, super-fast game, called ITZI, I had to get my hands on a sample to share with my family.

Here is more about ITZI, which won ASTRA's Best Toys for Kids in the Game Night Category...and after playing it with my family during a recent game night at our house, I can see why! :-)

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How ITZI Came About:

"It’s been a long ride for ITZI.  But then again, it all started with a long ride.

You see Kevin was no fan of extended car trips. So to pass the time he’d call out two letters to his fellow passengers (family and friends who were pretty much a captive audience) and they’d try to be the first to call out the name of a famous person, place or thing with those same two initials.

Kevin tried to turn his simple letter-game into an actual game, but he couldn’t quite get all the pieces to fall into place.  So he tucked the idea away with all his other “yet to be made” game ideas.

Years later, Kevin’s sister, Sheila, was visiting and they dug out the game. Kevin and Sheila realized that playing with just one letter was faster and simpler than with two. And instead of just three categories — person, place, or thing — it was way more fun and crazy with tons of categories. The more, the better!

Meanwhile, in an office far, far away (actually only about 15 miles), Steve had been toying with a letter game of his own, but couldn’t quite bring it around.

Like with TENZI and SLAPZI before, good things happened when Kevin and Steve put their heads together. Pieces fell into place one after the other: gameplay, rules, name. And the final piece was the colorful card design you see now.  (Thanks, Rudy!)

So that’s the long and short of it — the winding road that ITZI took to get here. We hope you enjoy!"

Rules for ITZI

OBJECT

ITZI is all about speed! Be the first to get rid of all five of your letter cards.

SETUP

Everyone is dealt five letter cards. Players should look at BOTH sides of their letter cards, and can either hold their cards in their hands or lay them out on the table.

Place the stack of ITZI cards in the center.

1.  Someone flips over the top ITZI card and puts it in the center for all to read. (Or someone can read it out loud.)

2.  Players quickly look at their letter cards (both front and back) and call out a word that answers the ITZI card and that starts with one of their letters. For example, let’s say the ITZI card reads, “It’z an animal.” If a player has a letter card with a “K” on it, they could call out “kangaroo” and at the same time smack down that letter card on top of the 

Rules for ITZI

OBJECT

ITZI is all about speed! Be the first to get rid of all five of your letter cards.

SETUP

Everyone is dealt five letter cards. Players should look at BOTH sides of their letter cards, and can either hold their cards in their hands or lay them out on the table.

Place the stack of ITZI cards in the center.

1.  Someone flips over the top ITZI card and puts it in the center for all to read. (Or someone can read it out loud.)

2.  Players quickly look at their letter cards (both front and back) and call out a word that answers the ITZI card and that starts with one of their letters. For example, let’s say the ITZI card reads, “It’z an animal.” If a player has a letter card with a “K” on it, they could call out “kangaroo” and at the same time smack down that letter card on top of the 

Rules for ITZI

OBJECT

ITZI is all about speed! Be the first to get rid of all five of your letter cards.

SETUP

Everyone is dealt five letter cards. Players should look at BOTH sides of their letter cards, and can either hold their cards in their hands or lay them out on the table.

Place the stack of ITZI cards in the center.

1.  Someone flips over the top ITZI card and puts it in the center for all to read. (Or someone can read it out loud.)

2.  Players quickly look at their letter cards (both front and back) and call out a word that answers the ITZI card and that starts with one of their letters. For example, let’s say the ITZI card reads, “It’z an animal.” If a player has a letter card with a “K” on it, they could call out “kangaroo” and at the same time smack down that letter card on top of the ITZI card.

(They also could have used the other letters on the card and said, “Tiger!” or “Iguana!” or “Newt!”.)

3.  The first player to call out a correct answer and smack down his/her letter card gets to discard it.

4.  A new ITZI card is flipped over and play continues.

5  The first player to get rid of all five of his/her letter cards wins the game!"

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Doesn't this look like a fun game?  As a homeschooling parent, I am always looking for fun games that get the girls practicing skills like math and spelling, and ITZI is perfect for putting their spelling and logic to the test, as they try to get rid of all their letter cards first, to win.

Both of my girls are competitive and can get upset when they lose. Sometimes they will want to walk away if they are losing. But, when we started to play ITZI, I saw them suggesting other words that could have been played with the card placed, or if they lost, they were quick to want to play again, and were determined to use up all their cards first, and win this time around.

We have been having a blast playing ITZI, and it has really helped my girls with speed and spelling, as they need to know the first letter in words they want to play.

If you loved TENZI, or like games that are not just fun but are educational, then you will want to to check out the new ITZI word game from TENZI.  This award-winning game is sure to be a hit with your family, and one everyone asks for come family game night.

To learn more about ITZI or the other games available from TENZI, head on over to https://ilovetenzi.com today.

Disclosure:  I was sent samples from the vendor in exchange for an honest review. All views shared are mine and mine alone.