Modifying Kinder Bunnies

[kaceyp]

I am teaching my 4 year old Kinder Bunnies and she loves it!
I was thinking of teaching her that hte Specials (water, cabbage) can be saved.
Woudl that mess the game up?

[fifisdead]

If she can grasp it I can't imagine it would mess it up at all.

[kaceyp]

Okay, great. I was afraid that there was too much cabbage/water in the decks and the FTB cards would be too easy to beat if you saved them.

[geekybunnyguy]

We modify it a lot, but the only child old enough to play it is almost 3, and she can't really hold four cards in her hand anyway, so we had to modify it.

In fact, we modify most games a lot right now. Still, it definitely is playable, even at 2 1/2. I went ahead and read the killer bunnies rules (although I do not yet have the game, the rules are online). I tend to watch her and modify the rules so she can enjoy the game. I'll add in rules at the appropriate time "Should we add a new rule today?"

Right now, she really likes bunnies, which is why I bought the game in the first place. However, she is not happy about bunnies being discarded. Thus, when presented with a safety hazard, she has to find the right number on the die, so that her bunny is "safe" and does not have to go to the doctor (ie, the discard pile). I also only tend to play "feed the bunny" cards on people who already have the appropriate card (which the bunny then "eats all of it", so we have to discard it), or the feed the bunny card gets discarded.

As she is only two, she doesn't hold any cards in her hand. Since imaginary friends tend to play too (the whale, the shark, the mermaid), having all cards face up helps her be less confused. So we just draw and play the top card on the deck. Less competitive that way, but at this age, it is all about cooperating, not competing. I do use the "magic carrot" idea to see who won, but I don't think she cares, and we often don't get all the carrots taken before she is finished anyway. The point is to play with the cards, not to win.

I think I'll introduce the "run" idea from the adult game at some time. I don't see why it can't work in KinderBunnies. It's cool.

She actually likes playing with the small carrot cards, so we use those to play and the big ones to determine the "magic carrot". Which brings up an interesting modification. Stick a few (or most, or even all but one) of the carrots in the regular deck. You can either turn them face up when you get them, or only the person drawing can see them, and you can either keep them around or immediately put them on the carrot deck so you have to remember what carrots are used.

We tend to have the carrots cost less, because she can't add to 10 yet (she can't really add to three, even, but she has a better chance if she has to use less fingers). We also can control the length of the game by removing cards, or merely by removing carrots, because after all the carrots are taken, the game ends. She likes some of the yellow cards, so I'm probably going to make my own deck soon (some of the yellow cards would be quite confusing, but she really likes the deep water hazard, and the safety skunk).

So make up your own rules. Try them out. Game modification (and deck modification) is as much fun as playing. Change them as your kids get older. Eventually, you could end up playing Killer Bunnies, just without the violence inherit in the adult game (until your kids become old enough to like it, then you can add the killer bunnies cards if you want). Right now, the idea of bunnies dying is not good, but we can enjoy the game anyway.

Anyone have any other interesting modifications?

[OMFGitsVico]

I don't have Kinder Bunnies, nor do I have kids, but those are definitely great modifications, geeky!

[jjlwb]

My Daughter and my partners daughter are 5 and 4 and i think mods to to rules are fine if they're still enjoying the game and also by modifeing the game you preping the next generation of killer bunnies players which is always a good thing in my book

[JEBANVIL]

I love modifying the game for youngsters to play, my little cousins love the game and ask me to bring it all the time, and I have to make it so they all can play