HGGG - Redakai Play By Play Must Have Toy for This Holiday Season Review

 SpinMaster recently introduced a new RPG card game geared for kids 6 and up that will get them hooked on collecting cards, action figures and game accessories. Here is the story of REDAKAI:
 This is the REDAKAI universe, where good and evil are locked in an intense struggle for the same mysterious energy force: Kairu. In the hands of good, Kairu is a living force that guides the universe. But in the hands of evil, Kairu can be a destructive force unlike anything else. Those who learn to wield this energy become Kairu Warriors, and they aspire to join the ranks of the most powerful Kairu masters: The Redakai.

 Many years ago, a great battle took place between two powerful Redakai masters, Boaddai and Lokar -- a battle that would forever change the fate of the universe. Known today as the Great Cataclysm, the event resulted in the destruction of the planet Nevrod and the scattering of Kairu energy across Earth.

The Redakai of Earth have assigned their most promising warriors to find and collect Kairu energy. Their greatest challenge remains the villainous Lokar, who has assembled his own teams of warriors to find the Kairu before the Redakai. With the fate of the universe at stake, good and evil are put to the ultimate test.

The game of Redakai has two sets of rules, a set of "Basic rules" which plays much like a simple card game where the top card of a deck is flipped face-up to compare powers and another set of rules that utilize the full text on the cards. The cards are made of plastic instead of paper and use a system where several parts of the cards are clear to allow portions of the cards behind them to be revealed, much like the Wizards of the Coast game Hecatomb. The cards also use images created with Lenticular printing.

There are three types of cards: Characters, Monsters, and Attacks. Each player starts the game with three Characters. A player plays monsters on their own characters to change their abilities and defenses and play attacks on top of their opponent's characters in order to damage them. When the three yellow "health bars" on a character are filled in red, that character is knocked out. One must "KO" all three opposing characters to win the game. The game's power source, "Kairu", is how the cards are played in the full game.

I can see me and my son playing this game a lot this winter, though at 10 he is much better at remembering all his cards and powers. We have seen other accessories at the local chain stores so it will be easy to add more items, plus there is a cartoon the kids can watch on TV now.

I received some of the above mentioned products. All opinions are mine own. You can see my full disclosure in the tabs above.