After a failed attempt at dabong!, which led to playing poker instead (my thanks to Abby Ilardi and Marlee Yost-Wolff for their efforts), my dad finally managed to interpret the slightly ambiguous rules of this game, which I greatly appreciated.

There are three sets of rules: beginner, intermediate and master. I only tried the beginners’ rules, but dabong! is a lot like Uno, and therefore not very difficult.

Basically, each player gets eight cards. A draw pile and a discard pile, starting with one card face up, are in the middle. Whoever goes first has to match either the suit or the number, or they can use a wild card. The next player does the same and puts down a card of either the same number or suit.

Some cards have words on them, such as “draw 2,” “reverse,” or “crazy,” which should all be self-explanatory, with the possible exception of “crazy.” A card with the word “crazy” on it is a wild card, where the player can choose the suit, but the number will stay the same.

Dabong! is a good game, but like anything new, this game takes some getting used to. However, if you have played Uno before, this game should not be very complicated. Astute, the maker of this game, recommends dabong! for kids ages 7 and older, which I believe is an appropriate recommendation.

For more information on dabong!, go to astute-games.com. It can be purchased at amazon.com.