Shark Bite: a simple game (but with teeth)

“Save your catch before he snaps!”

Family visit alert!!! An occasional series to solve your ‘Help! How will we entertain them?!?’ emergencies.

This one's suitable for: ages 4 and above. For 2-4 players.

Fishing games have a massive tried-and-tested appeal for kids.

So adding a great big shark into the mix was always going to prove popular. A hit amongst the younger age range, Shark Bite is also strangely addictive for us grown-ups…

The first thing you need to know is that Shark Bite is elegantly simple. One big shark, twelve other assorted seafood morsels, one fishing rod and a dice. No batteries, no fiddly parts, and a central mechanism that can be set with one satisfying ‘clunk’.

We always recommend adult supervision with the younger ones, but what this means in practice is that junior fisherpeople can fully enjoy the game with the maximum of independence. Show them how to push the seafood bait into place (which is easy-peasy), press down the unit and that’s it – they’re all ready to play.

Unlike traditional angling-type games everybody gets to see what they’re doing – so Shark Bite generates no bickering about sneaky peeking. And there’s none of those long periods of frustration when the last fish proves elusive.

What you DO get, however, is a big old ‘surprise!!!’ moment as the shark leaps up to bite.

Because of the clever design, this is a leap with some substance – don’t be fooled by the size of the box, as our sharky hero launches himself an impressive height when roused.

Scoring is elementary and it’s a game of chance – so the littlest ones will always get their fair opportunities to celebrate victory.

Set them up, do a quick demonstration, then get the kettle on! Although you might find that it reels you in…