SNAP Review – Color It! – A Coloring Roll and Write

Roll the dice and color in the picture… red, yellow, green, blue, and purple. You’ve got your picture – now Color It!

Listen to the SNAP review in 5 minutes, or read on below.

Game

Color It! is a very simple roll-and-color game, designed by Lena and Günter Burkhardt (who also designed Dragon’s Breath) and published by HABA. This coloring game plays in 10-15 minutes with 2-4 players, ages 4+.

Art

You’re involved in making the art in this game! The coloring sheets are simple, and it’s easy to see the dots for each area to be colored. Artist Sandra Kretzmann added cute characters and vibrantly colored backgrounds that invite players to complete the pictures.

And don’t limit yourself to the included pencils! Why not use markers, or crayons? As long as you can supply the five colors (red, yellow, green, blue, purple), you can color with anything your heart desires. Don’t limit yourself to coloring in solid blocks, either; you can liven up your picture further with patterns!

Mechanics

There are two ways to play Color It! but both involve rolling the dice and choosing a color and number combination to fill in on your player sheet.

In “Paint the World Your Way”, each player takes turns rolling two color dice and one number die. Then they fill in a matching numbered space with one of the colors. There are no other restrictions here (other than taking turns). Once someone has colored in all spaces, they win!

In “Everything You Paint is Colorful”, a player rolls all four dice. Then all players simultaneously choose a combination to color in on their own sheet. But here we have restrictions! Every rainbow stripe or every flower must be a different, single color; with a more connected picture like the house, the same color cannot be used in adjacent spaces. But again, the first player to fill all the spaces on their sheet wins.

Expectations

This is not the first coloring game that Anitra has played. But none of the others have been as straightforward as Color It! I would call it “My First Roll-and-Write”, because it’s exactly what I’d expect from a roll and write that’s appropriate for your littlest gamers.

There’s not much depth here, but there doesn’t need to be. Our only complaint is that it runs a little long for the youngest gamers (who it’s intended for). But you could always stop and pick up again later!

Surprises

We were surprised to see two different variants for this basic coloring game. The simpler “paint the world your way” for younger children is completely luck based, allowing children to win as often as adults. The slightly more complex “everything you paint is colorful” is great to teach children some very basic strategy in choosing dice and locations. No one can run away with the game, but good strategy can allow a player to pull ahead by a turn or two.

Even though the box says 2-4 players, there’s no reason to limit the game to four players, since players can color simultaneously in the more strategic variation. You could even try playing with grandparents or friends over video chat.

This is a great game to help kids calm down; it’s low-stress and low-strategy. This shouldn’t be too surprising, since coloring is something lots of people do as a calming activity. Color It! just gamifies that idea: roll the dice and color.

There’s another surprise! HABA has printable coloring sheets to use with the game, published on their website. Some are in partnership with other publishers and designers, and it’s great to see the variety in artwork they’ve made available. (for example: Honey Buzz, the GenCon dragon, Unicorns from Glitterluck.)

Rating

As an introduction to the roll-and-write genre, or a very laid-back gaming and coloring experience, Color It! shines. We rate it 4 crayons out of 5.

Find Color It! on Amazon or at your local toy and games store.

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The Family Gamers received a copy of Color It! from HABA USA for this review.

This post contains affiliate links, which do not change your price, but help support The Family Gamers.

SNAP review music is Avalanche, provided courtesy of You Bred Raptors?