Unicorn Glitterluck: The Best Board Games for Unicorn Lovers
If you take a quick glance at our family board game collection, it’s easy to spot our HABA collection. HABA is well known for their bright yellow packaging on their family games, and they certainly stick out among a crowd. But there’s actually one HABA property in particular that foregoes the traditional yellow box – and trades it in for a handsome, loud, bright pink.
I’m talking, of course, about Unicorn Glitterluck – HABA’s brilliant series of board games that were obviously designed after direct consultation with my 3-year-old daughter during a sugar-induced fever dream.
Our daughter is quite inexplicably a gigantic fan of unicorns, princesses, pink things, sparkles, and things that twirl. I don’t know how or why, but they speak to her on a visceral level and make her extremely happy.
Suffice it to say, all of the games in the Unicorn Glitterluck series are very big hits in our house – and not just with our daughter either. We don’t refer to them as her games by any means. It just so happens that they are all particularly special to her, and they are some of her very favorite board games of all time. But it’s also important to note that we all love playing the Unicorn Glitterluck games with her – including her 7-year-old brother.
I think that’s very much worth pointing out to anyone who’s wondering if their family would enjoy these games, because I deeply detest the still-popularly-held belief that pink is for girls. If you’re a regular reader, you may have already read my thoughts on the danger of that line of thinking in my article on the awesome book Pink is for Boys. Long story short, don’t let anybody else tell you what you’re allowed to love. These great family games are for all young fans of unicorns.
And they’re also spectacular introductions to board games in general. One of the games made our list of the best board games for 3-year-olds, and another will most certainly be on our list of best board games for 4-year-olds. The pink, sparkly unicorn theme is obviously a big part of the appeal – but they’re also very well-made and well-designed games.
It goes without saying that the components you’ll find inside all of the Unicorn Glitterluck games are top notch – seeing as we’re talking about HABA, which is well known for wonderful wooden game pieces. You’ll also find that plastic pink crystals are another common theme in the Unicorn Glitterluck universe – and both kids are quite impressed by them.
There’s been a total of 5 Unicorn Glitterluck board games published - 3 in the US - and hopefully many more to come. Each one was designed by Kristin Mückel and illustrated by Stephanie Roehe. Their bright pink boxes definitely stand out just as much as their yellow counterparts on our shelf, and it honestly makes them feel pretty special since HABA deviated from tradition for them.
Personally, I’m hoping that future games in the series continue to provide a wide range of style and complexity – so our kids can continue to grow along with them. But what we have now is already enough to endear them to our hearts.
Below you’ll find a closer look at all three of the games in the Unicorn Glitterluck universe published in the US – listed in no particular order. They all feel like stepping stones in a way to us, and also represent very different genres of games – so it’s difficult for us to choose a favorite or a top recommendation. But hopefully we can help you decide which one might be the right choice to start with for the little unicorn fans in your house.
Unicorn Glitterluck: Cloud Crystals (2014)
Cloud Crystals recently made our list of the best board games for 3-year-olds, because, on top of being a beautiful game with a great theme, it’s also a great introduction to the mechanics of board games. You basically just roll the die to see how many spaces you move. But if you land on a pink crystal space you also roll the pink crystal die to see how many crystals you collect.
There are also occasions where you have to give a present to someone else, and sometimes you just sit still and eat a cupcake, but that’s basically it. The first one to the end also gets a bonus 4 crystals, and whoever has the most crystals in the end is the winner. Cloud Crystals is the only game on the list that’s a competitive game, and, even though we generally prefer cooperative games at this age, it’s still a beautiful game that our kids love and a great introduction to games in general.
Unicorn Glitterluck: A Party for Rosalie (2017)
A Party for Rosalie is probably my personal favorite game of the bunch, and there’s a very good chance it’s going to end up on our list of the best board games for 4-year-olds in the near future. Compared to Cloud Crystals, it adds a tiny bit more complexity with the addition of alternative paths on the game board, as well as the need to discover and collect your own character token - which technically introduces a slight element of memory to the game.
We’re also huge fans of cooperative games in our family, and that’s likely one of the major reasons I personally prefer A Party for Rosalie. As a group, you’re trying to make sure Rosalie’s party is all set up before she gets there. You have to collect all of the giant pink cloud crystals, and get all of her friends to the party before she arrives.
Unicorn Glitterluck: Cloud Stacking (2019)
The newest addition to the Unicorn Glitterluck universe has a lot in common with another HABA classic - Animal Upon Animal - because it involves adorable wooden components that you have to stack on top of each other. But leaving it at that is definitely selling it short. Cloud Stacking is actually a cooperative game that also includes dice rolling, pink crystal collecting, and a bit of luck as well.
Cloud Stacking is certainly a dexterity game with stacking at the forefront, but it’s quite forgiving to the little fingers that are playing. And it removes the competitive edge which makes it a fantastic introduction to these sorts of games. Players take turns rolling the die and moving Rosalie in a circle, adding to the stack whatever she lands on - perhaps a unicorn or perhaps a cloud. But she might also land on a cloud crystal, and if you manage to collect 10 cloud crystals before toppling your tower too many times, then everybody wins.
Do you have any unicorn fans in your family? Have you tried any of the Unicorn Glitterluck games yet? Which is your favorite? Let us know in the comments!
