Red Lolly Yellow Lolly: A Lollipop & Tongue-Twister Race

How quickly can you process the information on the color-changing lollipop and the card while saying a small tongue twister?

Published by Blue Orange Games, Red Lolly Yellow Lolly is a family-friendly party game for 2-6 players with a 15-minute game time.

Gameplay

A card is drawn and placed in the center of the table. Each card will show four different objects in four different colors. A player is given the lollipop and he turns it on. The lollipop will flash a random color. The player must say the correct object and color off of the card. So if the lollipop flashes blue, he checks which object on the card is blue. If it is a bunny, he will announce “blue bunny”. He then waits for the lollipop to flash another random color, and repeats the process. The lollipop will flash several colors and then play a jingle to indicate that it is done. If a player is holding the lollipop when the jingle plays, he wins a point and passes the lollipop to the next player. If a player messes up, he must pass the lollipop to the player on his left.

While this is happening, the other players around the table are spinning the spinner as quickly as possible. There are four possible results on the spinner: spin again, pass right, pass left, and flip. The first three are self-explanatory. With flip, a player flips a new card over, so that the player with the lollipop is now working with a different combination of objects and colors.

The first player to get five points wins the game.

Review

There is a fun chaotic energy to this game. If you enjoy tongue twisters and a certain Simon Says style of gameplay, this is very simple but rather enjoyable. It reminded us somewhat of the game Bop It.

The spinner is a little luck based. No matter how good someone is at the game, they might end up with the lollipop at the end, or they might not. There’s no way you can control that when you're holding the lollipop. Going fast doesn’t help you, as the lollipop is what determines when the next color displays, and the other players are going to be spinning as quickly as they can. The fact that the spinner can cause a new card to be drawn is a fun feature though, adding to the difficulty of the game.

Setting up the lollipop the first time can also be a bit frustrating. While there are batteries included in the game, they’re not already inserted in the screw-locked compartment. We found we needed to fiddle with a few different screwdrivers to get the cover off and put the batteries in.

This is a fun little game. It feels like families could have a lot of fun with it, and there is something enjoyable about the gameplay and the tongue twisters and trying not to let the uncertainty of the lollipop get to you. The lollipop is a fun set piece itself and does work well. It’s a simple concept but has enough going for it to make for a good time.

Pros: The lollipop is a fun component, nice merging of tongue twisters and real-time

Cons: The spinner being able to move the lollipop away from the player holding it, installing the batteries is frustrating

Disclosure: we received a complimentary review copy of this game.