While the game has a recommended age of 6+ I think children under six may be able to play the game. The game should only take minutes to teach to new players. With there basically only being one decision to make in the game it should come as no surprise that Bugs in the Kitchen is really easy to learn and play. Otherwise you should probably just turn a utensil near your own trap. There will usually either be a utensil that will really help you or hurt another player. On most turns it is going to be really obvious what utensil you should turn. This decision is usually not that big of deal. Basically all you do in the game is roll the die and then turn one of the utensils on the board. The strategy in Bugs in the Kitchen is pretty light. For some reason it is satisfying watching the bug run around the gameboard while trying to get it to fall into your trap. While electronic components in a lot of board games just seem to get in the way, the game actually does a good job utilizing the Hexbug as a key component of the game. What makes Bugs in the Kitchen work is that the designer took the bug and actually made an interesting board game to go along with it. It might at first seem like a gimmick but Bugs in the Kitchen is actually a pretty solid idea for a board game. The premise of a bug running around the board with players trying to trap it actually sounded like a pretty interesting idea.

After seeing the game’s rating on Board Game Geek though I was intrigued. Bugs in the Kitchen looked like a game made to promote Hexbugs. I thought that a game that utilized a robotic bug was going to mostly be just a gimmick. When I first saw Bugs in the Kitchen I was a little skeptical. This player has received five bug tokens so they have won the game.

Bugs in the kitchen game