By the Book Review

boardgamequest.com:

As an avid reader, I was pretty excited to find out about a puzzly, book-themed board game released from Foxmind Games. While there are certainly some great literature-themed games out there (Hardback and Ex Libris) come to mind, most are too difficult for me to play with my young ones.

Enter By the Book, a simple little puzzle game that will have you stacking books on a shelf trying to make things even.

By the Book comes with 40 progressively harder challenges for you to take on. Each card (sorted into 4 difficulty levels), will list off the components you need to stack on the shelf. It might be 3-4 books of various sizes or even a sleepy cat. Early on, there are few strict rules, but as you get into the more difficult challenges, some books will have stacking requirements, such as you must be place them horizontally.

The goal is to place all the required pieces on the bottom shelf, and be able to place the second shelf on top, and have it be level. The top shelf must also be supported by 2 books. The game even comes with a tiny bubble level to check your work. The reverse side of each card has a possible solution to the puzzle.

Some games, like The Mind or The Game, have a raging debate on whether it’s an activity or a game. With By the Book, I don’t think anyone can argue that it’s more of an activity than a game. Not that that’s a bad thing, but there is no score to keep, winners to crown, or losers to worry about. All you do is draw the challenge and figure it out.

By the Book has an age rating of 8+, but I think that’s a tad conservative. My 5-year-olds were able to play this one with no issues. Sure, they did have some issues parsing some of the more difficult challenges, but for the most part, they understood