If your child has been asking for some Bakugan, you may be looking for information on just what that word means. Bakugan Battle Brawlers, or Bakugan for short, are tiny little ping-pong sized balls that transform into action figures when rolled onto the magnetized playing surface. Each Battle Brawler is unique, with his own characteristics, personality, and rather interesting facial features. They all look like aliens from the planet Botch, but that is just one adult’s opinion. Kids really love these toys because they can collect enough of them to make their own army and do battle with other boys and their armies. The Bakugan Starter Pack Green set is a great start toward helping your child build a triumphant army of Bakugan Battle Brawlers.
To play the game according to the official rules, which can be downloaded off the Bakugan website, each child needs an army of Battle Brawlers. Each child takes turns rolling a battle ball onto the magnetized playing surface, called the Bakugan Battle Arena (sold separately). As the ball rolls onto the board, the magnets activate and the ball transforms into an action figure. They really do transform all on their own and it happens pretty quickly. We watched the groups of boys do this repeatedly during the review process and it never lost its appeal. Unlike some other toys that kids have to transform by hand, these little guys just spring from ball to alien guy in a split second. It’s pretty amazing to watch. Each set of three included in the starter packs are chosen at random, so you get a different combination of action figures in each Bakugan Starter Pack Green set. This is also true of the other starter packs that are available in several other colors. A few starter packs will be enough to get kids started doing battle according to the official rules of engagement, and buying one starter pack in each color will provide variety in the army’s ranks.
While we were conducting our review, we did notice that the balls are pretty sturdy. They would have to be built tough to withstand being rolled across the floor repeatedly. They are made of plastic, which would indicate that they can be broken, but it didn’t happen during our testing process. We insisted that the boys not throw them at one another, as someone could get hurt. And we told them that breaking a window in the office would be a bad thing, so they shouldn’t throw them at all. The boys listened to our rules, and kept the movement to the rolling indicated by the rules of game play. The Bakugan Starter Pack Green sets were certainly put through a workout during review.
We can see how younger boys might have a problem with the official rules, as they are a little complicated. But even the youngest boys can have fun merely rolling the balls and watching them transform. The youngest boy in our review group was eight, and he understood the rules and was able to follow them without a problem. The Starter Pack is a good place to start, and may be enough to keep a little one happy for a while if he has no interest in dueling.
