The Team Story Board Game is a cute creative storytelling game by Loki-Kids, that builds on children’s descriptive vocabulary, as well as developing their observational, listening, and memory skills. The story behind the game is that a magic tornado has wrecked the library and the magic book’s pages have flown away. It’s up to trainee sorcerers (the players) to invent new stories to entice the magic book pages to come back. Players take the role of storytellers using image cards to invent and tell a story to another player called the listener. The listener must then identify the image cards used in the story and place them in the correct order on the scroll board. The game helps build on descriptive vocabulary, observation and listening skills.
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If You like this then you may also like my reviews of Codenames, Danger Noodle and Planet
Page Contents
What is Team Story The Game?
Team Story is both a narrative game and a memory game, that has players using their descriptive vocabulary, observation, and listening skills to help tell a magical story so that a magical scroll can be puzzled back together. Players take it in turns to be the Listener while everyone else becomes the Storyteller. The Storytellers use images on cards to invent a story, which is told to the listener. The listener then needs to find the correct images and place them correctly in the right card sequence to complete the Scroll Board and capture the story. Both sides then score points depending on whether the correct card was chosen and where it was placed on the board.
The game is essentially a card game that uses a board as a visual placement area for the cards, which makes the game aesthetically pleasing and more interesting.
Manufacturer Recommended Age 5 Years+.
Play Time 20 Minutes Approx.
2-7 Players
What’s In The Box
Inside the box, you’ll find
- 60 numbered ‘Magic’ cards
- 60 numbered ‘Adventure’ cards
- five scroll board pieces
- one 30 second sand timer
- one score pad
- one magic book screen
- Instruction booklet
Where To Buy Team Story
Aged 5+, and for 2-7 players it’s available from good toy and game stores including
Aim Of The Game
The aim of the game is to score the most stars (points) by telling great stories (describing your card well and recreating them using the right cards in the right order.
There are 2 packs of cards to choose from when playing (adventure & magic). And if you feel like a magical adventure, you can even mix the decks together.
How To Play Team Story
Team Story is played in rounds until every player has had a chance to be the listener. In each round, one player is designated as the listener, whilst the other players are storytellers. One of the storytellers is also designated as the scribe. The scribe has to note down the number of each card played on the score pad.
To start players decide how many scroll boards to use and which story card deck is going to be in play… Adventure or Magic. The minimum number of scroll boards to use is 3, which allows 6 story cards to be played. This is recommended for the first few games. there is also an option to mix the card decks. The first 30 (1-30) cards in each card deck are labeled I, the last 30 (31-60) are labeled II. When playing a mixed set of cards you take set I from one pack and mix it with set II from another.
The deck of cards in play is shuffled and then 20 cards are dealt facedown in the middle of the table; we like to spread them around the scroll boards. Each storyteller then selects three cards from the cards spread out on the table and keeps them hidden in their hand. The remaining cards are put back in the box.
The storyteller to the left of the listener starts the game.
They select a card from their hand to invent a story about and begin with, “Once upon a time… followed by a short story that includes a description of their card. The card is then passed secretly to the scribe who adds the card number to the scorepad (make sure the listener cannot see the card or the scorepad) and then carefully places the card face down on the first slot of the scroll board. The storyteller then picks up another card from the table and the next storyteller chooses their card to continue to the story. Again the scribe notes down the number of the card before the storyteller adds their card to the next position on the scroll board. Play continues until either everyone has placed a card or until all card slots on the scroll board have been filled.
When the story is complete, and the last card is placed onto the scroll board, the cards used in the story are carefully shuffled with the remaining cards in the players’ hands (still face down) and on the table (if any). The cards are then placed face up on the table, the scribe starts the timer and the listener must try to locate the right images (cards) used and place them in the correct order on the scroll board within the time allocated (60 seconds).
How To Score Points
Points are scored for correctly identifying the cards and their order in the story.
- No points are scored for picking a card not mentioned in the story
- The listener scores two points for each correct card in the right position and one point for a correct card in the wrong position.
- Storytellers score points for each card correctly identified by the listener whether it is in the correct place or not.
The cards on the Scroll Board are moved accordingly and the scribe jots the results onto the score pad.
The cards are then reshuffled and 20 new cards dealt out onto the table. Play continues until everyone has had a chance to be the ‘Listener‘.
The winner is the player with the most points at the end.
Alternative Game Play Rules, Tips & Tricks
One of the most impressive aspects of Team Story is how flexible the game is.
- You can add or remove scroll boards depending on how many players you have and/or their ability
- You can lengthen the amount of time the listener has to find the cards.
- You can add more cards to the start of the game (25-30) which will make it harder for the Listener to find the cards
- You can allow the storytellers to hold more cards so they have a bigger selection
- Make sure to describe the cards carefully, as some of them look very similar
- When playing with young children remove cards not used in the story so their focus is on putting the cards in the correct order
- In a 2 player game only deal out the number of cards needed to fill the scroll board
- Play as two teams
- Use the cards separately from the game as storytelling prompts… this is a great bedtime activity
- Rather than randomly picking cards pick specific cards beforehand to work on observational skills. For example pick 3 snake cards, 3 castles and 2 kings
- You can restrict certain words being used so children (and adults) have to think of other words to use. For example not being allowed to use king or castle.
What Are The Educational Benefits Of The Team Story Game?
Team Story is an excellent choice for working on children’s storytelling skills. It works on
- descriptive vocabulary
- observation skills
- listening skills
- focus
- memory
- team building
- and conversation
It’s also perfect for use with older kids learning another language! I used it with my girls to help with their French and Spanish, which was lots of fun and even helped me!
What Did We Thing Of The Team Story Game?
I love the flexibility of Team Story. It contains so many valuable teaching opportunities whilst having fun. And its flexibility allows different age groups and abilities to play together.
There are plenty of cards in each deck which stops problems with story repetition, and I like that they have created a system that allows players to use both decks together. One of the downsides is that the cards are very small and easily bent compared with other card games. That also applies the the scoring pad which can end up messy when younger kids are using it
If you’re looking for a game to stimulate your kid’s imagination in a fun interactive way then Team Story is worth having a look at. It’s the kind of game that is fun for all the family, great in classrooms, and brilliant for supporting kids education.
Pro’s
- the game as a whole is very flexible
- it appeals to all ages
- each round is relatively short
- every player gets to be the storyteller and the listener
- it’s easy to store
- it helps nurture lots of valuable skills; vocabulary, observation, listening, memory, focus
Con’s
- cards are on the small side which means so are the images
- the score pad is very busy
- The scorepad scoring areas are small
- The timer time length is short (30 seconds)