Camp Granada facts for kids
Camp Granada box with caricature of Allan Sherman
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| Publisher(s) | Milton Bradley |
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| Players | 2-4 |
| Playing time | 60 minutes |
| Random chance | Medium (shuffling, wild cards) |
| Skill(s) required | Eye–hand coordination |
Camp Granada is a fun board game from 1965 made by Milton Bradley Company. It's based on a super popular song from 1963 called "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh (A Letter from Camp)" by Allan Sherman. In the game, players pretend to be campers trying to escape a "real rotten camp." Your goal is to be the first to collect three "ICKY animals" and get home!
Contents
How to Play Camp Granada
The game is all about driving a special toy bus around the camp board. The board shows funny and slightly scary places, like a diving board with spikes or an octopus in the swimming hole!
Bus Cards and Movement
You start your turn by drawing a Camp Granada Bus card. These cards have a picture of a broken-down blue bus. On the back, they tell you where to drive your bus on the game board. You might need to go to a specific camp spot to pick up an ICKY animal. Sometimes, a card gives you a SPECIAL PRIVILEGE, letting you take an ICKY animal from another player!
The Tricky Bus Breakdown
The toy bus is the main challenge! Its front wheels can slide around, and if they move too far, the "motor falls out right in the middle." This means your turn ends! To avoid this, you need to drive the bus very carefully. You have to make sure the front wheels don't go too far past the bus's sides.
Driving Tips and Tricks
- A good trick is to steer the bus by gently sliding its back end. This helps you get around turns without breaking down.
- You might also try to "cut the corner" on sharp turns. But remember, at least one wheel must always stay on the road! Some parts of the road are quite narrow.
- Players also learn to watch each other. Make sure no one touches the front wheels to stop the axle from sliding.
Collecting ICKY Animals
When you get a SPECIAL PRIVILEGE card, you can take an ICKY animal from another player. The rule is you must reach into their bunkhouse without looking! This means you need to remember which player has which animals. Then, you use your sense of touch to recognize the shape of the animal you need.
Winning the Game
The first player to collect three of the required ICKY animals and successfully drive their bus off the camp board wins the game!
Getting Ready to Play
Before you can start your escape from Camp Granada, you need to set up the game.
What's in the Box?
The game comes with several cool pieces:
- A large, colorful game board that folds into three sections.
- A plastic toy bus that's designed to "break down."
- Four cardboard bunkhouses where players hide their collected animals.
- Twelve rubber ICKY animals, including crawfish, frogs, lizards, mice, snakes, and spiders. There are two of each!
- Sixteen ICKY animal cards, which show you which animals you need to collect.
- Forty-eight Camp Granada Bus Cards that tell you where to move and what to do.
Setting Up the Game
To begin, you'll place the ICKY animals at different spots around the camp board. Each player gets a cardboard bunkhouse to assemble and place at a corner of the board. This is where you'll keep your secret collection of ICKY animals. Finally, the ICKY animal cards are divided among the players. These cards tell you exactly which three ICKY animals you need to find to win the game!
