Disclaimer: This is a collaborative post. We were sent this wooden chess set and giant tumble tower from Jaques of London to review free of charge, but words and pictures are mine. You can get 15% off at Jaques of London using this link: https://jaques.games/15off
What is Jaques of London?
Jaques is actually the oldest toys and games manufacturer in the world! Established in 1795, the family-run retailer has been passed down through eight generations. Jaques is responsible for inventing many games you’ll have heard of – such as Croquet, Snakes and Ladders, Happy Families, Snap and Ludo, and their wooden toys are well crafted and timeless.
Although many of their toys are aimed at younger children, and they have a great range of classic wooden toys for toddlers and preschoolers, we took a look at the website for toys and games for older kids and adults.
Here’s what we chose.
Folding chess set
My daughter seemed really keen on learning how to play chess, so I figured I would try and teach her. It might be a lovely family bonding thing… It’s a bit late for her to be a child protégé but you never know, and how difficult could it be, right?
The 15 inch luxury chess board from Jaques of London is beautifully crafted from walnut and sycamore, with the Staunton-style chess pieces stored away cleverly inside making it portable.
Well… After setting up the board in readiness and reading out the instructions (which were a lot more complicated than I remember) I slowly came to the realisation that I had completely forgotten how to play myself. She cried every time I tried to show her how to take a piece and decided that I was mean for instilling the rules about where things could, go so we gave up.
Joke’s on her because now I’ve had time to think about it, I’ve remembered I’m actually rubbish at chess and she could definitely beat me if she could be bothered to learn it.
Lesson learned by me though. Maybe we will come back to it when she next feels ready to tackle it – until then I’ll only play against people that actually want to play me.
At least while its waiting to be played with it looks the part.
The folding chess set costs £27.99 from Jaques of London. Other Chess Sets available include exclusive limited edition pieces as well as cheaper boards. Ours came beautifully wrapped and presented inside a gift box tied with a bow.
Tumble Tower
The Giant Tumble Tower classic garden game is somewhat easier to get the hang of. Build the tower then take it in turns to take a piece and place it back on the top without knocking the whole thing down – whoever makes the tower tumble is the loser!
The Jaques of London Magnum Tumble Tower includes 63 hand finished chunky wooden blocks made from sustainable New Zealand pine which you can use to make a two foot tower – it can reach over 3 feet during game play.
It comes with a handy storage bag for all the pieces too. The Giant Tumble Tower with storage bag costs £31.99; you can get an even bigger version which builds to over 5ft tall for £65.99 and the classic indoor tumble tower for £9.99.
Read our post here to see six reasons to choose wooden toys!
You can get 15% off at Jaques of London using this link: https://jaques.games/15off
Jaques of London offer free delivery if you spend over £40.