LOGIC GAMES THAT WILL MAKE YOU THINK IN SPANISH
Looking for a fun way to learn Spanish without another grammar worksheet? Logic games can help you practice vocabulary and grammar while actually using Spanish to solve a problem.
In recent years, logic games have become more popular thanks to books like Murdle or Murdoku.
These books gave logic games a new twist, adding the goal of solving a crime. This gives players an additional purpose for solving the puzzle, but the core of the game is the same: read the clues, interpret them and make decisions or test different options.
I’ve always been a fan of these games. I remember participating in an escape room with friends and coming across a logic grid puzzle. I was so excited! I felt I had been training all my life for that moment!
Traditional commercial board games like Clue/Cluedo or Dream Phone (I loved that game so much! But thinking about it now, the theme is so cringe! Players are trying to find the guy that wants to go on a date with them… Let me know in the comments if you’ve played it!) also had players putting their logic and deduction skills to the test in a simple way. Modern board games have expanded on those mechanics and provide a wide variety of variations. There are so many options with different themes!
From the point of view of language acquisition, logic and deduction games are soooo interesting! Whether the clues come in written text or audio, they require players to process the information and act, or do something with it. Correctly understanding the clues is a key factor in succeeding in the game, but there’s room for mistakes: if you realize you’ve misinterpreted a clue, you can change your predictions. In that process, you’re readjusting your internal grammar and becoming aware of a new expression or rule and its meaning. How cool is that! This is exactly the kind of learning I love: instead of studying a grammar structure and trying to memorize it, you use Spanish to solve a problem. You understand, make a decision, test your hypothesis and adjust if necessary.
I personally love quick logic games that I can play in 5 minutes or less to put my brain to work. I’m also a regular user of Board Game Arena, a platform where you can play a wide variety of board games with people from all over the world. This is how I came across Gamme LOGIC, a game by Joann Levet published by Bankiiiz Editions.
Gamme Logic (Birds) on Board Game Arena.
Gamme Logic (Hotel) on Board Game Arena.
Gamme Logic (Jungle) on Board Game Arena.
In this post, I will talk about the different versions of this game and how they can make you think in Spanish! I’ll also share links to the YouTube videos I’ve recorded for my channel where you can play along with me!
PÁJAROS: Talk about positions in Spanish
This is the simplest version of the game. You’re trying to find the correct position of six different birds, each one displaying a different color, along a wire.
Clues tell you whether two birds are next to each other (or not), whether a bird is at an extreme of the wire (or not), whether they are in a specific position (or not) or whether they are to the right or to the left of another bird.
The vocabulary, then, is quite simple, but it’s great practice to make those structures stick!
What you’ll practice: colors, positions and spatial expressions such as a la derecha de, a la izquierda de and al lado de.
If you’d like to see me solving three puzzles from this version, click on the button below:
HOTEL: Express spatial relationships in Spanish
In this version, things get trickier! The goal here is to place different characters on different floors of a hotel. But two or more characters may be together in the same room!
Clues tell you whether a character is on a specific floor, whether a character is right above or below another (or just above or below, without telling you if they are on adjacent levels), or whether a character is alone in a room or with more characters (they’ll tell you the specific number).
What you’ll practice: floors and spatial relationships such as encima de, debajo de, más arriba que, and en la misma planta que, while working with numbers and quantities.
For some reason, this one feels harder for me, even though the clues are very straightforward. It requires more trial and error, but that’s a great excuse to repeat those clues aloud and make the structures stick. If you’d like to see me struggle with solving three puzzles from this version, click on the button below:
JUNGLA (JUNGLE): Talk about animals and their habitat in Spanish
I find this version to be the most thematic one! Here you are placing different animals (a tiger, an elephant, a monkey, a toucan, a frog and a snake) in their habitats (rock, forest, mud or field).
Clues tell you whether an animal is in a specific type of terrain or area (or not), whether two animals are adjacent horizontally, vertically or diagonally (or not), whether there are more animals in one type of terrain and even whether they are next to the palm tree or the lake.
What you’ll practice: animals, habitats and spatial relationships such as al lado de, en diagonal and cerca de.
If you’d like to see me solving three puzzles from this version, click on the button below:
How to play this game
If you want to try this game, the easiest way would be to go to Board Game Arena. If you want to play games on Board Game Arena in Spanish, make sure you change the language settings in your account so the content appears in Spanish when possible (not all the games are translated, but most are).
Keep in mind that this game is premium. If you don’t have a premium account, you cannot start a new game, so you have to join tables created by other users. Keep an eye out for open tables and join them! You might also join my community («Juega en español») and add me as a friend («Ladycovichi») and I’ll be happy to create a table!
Once you join a game, you’ll see the clues as images, but if you hover over them, you’ll get some text explaining the clue in Spanish. Make sure you read it aloud and repeat it every time you place a piece to make sure you’re complying with the clue. Before submitting your answer, review all the clues, repeating them aloud. This will make the structures stick in your brain.
Once you’re familiar with the structures used to describe the clues, you could get a physical copy of the game and play with your Spanish-speaking friends, describing the clues to them in Spanish.
If you want to stop just studying Spanish and start using it to think, solve problems and play, I’d love to help you do that. Join my newsletter and I’ll send you my free logic games with audio clues, plus more games and resources to help you unlock your Spanish through play.
You’ll also receive the transcriptions of the videos on my YouTube channel, other games I’ve designed, game recommendations and information about different opportunities to unlock your Spanish through board games.
Will you play these games? Which version would you like to try first? Do you know any other logic and deduction games that you’d like to play in Spanish? Let me know in the comments!
