Splash Out Water Balloon Game Review (age 3+)

Splash Out kids multicoloured water bomb is a ball with a timer and a pin, and the rest is pretty obvious. Throw the ball back and forth until the timer goes off - and hope it isn't you who is splashed by the water!

Inside the box you have the ball, which is good-old clockwork rather than battery-operated, a clear instruction leaflet and 12 x size 4 balloons - or 'water balloons' as we tend to call them.

This is a really nice piece of equipment actually. A good quality, fairly flexible plastic that will survive a good few drops and bounces. The unit pulls apart, and it's necessarily stiff. You twist very slightly to dislodge it and pull the two halves apart. You need to line up the two halves correctly to put it back together and give it that tiny twist.

The balloons must not be filled beyond 9cm or they won't fit into the ball. Likewise they have to be big enough to be burst by the pin, so I had a couple of false starts before we got it right, and a lot of the included balloons had holes or burst when filling, so spend that £1 with your newsagent and invest in some more before play.

Place the filled balloon over the section with the holes in, making sure that the knot of the balloon is off to one side. Close the ball and turn the timer. If the timer hasn't been wound all of the way, then the balloon may not burst when time runs out. This is part of the design and keeps everyone safe. The timer itself is quite short, so players have to pay attention and pass quickly - but it does mean you are never left waiting for it to go off.

There's a failsafe which prevents the timer from running when the two halves are separate, so your child can't hurt themselves accidentally.

Despite the mechanical unit, the water and the ball itself, Splash Out is still pretty light and easy to throw. Water balloons are obviously fragile creatures and we found that sometimes we didn't actually get to throw the ball before they popped. It didn't seem to bother anyone though - more disappointing is when the balloon pops nowhere near anyone. Younger children are not the best at catching and throwing.

Loads of fun and a great toy for water play. You WILL get wet filling them, you will get wet playing. A good game for when you first bring the water out and everyone is dry, once they're wet no-one cares so much anyway and if your kids are like mine, they'll be emptying beakers of water over each other within 10 minutes.

If it isn't a gloriously sunny day and you don't want to play with water outside, you can use the ball with it's timer and just play 'pass the bomb'. This clearly isn't quite as raucous, but it does have it's uses - we've found it's way more fun than tossing a coin to see who has first bath.

Splash Out is suitable for 2 or more players age 3+ and is available now at toy shops in store and online, including Amazon rrp £14.99 (affiliate link).

We were given our Splash Out for review. The Amazon link is associate, which means you don't pay any more, but they give me a few pence if you buy through my link as a thank you - sadly not as lucrative as you might suspect, but I hope to make my first fiver by the end of the year.