Chalk and Chuckles' Claim and Save (item CCPPL033), the box our link goes toPhoto: Chalk and Chuckles
What's in the box: a grid, 144 hedges and 64 animalsPhoto: Chalk and Chuckles
Build hedges, close squares, claim animalsPhoto: Chalk and Chuckles
Build with every movePhoto: Chalk and Chuckles
A strategy game for the familyPhoto: Chalk and Chuckles
Worksheets about endangered animalsPhoto: Chalk and Chuckles
Video

Family game

Claim and Save

Build hedges, claim squares and score for saving endangered animals

2–4players · best with 2-3
20–40 minplaying time
6+recommended age
Learning curve
Easy2 / 5
EasyDemanding
Luck & skill
Luck and skill
LuckSkill
Interaction
High
Set-up
About 2 min
Reading
Little

The quick verdict

Full verdict ↓

Great for Children of 6 and up who love animals and quiet thinking games

Think twice if You want a fast, noisy party game; this one is calm and turn by turn

How we rate it

Learning curve. Placing a hedge is as simple as Connect 4, but counting ahead to avoid handing over squares, and adding up the threat-level points, put it at 2 on our scale for six-year-olds.

Luck & skill. Which squares you win is all planning, as in Dots and Boxes, but the animal token you draw for each square decides its points, so the luck of the bag matters too.

Interaction. Every hedge you place can set up or spoil a square for the next player, so you are always watching each other's moves.

Set-up. Put the grid in the middle, pile up the hedges, put the animal tokens in the bag and hand someone the score pad and pencil.

Reading. Play needs no reading; the worksheets are in English for children who want to learn more about the animals.

Learning curve: 1 = UNO or Connect 4; 3 = Catan; 5 = a heavy strategy game. These describe the experience, not an overall score.

Is Claim and Save right for you?

Great if

  • Children of 6 and up who love animals and quiet thinking games
  • Parents and teachers who want to talk about wildlife and how to protect it
  • Families who already play Dots and Boxes on paper and want a sturdier version
  • Two players head to head as well as groups of three or four

Skip it if

  • You want a fast, noisy party game; this one is calm and turn by turn
  • Your child gets upset when a sharper player takes a run of squares; the game rewards planning ahead
  • You need a game for more than four players

How Claim and Save plays

Put the wooden (MDF) grid in the middle of the table, keep the 144 grass hedges in a pile and put the 64 animal tokens in the cloth bag. The grid has 64 squares, and the hedges fit into the grooves along their sides.

  • Time to teach: about 5 minutes.
  • Reading and language: Placing hedges needs no reading, and the game can be talked through in any language. The worksheets about the animals are in English, so younger children may want an adult to read them out.
A strategy game for the family · Photo: Chalk and Chuckles

Chalk and Chuckles Claim and Save Unboxing · Chalk and Chuckles · Official

If this creator doesn’t allow embedded playback, watch on YouTube ↗.

A turn, step by step

  1. 1
    Build

    Place one grass hedge in any empty groove on the grid, across or down.

  2. 2
    Claim

    Close the fourth side of a square and claim it: put an animal token from the bag in it.

  3. 3
    Win

    When every square is claimed, add up the points; rarer, more threatened animals score more, and the highest total wins.

Read the official rulesClaim and Save: how to play (Chalk and Chuckles product page) · English
The full explanation: how a game of Claim and Save goes

On your turn, place one hedge in any empty groove, across or down. If your hedge closes the fourth side of a square, you claim that square as a reserve: take an animal token from the bag and put it in the square.

Each token shows an endangered animal, and the more threatened the species, the more points it is worth; the maker also says that squares claimed on the grid's second level score double. When every square has been claimed, add up the points on the score pad. The player with the most points wins.

Tip for parents: as in Dots and Boxes, try not to place the third side of a square, because it hands the next player an easy claim; older children soon learn to count ahead. In the paper game, closing a box also earns another turn, and the maker's summary doesn't say whether that applies here, so check the rule sheet and agree before you start. After the game, the worksheets give each animal's scientific name, where it lives, the threats it faces, its population trend and the efforts to save it, which makes a good start for a school project.

What's in the box

What's in the box: a grid, 144 hedges and 64 animals · Photo: Chalk and Chuckles
  • 1MDF game grid
    a wooden board with 64 squares
  • 144Grass hedges
    placed in the grooves to build the sides of the squares
  • 64Animal tokens
    endangered animals, scored by how threatened each species is
  • 1Cloth bag
    holds the animal tokens
  • 1Score pad
  • 1Pencil
  • –Worksheets
    facts about the animals for after the game
  • 1Instructions

Box: 28 × 28 × 5.5 cm, 1 kg. Handy to know for gifting and travel.

Contents are from Chalk and Chuckles' product page for the game (item code CCPPL033): MDF grid, 144 grass hedges, 64 animal tokens, cloth bag, score pad, pencil and instructions. The worksheets are not in that written list but appear in the maker's 'What's Inside?' picture and its description. The listing behind our Amazon.in link gives no contents, and its box may be an older print.

Where to buy

Check price on Amazon.in
How to make sure you get a genuine copyEditions and the details worth checking.

About the editions

Claim and Save is designed and sold by Chalk and Chuckles, an Indian company with its registered office in New Delhi and its own factory in Kundli, Haryana, so there is no imported version to look for. Our Amazon.in link goes to an older listing for the game in the maker's brand store, sold by another seller rather than by Chalk and Chuckles. That listing doesn't give the contents, so the box it sends may be an older print of the same game: compare its photos with the contents listed here.

Before you choose

  • The box and listing should name Chalk and Chuckles (sometimes written Chalk & Chuckles); the box front says 'Pure Strategy & Fun', ages 6 to 99 and 2 to 4 players
  • Contents: a wooden (MDF) grid, 144 grass hedges, 64 animal tokens, a cloth bag, a score pad, a pencil, worksheets and instructions
  • The box is square, about 28 x 28 x 5.5 cm, and weighs about 1 kg
  • The maker's item code is CCPPL033 and the barcode is 8906045560337

What reviewers and players say

We found no independent reviews, parent blogs, forum threads or award pages for Claim and Save, although Indian stores have listed it since at least 2019. So this page rests on Chalk and Chuckles' own product page, pictures and unboxing video. On paper it is a sturdy, good-looking version of Dots and Boxes with a conservation theme, quick to learn and calm to play. The scoring rules online are brief, so keep the instruction sheet handy on the first game.

What people love

  • A familiar paper-and-pencil game turned into a sturdy wooden board with hedges
  • Works for two players as well as three or four
  • The animal tokens and worksheets start conversations about wildlife and conservation
  • Easy for a six-year-old to learn, with real strategy for older players

Common complaints

  • The maker's website explains the scoring and the 'second level' only briefly, so keep the rule sheet
  • Drawing tokens from the bag adds luck to the points, which strategy fans may not like
  • The listing we link is older and doesn't list the contents, so check the photos before you order
4 research sources

Summarised in our own words from the sources above. We don't use Amazon reviews or ratings.

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Questions people ask about Claim and Save

What age is Claim and Save for?

The box says 6 to 99. Six- and seven-year-olds can learn the rules quickly, though an adult may need to help add up the points; older children and adults can play it as a proper strategy game.

How is Claim and Save different from Dots and Boxes?

It uses the same idea: add one line at a time and claim a square when you close its fourth side. Instead of pencil and paper you build with grass hedges on a wooden grid, and each square you claim scores points for an endangered animal, which adds a little luck and a lot of talk about wildlife.

What do children learn from Claim and Save?

Planning ahead and spatial thinking from placing the hedges, adding from the scoring, and facts about endangered animals from the tokens and worksheets, such as where each animal lives and what threatens it.

Is the Claim and Save sold on Amazon.in the current version?

Our Amazon.in link goes to an older listing sold by another seller, not by Chalk and Chuckles. Its main picture shows the maker's current box, and its age and player count match, but it doesn't list the contents, so check that the listing photos show the grid, hedges, animal tokens and cloth bag.

Is Claim and Save made in India?

Chalk and Chuckles is an Indian company with its own factory in Kundli, Haryana, but neither its page for this game nor the listing behind our Amazon.in link says where the box is made, so we don't mark it made in India.

Game facts

Publisher
Chalk and Chuckles (Chalk and Chuckles Products Pvt Ltd, New Delhi, India)
In India
Chalk and Chuckles, an Indian company (registered office in New Delhi, factory in Kundli, Haryana) that designs and sells the game in India
Players
2–4
Barcode
8906045560337
Language
Little reading – Placing hedges needs no reading, and the game can be talked through in any language. The worksheets about the animals are in English, so younger children may want an adult to read them out.
Box size and weight
28 × 28 × 5.5 cm, 1 kg
Sources & photo creditsThe references behind this guide.

Facts on this page come from the publisher, the Indian maker or distributor, and the sources below. Photos are credited under each one.