Starburst Noughts and Crosses

Back in March I reviewed Starburst Snakes and Ladders. Today I'll be looking at its sibling, Nought and Crosses.

Head after the jump to read more!

Noughts and Crosses carries a similar idea to S&L - steal a game, mould its key pieces and put a board on the pack of the pack. Genius! Except S&L doesn't really carry over well; you need a die, and the board provided was a bit small for its large pieces. Noughts and Crosses, on the other hand, works a great deal better!

As for the packaging style of S&L and Noughts and Crosses, that mystery has been solved - they appear to be part of a new packaging overhaul of the brand.

Like S&L, the lollies here are made from the same powdered, firm jelly, with the same colours, as used in the Rattlesnakes bag - red, blue, green, yellow, orange and purple. (Interesting to note; the green in this pack is a different shade to the S&L pack.) Each piece is all one colour, though, and the pieces are far smaller than the ladders and snakes; they're each about 3cm in diameter, and about 1cm tall. The crosses are only in red, purple and green, with the noughts in orange, blue and yellow.

Red is some sort of berry flavour, possibly strawberry or raspberry. It's sweet, warm and bright.

Purple is also some rendition of berry, though I can't quite pick it. It's quite jammy, and less sweet than red.

Orange is, unsurprisingly, orange. It has a good strong citrus note, with a bit of peel thrown in for realism. It's also fairly sweet, reducing the tang somewhat.

Blue I speculated with S&L is possibly blue raspberry - that fictitious flavour created by lolly manufacturers. While it is flavourful and bright, it is not hugely sweet, and there's a little bit of tanginess on the end note.

Green I think is lime, but it could also be apple - the profile wasn't very distinct. There was a bit of a tangy kick towards the end, but it tasted pretty artifical either way. Not a winner for me

These get an extra point for actual playability, but other than that, they aren't so different to a lot of the other Starburst products that use the same collection of flavours, just in different moulds.

Score: 3 out of 5 jelly beans.

Starburst Noughts and Crosses are made in Australia.  They contain glucose syrup (from wheat), and artificial colours and flavours. A serving size is two pieces.  There is no allergen statement on the pack.