Yep, we do. We didn’t think we needed one until we visited the Game On exhibit at the London Science Museum today. 5 minutes of playing wii tennis and we were hooked. All five of us have said “we need a wii”.
Game On was a huge hit. Too many games, not enough time. All of the old commodore and atari favorites we know and love. Not to mention Activision and Pong!
Download DSCF0002.AVI – This is a really large video of E playing with her Speed Stacks. It’s too big for youtube and some folks wanted to see it, so here it is. Feel free to ignore it if you aren’t into laughing 8 year olds and Speed Stacks.
Last week, on what we (and Santa) called "The second day of Christmas" the children all received a game. A few days ago, my sister’s gifts for the three youngest children arrived and two more games were added to the mix. Tonight, we’ve played six of the seven (One is a Goth Horror Trivia game that I don’t think the small kids or TW will be very successful with so that’s why we skipped it. If you want a review, I’ll get Chris in here to guest post – just say the word. )
1) Swipe. Easy, easy game and fun too. And there was no slapping involved which is good because the last game we bought by the folks at Uno included slapping and I have vowed never to play that game again. It comes in a nice little travel case so it would be good for a trip or a soccer game. Pop it into the glove box of the car or a diaper bag for the older kids.
2) Cing-o. It’s a dice game and harder than Swipe, but after a round of talking it out, everyone had the idea. And, you have to do math (math is hard!) so that’s pretty helpful if you have an 8 year old who isn’t sure of the answer to 3 x 6. It also comes in a travel case, this one has a nice keyring type clip on it. Do you like Yatzee? If you do, then this might be a nice travel game for you.
3) Shut the Box. This is an excellent "back in the day" type of game and my sister sent the nicest version that I’ve ever seen. If you are going to buy a game then go all out, spend the $50 and give this one. You won’t regret it.
4) Stargo by Discovery Toys. It’s bingo but with constellations. It comes with a bunch of constellation cards that tell you the myths behind the constellation and you also get information about when and where the constellations are visible. Plus, a compass to help you find each constellation. It’s a silly game and at first the 13 year old wasn’t thrilled but he ended up having a blast and we played four rounds before they all headed out for a walk with the compass. (FYI we really played this to celebrate the Sagan Blogathon, it seemed like a good way to remember Carl Sagan on the 10th anniversary of his death).
5) Art fish. Go fish with art cards. Simple and interesting. The only challenge is in properly pronouncing the artists names. (That’s not always easy.)
6) Loot was the most difficult game of the bunch, but even the youngest child (who is 8) caught on pretty quickly (the game is listed as a 10 and up game) and won. There’s strategy involved in trying to sink and plunder other ships or save your won merchant ships. It can get confusing because you are supposed to point the card you play towards you to remember that it is yours. Also, you draw at the end of your turn and that’s not generally the way card games work. So that was a problem at various points in the game. We only played one round and I think the next time we’ll see some players who use a little more strategy than was used the first time.
There you go – our game reviews for this holiday.
Technorati Tags: christmas, holidays, gifts, games, cards, boardgames
Someone was searching for monkey cupcake toppers so I thought I’d help with that today (besides, I like monkeys – particularly red-headed ones!). It’s hard to find just monkey cupcake toppers. It’s easy to find zoo animal toppers but not a package of just monkeys. So let’s ad-lib a little, ok? Why not use Barrel of Monkeys instead? Buy a barrel (or two) and put one monkey on each cupcake! Then buy the tiny keychain sized version to use as party favors. (You could retrieve the big monkeys from the cupcakes, wash them and give them to the birthday child if you like.)
Technorati Tags: cupcaketoppers, cupcakes, monkeys, barrelofmonkeys
Daily Dose of Cupcake Toppers Read More »
I’m jealous of Lee’s What is this doing in my house, Monday entry. No fair! She should definitely send those to Florida!
This little toy I’m sharing today has history, or more importantly, memories. This was my grandmother’s and everytime we would visit, we’d pull it out of the blue cabinet and we’d make a huge mess with the chips and the decks of cards stored along with it. Grandma didn’t have a whole lot of toys specifically for her grandchildren. In fact she didn’t have any. We played with her toys – the poker chips, huge jewely boxes of Sarah Coventry, her weird stuffed animals, odd little gadgets that I never understood but was fascinated by – and of course, the rubber/plastic fruit.
The "old fashioned" chips are missing from this but the chip caddy still makes me smile an awful lot – and that’s why this weird thing is in my house – finally! (My brother finally handed it over to me on my last trip to Charleston. Now if he’d give up my secretary…)
Here are links to others playing the game – if you’re playing, feel free to add your link!
Technorati Tags: whatisthisdoinginmyhousemonday, stuff, photos, pokerchips, memories
Daily Dose of Stuff – Monday Read More »
TW use to work from home but she doesn’t anymore. I feel bad about that, even when she isn’t really sick I feel bad about it. Even when she isn’t actively and loudly missing being at home with the little kids. And that. Is why. I buy. Her TOYS! Yes, toys for work. I’ve bought her lots of toys. And pets. The hermit crabs (Ellen, Spikey and Artemis) that the little kids and I got her for her birthday were suppose to go to work. That hasn’t happened and it has made me sort of grouchy.
Anyway, back to the toys.
Apparently work is suppose to be fun. (who knew???) Apparently not many people find work fun and the folks at To-Done have suggestions about how to change that. Number one on their list is TOYS! Ha, see I am smarter than you people give me credit for!
Now the real question is, should I get her another Hazel to take to work? It’s a great toy, her coworkers would love it… or should I just sign her up for an email joke a day thing instead?
Daily Dose of Work – Toys Read More »
retroCRUSH: Deadly Toys of Days Gone By
How many of these did you own? We had ’em all and still have a few of them around here. I liked lawn darts. I miss lawn darts. I want REAL lawn darts!