Christmas Game List

   Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, which means Black Friday is coming, I decided I would do a little game list of some of my favorite games. I broke them down into categories, so if you are looking for a specific type, it will be a bit easier.

Kids:

   Monsters University Dice: Will you be the one with the last monster? Pass them to the left, right, or put them in the center. The last one with the monster wins. It's a game simple enough for even the little ones to understand.

   Rampage: Build a city on the meeples then use your dragon to flick, blow, and drop on the buildings to knock it all down. Collect the meeples in sets to score big points! Kids love this game where you don't have to sit down to play.

   Hey, That's My Fish!: Can you collect more fish than your opponents? Slip and slide your penguins across the ice and collect the fish. Watch out for holes, you don't want to get trapped!

   Roll For It!: Roll the dice and match the cards. The first person to match a card in this turn based game gets to collect that card. Be the first one to forty points to win!

   Fun Farm: Roll the dice and match it with the cards. Be the first one to grab the animal that matches the card for points.

Family:

   King of Tokyo: Who's monster will be the King of Tokyo? Attack your way to the top, but beware, don't run out of health or else you are out of the game. The last one standing is the new King!

   Face Off: This fun dice game is a press your luck type game. Feel free to roll for as many heroes as you'd like, but roll all villains and you are out! Unless of course you choose to go for Villains, then bluff your way to the top. But beware, if you get caught bluffing, your opponent gets your points.

   Wits and Wagers: Are you good at time frames but not great at actual dates? Everyone writes their best guess and then you place bets. Whoever is closest gets points while the others lose theirs. Great for teaching kids about History!

   Dixit: Take turns playing a card face down. Say anything you want as a clue. Each player then plays a card that fits the clue. Mix them up and take a guess at which card is that players card. Easy for both kids and adults.

Adults:

   Carcassonne: Can you make the biggest city? Keep the biggest farm? Build the longest road? In this fun tile laying game, build up the city of Carcassonne while scoring points and trying to get in on your neighbors. Think you know who is winning? Think again, most of the scoring in this game happens at the end!

   7 Wonders: Can you build the biggest wonder? There are three phases in this game. Pick a card you want and pass the others on. But be careful, you need to have supplies for building and don't forget to build an army!

   Takenoko: Balance feeding a hungry panda, gardening and keeping the Emperor happy. Be the first to match a number of cards by eating bamboo, growing bamboo and expanding the land. First player to a certain number of completed cards gets the Emperors approval with a bonus point card.

   Seasons: This card drafting game changes with the Seasons. Roll the dice to see what actions you get to take that turn. Choose your cards carefully to make it through all three years.

Co-Op:

   Pandemic: The Cure: Can you cure all four diseases before time runs out? Roll your special dice to help find a cure before they cause an outbreak. Bottle samples, treat them, and find the cure. If you like dice, this game is amazing!

   Castle Panic: Work together to fight the monsters before they knock down the castle! Use swordsmen, knights and archers to protect the castle. Fight off all of the monsters before the last piece of castle is gone to win this fun and sometime tense game.

   Forbidden Desert: Uncover the missing pieces of your ship before you get buried under the desert sand or run out of water. It's a race against time!

Party:

   NanoBot: Try and make the longest chain of bots before someone runs out. Be careful, your opponents may move your bots, burn them or change direction to break up your chain.

   Bang! Dice Game: Are you the Sheriff? A Deputy? An Outlaw? The Renegade? Roll the dice and attack your opponents. Try to figure out who is who and team up so you win!

   Blurble: Flip the top card and yell out a word that starts with the first letter as the picture. Go around the table until someone yells a word before you. They get to challenge the people around the table. Continue until you run out of cards. There will be a lot of fun and laughter during this part game!

Intro:

   Ticket to Ride: Pick a train ticket and plan your trek. Play cards to get from destination to destination. Be careful, your path may be blocked by your opponents travels. Game continues until someone runs out of trains so don't get caught with unfinished tickets.

   Dominion: A card drafting game. Buy cards to help you get points. With many different types of cards, this game has a lot of replay ability. No two games are the same.

   Tsuro: Set sail on the wakes of the ocean. Play a tile and then move to the end of the wake. Try to get your opponents to fall off the board before you do.

   Lords of Waterdeep: Try to get as many quests done as you can before the rounds run out. Take turns placing your agents on the board to get what you need to complete the quests that your Lord requests.

   Settlers of Catan: The game that got many people into gaming. Build settlements, cities and roads to get resources. Expand quickly so you don't get cut off!

Tactical:

   Summoner Wars: Summon your helpers to move and attack your opponents Summoner. Watch out for traps while maneuvering around walls and staying out of reach.

   Krosmaster Arena: Move around trees and bushes. Stand on boxes while attacking your opponent for extra distance. Roll the dice for a little extra boost while battling to the end.

   Small World: Try to take over the small world by battling your neighbors for a little extra space. Try to get the most land by the time this round base game is over.

Cards:

   Smash Up: Take two factions and shuffle them together. Try to get the best combo on a base before it scores. Use actions to move your opponents cards, take away special abilities or boost your own.

   Guildhall: Try to get sets of the same type of card before your opponents take your cards or switch them with their own cards. Use sets to buy point cards or a special boost. Each card type has it's own special ability to help you along.

Filler:

   Love Letter: A simple game of trying to get the love letter to the princess. Play a card and do what it says. If you have the Princess at the end of the game or the card with the highest number, you win!

   Dice Masters: This two player game can be as long or short as you'd like. Buy dice to fight your opponent with. Wonder who will win between Wolverine and Dead Pool? Get rolling and find out!

   Kittens in a Blender: Will your mischievous kittens get blended up or will you catch them in time? Try to save your kittens before your opponents blend them up.

Fun AND Educational...Where Do I Sign Up?

If you haven't noticed, my family and I love games. We also love to learn so it seems natural to combine learning and games.  Here is the thing though:  kids KNOW the difference between an educational game and a just for fun game.  I can buy a game made to teach something like multiplication facts or sight words.  Guess what--my kids might not want to play it because it is school work not fun.  I knew there had to be a better way so I started to use the games my kids love to practice academic skills.  And it works!  They love playing them and I love that they are learning! I'm not sure why some kids don't like educational games...but I'm glad I have figured out the trick!

Here is what you do to turn a fun game into an educational game:

1. Decide what skill you want to practice with your child.  It could be multiplication facts, sight words, vocabulary words, history facts, state capitals, geography, elements of the periodic table, etc.  It can be anything your child needs to practice.
2. Create flash cards of the information your child needs to learn.  You could also purchase flash cards from a store if available.  I've used multiplication cards and alphabet cards.  I've also just made my own.  For example, if your child is learning states and their capitals, make flashcards that have a  state on one side and the capital city on the other. 
3. Choose a game (or games) your child loves.
4. Play the game with your child with this twist.  Before each turn, have your child answer a question on the flashcard.  If your child misses a question, tell him  the right answer.  Keep using that question until he answers it correctly and then move on to another.  If you want to be tough, your child loses a turn if the question can't be answered.  I would only do this once your child is pretty comfortable with the information.  Continue to play the game as usual, answering a question before each turn.  If you really want to impress your kids, make sure you answer questions too! (And yes, you lose a turn when you get it wrong.)

As you can see, it is so easy to turn any fun game into an educational experience.

In the past, I've reviewed the game Bugs in the Kitchen.  Click her to learn more about that game. It is a fun fast paced game all three of my kids enjoy.  I've used their love of this game to my advantage as their teacher.  One way I've used this is to review sight words.  I made flash cards of sight words.  My child had to read the sight word before she  can take her turn.  I love this game with the educational component because speed is important.  Many  kids love the added challenge of being fast.

You can also use games like Candyland, Connect 4, Memory, Go Fish, Uno, Skipbo, Slapjack and War.  Really you can use any game that is simple and short.  I wouldn't use a game like Mononopoly because it would just take too long with the added component. The best part of this is that you don't have to go out and buy a game for every skill your child needs to practice.  (Hooray for another budget friendly way to help your kids learn!)You can use any game to practice what your child needs.

Give this a try at home and feel free to share how you turned your child's favorite game into an educational game!

Rush Hour Review

   Rush Hour is a fun one player game.

   The game is rather simple. It comes with some different sized cars and a grid.

   There is a book with eighty different challenges ranging from beginning to expert. It has the solutions to the puzzles in the back of the book as well.

   To play, choose a challenge out of the book and set up the cars. This one is the first challenge.

   Slide the cars along the grid. You can not pick them up or turn them. They go forward and backwards. That's it. You are trying to clear the exit for the red car to get through. The exit is the space on the right side.

   There is no set number of moves. You can move as many cars as much as you'd like until you can clear out the path.

   Once you get the red car to the exit, you have passed that level.

    I was pretty excited when I saw this game. I used to have a game similar to it on my phone that I would play to help pass the time. My hubby and kids love to play this game. It has been out almost constantly since we got it. This is a great game to give your brain a little exercise or if you need a break. I see this game getting a lot of play!

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

NanoBot Battle Arena Review

   NanoBot Battle Arena is a fun tile laying game for two to eight players by Derpy Games.

    Inside, there is a deck of ninety six reaction cards

   and tiles. There are fifteen tiles in each of eight colors.

   The cards are in the same colors as the tiles and numbered one through three. The number is how many nanobots the card can effect. Each color has it's own special powers.

   Orange is Burn. You can take the number of bots on the card (in this picture, it would be one) from the beginning or end of any chain of bots.

   White is Petrify. When you petrify a bot, you turn the tile over. This bot is now immune to other attacks. You can use a petrify card to turn over a petrified tile so they are no longer immune.

   Green is grow. You can add extra nanobots equal to the number on the card.

   Blue is freeze. You randomly take cards from an opponent and place them face down. They don't get their cards back until their draw phase.

   Purple is Pivot. You can rotate your nanobots so they face a different direction.

   Red is infect. You can scrap nanobots adjacent to your tiles and replace them with your tiles, facing the same direction.

   Pink is surge. You can remove tiles that are in your tiles line of sight. You can not go over empty spaces.

   Yellow is blink. You can move tiles to a new legal location. They must still face the same direction.

   To set up, each player chooses a color of NanoBots. Shuffle the deck of cards and deal out six, face down, to each player.

   On your turn, you are going to place one of your NanoBots and then play a reaction card. When playing a reaction card, if you play a card that is your color of nanobot, you add one to the number the card can effect. If you play a color of an opponent, you take one away from the number the card effects. At the end of your turn, draw back up to six cards. If you had cards frozen, this is when you put them back in your hand.

   Sometimes, the tiles get all mixed up since you can move your opponents tiles. You may even have tiles that are no longer connected.

   Once a player is out of tiles, the game is over. You do not get to play your reaction card once you are out of tiles. Count the chains and see who has the longest chain. For a chain to count, the arrows on your tile must be pointing at your tile next to it. In this picture, purple has a chain of five. Yellow has a chain of three and orange has a chain of four. Purple has won!

   This game is a lot of fun! It takes a lot of strategy and a lot of hoping that your opponents can't mess up your plans. The game box is rather small so it doesn't take up a lot of space on your game shelf. The tiles are also small enough that you don't need a big playing area. If you want a bigger game, you can put more than one game together so you have a higher number of tiles to play. This game works pretty well as a two player game. When playing with two, some combinations don't work well. We did an Infect and Grow line up. It didn't mesh well since growing just gave the infect player more tiles to take. I would recommend this game. It isn't very long, about thirty minutes or so. It's a great filler game or if you want to get in a quick game. It's easy to learn and the cards are self explanatory. I can't wait to play a game with all eight!

Tsuro of the Seas Review and Giveaway

   Tsuro of the Seas is a fun tile laying game for two to eight players ages eight and up.

   Inside, you will find a game board. There are gold numbers across the top and blue numbers down the side.

   There are eight ships that are the playing pieces.

   There is a pile of fifty six wake tiles

   Ten diakaiju (dragon) tiles

   and one gold and one blue dice.

   To set up, place the board in the center of the table. Deal each player three wake cards. Mix up the daikaiju tiles. Roll both dice and place a dragon tile on the board where the numbers meet facing random directions. The number of starting daikaiju depends on the number of players.

   Each player then places their ship on one of the starting wakes on the side of the board.

   On your turn, roll the dice to see if the daikaiju move. The daikaiju move if a six, seven or eight is rolled. Roll one die and then move the daikaiju in numerical order starting with the lowest number. Move the daikaiju in the direction of the number rolled. If a daikaiju moves onto a square that contains a wake tile, ship or another daikaiju, the tile or ship are removed from play. If a six is rolled, add a new daikaiju into play. Any time a daikaiju is removed, add it to the bottom of the draw pile.

   After the daikaiju have moved, add a wake tile and move your ship. You can not play a tile that will remove your ship from play unless you don't have any other tiles that can be played.

   If moving the daikaiju moves it next to a wake with a ship on it, that ship is removed from play. You are also removed from play if a wake takes you to the edge of the board.

 

   If the daikaiju moves off of the board, place it on the bottom of the draw pile. There must always be three daikaiju in play. If one is removed and there is less than two, the next player rolls both dice to place new daikaiju on the board until there are three in play. They do not roll to move the daikaiju during this turn.

   If a tile is placed that adds on to a wake for more than one ship, they all move to the end of the wake.

   The last ship remaining on the board is the winner!

   There is also an expansion for the game called Tsuro Veterans of The Seas. It adds some fun new tiles to the game. There is a portal, tsunami, canons and a whirlpool.

   The portal and the cannons get mixed into the wake tiles. The gold tsunami and whirlpool get mixed in with the daikaiju tiles.

   Once these cards are used and removed from play, they are removed from the game.

   When the Whirlpool is drawn, it is placed on the board like a daikaiju tile. When you roll to move the daikaiju and a number is rolled that doesn't move them, roll a die and move the whirlpool instead. The whirlpool does not move if a five or six is rolled. The whirlpool removes any daikaiju, tile or ship that is on that space. It stays in play until it goes off the edge of the board.

   If you have cannon tile and are about to be removed from play by a daikaiju, you can play the cannon and remove the daikaiju from the board instead.

   When the tsunami is drawn, place it on the board the same way you would a daikaiju card. Place the gold two arrow so that it is pointing towards the top of the board. Place the blue tsunami tile on top of the board so that the blue two is pointing at the gold tsunami card. If your ship ends up in the same row as the gold tsunami card (the direction the three and four are pointing when the tile is placed) you must roll a die. You have to roll higher than the number pointing towards the top of the board. So when it is first played, you must roll a two or higher. 

   At the beginning of the player that placed the tsunami tile, move the gold tsunami card one space closer to the blue tsunami card. When you do this, rotate it once counter clock wise. Rotate the blue tsunami card so that the same numbers are pointing towards each other. This is the new number that must be rolled in order to survive the tsunami. 

   Continue doing this until the tsunami is removed from the board by going off the edge of the board.

   The portal is placed in place of a wake tile or when faced with elimination. Place the portal as you would a wake tile. Anything that is then moved onto the portal tile is moved to a new location. If more than one ship is moved into the portal, move ships in game order with the person placing the tile moving last. Roll both dice and place it as you would a daikaiju tile. If there is a wake tile in play, choose a wake and direction and place your ship. If there is no wake tile, add a wake tile from your hand and place your ship on a wake. If you play a tile from your hand, you will have two wake tiles to choose from since you don't draw tiles until the end of your turn. The portal stays on the board for the remainder of the game. Anything that lands in it is moved to a different space on the board.

   I think this game it TONS of fun!! We love playing it together as a family. Our two older boys (7 & 9 years old) don't have a problem playing at all. It became a family favorite right away. 

   Now, on to the fun part! The giveaway! There are a few things you need to know before entering.

    - This giveaway is open for the US, Canada and UK only.

    - This giveaway is for both Tsuro of the Seas and  the expansion Tsuro Veterans of the Seas

    - Your game will be shipped directly from Calliope Games.

    - The contest is open from Friday, July 18 until Thursday, July 24.

    - The winner will be announced and contacted on Friday, July 25.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Ticket to Ride 10th Anniversary

   When we were debating about getting Ticket to Ride 10th Anniversary Edition, I was hoping we would get it. We didn't have a copy yet, but our friends do. We try not to get the same games as others in our gaming groups because then there is a bigger variety when we get together. We decided it would be worth it, and I agree!

 

   Inside there is a card that has a code on it to register your game and join the Days of Wonder community. There is also the rule book. It's rather thick and big, but it has many languages in it. It is really only two pages long.

   Under that, there is the game board. It's folded into a 6th of it's size.

   Under the board are the pieces for the game. Five tins of trains, cards and score tokens.

   The board is huge! It's very bright, colorful and nice to look at.

   The back side is even decorated to celebrate the Anniversary.

   There are five square scoring tokens that match the train colors.

   There are two decks of cards plus a bonus card. The art in this game is amazing!

   This game has both the regular cards plus the 1910 expansion.

   The train cards are very bright and colorful. They are also extremely detailed.

   The train pieces are amazing! You have the yellow barrel cars.

   Red circus cars, complete with a giraffe head poking out of the top.

   Black coal cars that look like there is actually coal in the car.

   Blue transit cars

   And green caboose cars.

   Everything fits nicely back into the box. Everything stays nicely where it's supposed to go.

   The details in the art and the bright colors make this game amazing! I love looking at it while playing. If you are on the fence about getting this game, I promise you won't be disappointed!