TOS Crew: The Presidential Game Review

 

 

 

 

Is there really anything better than playing a game, and learning at the same time? I have always found that my kids learn so much more by playing games to get information. Anytime, I find a game that could be helpful to this we pick it up.

 

 

This past month I was offered the opportunity to review The Presidential Game through the TOS Crew.

 

What you will find in the Game:

• Game Board
• Vote Cards (1 Democrat & 1 Republican)
• 300 Chips (Red & Blue)
• 6 Dice (Red & Blue)
• 40 Write your own Politics cards
• 80 Politics cards
• Score Card
• Electoral WebMap Calculator Access Code

 

 

About The Presidential Game:

 

This game is geared towards children ages 11 and up.

It teaches you the ins and outs of politics. (Which even I could use help with) The game is played in teams of Republicans and Democrats, once you chose which your going to be, you need to decided whether you want to campaign or go fundraising. Tough decisions even as a game! However, teaches the children how the whole process works. This game also teaches really good strategizing.

Once you figure out what side your going to be and if your going to fundraise or campaign, you roll three of the dice. Whatever number you get on the dice is how many votes you get. This is where campaigning or fundraising comes in. If you are campaigning you choose which states your going to place your votes on. If you are fundraising, you have to place half of your votes on one of the 4 fundraising states. Then choose where the rest will go. Once finishing that you have to pick up a politics card.

 

The Politics Cards are cards that give you what the media is saying about your election. On the card it will state something like “Add 4 more votes to (some state)”.

 

Another feature you can do is the Electoral WebMap Calculator. That is what the access code is for, like I mentioned above. You can play using it, and the computer will keep track of the votes for you. Otherwise you have to use the scorecard. We have played both ways.

 

Our thoughts:

We really couldn’t wait for this review to arrive. We are always about playing new games, and I especially love when they are super educational. Not just for my children, but for me as well.

After reading the instructions which were a bit overwhelming at first with my kids excited to play and pulling everything out, we got to playing. The game is really easy to understand after you sit and play it a couple times.

The first time we played by campaigning. The second time we tried the fundraising option. It is nice that you can play either way. My oldest who is 11 really enjoyed it and thought it was neat. He enjoyed racing me to see if he could become president. Seeing how all the voting plays a huge part in how things go, he really started to understand the process better. When we have watched the presidential campaigns in the past, we have been confused by all the information that is thrown at you. I think we will have a better understanding of the electoral map next time. My youngest teamed up with daddy, and while didn’t always get what was happening enjoyed playing it, and learned about republicans and democrats. So it had an educational value for everyone that played.

This will absolutely be a new game we put in our “favorites” pile.

 

Cost:

You can purchase The Presidential Game for $35 plus shipping.

 

This would be an excellent addition to any Government or History class!

 

See what the rest of the TOS Crew is saying about this game!

 

 

TOS Review: I See Cards- Fractazmic

 

 

 

 

I’m going to let you in on a little secret… I’m horrible with fractions. Like I can tell you how to make a hole number with like 1/2 + 1/2, or 3/4 + 1/4.. but beyond that.. FORGET IT!

Guess that is why I’m really not the math teacher in our house right?? However, I do go over math with my oldest, and work on concepts with him, and anything to difficult has to wait for daddy to get home.

Since Monkey Man has finished lower six grade math already… (Sigh) doesn’t get his math since from this mama! Back on subject.. We decided to focus on everyday things, and to strengthen his skills.

When asked to review the Fractazmic game, I was excited… Thinking this would be a fun spin to learning fractions. 

The only problem was, I didn’t realize I would have to learn along with him. Not sure what I was thinking there… but its ok we had fun with it.

The deck includes:

• 60 Math Learning Cards

Object of the game:

The game is meant for 2-4 players. You need to make as many hands adding up to “1” as you can.  Players can either pick up from the pile, or from the discard pile. But if not careful you can end up with a lot of cards.  When making a hand, you have to use the same color cards.

The three colors include. The Blue which is twelfths. The Green cards which are tenths. Then the Red cards which are the sixteenths.

You can also play Rummy and Trap with these cards. We haven’t had a chance to try those two games yet.

This game is recommended for ages 7 and up…

You can download a 30 pg pdf file to show you how to play other I See Cards.

Our opinion:

After a few rounds of this.. Needing my husband, and mom to help us out, so each child had an adult to help them. We got the simpler ones, but the hard combinations we are still working on.

Monkey man got a bit frustrated with this game at first, but enjoyed that he could play a game to learn them. I would say that 7 is the youngest I would try teaches this too, and even that might be pushing it. My 8 yr old, hasn’t gotten to complex fractions yet, so she was not so happy with this game. She could do the easier combinations though.

All and all, I think it is a fabulous way to teach fractions. Even if you don’t always use it as the game, you can use the cards as a visual. I think they will come in super handy in the future.

To Buy:

Fractazmic sells for $6.95 plus shipping online.

Go check out what the other TOS Crew members are saying about Fractazmic!!

 

 

 

 

* We were given this product in exchange for our opinion as part of the TOS Crew. All opinions are 100% mine or my monkeys.

Tos Review: Northstar Games- Say Anything Family

 

 

 

 

As you have probably read in past posts, we love playing games in this family! We try really hard to have a game night once or twice a month. Do you have game night at your house? Why do we? Well, I find it brings our family together really well, for some fun and laughter.

We are always excited to try out new games. North Star Games “Say Anything” looked like lots of fun.

 

What you will find in the Say Anything game:

• 360 Topics on 60 question cards
  
• 6 Dry Erase Boards
  
• 6 Dry Erase Markers
  
• 1 Select-O-Matic 6000
  
• 12 Player Tokens
  
• Dry Erase Score Board
  
• Rules

The object of the game is to…

Get enough points to win!!

How to play:

The Judge asks a question, and everyone rights whatever they come up with on a little board. When you have written your answer, you lay the board face up, and the judge decides which one is their favorite. Then the players can put two tokens on which over board they think the judge will pick. Whoever choose the right one gets points, and the writer of that one gets a bonus point.

Say Anything is geared towards ages 8 and up. Monkey Man and Middle Monkey had no problem playing this game, and it was refreshing to hear is answers and what they could come up with.  

 

 

Our Thoughts:

Very fun, and all my kids played. My little monkey didn’t play alone, only because she can’t write all words by herself. We all had a really good time playing though! It really brings out the imagine too! Another game being added to our Friday night game list!!  

You can find Say Anything at your local Barnes & Nobles, Borders, or Target store. It averages about $24.95.

 

You can find Northstar Games on Facebook & Twitter!!

Hear what more of the members of TOS Crew are saying about this product!

*We received a copy of this game through TOS Crew in exchange for our honest opinion. All thoughts and opinions are 100% ours.

 

Tos Review: Northstar Games- Wits & Wagers Family

 

 

 

 

Again I’m sure you have heard me say it enough… we love games in this house! Board games are one of our favorite past times! However, finding a really good one… where everyone can play. Seems we range from ages 6 to 67 here, is not always the easiest task.

Recently we had the opportunity to review the game Wits & Wagers… I wasn’t so sure it was going to be a hit, but I have to tell you after playing this game, the kids were begging to play again.

This is the Wits & Wagers family edition. They also have a party one.  The great part about this game, is while its trivia all you have to do is write a guess.

Here’s how it works, a person picks up the trivia card and asks a question. Then each person or team writes on their card a number (or guess a number) to the questions. Then they place the card down showing their answer. From there people put their meeples (cute little people)  on the answer they think is right, or closest to the answer. You have two meeples so you can put one on two different answers to try and get points. Then the answer is read, and the answer closest without going over is the winner. The points are figured out by who had a meeples on the right answer. Plus the person who wrote the right answer gets a point. The first person/team to reach 15 pts wins!

Some of the best parts for us about this game was that my 6 yr old could play, cause if she was on a team, she can write. Plus there are some questions that she even knew the answers too, such as how many Disney Princess’s are their?

 

The game includes:

• 150 Trivia Question Cards (2 questions on each)
  
• 5 Dry Erase Answer Boards
  
• 5 Dry Erase Pens
  
• 5 Large Meeples
  
• 5 Small Meeples
  
• A Dry Erase Score Board
  
• Rules

 

We absolutely loved this game, and it will become a regular Friday night game night game for us!!!  

You can purchase Wits & Wagers  online at Amazon or at your local Target Store.

You can find Northstar games on Facebook & Twitter!

Check out more reviews from our TOS Crew!

 

* I was given the game in exchange for my honest opinion as part of the TOS Crew.  No other compensation was given.

 

 

 

 

 

Monkey Quest Review & Giveaway

My family was recently given the chance to try out a new game in the online world over at Nickelodeon called Monkey Quest. Seeing that I call my kids, monkeys.. I thought, how fitting to have them try this out!

In our house as a rule, me or my husband tries out a game before we allow the kids to play.. Just to see what it is like. We feel more confident and secure that way, knowing what they are playing. Of course this is not an issue, since my husband Monkey Dad loves to play online or video games.

Here is a little bit about Monkey Quest...

• Geared towards kids 8-12
  
• Takes place in the land of Ook
  
• Can play for free
  
• It’s a cooperative game
  
• Fun!!!
  

Monkey Man has loved playing it, and thinks that it is very cool!

Since Monkey Dad was the one who played it the most, I had him assist me in this review... Here is what he had to say:
Monkey Quest is a very easy game to set up, no download at all and also very easy to set up a membership, although you do not need one to play at all.  I actually played for 5 hours before activating the membership just to see if it was something I would play or recommend to others for their children. It had a lot of fun playtime even without the membership. The game is definitely suited for children although some adults may find it a pleasant game to play if they like a more childlike game environment. Without a membership there are some areas that are not available to go to, but you can purchase access to those areas without getting a membership.
Once you purchase a membership, you are rewarded with a few instant perks, some extra bananas (the currency of the game) a bonus item, and most importantly access to areas for free while you are a member. Weather you are a member or not the environment is very child appropriate. You are not bothered by any kind of bad language or inappropriate behavior, like some games, and the game is designed to be cooperative, in such that some of the quests are made to be done by two or more people.
As far as game play goes, Monkey Dad (he plays a lot of different types of games) says that it is very well done, with decent graphics and smooth scrolling. It has a wide range of ways to change how you Monkey looks with both equipment and items that are just cosmetic ( he says you can get sideburns or a beard if you want). The game has a very easy leveling system that is used to determine which quests you can take and what items you can use or equip. It also has a very easy to use crafting system, in which you can get recipes to make both items to wear and items to use.
We are positive this is a game our Monkeys and Monkey Dad will be playing quite a bit.

Giveaway:
One of my lucky 3 Crazy Monkey readers, will have the chance to win a $25 Nickelodeon Game Card (which can be used for a 3 Month Membership)






* I was given game card, and reusable bag in exchange for my honest review from MomSelect & Nickelodeon. All opinions are 100% mine and my monkeys.

TOS Review: R&R Games “Pig Pile”

Does your family love games?? They are really big in our family…. A lot of our family nights, are playing board games. We really enjoy playing them. So, when I can merge education into it as well, it makes it all the better!



Our first review through TOS was for Pig Pile from R&R Games. The monkey’s were super excited to see a game. They were anxious to rip it open and try it out.






This game is made for kids ages 7- and up.  My 6yr old was able to play this game just fine though. You can play with 3 – 6 players, which is perfect for our family, since we have 5 to 6 people usually playing.  This game is a bit difficult to figure out the first time around, but after one round my monkey’s caught right on.

The box contains:

• 80 Cards
• 40 Little Pigs
• Illustrated Instructions
  

It really reminds me of the game UNO, except with a bunch of little pigs! The idea of this game is to get rid of all your cards first and collect as many pigs as you can. This is a fast pace game, so keep your eyes open!  

Monkey Man says he really loves this game cause it involves strategy … When I asked how, he replied “Cause you have to guess what card the next person is going to play Mom”
Middle Monkey says she likes this game because it fun to play and you can make other people grab the cards. (she won the first time they played)
Little Monkey says she enjoys it because it has neat cards like:
Hog Wash- which makes the pile go to a different pile you don’t have to use.
U-turn – Where you have to switch the direction the players get their turn.
Hog Wild- You can use as any card.
Hog tied- Where you skip someone's turn, cause you get to tie them up! (not for real of course mom)



Here are some pictures of my Monkey’s playing this game…

R&R Games has some really neat looking other games that you can get as well.  Another good looking one that my kids want to try now is To Many Cooks & Flea Circus..
To contact R&R Games, you can either call them at
1-888-RIDDLE
or write them at:
R&R Games, Inc
P.O. Box 130195
Tampa, FL 33681

Buy It:
You can buy Pig Pile for $15.95 here at www.rnrgames.com..  To get 20% off til the end of the year, just enter the Code: CREW20   at the checkout.  ENJOY!  

To read other reviews from the  The Homeschool Crew Blog.

*I received this game free from R&R Games, in exchange for a honest review.

Wiglington & Wenks Review

 

Need something for those rainy days that your kids are stuck inside to keep them busy??

I don’t let my kids play on the internet often, but they are allowed to play on a few sites, we have looked at and are comfortable with. Under strict supervision I assure you!!!

Wiglington & Wenks is the same. Its a Virtrual world for kids to go and play in. You pick a character and design what color hair and such that you want.

My son thought this game was cool. He enjoyed playing the mini games and just going around the worlds. His favorite part of this game is learning about history! He loves history. I love that it throws in education.  I don’t know if it would be one he would play often enough to warrant the $5.99 a month fee though.

Here are some of the things the company has to say about the game:

• The virtual world was launched in Christmas Eve 2009 and has already gotten over 110,000 registrants from 150 countries
  
• Wiglington and Wenks is more massive than any other virtual worlds for kids to date - covering at present 50 over scenes and increasing to almost 200 over the next few month
  
• "Wiglington and Wenks is so much more than your standard virtual world, it has a rich story line with well developed characters, plot, mystery, and quests.  Students are dropped into the story and invited to participate, learning through exploration, problem solving, and critical thinking." - Winner of the Edublog Award 2009 (http://ilearntechno logy.com/ ?p=1802)
  
• The virtual world features famous historical characters like Beethoven, Einstein, Edison, Wright Brothers, Abraham Lincoln, Emperor Qin, Gandhi, Darwin just to name a few. The players are given the task of looking for items related to these famous historical characters so that they can recover their memories.
  
• Games are educational yet fun. Reviews given by kids usually say that Wiglington and Wenks teaches them a lot about history without them feeling bored.

As a parent.. I like to see my kid play something educational as opposed to mindless games. I felt this was a safe place for them. They are not allowed to use their real names, so they are not giving any information out. Plus it is fairly cheap!

*"This is a Mama Buzz review. The product was provided by:Wiglington & Wenks for this review."

El Tacodor Dinner Game Review & Giveaway:

 

 

Who isn’t up for a night of Mexican and fun?? Well with the new Old El Paso El Tacodor Challenge game, and some taco’s you can have both!! You can download the instructions, scorecard, and challenge sheet at El Tacodor. Here are some of the examples of the challenges:

• Crunch Time: Name at least 10 animated movies within 1 minute
  
• Meat-n-greet: Pick a partner. Correctly name 5 of their friends.
  
• Lettuce Play: Act out different animals-no noises, your partner must guess 3
  
• Lime Light: Cheer, “We love tacos, yes we do! We love tacos, how ‘bout you?”
  
• Say Cheese: Pronounce the name of everyone at the table backwards!
  

My kids love Taco’s so this was an exciting oppurtunity for us. We were very excited to pick a Taco night to try this out. My kids helped with the prep of making them, setting the table, they were excited to get this game going. What a blast! We laughed, we ate, perfect way to end a stressful day at work or school. We love to play games and this got us interacting at the table. Here are a few pictures from our Taco Game night!

Here is a video of my kids doing one of the game questions:

Now you can download the game at the site HERE.

Or Thanks to MyBlogSpark and Old El Paso you can win a Taco Game Prize Pack. Where you can receive (2) coupons to purchase Old El Paso dinner kits and a $10 gift card to purchase any additional meal needs (i.e. meat, cheese, lettuce, etc.) Plus the Tacodor game!

Win It:
Tell me what your favorite Taco Toppings are. (This first comment is mandatory to enter)

Extra Entries:
For each extra entry you MUST leave a separate comment or it won’t be counted.

• Follow me on Twitter (link on Right sidebar)
• Follow my blog
• Blog about this giveaway and leave me a link back to it (3 extra entries)
• Put up my button (on my Right sidebar… worth 4 extra entries)
• Tweet about this giveaway (leave me the link)

Giveaway ends October 29th, 2009 at 10pm EST. Winner will be chosen by Random.org. The winner will have 48hrs to contact me or I choose another winner.

Product for this review was provided by Old El Paso and the prize pack through MyBlogSpark.

Every other Friday at our house…

 

looks like this….

 
Hunter playing Big Fish, Little Fish!

Sorry

Hunter was blue, he thought he was going to win!

Then sage got the number she need (btw she is saying YES in this picture)

 
To do this!!

 
And Rachel was just having fun!

We have a family game night every other Friday, the opposite Friday's are movie nights. We make each one special with special snacks, and the kids each get to pick a game to play. We do them on Friday, so we don’t have to worry about bedtime. Much fun, for our family! When do you have game nights?? and how often??

National Game Night:

 

September 23rd is the first ever National Family Game Night!! Hasbro is trying to get families across America to join in. Will you be joining in??

We already do Family Game Night, usually twice a month. We try to do ours on Friday Nights, so that the kids can stay up a bit later, and we throw in a few special treats or pizza for dinner. Our kids favorites to play are, Candy Land, Chutes & Ladders, Clue, UNO, Sorry, Trouble, Yahtzee, and Memory. We have children ranging from 4-7yrs old, so we try to make it possible for all the kids to play at the same time. Sometimes this is difficult for my 7yr old, so we either have him help a sister, or there is always an adult helping the younger two. We love game night to bring us all together, and have lots of laughs!

We are always on the lookout for new games to buy for birthdays, or Christmas to add to our collection.
I’m curious to know do you have a Family Game Night often? And what are some of your Families favorite games?

For ideas, and more visit Hasbro Here… and don’t forget to plan a Family Game night on September 23rd!!!!

Chess Anyone???

Tonight Hunter had Cub Scouts. Being a scheduled day off, they usually don't meet. However, we are in our last few weeks before the Pinewood Derby, so we went to get some stuff done with that. With that being said, no other Tigers showed up other than Hunter, and a new kid joining us. When we are the only ones there, we hang out with the Wolves. Therefore, its not a wasted trip in. Last night the Wolves where learning how to play "Chess". Hunter was very eager to pay attention and learn how to play. I didn't really think he was getting the concept, but he surprised me. After all the pieces were explained (name, moves, attack moves, etc) the kids paired up and played each other. Hunter was one of the only kids that played the game with minimal adult assistance. I was so proud of him. He was enjoying himself, a lot. He was kinda bumming that we didn't have a board, and chess pieces here (we left ours in Maine). Since he did such a good job, the Wolf Leader, let Hunter borrow one of boards, and pieces. I'm guessing we will be playing a lot of Chess this week. :) I need to brush up on my skills anyway! I found a site online as well to teach kids to play and practice. Check that out HERE.

Here is Hunter concentrating hard to make a move! Plus one of him enjoying the game!

What a deal!!!

Tis that season for new mods to be brought in at stores. Target is getting ready to redo their toy department.... Which meant Clearance... and lots of it! I was so excited about that. So, of course being me, I had to go check it out. I'm glad I did. I found Monopoly Jr. (ages 4 plus) , and Scrabble Jr. (ages 5 plus) for the kids. Considering we left so many of our kids games behind, this was a great thing. I like variety and we have a weekly, game/movie nights at our house. How much did I pay for these you ask?? Well, I got one for a 1.97 and the other for 2.49. Awesome deal! Of course there were many other deals, that I did not get to in time. Like 40 dollar sets of Lego's for 7 bucks...which would have been awesome, since a certain little man is having a birthday soon. I'm working pretty hard on getting my gift tote stocked back up!
I also found another really neat item, which I will share on my next post. It's so cool, it needs its own post!

Family Game Night...

As a busy family of 5 we are often faced with "Quality Time" issues. Often making it hard for us to do individual time for each child..... Therefore, a while ago we came up with a Family Game Night. Mind you it may not always be on the same night... depends on the schedule. This past Saturday afternoon with the question of what to do, we turned it into a game opportunity. (even though we left our kid games in Maine, what was I thinking I know) However, luck have it... Nana stumbled across a sale and was able to pick up Candy Land, and Chutes and Ladders practically nothing. I was so excited! :) Here are a few photo's of us, having fun!

Candy Land Oh, the memories! :)


Chute's & Ladders! Another favorite.....

Aside from our Family Game Night, we also have a few other family things we put on the calendar for once a month. Such as, Pizza Night where we make homemade pizza together...making it a family event. Also, we do a Movie Night where we pick a family movie, new or old, make popcorn, or sundaes, and curl up on the floor and watch! These are just a few ideas we have..... what do you do for special family time on a regular basis?