Category: Games

I Am Was a Settlers of Catan Newbie

Jenny Bristol

Yes, until recently, I had never played Settlers of Catan. I’ve been to dozens of game nights where other people were playing. It looked too complicated at first, and then too boring, so I avoided it. Then it became a “thing.” Never having played it was such a rare thing among my friends that I held on to the distinction.

But times change, and my curiosity got the better of me. I wanted to try playing Settlers of Catan. My timing was good because a new app came out recently called Catan Game Assistant. It was designed for people like me, people who had never played the game. I knew it all had something to do with trading sheep for wood, but the rest of it was unknown to me. Even after watching Wil Wheaton and friends play it on TableTop, I still didn’t feel like I knew what the game was about. I suspected it was the kind of game that needed to be played numerous times to get a feel for the strategy, and figure out what works best for you.

Continue Reading

Sara’s Cooking Class: Spil Games Knows Tween Girls (Part 2)

Kristen Rutherford

In Sara’s kitchen, you choose a recipe, (and they are ACTUAL recipes that you can cook IRL) and get started pulling out tools and ingredients. There’s a helping hand that will guide you through what you need to do, or you can choose to challenge yourself by noodling around on your own and figuring things out for yourself. You can view it as a way of covertly training your children to cook wonderful gourmet meals for you, while you lounge around the house reading food magazines, tearing out recipes for them to try.

Continue Reading

Sara’s Cooking Class: Spil Games Knows Tween Girls (Part 1)

Kristen Rutherford

Much as I don’t like to admit it, Spil has done extensive research into the mind of the tween girl, as well as the mothers of tween girls. The age range listed was roughly around 8 to 9 years old, and it basically said that at this age, young girls are dreaming about their “first kiss.” In my head, I had a knee-jerk reaction of NO WAY TOO YOUNG ARE YOU KIDDING. And the next thing they said was that their studies showed that the mothers of tween girls HATE this fact.

Continue Reading

LeapFrog Scholastic — The Magic School Bus: Oceans Review

Dakster Sullivan

I grew up on The Magic School Bus TV series and books. I loved seeing the various outfits that Ms. Frizzle would wear on each of her classes adventures in science. The adventure continues on for today’s generation and I’m happy to say my son has finally been introduced to Ms. Frizzle and her magical bus through his Leapster Explorer game, The Magic School Bus: Oceans.

Continue Reading

New Super Mario Bros. 2 for the Nintendo DS

Dakster Sullivan

I was really excited to get this game downloaded to my son’s Nintendo 3DS. I’ve been a fan of Mario since my parents bought our family the first Nintendo system when I was 6 years old (did I just age myself?) and we played the original Mario Bros. Thankfully the games have come a long way since I was a kid and I’m happy to say this game keeps in with the spirit of the characters and the storyline.

Continue Reading

Product Review: Hasbro/Zynga’s Words with Friends

Patricia Vollmer

The game I wanted to try more than any of the others was Words with Friends because…well, let’s be honest! It’s just a spin on Scrabble, right? I’m not going to mince words here…and I’m not afraid to say it because Hasbro makes both games! When my family tried out Words with Friends this week, we really did set both games side by side and compared the two. Let me give you the “BLUF” (military speak for “Bottom Line Up Front”). BLUF: Words with Friends is a fun family board game that will make a great addition to your board game collection this holiday season. But I caveat this by saying that if you already own Scrabble, you’ll find that a board game version of Words with Friends is extremely similar and probably redundant for your collection.

Continue Reading