Have game night with Tic Stac Toe

Alix Abbamonte Public Relations Proud to Announce New Social Initiative: Spread more XOXO this Valentine’s Day with the WHO DO YOU XO? web meme.

Alix Abbamonte Public Relations is proud to announce a new social initiative: Spread more XOXO this Valentine’s Day with the WHO DO YOU XO? web meme.

WHO DO YOU XO?  is the brainchild of Robert Appelblatt and Tim Crean, who came up with the idea after updating and completely revolutionizing the old tic-tac-toe game by creating TIC STAC TOE.  This overhaul of the classic game takes that concept and expands the board to four in a row while simultaneously adding a third dimension. The result is a game that is familiar and simple, but quickly escalates into an intense match of wits.

To use the WHO DO YOU XO?  web meme you simply upload a picture of anything that you love, add some more love with X’s and O’s, include a descriptive hashtag and upload to any and all social media!  It’s a fun, free and an overall feel-good way to express more XOXO this Valentine’s Day or any day. 

WHO DO YOU XO? is a social media campaign that spreads love as well as awareness of the new revolutionary game.  With it we hope that people everywhere, from those who can’t afford to buy pricey gifts, or those who don’t quite know how else to say it, will use the social platform to let that special someone know just how special they are.

Connect with Tic Stac Toe?

Website - Facebook - Twitter - Instagram

My Thoughts

I think this is one of the first games in a long time my kids didn't fight over. I really liked that it was only 2 player, which cut down on some of the competition. It was straight forward and easy to get started and play, since most people know about XO's already. Only in this one, you're connecting 4 and not 3. As well, the pieces stack on top of one another.

We have played this many times since getting it. Usually in the evening after dinner. I really like that it's a short game and we can play several rounds. As well, when starting the game, I have a pretty good idea how long it will last, unlike something like Monopoly. My kids are 9 and 11, and they did great playing with me watching and not. It was fun plotting out ways to win when you can start stacking pieces. I found as a player you really needed to pay attention or someone would win in no time.

Everything fit back in the box without an issue and was easy to put away as well as set-up. It was well made. The X's and O's were a thick plastic and were not easy to break. My only complaint is the board is put together in 4 parts and they come apart easy when removing X's and O's, so I felt like I was putting the game board back together a good bit. Other than that, we have really enjoyed this game.

Holiday Gift Guide: Wink Board Game

Wink

AGES 8 TO ADULT • 4-8 PLAYERS

Wink is a hilarious party game that will plunge you deep into an atmosphere full of crazy laughter, awkward stares, and a healthy dose of paranoia.

Each turn, you will try to covertly wink at your new secret partner without being detected by the other players. Keep your eyes wide open, because if you catch an opponent in the act of winking you can use one of your Accuse Cards to steal their points! The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

Skills: Social Play Focus & Attention	Contents: 2 Decks of 36 Numbered Face Cards 32 Accuse Cards 8 Player Cards 8 Wooden Player Tokens Illustrated Rules
Ages: 8 to Adult Players: 4 to 8 Play Time: 20-30 minutes

Our Thoughts:

Game play is simple! You deal out one deck face up on the table in a grid. The second deck gets dealt evenly to all players. Each round you place your token on the card color you DO NOT have in your hand. The person that has that card in their hand is your "secret partner." This is when your partner must wink at you so that you know you're a team! If you guess your partner correctly you both get to score the points on the cards, and you'll repeat this until all cards are gone from the table or someone's hand. 

This is where the fun comes in! If someone catches you and uses their accuser card and are correct they will score both the points of the card you're on and your partners card. Do you have what it takes to "win with a wink?" You'll laugh until you cry playing this game!

This is a great gift idea for any kid or adult. Christmas is right around the corner, and if you're struggling with ideas, you won't go wrong with this one. We had so much fun playing, can look forward to the next game night.

For more information visit their website. To purchase you may go to Amazon or Target 

Holiday Gift Guide - Disney Junior Super Stretchy Game from Wonder Forge

Get up and moving with the beloved character from Disney Junior, including Doc McStuffins, Jake and the Never Land Pirates, Sofia the First, and Mickey Mouse Clubhouse! One player flips over cards and calls out characters, colors, and shapes on the giant floor matand the parts of your body you need to touch them with! You stretch out and get creative physically ? Can you reach them all?

Connect with Wonder Forge 

My Thoughts

 Super Stretchy is a fun game that teaches coordination and helps with matching skills. It consists of a giant  play mat, cards, and card holder. Instructions are very easy to follow and even small children will be able to play independently. Simply shuffle the cards and have one person stand on the mat. This is the  "stretcher". Five cards are drawn and flipped over in the empty spots on the card holder. The rest of the players call out where the stretcher needs to put their arm, foot, elbow, head, and knee. Each player gets a turn at being the stretcher and whoever manages to touch the most spots at the end of the game will be the winner.

 I think what I love the most about this game is the fact that it includes so many different characters from Disney Junior including Sophia the First, Doc McStuffisn, Micky Mouse Clubhouse, and Jack and the Neverland Pirates.  I have four children, and they all like different shows. The Super Stretchy game  has all their favorites so no one is left out. Both boys and girls can enjoy it equally, making it a great choice for the whole family.  It's lots of fun and teaches kids colors and shapes while they're playing.


Get yours on at Target or Amazon.

Parragon Magic Show Giveaway

Parragon focuses on illustrated, non-author driven, non-fiction books. Their books are of the highest quality while still maintaining mainstream accessibility. They don’t publish books just because a trendy author pens them; we publish books that offer unbelievable value both in terms of content and quality.

Their main publishing areas are cookbooks, adult non-fiction, children's books and licensed character books. Within these publishing areas they publish under their own Parragon brand; under in-house brands such as Love Food™ or Goldstars™; or under retailers’ own proprietary brands. They create books for beloved characters such as Disney, Dora the Explorer, Ben 10, Discovery Kids, Power Rangers, Barbie, Sesame Street and Marvel.

Do you love magic shows? Want to learn a few tricks to impress your friends? You’re in luck! Our Professor Murphy’s Emporium of Entertainment Magic Show has collected 125 easy-to-do Magic tricks and tips!

Our Thoughts

Some kids are hands on with how they learn, others not so much. My youngest daughter must be doing something with her hands constantly. She is always coming up with her own tricks (even if they do not make sense, she is five). Pranks are also up her alley, so this Magic Show is perfect for her.

The tricks are simple to understand but I have to help her at first. My oldest daughter enjoys these as well. With 125 tricks this has kept them both busy quite a bit. There are a lot of pieces that go with this, because of how many tricks are possible, so keep that in mind with littles that put items in their mouth. I also have a designated time they're allowed to play with this so that all the pieces go back in the box.

So much creativity with Magic Show, it keeps my youngest entertained for hours. She is ecstatic to show her father a new trick she's learned and it's the funnest thing ever to show her friends and teach them too!

Buy yours here and don't forget to check them out on Facebook, Twitter & Pinterest!







The Giveaway

One lucky winner is going to receive a Magic Show of their own.  To enter, just fill in the Giveaway Tools form below. This giveaway will end on  11/8/14. Open to the US only. The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply. Thanks again to Little Scholar for offering this fantastic prize.

Entry-Form

Reviewed by Jackie

Funnybones Disruptus Game Review - Holiday Gift Guide

 

Funnybone Toys

The Art of Card Games

Funnybone Toys creates card games, games, toys, and gifts for lovers of good design. These art-inspired products can be found in a variety of lovely places. Places like museum stores, independent book stores, toy stores, design stores and home stores.

We can even be found in some national chain stores.

Our award winning games are also valued by the education, special education, and innovation industries. Funnybone Toys – The Art of Card Games. Our award winning games are also valued by the education, special education, and innovation industries. Funnybone Toys – The Art of Card Games.

Disruptus™ - Disruptus draws inspiration from the very important practice of ‘disruptive thinking’. Disruptive thinking is one of the most powerful ways to innovate. It has been used to create ideas and objects like digital music, camera phones, and car sharing programs. Not only being used in corporations to help employees and teams be more innovative, it’s also beloved by families and has won the Party Game of the Year 2013 by Creative Child Magazine and a Laugh Out Loud Award by Tillywig Toy Reviews.

Our Thoughts

This game really teaches teamwork. Everyone plays and you feed off of one another's ideas. It allows for such creative thinking, like physics for your brain. I use this as a homeschooling task with my daughters. This is fun but you also learn to really use your brain and think outside the box. Aside from it being a "game" it, again, teaches teamwork. Teamwork is essential in our day and age!

As for the rules and setup of the game, it's very easy. Best of all, replaceable if you lose any pieces! After a quick explanation to both my daughters (8 and 5) they understood what to do. It is fun and "easy" and we can all play together and be captivated and creative! This is a perfect addition to anyone's board game collection!

Buy yours here and don't forget to check them out on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest!







Reviewed by Jackie

Review Peaceable Kingdom's Noodle Speedoodle Game

Looking for the perfect gift this Easter for your favorite child? Look no further than Peaceable Kingdom!! Choose from an array of game, from drawing games to card games. They have stickers and diaries too! A one stop shop this Easter, for sure! A wonderful company based right her in the USA, they've been around since 1983. Striving for perfection, in game making as well as their other product lines, by following their motto "Make good, do good, be good!"

Noodle Speedoodle, is a fast paced drawing game! There's only one catch, you have to use a noodle, sometimes two! Everyone gets to guess in this cooperative and hilarious game!
The game itself comes with 25 noodles, that must be incorporated in every drawing, a 30 second timer, a spinner and of course cards to tell you what to draw. Each card has three words on it.
 Taking turns, you spin the spinner to see what challenge you land on. All are based on the same principle of drawing your word and using your noodle, yet, they differ slightly! For example, you may have to draw two noodles, draw all three words, or even have another player draw a noodle on the board for you!

Amie drawing a campfire.

How do you win? Be the first to have eight noodles! But don't forget, with many of Peaceable Kingdom's cooperative games, everyone wins! It's more fun to play when everyone gets to win, and when everyone has fun, the game moves even faster!

My son had some friends over, and we decided to play, and they played for almost 2 hours! They laughed and hollered and had such a good time! They realized that 30 seconds just wasn't enough time, and begged for more time to draw around their noodles.

It really is much more difficult than you think to make a noodle part of your doodle! It's a skill that you just don't have much time to learn! This is part of the fun! A barrel of laughs, your family is sure to enjoy this game, young ones and adults alike!

Phoenix trying to incorporate the "noodle" Clay drew for him.

This Easter put a smile on the whole family's face with Peaceable Kingdom's cooperative games! You are sure to enjoy your time, and make memories that will last a lifetime!

Reviewed by Steph

Holiday Guide: SimplyFun Rolling Bones Review

**Product was received in exchange for an honest review.**

With the holiday season among us, and Christmas just around the corner, it’s a fun time for families to connect through crafts and play. SimplyFun’s products are developed with a focus on making learning fun for all ages—that means parents, too! And with more than 90 award-winning educational board games that meet the needs of today's kids, parents and teachers, there’s a perfect game for every child to help with math, science, language, geography and more. Also, parents can make additional income by becoming a SimplyFun consultant – a great option for those interested in getting discounts on games and/or making extra holiday cash! 
 
Our Thoughts
Rolling Bones appealed to me because my kiddos love learning about science. My ten-year-old is also learning about the human body in Science class so this is a great way for him to learn about the bones and proper names for the bones! It's also a great family game - we get kind of competitive about games around this house! There were quite a few rematches to see if we could come up with a better strategy to beat the other team. The kids absolutely loved being able to roll the dice, matching the bones, and were definitely on the edge of their seats! 

The great thing is that this game not only teaches the bones of the body but it teaches simple math (adding) and simple concepts too. The fact that this game is only $32 on the SimplyFun website makes it affordable especially for those of us that have large families to buy for over the holidays.

SimplyFun offers many other games that would make fantastic holiday gifts for the people in your life! Take a visit over to their website and see if you can find something that interests you! 




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***Please note that I received no form of monetary compensation for this post. The opinions expressed in the review are my own and were not influenced in any way.***

Holiday Gift Guide - Peaceable Kingdom Fish Stix Game

***Product was received for free in exchange for an honest review.***

Since 1983, we have created fresh, fun products that educate, stimulate and inspire. Our company began with a single product, and we have grown to be an industry leader in stickers, greeting cards and cooperative games. 

Our Mission is to: Make good, do good, be good! 

Fish Stix Board Game

This game can be played by adults and younger children too. There’s no reading involved so it’s a great game for kids who don’t yet read. We’ve watched a 14-year-old get clobbered by an 8-year old and we’ve played with families where preschoolers team up with parents. This game was developed by the creator of the multiple award-winning game Qwirkle ™ - if you love Qwirkle ™, you’ll love Fish Stix!

Our Thoughts

Every family has their own special time they create to spend time together, and in my family, we call it movie night. Thanks to this game, it has transformed from more than just movie night, but also game night! I was a bit surprised when I opened this game up for the first time, the box looks kind of small, but there are a ton of pieces! 

It did take me a few minutes to figure out how to play the game, and I looked up the video the games' instructions point you towards for an example of how to play, which I thought was lovely and very helpful. The pieces of the game are hard enough that my four year old (nicknamed "The Destroyer") will not be able to easily break or ruin.

After showing my daughters how to play this game just one time, they are able to set this up all on their own. It is a very fun, cute, colorful game that does appeal to a wide range of ages. My oldest is starting to read and my youngest does not but they both can play it as easily as the other.

A very creative game, and also great for little ones just learning how to count!!

Check out what else Peaceable Kingdom offers here: http://peaceablekingdom.com/
And their Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Peaceable-Kingdom/85821906165

Reviewed by Jackie

***Please note that I received no form of monetary compensation for this post. The opinions expressed in the review are my own and were not influenced in any way.***

Buffalo Games: Last Word Review & Giveaway

**This product was received free in exchange for an honest review.**

About the Company and Game:

Making Life More Fun and Rewarding Since 1986

What began in a small office in north Buffalo is today the premier manufacturing facility for jigsaw puzzles and party games in North America.  Operating in more than 87,000 square feet in Buffalo, New York, Buffalo Games continues to redefine what it means to make life more fun and rewarding.

Last Word is the uproarious race to have the final say! This party game has sold over 1,000,000 copies and is perfect for everyone ages 14 and up. Each round, blurt out answers while racing a timer and the other players. For example, Subject: “Animals”, Letter: “L”. Players yell out… Lion! Lemur! Leech! Leopard! The player with the Last Word before the timer sounds advances toward Finish. Beware – the timer is cleverly programmed to go off at random intervals. Contents include Game Boards, 230 Subject and 56 Letter cards, 8 Pawns, an Electronic Random Timer (two AAA batteries not included) and Rules. Last Word is for 2-8 players. Our Thoughts: This game is a laugh a minute, or whenever the timer goes off! You think you have the answers, but when you're timed with no warning of a buzzer, your brain turns to mush! Laughter gets in the way a lot of hearing someones words, and no one is sure who gets to go next! We did make a house rule on how to play though. You're supposed to "slap" down the card, and whoever gets there first gets to use their topic card. We just changed that to whoever got the last word got to lay their topic card down. Slowed the confusion, made for no arguments, and actually made play more fun. Since it was the last word that got to play next it made you want the last word even more! I was so excited to get this game, and it didn't disappoint! I give it a 4 out of 5 stars!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


 

***Please note that I received no form of monetary compensation for this post. The opinions expressed in this review are my own and were not influenced in any way. Please note that I am not responsible for the delivery of this prize and can not be held accountable if, for any reason, is it not received. Furthermore, I am in no way liable for any injuries that may result from the use or misuse of this product. ***