Hocus Pocus Board Game
Hocus Pocus Board Game? Why, yes! It’s real!! Grab the PRE-ORDER NOW! We ordered ours. Can’t wait to play it. I will have the movie playing in the background. We watch Hocus Pocus atleast 20 times a year. Anyce loves it. Zayden, he is over it after the 1st viewing lol. I can’t help it. It’s one of my favorite movies and Halloween is my favorite holiday. Who is your favorite sister?
Kids Against Maturity
We love this family game. The kids get a kick out out of this party game designed for kids. Beware to prepared to hear butts and poop mentioned alot. That’s part of the charm of this silly kids party game. It’s a cards against humanity kid friend game. Which happens to be on sale right now! Check it out!
Where has the time gone?
It’s been quite a few years since our last post. What has our family been doing?
Well, we have been a busy family. Pre-Pandemic, I went back to work. For our local school district. Our kids have been full force in sports. Trevor was coaching Zayden’s flag football team. Anyce has gotten in archery. Her team even made it to nationals! Those were postponed due the pandemic.
During this pandemic Trevor is working from home. The kids and I are on summer break.
We are organizing our house, playing games, crafts, lots of cooking. Along with having a never ending list of projects I would like to get done. Pretty a pandemic family life at the moment.
Now that we have all this free time. I am hoping to start blogging again. This blog will include more of the family part now. Yes, we still play games. That will always be a part of our lives. Yes, we will share reviews of games. However, we also want to share other parts of our lives. Projects that we are working on, food we are cooking and everything else our family enjoys. So, I hope you stay around to check out what is to come.
What has your family been doing during this pandemic?
Dr. Eureka
Dr. Eureka by Blue Orange Games is a fun family friendly dexterity game. This game is quite a bit harder than it looks. Which is a great thing. However, I wouldn’t recommend this game for kids under 8. Unless, they are great at dexterity games and maybe don’t use the speed aspect. Most adults even find this game challenging.
Gamematz!
Gamematz
Gamematz makes some amazingly high quality game mats! Check them out here. These playmats will be available via Kickstarter on 5-20-16! You will have many choices, from small personal game mats to large scaled game mats. They have a huge variety of images to choose from over 150 or even better, you can use your own image!!! How awesome is that! Here are the 3 player mats we have. Seriously, I’m in love! Gamematz is exactly what every player needs. I love to be able to personalize my gaming area. It gives me good vibes and energy to win my games.
I absolutely love how nice my dice roll onto these game mats. I recently bought aluminum dice. Which to my surprise scratch on table surfaces. However, no more damaged dice due to my game mats. No jumping all over the place or rolling off the table. Without using a dice tray. I don’t personally like dice trays. Why haven’t I thought of game mats before. I don’t even know. They are now a must have for me.
Features of these playmats
- Premium fabric cloth top with rubber bottom for traction
- Vivid color and highly detailed artwork
- Flat surface makes dice rolling easy
- Easily Portable / Roll up and take with you
- Machine Washable and easy to clean with a damp cloth, water or gentle cleaner
Telepathy Magic Minds
Telepathy Magic Minds
Telepathy Magic Minds by Telepathy Games is like Battleship meets puzzles. It’s a family friendly game that gets you using your mental powers. You will be going head to head using strategy, deduction and your powerful mind powers to figure out what exact object/ square your opponent has chosen.
Our family really enjoys this game. It’s a great game when you have 20 minutes and you want something easy to set up and play. You can have fun. All of my non-gamer friends ask about this game. The artwork is attractive. Along with have no learning curve. Anyone can play this game!
This game is for 2 players or 2 teams.
Ages 10+
Game play 15-20 minutes
Magic Minds is the one of the more complex of the Telepathy Games line up. As it has more items and a much longer grid. The do have game perfect for younger kids which is called Brain Freeze.
How To Play
Set up is quite easy. You take your game board and your secrecy shield, place them in front of you making sure you opponent can not see your game board.
Pick a random square of your choice and mark your choice on your secrecy shield, so you don’t forget. Remember it is a secret!
Your goal is to be the first player or team to figure out your opponents square.
You will then take turns picking a square and ask your opponents. Example K-7 Brown Card? Your opponent will say no if none of the features of the square matches their choice. However, if just one of the features is correct your opponent will say yes.
You use your opponents answers to help narrow your guess to which square they have chosen. Once you are ready to ask for the final time as you believe you have figured it out. You must announce this is your final guest. If you get it wrong you lose.
Cat Box
CAT BOX by GRAIL GAMES is on KICKSTARTER right now!
Trust us your going to want to back this adorable cat puzzle game that is fun for the whole family! This game gets the family laughing and talking. You can choose wither to play nice or play with the vengeance.
Cat Box
- Ages 6+
- Players 2-5
- Playing Time 15-30 Minutes
Grail games will be revamping this game making it available world wide. We have fallen in love with Grail Games over the past year or so. They specialize in fun family games. Most of their games do come in small boxes however they deliver a lot of punch. These games are very thematic which our family loves. Every game is high quality and includes amazing components. You can tell they have high standards and love games themselves. Check out their site at Grail Games.
Aza Chen is the amazing artist behind Cat Box. He has been a part of a lot of cutest family games. We have a few of his games. Kitty Paw and Cat Tower. Yes, your sensing a theme. We love Cat games. All of them our family orientated, cute and different! Kitty Paw is a dexterity fast puzzle game. Here is our review of Kitty Paw. Cat Tower is a dexterity stacking game. and Cat Box is a puzzle game. You can find more on his work here.
Alright now to the good stuff more about Cat Box! What will you get in the box?
Game Contents
- Rule Book
- 48 Cat Box Cards
- 6 Identity Cards, 5 Cats and 1 Chihuahua
- 25 Cat Box Tokens
- 5 Player Aid Cards (Reference Cards)
Goal Of The Game
Each player will be dealt a secret identity card. Try to keep it a secret so the other players wont try to hurt your game play strategy. The player with the most victory points wins! Using a combo of cats visible matching their secret identity and building connections to earn victory points.
Game Play (Basic Rules)
- Shuffle all the Identity Cards and deal 1 card to each player. Players should keep their identity a secret till the end of the game. ***Remove Chihuahua in 2 & 3 player games**
- Shuffle all the Cat Box Cards (either side is ok) and form a draw pile.*** Remove 2 cards when playing with 5 or 3 players. Remove 3 cards when playing with 4 players. Remove 1 card when playing with 2 players.
- Each player draws a number of Cat Box Cards from the top of the draw pile. ***Draw 1 card is you are playing with 5 or 4 players. Draw 2 cards when playing with 3 or 2 players. **** Note when drawing cards from draw pile keep the topside (public) visible towards other players. The bottom side is a secret for the player who draws the card. When you play your card it will always be from the side you are looking at i.e if you steal a card you will play from the (public) side you see before stealing. When you play your own card you will play the (secret) side you are viewing from your hand.
- Turn over the topmost Cat Box card from the draw pile and place it in the center of the table.
- The youngest player starts the game.
Player Turn
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You have 2 action options per turn.
- 1. Play at Cat Box Card from your own hand. You must play the secret side faceup.
- 2. Play a Cat Box Card from another player’s hand. Must play the Public side faceup.
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When playing a Cat Box Card you must follow these rules.
- The cards MUST all face the same direction.
- The Cat Box Cards played MUST cover an existing card in the play area over 1 or 2 squares of the existing card.
- If the Cat Box Card played has all cats you may only cover 1 square of an existing card.
- If the Cat Box Card played shows an empty box on one of the squares. You MAY cover 1 or 2 squares on an existing card.
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Refill hand cards to end turn.
- The player whose Cat Box Card was player this turn refills their hand to the initial limit. Respect the Public/Secret rule.
End of Game
The games ends when all players have no Cat Box Cards in hand. Players reveal their cat identities and count their score. Each visible cat that matches your color is worth 1 victory point. Find your largest connection of cats (Cats must be next to each other) and add the total number of cats in your connection to your total of cats. The person with the most victory points win!!!
Advance Rules Video Coming!
Game Play (Advance Rules)
Basic rules apply with the following changes
- Use all Cat Box Cards
- Each player receives 1 set of 5 Cat Box Tokens. Tokens must all be the same color ( The color of your choice)
- During a players turn you now have an additions action. You may choose to play at most 1 of your Cat Box Tokens. Remove the token from the game upon using it.
- Each unused Cat Box Token is worth 1 Victory Point (VP) in the end of the game.
Elementy
Elementy by Gamematz is a fast pace push your luck card game. Which of course as a mat option!
Not only does Elementy have adorable artwork. It’s extremely fun. We have tested this game with kids ranging from age 5-13. They all enjoyed it. It has that Rock, Paper, Scissors meets Pokémon vibe.
HOW TO PLAY
START THE GAME by dividing the deck into half. Each player gets 3 of each element cards Flame, Leaf & Water) and 2 Wild Windy cards. Shuffle your deck workout looking and place them facing down. Draw the top three cards to start the battle. You may look at these cards as they are in your hand.
THE BATTLE both players choose 1 of the cards in your hand and place in facing down. Once both players cards are face down flip the cards over to see who won the battle. Before battling against each player draws another card from the top of their deck so they have 3 cards total in their hand.
HOW TO WIN :
Water>Flame
Leaf>Water
Flame>Leaf
Water>Flame
THE WILD CARD is Wild Windy she is extremely unpredictable. To stop her at the opposing player must roll a 5 or 6 to win the battle.
THE TIE. The best part of this game is the ROLL OFFS! If you and your opponentplay the same card. You must grab the dice and roll off. They player with the highest number wins!
THE WIN the player that wins the battle take their card and their opponents card place them in their discard pile facing up the game ends when there is no cards left who ever has the most cards in thier discard pile when the game!
I can not win for anything! Apparently I have no luck! Which makes my kids love this game so much more!!
Food Fighters
Food Fighters
Food Fighters is a fun 2 player fast paced family friend card game by Kids Table Board Gaming . This family duo know exactly what families and couples want to play. This game is may look like it is geared only to children, but it’s fun even for adults! At night your pantry comes alive and they have full blown battle including spoons and pans flying in the air and taking each other out!
Food Fighters is a 2 player game. A good 2 player game can be hard to find. You want something that is entertaining for both players. This game is for newbies, casual and even the hardcore gamer can enjoy this great filler game. It only takes roughly 20 mins to play. With rules basic enough ages 8 and up can play.
One thing I really love about this a game besides the game play. Is the amazing quality and love that has gone into this game. You can tell from the minute you open it.
Be prepared to have a food fight without getting your kitchen dirty!
Now has expansions!
Set Up
- Pick your side. Will you be team meat or team veggies?
- Shuffle your fighters and randomly lay them in a 3×3 grid.
- Make stockpiles of all other supplies for your pantry.
- Each player gets their 3 power cards, 3 crackers, 2 spoons and 1 pan for their side of the pantry.
How To Play
Turn Order
- Take 1 action. Roll the dice (2 white unless you bought the red die) for Beans or Swamp or Attack.
- You can spend your beans to buy 1 thing from your pantry.
- You opponent fills any gaps in their formation.
Roll For Beans
To roll for beans roll both dice and collection the number of beans on the dice. If you roll a splat keep rolling until you get beans.
Swap
To Swap, swap any two of your fighters or swap one of your fighters into an empty space in the same row it already occupies. When you swap you get 1 free bean from the pantry.
Attack
Point out with your finger which of the fighters you are attacking and which enemy fighter is attacked.
If you roll at least 1 splat you hit your target and it is knocked out. Move it to your discard pile.
If you only roll beans you missed you target and collect your beans.
After someone has successfully attacked 3 matching players they win the game!
Don’t forget you get to buy extras from your pantry. Such as a extra die, for better odds in your attacks. Pans, to have one fighter be able to attack any type of the enemies fighters. Spoons, acts like a spear for one of your fighters. You many attack any enemies fighters from any distance. Crackers, acts like a shield. Takes 2 splats for an enemy to know out your fighter. Along with extra abilities.
