I haven’t done one of my board game reviews in awhile, so I thought I’d write about a little treasure we found at the Goodwill tonight and actually had time to play – Totally 80’s Trivial Pursuit.  Since my husband and I were both children in the 80’s, we thought we’d enjoy this version of the popular trivia game – even though I threatened to kick some butt since  between the two of us, I’m the one who’s chosen to fill her head with useless knowledge (most of which I’ve forgotten over the years anyway!), but what I’m trying to say is that I usually win the trivia games in our family.  So we start to play the game, and the pawns are in the shapes of various pop culture staples in the 80’s.  There is a Care Bear, a computer, a Trapper Keeper, and a CD – cute!  And I loved how the pie pieces are stored in the bases of the pawns when players earn them!  My only complaint is that there definitely should have been more pawns – can’t believe there wasn’t even a Rubik’s Cube pawn?!?  How about some Jelly Shoes?  A banana clip?  Cabbage Patch Kid?  Atari console?  The list could go on and on…  Here are the ones they did include:
But anyway, my husband did end up beating me, but I have two excuses.  1.  The kids came down in the middle of the game and kept trying to play with the pawns which was distracting and I  lost my focus.  2.  My husband is older than me, and therefore he remembers more of the ’80’s – haha!  Ouch!  Ok, so I’m a little bit of a sore loser –  rematch tonight?

(I guess this didn’t end up being much of a review.  It’s a Trivial Pursuit game, nothing new there.  But if you were around during the 80’s and enjoy getting quizzed about the decade of excess, you’re in for some fun!)

Our Christmas was wonderful, thanks for asking!  Our 8 9 year old and our 2 year old were awake first on Christmas morning, and they crept downstairs to see if Santa came.  He did, and surprisingly, they waited very patiently until Mom and Dad were ready to roll out of bed to open their presents.  Christmas Eve was a late night, and because we weren’t really being pestered, we stayed in bed until about 9:45 Christmas morning.  After that, it took A LOT of prodding to wake our middle daughter who is 4.  Believe it or not, even telling her to check if Santa came didn’t do the trick…  she was apparently tired!  Like I said, late night last night.

Finally she was awake and excited, so then the kids opened their gifts, and they were really happy with what Santa had picked out.  So happy, in fact, that they were really good during the day, and we had few fights amongst the natives – a rarity in our house.  Their favorite toys seem to be these large inflatable balls with handles that they sit on and bounce.  I guess Santa didn’t realize how annoying it would be to have 3 little girls bouncing all around the house 🙂

So what did I get?  My husband got me a game based upon our favorite tv show, The Office.  A good friend had gotten us another board game (with a dvd as a big part of the game) based upon the show, and so now we have both games – the complete set.  I love it.  I was looking forward to playing it all day, and it’s easy to see that the game is REALLY cool.  It’s different than your average trivia game; lots of added elements, making it a stand-out favorite board game.  But then again, we feel the show is a stand-out favorite.  My husband also got me a Snuggie – ever heard of them?  Snuggies are big blankets with sleeves, essentially.  That way you can do many a chore (or even fun things, like changing channels on the remote or blogging) while still being covered by a blanket.  We’re waiting for mine to arrive, and once they do, they will be an especially appreciated gift since our electric bill doubled between last month and this month – must be all those space heaters we were using to supplement our giant furnace because we thought our gas bill was too high.  Just wait til we get that bill in the mail this month… ugh.  At least it didn’t come on Christmas Eve like I was sure it would.

So what did I get for my wonderful hubby?  It’s lame I know, but months ago while I was still pregnant with our son, I found a picture frame that says “I get my good looks from my Daddy”.  I liked it immediately and bought it, and it’s ironic that at that time, I thought we were going to have a baby girl instead of a boy which would make more sense when it comes to the photo frame.  But then we found out we were indeed having a boy, and so I was able to give my husband the picture frame with a picture of our son inside.  A good gift, but I had wanted to get him something else.

I almost asked a friend to get something for him from me.  My husband usually wants-for-nothing, but this year, he did spy a few gadgets for his wish list.  Since he’s usually with me when we’re shopping at the stores that carry the items, I was going to ask a favor of someone to pick them up.  But alas, my plan was foiled when I told my husband (and the captain of our family finances) I need some money for Christmas shopping.  He basically vetoed the idea of me getting him anything, and I was under the impression it was mutual, that we were going to focus on the kids this year and not get each other anything.  But he sneakily got me some really good gifts, and I’m not going to let this happen again – I’ll be squirreling away some money here and there until I have enough to buy him a birthday present in June – HA!

Hope you and yours had a very Merry Christmas!

One thing I was excited about doing in my blog was writing board game reviews.  Since my husband and I have a game collecting hobby and thereby an extensive amassment of games, we can find a new game to play on any given night.  But the kids keep us really busy, and so I forgot all about reviewing board games on my blog, not to mention that it’s difficult for us to find the time to play them.  But last night amidst the chaos of our house, we found time to haul out a new game and learn it.  It was such a fun game that it inspired me to write a review – anyone heard of the game Number Quest (or sometimes known as Nubble) by DK Publishing Inc.?

The game board consists of a color-coded grid with numbers on it.  The game is simple to learn, yet complex to play.  Number Quest combines chance (dice), stratagy, and traditional board game elements such as paper money and tokens.  To begin, a player rolls 4 dice which each display the numbers 1-6.  The player then uses these numbers to create any whole number 1-100 with any combination of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division.  The player then places their color chip on the corresponding number on the game board.  The color of the number’s space on the board determines how much money a player receives for creating that number.  There are also Nubble Bonuses and Double-Nubbles, but if you want to find out what those are you should play the game.  Even with the Nubbles (double-nubbles involve prime numbers – but don’t worry, you don’t have to know anything about prime numbers), it’s a very easy game to learn.  Also, you don’t have to be great at math since there are ‘cheat charts’ provided.

Number Quest is like a two-player strategy game combined with favorite elements of other types of board games, except the best thing is, you can have up to four players.

Here is a picture of the game board; evidently the game used to be called Nubble.

And another fun thing about Number Quest is how the game ends: it is over when there are tokens on numbers connecting the 1 and the 100 all the way across the board, and the player with the most money at that time wins.  Also, there are LOTS of variations to the game; there’s a kid-friendly version, you can try playing with a timer, or you can even try ending the game based upon a previously agreed upon time limit or money amount instead of when the tokens stretch across the board.  The game is educational for kids, and a great way for adults to exercise their brains, especially if you don’t use the cheat chart.  Upon first playing, I would give it a 9/10, but keep in mind that we didn’t even get in a full game due to time constraints.  But it seems like a really fun game and I’m looking forward to trying it with 4 players!

The classic board game Clue is getting a makeover.  Sure, there’s been lots of variations of it over the years; among them Simpsons Clue, Disney’s Haunted Mansion Clue, Dvd Clue, and Clue Jr.  But now they are giving the game a more modern look by changing characters, weapons, and rooms.  Here are some of the changes:

 – Colonel Mustard is now Jack Mustard, a former football player
 – Professor Plum is now Victor Plum, a billionaire video game designer
 – Mr. Green is now Jacob Green, an African-American
 – New Rooms: theater, spa and guest house
 – Weapons: Hasbro replaced the lead pipe, revolver and wrench with a dumbbell, trophy and poison
 – Each of the characters has a special sleuthing power

Hmm, I’m not so sure about this.  I tend to like things the way they are.  I’ve played both versions of a few board games that have been modernized, like Pay Day and Life, and I strongly prefer the original versions.  I guess we’ll have to see, although it will probably be a long time before I try the new Clue because I buy my games at the thrift store.  The only way the new Clue will get to the thrift store super quick is if it really stinks!