Board Game Reviews

Sandwich Stacking Games by Melissa and Doug®

Listed under the brand's Get up & Go Gaming Category, the Sandwich Stacking Games help children develop life skills ranging from hand eye coordination to balance and memory. The instruction booklet offers a tremendous number of visuals to explain the rules of each game. After engaging in each one a few times it was clear the favorite was "Grabbing Lunch," wherein players take turns tossing all of the toppings to another player wearing a pair of the bread gloves. The goal is to catch and hold onto each of the fourteen toppings in the order that they were thrown. The game honestly captures the most enjoyable elements found on old school Nickelodeon shows like Double Dare where hilarious zany challenges were given to family members.

Monopoly® - Nintendo® Edition by USAopoly™

An older player who should have known better gladly traded a set of powerful Mario™ and Luigi™ property cards (formerly known as Boardwalk and Park Place) for the Donkey Kong™ properties because they were such huge fans of Donkey Kong Country. The railroad stations on the board have been taken over by icons such as Link's horse Epona, Mario Cart, Gunship, and Pikmin's Onion. Along the same lines, Power-Ups replaced houses and Invincibilities replaced hotels. Appropriate for those ages eight and older, players can choose to be represented by pawns ranging from a Mushroom, a Master Sword, a Power Star, a Hocotate Spaceship, a Gyroid, and finally Samus's helmet.

Wits & Wagers Family by North Star Games

Engaging in mathematics should occur in a young person's life more than just through a textbook. Just like one needs to be immersed in a foreign language to become completely fluent, the more experience one has talking in numbers the better. That's why the Wits & Wagers Family Edition truly struck a cord with us here at Opportunity LOL. The game gets children into a mindset where their entire focus for twenty minutes is forming their own numerical guesses to questions. Appropriate for those ages eight and older, anywhere from three to ten people can participate at a time.

Suspend Family Game by Melissa and Doug®

If you have a very steady hand and an eye for balance you can place pieces in a way that they are likely to fall if another player touches it, leaving a booby trap that you must remember to avoid. Attempting to utilize tricks such as the wedge and the brink will leave players astounded by your skills and nervous for their next turn. In order to keep the whole structure from tumbling there is also a cooperative element where players must attempt to try to strike a balance between pieces to continue the game. For younger players we noticed allowing them to play solo for a bit increased their confidence and lowered their frustration levels.

Lexigo™ by Wiggles 3D

One player begins by forming a word that starts with a letter found on the newly formed grid. The fun element is that the path of each created word can be twisty or cross certain letters more then once. Before each player's turn is finished they must slide a colorful pawn over each of the letters to show other players their created word. As the game's packaging so eloquently verbalizes, the "next word has to start with the last letter of your previous word!" Therefore, even if one comes up with a word that utilizes an impressive amount of letters, such as "Spritz," trying to create a word that starts with the letter Z on the next turn might be difficult.

The Greatest Day Ever™ Game by All Things Equal, Inc.

As usual the youngest player gets the first turn and rolls the large die. The goal of the game is to have five playing cards that have all matching images to those featured on a players friends and presents card. Any time a successful match is made, a player is expected to flip over the match and continue playing with their remaining cards until one player wins by having a total of five matches. For example, the shot above is an example of a winner's set of cards. Upon winning the lucky person is expected to shout "THIS IS THE GREATEST DAY EVER!" This is certainly a cute touch to a well developed game.

Army vs Aliens™ By Wiggles 3D

To begin, one player is assigned to represent the army while the other plays for the aliens. The nine blue army dice are placed inside the custom army cup while the same goes for the placement of the nine green alien dice into their own cup. The Army gets to roll their dice first, followed by the aliens. Each side of the die has an image with a designated rank. With a goal in mind to conquer the world, players utilize the battle guide to attack one another and take control over the other player's dice.

Happy Feet Two Slopes & Ladders Game by Pressman®

Appropriate for those ages four and older, the game is ideal for two to four players. Instructions, a gaming board, a pair of dice, and four playing pieces come packaged in the box. The animation on the front would likely appeal to any fan of the movies as Mumble is shown along with his child Erik happily sliding down tufts of snow. To begin game play, the board has to be unfolded completely and take note - trying to get it to be flat does require some effort.

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