Family Game Time Giveaway

Tuesday, August 31, 2010 By Lolli 82 Comments

Back to School Giveaway Week, Day Two:

Before CandyMan and I had kids, we spent nearly every evening playing board and card games together. When we got together with our friends, we played games with them, too. And so it stands to reason that now that our kids are old enough to join in, we play games as a family regularly.

There are certain, un-named games that certain, un-named kids adore playing….and that are less desirable for the adults in the family. We also own plenty of games that are too difficult for the kids to play with us. Finding that balance between child-appropriate and adult-engaging can be a tough one. It seems that you often have to chose between the one or the other, and really…what do we usually pick? We pick the game that the kids can play and sacrifice our own entertainment (and often our sanity!).

I was thrilled during Blogher to meet some fabulous folks from G.S. Schwartz & Co, who were there showing off the classic game Mastermind by Pressman Toys (which just happens to be one of those games that CandyMan and I used to frequently play together during those pre-kid days. And, yes, there were days before kids….). I was eager to try out a few of their new games, especially when I saw that they had a younger child version of Mastermind (Animal Mastermind Towers) and a game that involved good photos and funny captions (Bubble Talk, made by Techno Source). I let them know that we had plenty of good game-testers at our house.

Here’s a little blurb about each of these games, along with my opinion on them:

Mastermind: Mastermind, “the challenging game of logic and deduction.” The codemaker sets a code of four colored pegs and conceals it behind a flip-up shield. Your mission: replicate the code in 10 moves or fewer. On Sunday evening, CandyMan and Twizzler were playing this together. Twizzler is GOOD at this game. He declared to me and his dad, “Mom, I’ve got your brains and Dad’s common sense.” HA! Made me laugh.

Animal Mastermind Towers: Like the classic Mastermind, the brand new Animals towers version is a game of logic and problem solving that challenges players to figure out their opponent’s code in as few turns as possible. Players stack their animals in a special tower, hidden from their opponent. Players take turns asking questions such as “Is your pig above your hippo?” to try to guess the order of the animals. Every one of our kids loved playing this! Even Candyman and I were challenged enough to make this game a worth-while family play. Definitely a winner!

Bubble Talk: Bubble Talk is a new fast-paced family board game that asks players to match hilarious captions with funny pictures. One person acts as a judge for each round. The judge draws a picture card and players must quickly try to match the funniest caption (from their own hand of cards) to the picture. The player who makes the judge laugh the most wins that round. We LOVED this game. It has provided endless hours (yes, HOURS!) of laughs and family fun time.

The giveaway:

I’m giving away the fabulous game Bubble Talk (pictured below), completely ready for family fun!

The entry:

To enter, I want you to caption the following photo. Make me laugh! (The winner will still be picked randomly and will not be judged on “quality” but a good laugh never hurt!)

The extras:

Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway. You can do this once a day. Sample tweet:
- Get ready for some family fun with this Bubble Talk game #giveaway from @1momof5 http://betterinbulk.net/bubbletalk
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The fine print:

G.S. Schwartz & Co sent my family the three games mentioned above for review, but the opinions and experiences with those games are all my own. Links to games on Amazon are affiliate links.

This giveaway will end on Tuesday, Sept 7, 2010 at 11:59 pm Eastern Time. The winner will be chosen at random and notified by email. Good luck!