Two Words, One Answer.
games -love
 Smart Girls: Playhouse $19.99 I bought this for my 8 year old daughter because she played it, briefly, at her cousin's house and enjoyed it. After one car ride from OH to MI (4hr), she had exhausted all the matching and find-the-differences combinations (there are only like 5 or so sets of each) and was getting bored... by the end of the return trip, she was done with it for good. Should have just borrowed this one instead of buying it. Doesn't have long-lasting appeal for an 8 year old. Younger kids might enjoy the satisfaction of repeating the same puzzles over and over though, so it's probably still a good bet for a 4/5 year old.  Hasbro CirKis $19.99 This is a really cool game that I found at my local game store. I thought it would be like Blokus but it's different. What I like best is the scoring track is right on the board and the shapes are really unique. I've never seen shapes like this before and they fit together really well. You score points by making circles and stars. It looks really easy but it requires some careful planning. It's a great balance of luck and strategy. Everything is well made and the box is really eye-catching. This is a great family game!  When the Game Was Ours $26.00 I really wanted to like this book as much as I liked watching the subjects play the game, but it wasn't to be. Anyone over about 45 years old who half-way paid attention to the NBA might get about 5 pages of new information out of this disjointed rambling... and I'm being generous. There's way too much "Larry made me the player I was-Magic made me lose sleep at night" verbosity (not to mention the pages and pages brain pounding drivel about Magic's HIV condition) and not nearly enough stories from the locker rooms and time-out huddles. The few stories about actual interactions within their respective teams and the barb trading on the floor were entertaining, but again... not enough. The stuff worth reading could be pared down to barely fill a feature article in the Sunday sports section. Don't waste your time with it. |
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