Perfection

I have to admit I saw this game a year or so ago and thought it looked overpriced and dumb. I don't know what made me buy it this year. Maybe a lower price or older children or perhaps desperation for a game to put under the Christmas tree.

Surprisingly, it's been quite popular at our home.  The younger children place the peg shapes in their spots before turning on the timer and watching everything POP out when the timer stops.  The other members of our family have enjoyed playing to game either alone or competitively to see who can finish the board in the best time.  I have watched and played this game dozens of times and I still jump when the board POPS up.  Great game. 

Scrabble--a different way

I was recently taught a different way to play Scrabble. Each person draws seven tiles. When the game begins you create your own Scrabble game using those tiles. When you (or someone) has used all the tiles they say "Draw." Everyone draws another tile and incorporates it into their Scrabble board they have created. You can clear your board and start again, with all the same tiles, at any time during the game. Game continues until all the tiles have been used. When game is over tally score by counting points for tiles of each word.

I really liked this fast moving game. No waiting for someone else to go so that you can decide if you can go, long words don't really matter, no one sees what you create, and you can start over at any time.

I have since realized that this Scrabble game is just like Bananagrams. You can read their instructions here.

Clothespins

This game looks lame, but as the box says, 'Its good clean fun." Get it clothespins... clean... too funny. Well the game goes like this:

4 cards, 3 starting posts, you can place cards down in any type of pattern...

All shirts, all, pants, all same fabric...

As you go around you try to get as many as you can on each clothes line and then put the other end on it to finish the clothes line. Only playing up to four cards from your hand (or discarding them for better ones... can't do both)

The trick is that there are birds... my kids like to make sound effects, they say, "Tweet, Tweet!" and swoop down and take a piece of clothing from your line and put it on theirs. no clothes are protected unless you have both poles up. Its an exciting, risk taking game that my strategic mind can't figure how to win again a 5 year old.

Snorta!

(The box is updated now)

This game, as Dawn said, is a really good game. It has a couple of variations based on the age of the children. Each player gets a barn, draws an animal, and is divided out the deck of cards face down. From here the variations change:

Preschool: Put the animal in front of your barn. You all have a stack of cards and take turns flipping them over in front of you. When there is a match on the table, the first one that calls out the other players animal wins the cards (war style). The trick is that you both put down pigs but you have to say horse if that is their animal.

K-2ish: Put the animal in front of your barn. This time everyone makes a sound for their animal. Snake is "ssss" or as my girls says for rooster, "Cock-a-cock-a-doodle-do!" Then when matches are out you have to make the sound they pick not the name of the animal.

Grade 3ish up: You now put hte animal in the barn, everyone only got to see it once at the beginning, and so you spend more time trying to guess what they have. Its a riot!!

Fun for the whole family.

Sequence for Kids

Place a chip on the board to match the animal card you discard. First player to get 4 in a row wins the game. There's also the special cards that can help you win. The dragon allows you to remove a chip, the unicorn allows you to place a chip on any open space on the board, and there are free spaces in all four corners of the board.

I liked this game because it's not overwhelming to decide where to go next. You only have three cards in your hand at a time and there are only 2 of each animal on the board. We are able to play a couple of rounds in one sitting.