Friday, March 6, 2015

Awesome Pack Review: February 2015 (with Giveaway)

I love gaming, including tabletop games, and Awesome Pack is such a cool idea. It's a box customized to your family with games and toys sent to you each month. If you have pets, they also get something to play with in the box! Since there are only two of us with two cats, I wasn't sure if Awesome Pack would be geared more towards kids. Last month's was, of course, awesome, though, so I was so excited for this box to arrive! (By the way, Awesome Pack is being awesome and donating a month for a giveaway, so check that out at the end!)

The first item we saw was the Rainbow Cat Charmer - and it works. I don't know what it is, but the second it was out of the box, our fat male cat was rolling around on the floor trying to battle it. Eventually our female cat joined him and that occupied us all for about 30 minutes!


We also got another cat toy that jingles on a string. They were mildly interested, but this chaotic feather and bell contraption simply doesn't hold up against a long string of rainbow fabric, I guess, if you're a cat.

The first little bonus item (aside from a magnet and our card) was a Joker key chain. Awesome Pack must have remembered from last time that we're Batman fans. :) This little guy has fangs or something. I don't think he always does, although maybe he does. My husband is more the comics reader. I do read some, but they're not the superhero kind.

Next, we received Ogre, a classic strategy game. I haven't heard of it actually although it's apparently very popular. It's older than me, so that may be why. People really love it and I can't wait to try it out. For such a famous game, I should definitely have played it and I need to get on my game, no pun intended! (Or maybe it was.)


The next game is a card-based game similar to Magic: The Gathering called Fairy Tale. I really love Magic so I'm excited to try this out. The artwork looks really gorgeous, too (also like Magic). I'm just waiting for Awesome Pack to send me Magic cards now. That would be awesome, although I admit I play more online than in person because our decks have grown beyond unwieldy. Every time we sit down to play, two hours pass before either of us is even close to ready and by then, we don't feel like it anymore! At least Fairy Tale will have a deck I can manage!!


Okay, so the final item in our Awesome Pack is literally the most awesome thing I have ever seen. Be prepared, though, because this is going to be probably the nerdiest paragraph ever written.

A little background. My husband and I are English nerds. He's basically all lit and I am both lit and grammar. No, seriously, I am so annoying to be around because I can't stop myself from correcting everything. While typos happen and I am certainly guilty of them myself, I can't abide lazy writing and lack of editing. In fact, everyone is so excited about Marvel Collector Corps, but after five messages to them on social media and via email, they refuse to change their graphic from "Sneak Peak" to "Sneak Peek." Unless the first box is on top of a damn mountain, I feel like that lack of interest in quality means I will find other ways to spend $25. :/

Anyway, so we're nerdy - and we love English. I love English so much that about ten years ago, I spent my summer commuting three hours each day just to study Chaucer in depth at Yale. That's right. Each morning, I woke up before dawn, drove 40 minutes to the train, and hopped on to head to my course on Chaucer, only to have to spend the rest of the day waiting for another train. I really like Chaucer, okay?

So with that said, it's funny I didn't know that The Road to Canterbury existed, because this is 100% the kind of gift my husband and I track down for each other during Christmas (I have a John Keats phone cover, to give you a sense of how bad it is). When I opened my Awesome Pack, I recognized the artwork instantaneously. Then I saw the words pilgrims, pardoners, seven deadly sins, and Canterbury and exclaimed, "Oh my God, you have to see this" to my husband. We are both in awe of this awesomeness - and yes, that pun is intended.



We still haven't played yet and I will review when we do, but I have no idea how Awesome Pack did it. I can't imagine that they came across this and thought, "here's a game with a huge niche," so this is probably the most personal and customized thing I could get from someone besides my husband or closest friends and family. Honestly, I don't even know if my parents would know to send us this. I'm sure when we play we will be really irritating and play in Middle English because I'm not kidding about how nerdy we are. This is a beyond words level of awesome.

Awesome Pack, you seriously rock.

Okay, to win your own Awesome Pack for a month (this is for a standard pack for a family with two kids or the Big Kids Pack - no pets and additional kids), tell us: What is your nerdiest obsession? (Don't forget to leave us a way to contact you - email or social media)

6 comments:

  1. Awesome box! Yours was different from mine, and I can really see the customization. I received a Harley Quinn keychain, and Fairy Tale, but my other two games were Love Letter and Kairo.

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  2. I'm a language nerd, too (English and French in my case)! I recently took an editing job and am now known as the Comma Queen. I guess there are worse nicknames I could have... Our Awesome Pack was perfectly customized for us, as well (my kids are 14 and 12). We got Fairy Tale, which is a hit with my MTG-obsessed son, Ruckus, Moustache, a Batman keychain, and Forbidden Island, which was the biggest hit of all. So awesome!! This was definitely the best package we've received in ages!

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    1. I agree - I always look forward to it.

      We are too stupid to figure our Fairy Tale, I guess. We've been trying to figure it out and failing! :) We LOVED Forbidden Island (got that last month).

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  3. Hmmm, Arthurian myths is something I am super interested in. Just the whole background to the tales and they debate over whether it was a real person have always fascinated me. Beyond that, fantasy series like Game of Thrones are a big nerd draw for me. (mluckw@gmail.com)

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  4. I got married two years ago to my 'gamer' hubby and have since discovered a whole new world of mini obsessions. First off, I never knew that there were more board games than what you found in the toy aisle at Walmart or Toys-R-Us. So when he took me to a "Real games store" as he says I was completely shocked at the sheer number of board games/card games. My son (7yrs) has now become obsessed with games, both board/card and computer. Second, for our honeymoon (which I let him plan) he bought PAX tickets and we went the day after we said "I do" and I now want to go again, but this time with more spending cash AND IN COSTUME. Those outfits were insane amazing. So now the hunt is on for a great outfit for PAX or if I'm lucky Comi-Con'. Also I admit I love Harry Potter, books, movies, fanfics, etc. I have even resorted to using our son as the excuse as to why we should go to Floridas Universal Studios, just so I can see The World of Harry Potter and the rides.
    (leeloomiana@gmail.com)

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  5. I am super annoying when it comes to grammar and language. I don't think I can have a serious conversation if there is a mispronunciation or word used in the wrong context. I just stop listening and obsess over it.

    I also have a serious trivia problem - mainly pop culture and music trivia. No one will play me in trivia games if I beat them...sucks!

    Just a few nerd quirks of mine!
    robin.christofaro@yahoo.com

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