Word on the Street Junior Review by Crafty

When I received my March Awesome Pack, I mentioned that I wanted to review each of the games as we played them. We played Word on the Street Junior shortly after the box arrived; in fact we have played it several times, but I am just getting around to the review now.

Awesome Pack Review: April 2015

I really hate having to pause certain subscriptions, and I especially hate it with Awesome Pack, because they do such a good job customizing each pack to our interests. However, we are now two months behind on playing any of the games we've received and until we settle in the new house, it doesn't make sense to have more to move. I will definitely return to Awesome Pack immediately upon settling, though!

This month, we received our cat toys, but asked to hold off on the little bonus items simply because everything is in boxes right now and the less we have to move, the better. 

Game Box Monthly Review: April 2015

For two months now, I have received awesome tabletop games - and played none. I admit it's not entirely because of the move, although I swear that's most of it. Most of my free time has been spent cleaning, packing, organizing, etc. The other reason is that I've been playing a lot more video games than normal, which is already something I do way too much of, so my free time has been depleted even more!

Anyway, Game Box Monthly has now sent two amazing games I need to play and probably won't play until July! This month's is really intriguing. Stones of Fate is a memory-based strategy game. 

Geek Subscription Boxes: List, Recommendations, and Thoughts

Everyone is very different, so what I consider a great subscription box could be way off for someone else. However, my husband's students asked him recently about Loot Crate, and he had plenty to say about why that would be a waste of the kids' money, but he couldn't remember which ones were the best. We get so many that it often becomes hard to track what comes from who and what's worth the expense. He asked me to make him a list for his students, but I was already thinking of doing that anyway. Recently, BuzzFeed had its own list and I was excited to see some of the great ones on there that don't get as much hype as the others. Instead of a best kind of list, I decided to do a pros and cons  overview - BASED ENTIRELY ON OUR EXPERIENCES AND PREFERENCES. I collect Funko POP figures and I love Harry Potter and Game of Thrones. My husband and I are gamers and he has read comics since he knew how to read. We don't really play Nintendo and we don't have kids. These are the kinds of things that do make a difference, because what we prefer may not be the same as someone who doesn't like the same things.

I'm going alphabetically and I'm also including a few that are geeky in their own right, although not technically fandom-based. I also included a link to a review for each so you can see the items included in the box.

Game Box Monthly Review: March 2015

I have so much fun getting my Game Box Monthly boxes each month. This month's game sounds amazing and I can't wait to play it! With the move, things have been a bit hectic, but I'm hoping we will have a chance to play before everything is in boxes!

Our game this month is Titans Tactics. The description reads: "Titans Tactics is a fast-paced 2 player skirmish board game designed to deliver deep strategy in 30 minutes or less. Lead Factions of Dragons, Angels, Pirates, Monsters, or Undead Soldiers into battle against your opponent in a race to become the most powerful Titan.

Factions contain six Champions, each with unique skills and abilities. Every game Players choose three of the six to fight in the arena. Champions can take and deal damage but cannot be killed, and zero sum scoring determines the winner. Clever and tactical use of their Champions will allow a player to claim victory.

Players manage their Champions' abilities via their hand of Skill Cards, spending them to sling fireballs, backstab their enemies, charge their foes, and teleport with ease. With no random elements, tactical play shines though. Thinking and planning ahead is highly rewarded."

The Game of Baloney Board Game Review

The Game of Baloney was one of our games from our Awesome Pack back in January, but we just got around to trying it. It's really designed as more of a party game so since there are only two of us, we put it off for a bit to play games better suited for just us. You can play The Game of Baloney with two people, but it's better with a group.

This is a fun game that basically tests your knowledge, as well as your ability to lie. You are given a fact and then there are three add-on details. One is true, one is a lie, and one is an outrageous lie. You read one aloud and people need to guess if you're telling the truth or lying. There is a whole betting system, too, but since it was just the two of us, we actually skipped the board and betting and just guessed to see who would get the most cards first.

The Road to Canterbury Board Game Review

I received this game in my recent Awesome Pack and was beyond excited about it. Had I known it existed already, I would have bought it because my husband and I are literature nerds. We especially love British literature and are big Chaucer fans. So this game seemed perfect for us (and really shows the customization of Awesome Pack, as I can't imagine there are tons of people who would be this happy to get a game based on medieval literature).

The Road to Canterbury is a board game that really digs into the heart of medieval culture, while also being fun if you aren't a big scholar. However, even people like us who are super nerdy about things like this can learn something. I know the seven deadly sins well, between my Catholic upbringing, my studies in medieval lit, and teaching The Canterbury Tales. Yet even having a grad school background in this, I didn't know that luxury and lust are interchangeable. The things you learn. :)

The Zarfling Conflict Card Game Introduction and Review

I was approached a while back to review The Zarfling Conflict, a card game created by Travis Blair. This is currently a Kickstarter project, so creating prototype decks ended up being a lot more involved but I did recently get my version. There is a lot to like about this game, so let's review the game, Blair's background, and how you can be involved!

Note: All of the photos included here are from the Kickstarter page, as the prototype deck I received was black and white with no images. I was reviewing the game itself, not the images, which are pretty awesome as you will see here. (There are icons as well, for those who are color-blind.)

Love Letter Game Review

I was so excited to get Love Letter this past month from Game Box Monthly because I've heard great things about it. Because it's a fairly easy game to pick up quickly and it doesn't require a lot of rules/setup, my husband and I tried it within a week of receiving it (he's in that part of the school year where he has so little energy to do much of anything and winter isn't helping).

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!

Forbidden Island Board Game Review

Forbidden Island was another game we received from Awesome Pack, and this game was SO much fun! I love the way it's designed, because at first we felt like maybe it would be better with more people, but all of the pros of having a full team of six are matched with equal cons. This is also a really unique game in that it's collaborative, not competitive. I know that's not completely unheard of, but unless you're a big gamer, you probably don't see much of this in your normal gaming routine.

Gem Rush Board Game Review

Gem Rush was the game I received this past month from Game Box Monthly, and we were able to break it out during the massive snowstorm we had recently.

Vampire Empire Board Game Review

Vampire Empire was one of the games we received in this month's Awesome Pack. Since my box reviews are specific to the box, I didn't review the game then. It fit my interests and made the box a success, so if I hated the game, it would not be relevant to how much I loved my Awesome Pack!

Good news, though - I didn't hate the game! In fact, it was a lot of fun and my husband and I had a great time during game time playing it.

Game of Thrones Card Game Review

This is a review of the Game of Thrones card game for two people from Fantasy Flight Games, which is a branched off version of the full game (and apparently simpler). I bought this game for my husband for Christmas, since we are both such huge fans.

You choose between House Lannister and House Stark. I knew I wanted Lannister, because I love them and feel they (except Joffrey) get a lot of bad press simply because the show made viewers believe they were supposed to side with the Starks. Although things have grown more complicated, it's almost like we were set up to see the Lannisters as the "bad guys," when they're no worse than the Tyrells or Baratheons. Besides, there are worse people, like the Boltons and Freys.

Anyway, my husband loves Arya, so that was fine with him.