game review Archives

First to a Million Wins: Monopoly Millionaire

September 16, 2012 by Momstart 14 Comments

I’m addicted to Monopoly even though I never play the game anymore. Every time I see a new edition I want to buy it. I haven’t counted how many different versions I have in a while but I know I have a lot. I do try to not purchase every box I see because I’m on a budget so I try really hard to work with Hasbro every chance I get.

I was lucky enough to be selected to receive Monopoly Millionaire. And I love the idea of an end to the game. The board comes with 22 title deeds, 4 sets of movers (3 per player) 22 Fortune cards, 14 Millionaire lifestyle cards, 14 chance cards, 32 houses 12 hotels 2 dice money, bank tray and 4 reminder cards.

The 4 sets of movers start out as a small item and grow, a paper airplane, a jet to a really big plane. They represent basic wealth, up-and-coming and the final one was living the high life. You have the option to upgrade whenever you pass go it only costs 50K. By upgrading you increase the amount of money you are eligible to make.

Monopoly Millionaire is complete with stacks of cash (instead of single bills) and all-new, extravagant movers. The game introduces a new way to play, encouraging players to upgrade their lifestyle as they race to accumulate wealth and become the first to earn a million dollars – automatically winning the game.

As you move across the luxury-themed game board, you have the opportunity to upgrade your salary and mover – you may start off with a paper airplane, but you’ll be flying high in a private jet by the end of the game. All-new lifestyle and fortune cards keep the game moving as money shifts hands and players compete to collect properties and become the first millionaire! When you are setting the game up you need to put the fortune cards facedown on every property space at the start of the game. When you land on a space you follow the instructions on the fortune card.

And there are millionaire lifestyle cards you take one of these cards when you land on the matching space and enjoy living the dream. I would choose the boats but so would Miles because they are blue, but then again he does love airplanes more than anything else. I like how the money looks and feels. It’s thick like cardboard and there is a lot less of it so I know that the game is designed to go quickly.

The game is pretty simple as it’s just like any other Monopoly game except it’s always moving. You roll, buy or let someone else buy or pay rent. I’m really excited to add Millionaire Monopoly to my Monopoly collection.

Beginning in August and running through December, the MONOPOLY Live Like a Millionaire Online Instant Win game offers kids the chance to win an opportunity to live out their real life millionaire fantasies! Kids ages 6 – 16 can enter to win 1 of 5 millionaire VIP experiences such as a concert, movie premiere or sporting event, or 1 of 3,000 $25 iTunes gift cards by visiting www.monopoly.com/millionaire.

Follow @hasbrogamenight and “Like” Hasbro Game night on Facebook Facebook.com/HasbroGameNight to keep up to date with the new games and promotions going on.

Clue From The World of Harry Potter

July 18, 2011 by Momstart 8 Comments

After much anticipation, “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2” is finally in theaters! The fun from the movie doesn’t have to end with the beloved series, when you add Clue: World of Harry Potter to your game closet.

Clue: World of Harry Potter is not your average game of Clue. Of course, it’s been years since I’ve played a game of Clue so maybe it’s changed since I last played. I can’t tell you for sure. Hasbro went to great lengths to bring you vivid details from the Harry Potter books and movies we all love to the game of Clue.

The very first thing I noticed was how complicated the game was going to be. It’s hard to see from the picture, but each room has a wheel that spins and the doors open and close among other things. The red doors are open and the black doors are closed.

The actual game pieces include colored tokens, identity cards, two die, floo powder currency, the bad guys (at first I didn’t realize why all the round pieces were bad guys, because only the bad guys commit a crime in Harry Potter, duh!). Anyways, you pick an identity card, one of the good guys, Harry Potter, Jenny, Ron, Hermione. One of the remaining identity cards becomes the student that disappears and that is when your mystery begins.

The picture above is a picture of the floo powder tokens and one of the room spinners. You can use your floo powder credits to travel about the board even faster, but watch out for unlit fireplaces. When you’re sure of your facts, go to The Burrow to make your final accusation and win the game!

The basic play of the game is the same. You pick a location card, a criminal card, and a weapon card and you put them in the Clue envelope. Then you pass out the rest of the mystery cards to the players. Using the cards you have you narrow down who you think did it, in which room they did it in and what spell they cast to do it. You movie your token card however many spaces you roll on the green card from your colored starting point.

The black die and the spinners for the rooms are where the extras to the game come in. Depending on what you roll you will have to perform different actions.

Full List of Contents: Game board, 6 Identity cards, 6 movers, 29 Help cards, 32 Dark cards, 21 Mystery cards, 1 notepad, 40 Floo powder tokens, 6 Suspect tokens, 6 Item tokens, 1 envelope, 1 green die, 1 black die, 1 label sheet, instructions. For 2 – 4 players.

We received a sample to facilitate this review.

Franklin Speaking Spelling Bee Giveaway

February 25, 2011 by Momstart 291 Comments

Franklin Electronic Publishers created a great find to someone like me that can’t spell worth a flip without a spell check. I can’t spell worth a darn, just ask my poor dh that has to read the grocery list every week. It drives him crazy that I can’t spell, but our none-electronic form of grocery list keeping just tracks how awful my spelling abilities are. The Speaking Spelling Bee!

I spent the afternoon checking out all of the Franklin Speaking Spelling Bee features and was impressed with how many different ways you can work on your spelling. My husband and I remember playing with Franklin toys where all we played was hangman. Now Hangman is a great way to work on your vocabulary as you guess which letters are needed to finish the word without getting hung. Now this way more advanced version of a game has a game called Jumble. In Jumble you have to take the letters given to you and create a word using all of the letters. The above word was Discs!

Franklin’s Speaking Spelling Bee provides children (and adults, shhh don’t tell) with a meaningful, interactive, and fun way to improve both their spelling skills and their understanding of the English language. The Speaking Spelling Bee content is provided by Merriam-Webster®, America’s foremost publisher of language-related reference works and the leading dictionary of the U.S. school system. This handheld device includes a 2.5” Color LCD touch screen, a stylus pen, and a headphone jack for quiet play, and retails for $49.99.

The touchscreen is a little quirky if you ask me, but I did find that it works a lot better if you use the stylus that it comes with. The main game is the actual spelling bee. You are provided with words and you have to spell them. The words are spoken allowed and I missed the first word. Yes, I really can’t spell! Oh well, you can see, I had fun playing with the Franklin Speaking Spelling Bee.

Speaking Spelling Bee is now available online at Franklin.com, Amazon.com, bn.com in retail at Conn’s and select Barnes & Noble stores.

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Franklin Speaking Spelling Bee $49.99

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Leave a comment telling me what you’ve done to improve your spelling.

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This giveaway ends March 14th. I received samples from Franklin to facilitate this review. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.