We received this game back in December and I promptly wrapped it up and forgot all about the whole "oh yes, I need to review it" part of the deal. My bad.
Franchi$it is a board game that some call a modern-day cross between Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit. I'm not sure about the Trivial Pursuit aspect, but it does have a Monopoly type of feel to it.
Here's what Franchi$it has to say about itself:
The Game of Franchising Fortune lets you tap your “Inner Entrepreneur” as you wheel - n- deal 12 real life franchises in a thrilling race to defeat your opponents and become the most powerful franchise tycoon!
Which franchises will you choose to build your empire? Will you choose a Subway shop as your first franchise? Will you own the most units of Great Clips? Will you build the most valuable Sterling Optical portfolio? Your choices will reveal a side of you no one has ever seen before!
The game is designed for 2-6 players who are 10 and up. I played this game with my girls who are 10 and 12 and it was both fun and informative. It was also very long. We didn't make it through an entire round. The next time we play we'll look at the options for the short version that are included with the instructions.
Bottom line: If you are needing a fun way to teach economics to an older group of kids, this could just be the ticket. I probably wouldn't play it with anyone younger than 10 for sure.
Disclosure: We were given a copy of Franchi$it for the purpose of review. We were not asked to say anything positive about the game, but just to give our honest opinion. We've done that. You can see my proper disclosure statement here.
Family Matters was a sponsor at the Relevant Conference I attended last October. While there, they gave me a copy of their new Kids Flag Page activity kit:
This is billed as the "operating manual that should have come with each of your kids...but didn't."
They also say this is a "fun way for moms and dads to interact with their kids and truly discover the heart of each child - who God created them to be."
We've been pretty interested in the whole personality typing thing ever since our days with the Navigators, so to have something that does a form of that with our kids is pretty cool. And this is different enough to make it really kid-friendly. More than just going through the stuff on your own and deciding what your child is, this activity bundle allows you to work the process through with your children individually - they tell YOU what makes them tick.
Watch what Tim Kimmel has to say about the program:
His heart for helping parents get to the the hearts of our kids really speaks to my heart. I've read his book, Grace-Based Parenting, and really appreciate his words of wisdom to parents.
My primary critique with the program is that it only allows for three kids. Part of the kit has a board game feel to it and part of it has a disposable sticker book type feel to it. If I could offer one suggestion it would be to make it usable for more than these three kids and to make it REUSEABLE so that every year or so we could go over the whole thing with each child again.
They do sell refills for it, but the kit itself is already price-heavy at $44.99. Don't get me wrong - I think this is a worthy resource and worth the initial investment, but I wouldn't want to spend any more than that buying refills or subscribing to the website to do the adult version. As there are 6 of us in our family and the kit supplied materials for 3, we just wrote the info down on pieces of scrap paper for the oldest three of us and let the younger three keep the colorful information cards. When it was all said and done, we were still able to use the program for all 6 of us, it was just a little trickier to manage because we had to cobble together our own method of scoring for the rest of us.
Now while Craig and I really could look at the main countries sheet and make a pretty good guess which countries each of our kids are "from" it was insightful to see which of the cards they themselves identified with and to see how that matched up (or sometimes didn't) with what we also thought about them.
If you are looking for a fun way to engage with your kids on a heart level and also begin identifying some personality characteristics, I highly recommend this activity from Family Matters. I really really do.
Now then, the good news! I am able to give away one of these sets just like the one I received. Here's how to enter:
Simply leave any comment on this post. What is it about this program that appeals to you? That's an automatic entry.
For a second entry, check out the Family Matters website and browse around a bit. Discover anything worthy of sharing?
For a third entry, follow @Family_Matters on Twitter and tweet this: #Win a Kids Flag Page personality assessment kit from @Family_Matters and @MeganDunham right here: http://bit.ly/haO8Bn - Come back and leave an extra comment letting me know you did that.
For a forth entry, mention this contest on your facebook wall and include the link to this giveaway: http://bit.ly/haO8Bn. Come back and leave another comment for that one too.
For a sixth entry, subscribe to the blog, Half-Pint House Handouts or follow it via Google Friend Connect in the right sidebar of that blog. Note: This is a different blog than the one you are on right now. I'm in the process of switching my reviews and giveaways over there. Sorry for the temporary confusion! Come back and let me know that you did it!
Go back to my landing page for this week's giveaways and reviews. Choose one of my "review only" posts to leave a comment on and then come back saying you did that. Presto! A 7th entry!
Open to US residents only. The winner will be selected by Random.org. This contest will close on Friday, February 11. The winner will be notified that weekend and will need to respond within 48 hours or risk forfeiting the prize to the next in line. IMPORTANT: You must make sure your Blogger Profile has your email address available for me to contact you. If it is set to private or otherwise not visible, you will need to add it in with your comment. If I can't contact you, I will choose another winner. It's happened before.
Disclosure: We were given our own Kids Flag Page to do with our own family. I can not blame the number of people in my family who are in Control Country on Family Matters. Nope. Nor can I blame that the member who is in Perfectionist Country likes to wage war on the Control Country people from time to time. Ahem. Perhaps Family Matters could come up with a virtual counseling course for families to go through after they make their discoveries from using this game. I keep a proper disclosure statement available right here.
Instantly customize these amazing chess sets! These familiar yet uniquely shaped chess pieces easily hold your favorite pictures. read more!
The main idea of these games is that you can customize them any way you want. You can put in actual pictures of people you know, or use baseball cards or magazine pictures, or color templates they provide for you - they sky is really the limit!
The jumbo chess game really is jumbo. I was a little surprised by the plastic nature of the pieces, but got over that pretty fast. It is a BIG game. Each piece will hold a playing card sized piece of paper which really would make this perfect for making a specialized chess baseball team or something like that.
I love the idea of putting in sets of faces your child will recognize for the memory game - such a neat idea!
We ended up sending the Chess game home with my parents so our kids could play it when we go to their house. I'm a little sad now that we did that because my 10yo has asked for it a couple of times since then. Ah well, it will be fresh and fun when we go to Oklahoma eventually.
Anyway, a neat concept. Now one of you can win your choice of the Memory Match or the Checkers game. Sweet!
Here's how to enter:
Simply leave any comment on this post. Do you have a favorite game to play with your family? That's an automatic entry.
For a second entry, Check out the I Built It website and discover something unique about what they do. Come back and let me know what you thought.
For a third entry, tweet this: Win an "I Built It" Memory Match or Checkers game via @MeganDunham right here: http://bit.ly/dYPpur - Come back and leave an extra comment letting me know you did that.
For a fourth entry, mention this contest on your facebook wall and include the link to this giveaway: http://bit.ly/dYPpur. Come back and leave another comment for that one too.
For a fifth entry, "like" I Built It on Facebook and mention you entered this contest on their wall, including this link to the giveaway: http://bit.ly/dYPpurCome back and let me know you did that.
For a sixth entry, subscribe to this blog, St. Louis, Seminary Style. Come back and let me know that you did it!
Go back to my landing page for this week's giveaways and reviews. Choose one of my "review only" posts to leave a comment on and then come back saying you did that. Presto! A 7th entry!
The winner will be selected by Random.org. This contest will close on Friday, January 28. The winner will be notified over the weekend and will need to respond within 48 hours or risk forfeiting the prize to the next in line. IMPORTANT: You must make your email address available for me to contact you. If I can't contact you, I will choose another winner. It's happened before.
Congrats to:
Congrats! I'm contacting you now!
Disclosure: We received one of each of the games you see above for the purpose of review. My thoughts are completely my own. I keep a proper disclosure statement available right here.
We received an extra fun gift from Mom Select for Christmas. Okay, they sent it to me to review, but I immediately wrapped it up and put it under the tree and we all opened it on Christmas. And before I even tell you what it is, I want to say this: My entire family LOVES THIS GAME. Did I say it loud enough for you? What am I talking about?
The Duo was just released this past month. It bills itself as "an innovative gaming device created to work with the iPad." Yoomi is the first fun family game designed to go along with it. Yoomi brings the Duo to life in as an interactive game experience that all ages will enjoy.
It's an electronic version of the verbal "Would you rather..." game, if you will. My girls LOVE it! Watch this:
They can't get enough. They ask to play it over and over and over. It's such a hit. The only thing I think would make it better is to have MORE apps to download to go along with it.
Do you have an iPad in your family? Want a Duo of your own to play with? You can win one now. Here's how:
Simply leave any comment on this post. That's an automatic entry
For a second entry, Check out the Yoomi Game website and learn something about the system. Come back and leave another comment to let me know.
For a third entry, follow @DiscoveryBayEnt on Twitter and tweet this: You can win a #YoomiForDuo for the iPad via @DiscoveryBayEnt and @MeganDunham here: http://bit.ly/eQjMuy! Come back and leave another comment saying you did that.
For a fourth entry, mention this contest on your facebook wall and include the link to this giveaway: http://bit.ly/eQjMuy. Come back and leave another comment for that one too.
For a sixth entry, subscribe to this blog, St. Louis, Seminary Style. Come back and let me know that you did it!
The winner will be selected by Random.org. This contest will close on Friday, January 7. The winner will be notified over the weekend and will need to respond within 24 hours or risk forfeiting the prize to the next in line. IMPORTANT: You must have your email address available for me to contact you. If I can't contact you, I will choose another winner. It's happened before.
Disclosure: I received the Duo from Mom Select for the purpose of review. They didn't force us to have a jolly good time playing it. We truly have had one. That is all. I have a proper disclosure statement available here.
Telestrations is really what the tagline says it is: The telephone game in sketches. You start with a word and it gets passed around your group in a sketch book. Each time the book changes hands the word changes based upon how the new holder of the book interprets the previous picture drawn.
Confused? Watch this:
Did you watch to the end? There's some pretty serious giggling going on there! The game really is a ton of fun and I can think of several variations to it I can do for parties and such. My girls LOVED it!
You can see some better video of how it's supposed to work here. After watching these official videos I realized a major thing we did wrong when we played it. Oopsie! Ah, well, we still had a heaping ton of fun with it and I'll fill the girls in on the correct procedure next time.
Would you like to win a copy of Telestrations for your own family game collection? Here's how: 1. Simply leave any comment on this post. That's an automatic entry. 2. For a second entry, "like" Telestrations on Facebook and write something like this on their wall: I just entered to win Telestrations here: http://bit.ly/eBgvHu! Come back and leave another comment saying you did that. 3. For a third entry,follow @Telestrations on Twitter and tweet this: Enter to win the super fun @Telestrations game via @MeganDunham here: http://bit.ly/eBgvHu! Come back and leave another comment saying you did that. 4. For a fourth entry, write on your Facebook wall that you hope to win a copy of the Telestrations game here: http://bit.ly/eBgvHu and come back and leave another comment for that one.
The contest is open to US Residents only. The winner will be selected by Random.org. The contest will close on Friday, December 10. The winner will be notified over the weekend and will need to respond within 48 hours or risk forfeiting the prize to the next in line.
Congrats to:
Y'all, this makes me so happy. I didn't rig it, but this is the RIGHT family to win. Her girls played our game with us the other day and LOVED IT. They are going to be so thrilled to get this! See this post for the rest of this week's giveaways!
Disclosure: I was given a copy of Telestrations for the purpose of review. I was not required to laugh my head off when my kids drew funny things. That was just a natural outcome of our experience. You can see my proper disclosure statement here.
I am seriously behind posting my review of this game and it's completely my own fault. I've had the game on my shelf for two months now. My problem is that I only have one child with whom I think this game will make good sense for and all of our game playing time lately has been with all four girls. I'm looking forward to the older girls having two weeks home from school and am pretty sure there will be an opportunity to break this one out with M-almost-12 and try it out.
So in lieu of my own personal review, I will let the game speak for itself and hopefully you will get a good feel for what they are about and why I was interested in trying it out myself! Thrive Time for Teens focues on teaching kids the concepts of smart spending, going to college, giving back, buying a car, using credit cards, and starting a business.
In their own words, "In this reality game, teens start in high school and have part time jobs. They will be faced with money and life decisions like buying cars, managing expenses, giving back to their community, paying for college, using credit cards, buying stocks and starting businesses.
The winner is the teen that not only generates income and makes positive financial decisions, but also effectively manages their time and does good for those around them."
Here's a video of the game in action:
I love games that are both fun and educational. This one has potential for both.
You can win a copy of it too! Here's how:
Simply leave any comment on this post. That's an automatic entry.
For a second entry, Check out the Thrive Time for Teens website and discover something new about the company. Come back and leave another comment saying what you found.
For a third entry, tweet this on Twitter:
Enter to win a Thrive Time for Teens Board Game via @MeganDunham here: http://bit.ly/gnUZTq!
Come back and leave another comment saying you did that.
For a fourth entry, mention this contest on your facebook wall and include the link to this giveaway: http://bit.ly/gnUZTq. Come back and leave another comment for that one too.
The winner will be selected by Random.org. This contest will close on Monday, December 20. The winner will be notified over the weekend and will need to respond within 24 hours or risk forfeiting the prize to the next in line. This giveaway is limited to a US address only.
Congrats to:
Congrats! I'm emailing you now!
Disclosure: I received this game two months ago and still haven't managed to play it with my kids. It isn't because I haven't wanted to. It's because our weekends have been completely insane this fall. This is not the fault of Thrive Time for Teens and their game still looks awesome to me. See my proper disclosure statement here.
, and really appreciate his words of wisdom to parents.
The 
