Giveaway: Travel Games for Dummies

Try explaining the title of a DS game to your 5 year old called, Travel Games for Dummies!

5 yr. old: "I thought dummy wasn't a nice word, Mom."

Mom: "It's not, honey."
5 yr. old: "Then why is this game for dummies?"

Mom: "It's supposed to be a joke. They write many books to like, Small Business for Dummies and Computers for Dummies."
5 yr. old: "But I'm not supposed to say the word dummy, right?"
Mom: (the dreaded answer with a sigh) "Well, in this instance you can."

I find the "for Dummies" series flat out hilarious - that someone came up with the title and has basically monopolized the How-To section at Borders. Genius. However, explaining it to my 5 year old was another story!

"Travel Games For Dummies offers three exciting games in one. The game is packed with over 600 puzzles for Solitaire, Sudoku and Crosswords enthusiasts.

In Solitaire, players can try their hand at 10 different Solitaire games from the classic Klondike, to more advanced versions like Pyramid and Scorpion.

Sudoku fans will learn to play like pros as they choose from hundreds of puzzles, using the full-featured practice mode with optional hints to solve them in record time.

Fans of Crosswords will be completing puzzles in no time, using hint options like clues and letter choices when they need help."

Now that your kids have a DS, you just might want to buy one for yourself. Then you can play your Travel Games for Dummies games all day, every day! No need to wait around for Junior to finish his never-ending Madden NFL '09 game.

With Sudoku being still being all the rage these days, your "friends" might come crawling out of that hole in the wall to "help" you play. Crosswords are just plain awesome for the brain. And once addicted to online Solitare, there's no turning back...

Giveaway Alert!
I have a brand new Travel Games for Dummies DS game to giveaway to one lucky winner!

What you need to do:
Easy. Simply send an email to emilyallyn and be sure to put Travel Games for Dummies DS in the subject. That's it!

The giveaway will end Monday, December 15th at 11:59 pm. The winner will be notified by email.

Giveaway: Fab Fun With Puzzles

It's baaaaaaack and absolutely fabulous.

The Fabulous Fun With Puzzles book started in 1946 when Joseph Leeming created Fun With Puzzles followed by More Fun With Puzzles. Fabulous Fun With Puzzles combines the best puzzles from each edition.
"The challenges are varied, in both content and difficulty. You'll find forgotten classics and original creations, humorous teasers and logical testers, easy ticklers and confounding head-scratchers. And just when you think you've caught on to all the devious angles from which Mr. Leeming's puzzles come at you, a new twist will arise. Prepare to be continually bemused, amused, and amazed."

If you are up for the challenge and ready to concentrate, imagine, use logical thinking and clear correlated thinking, then you are ready to purchase Fabulous Fun With Puzzles... or you are ready to take the LSAT.

I can't begin to explain the number of emotions I went through when trying to figure out these puzzles! I'll try - intimidated, smart, feebleminded, proud, confused, rewarded, frustrated, elated, irked, cocky, clever, and dare I say "puzzled". And that was all with the first puzzle! Just kidding. However, when you get one right, you feel pretty dang brainy. You also want to try it on the first person you see, hoping to stump that person and feel like the genius has sprung within you!

To get a flavor of these ultra-fun teasers, here are a few examples (answers found below).

1. Two mothers and two daughters attended a picnic together. The main courses were hot dogs, hamburgers, and grilled chicken - and yet each made a different choice. How could this be?
2. What is the weight of a fish if it weighs ten pounds plus half its weight?
3. Two of the jacks in an ordinary pack of cards are drawn so that one eye is visible. The other two are drawn with two eyes visible on each. Given that, what is the total number of eyes showing on all four jacks?

You will also find a number of conundrums with drawings, cutting out shapes, mixing up letters/words, number puzzles, longer story problems, etc.

What are you waiting for? Strap on your smarts and buy Fabulous Fun With Puzzles for the mind-teaser on your holiday list. That person won't be disappointed in the least!

Answers:

1. It was a threesome - a grandmother, mother, and daughter.

2. The fish weighs 20 pounds.

3. Twelve. Each jack has two heads.

Giveaway Alert!
I have a brand new copy of Fabulous Fun With Puzzles to giveaway to one lucky winner!

What you need to do:
Easy. Simply send an email to emilyallyn and be sure to put Fabulous Fun With Puzzles in the subject. That's it! Never has a contest been so easy.

The giveaway will end Monday, December 15th at 11:59 pm. The winner will be notified by email.

Giveaway: Brain Quest

Are you smarter than a 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th grader?
Here's your chance to find out - Brain Quest.

My son is in 2nd grade and 8 years old. Recently, he has been playing Brain Quest for grades 3 & 4. He really enjoys it, which is great. I love seeing him play video games where he digs deep into his brain and actually uses those cells! Don't get me wrong, I'm not against any of the other rated-E-for-Everyone video games. After all, I did grow up on Atari. Pitfall, Astroids, or Night Driver anyone?

Brain Quest has a wide range of questions. For example, under the 3rd grade category there are these two questions:
1. "Which is not a fruit?" with choices being an apple, grapes, cherries or a hot dog.
2. "Which of the following civilizations is known for building aqueducts?"' with choices being Colonial America, Ancient Rome, and Early Gaul. (Just in case you are wondering, the answer is Ancient Rome.)

Each game contains 6,000 questions. That's unbelievable! I know I couldn't come up with 6,000 questions for a 3rd grader! The categories vary as well, so the questions never get boring. You can choose questions from English, Science, Math, History, Geography, and Grab Bag.

My son really gets into this game and is quite competitive, however I do end up reading many of the questions and/or answers to him. If you would like your son or daughter to play by him- or herself, I would suggest following the grade designation - 3rd and 4th grade - as opposed to the age designation of 8-10 years.

Brain Quest will make the perfect holiday stocking stuffer for that 3rd, 4th, 5th, or 6th grader on your list. Just make sure you throw in a few "practice" rounds for yourself, so you get the hang of it before you request a challenge. You just may get stumped a few times!

Giveaway Alert!
The generous people at EA (Electronic Arts) sent me a few copies of Brain Quest, the DS game, to giveaway. There will be 2 winners. One winner will receive a copy of the Brain Quest for Grades 5 & 6, the other winner will win two copies, one of each Grades 3 & 4 and Grades 5 & 6.

Brain Quest retails for $19.99 each, but you can get yours for free!

What you need to do:
Easy. Simply send an email to emilyallyn and be sure to put Brain Quest DS Game in the subject. That's it!

The giveaway will end Monday, December 15th at 11:59 pm. The winners will be notified by email.

Giveaway: Scholastic DS Game

Scholastic. Simply an amazing company with wonderful products, always. I can't say enough about them.

My son loves to play I SPY computer games on the kid's pc. We own I Spy: Treasure Hunt and I Spy: Spooky Mansion. They are imaginative and I don't feel guilty when the kids play since they combine fun with critical thinking and vocabulary skills.

I'm not the only one who appreciates these games; check out all the awards they have won!

The generous people working with Scholastic sent us the newest addition to the I Spy group, I Spy: Fun House. I played it with my (almost) 6 year old. We had so much fun together, finding objects, giving clues, winning tickets, and then playing in the Fun House. If you ever went to Carnivals as a kid, you will totally love this! It takes you back. My son also thought this was a hoot. He couldn't wait to get out of bed the next morning to continue his Fun House adventure!

"Solve I Spy riddles to earn tickets to the Fun House, a topsy turvy world where nothing is as it appears! Master puzzles and play exciting games while exploring the Fun House! Practice logic and reasoning skills while solving 30 brain-teasing puzzles, 33 I SPY riddles, 4 fast paced games, Scavenger Hunt, and over 185 additional problems!"

Giveaway Alert!
Scholatic's "Animal Genius [DS] puts players animal smarts to the test. Using the Nintendo DS stylus, players must compete in five different games, which require a combination of quick thinking and sharp reflexes. The five games include Creature Collector, Scratch N See, Matchomatic, Maze Munch and Animal Expert. "

Animal Genius for the DS retails for $29.99, but it could be yours for free!
What you need to do:
Easy. Simply send an email to emilyallyn and be sure to put Animal Genius DS Game in the subject. That's it! Slick as snot, eh?!!?

The giveaway will end Monday, December 15th at 11:59 pm. The winner will be notified by email.

Don't forget to visit Scholastic's website where you will find a ton of information for parents and kids - activities, games, videos, family life, books & authors, and more, more, more! Amazing.

Wits & Wagers

Picture this: Thanksgiving weekend, up North at the cabin, thin blanket of snow on the ground, all cozy next to a fireplace, drinking wine and playing umpteen rounds of Wits & Wagers with the family. Sound like a good time? Without a doubt. (Some of you may need to replace the word family with friends in order to ensure a good time.)

Wits and Wagers by North Star Games is a game for many ages. Our group spanned from age 13 up to 61, and we all had a ball. When the younger kids (ages 5-9) saw how much fun we were having, they wanted in on a piece of the action. So, we gave them clues by supplying them with a range in which to guess and we made up a few questions specific to them.

"Each player writes down a guess to the same question and places it face-up on the betting mat. Think you know it? Bet on your guess! Think you know who the expert is? Bet on them. The player with the most points [chips] after 7 questions wins."

It's a little like bringing Vegas and Trivial Pursuit to your own living room. Only what happens in the living room while playing Wits and Wages doesn't always stay in the living room. For example, I'll be telling you all (a.k.a. the World) a little story about our game.

We had this question, "In 2006, how many knives were discovered during U.S. airport passenger screenings?" Our answers ranged from 50 (yes, 50) to 20,000. We placed our bets, then read the actual answer: 1,607,100. First, all of our mouths dropped and hung open. Then we all stared at our own answers in disbelief... and without skipping a beat, the jabs and jokes starting flying towards the person who guessed 50! (Sorry, Mom.) It's now one of those things she'll never live down.

To give you a better taste for the game, here are a few more examples of questions (answers below):
1. In dollars, what is the average annual salary of a Major League Baseball player?
2. In days, how long was O.J. Simpson's double murder trial?
3. What percent of American families annually spend more than they earn?
4. In days, what was the shortest term of any U.S. president?
5. In what year was Coca-Cola first produced?
6. In what year did Sesame Street first air?
I could keep going because it's quite addicting!

Wits and Wagers would be the perfect holiday gift or hostess gift. But don't take my word for it (or my mother's or my husband's or my brother's or my sister's-in-law, or my nephew's). This game has already won 13 industry awards. You won't go wrong giving this as a gift... unless of course you give this to your friend who is addicted to gambling and wants to play for real money.

Answers to questions above:

1. $3.060,484
2. 252 days
3. 40%
4. 32 days (Harrison died of pneumonia 32 days after his inauguration)
5. 1886
6. 1969

You can find Wits & Wagers at your favorite Target store; I saw it at mine today. It's also online at Target.com and Amazon.com.

Doodle Dice

A friend of mine told me about this one, Doodle Dice. I think I'll buy it just because it's fun to say the name! Doodle Dice. It's labeled for kids 6+, but she said her 4-1/2 year old boy is easily catching on to a slightly modified version. Players roll the 6 dice and use them to create the doodles on the playing cards. You can also block opponents and take their cards away (perfect for siblings). The first player to create a doodle from each colored deck, wins!

Spoons!

Flashback. 1986 slumber party. My house. About 1:00 am. Eight screaming girls. Why were we screaming? Well, there were lots of reasons, just ask my dad. Uh oh, another flashback, "Emily, will you be quiet down there?" And it wasn't exactly a polite question as it was a furious demand.
Back to why we were screaming. Well, as I said, there were lots of reasons, movies, funny stories, ghost stories, and spoons. Yes, spoons.

Do you remember the game? It's back! Actually, I'm not sure it ever left. I just didn't exactly play in college. Although I suppose it would have been a good twist on a drinking game. I digress.
It's a simple, yet very fun concept. You need to get four-of-a-kind. Once you do, you secretly snag a spoon. If you see a spoon is gone, they are all up for dibs and you want to get one before they are gone or you, my friend, are done. Some may say, "I don't need to buy that game. We have a deck of cards and we have spoons." But I ask you, do you really want to be washing your spoons constantly? Do yourself a favor. Slap down the $10.00 for the Giant Spoons game and save yourself the headache of not having a clean spoon the next time you dig into that Ben and Jerry's.

Hide and Seek

This one is for all ages, however there is a twist from the traditional hide and seek game. I've seen these little safari guys all over this year. It's an award winner from National Parenting Center.

Admit it. It gets a bit old to be "seeking" your 3 year old that can't stop giggling because she thinks her same hiding spot for her last 10 turns is somehow magically sneaky this time around. Yes, it is cute and funny the first hundred times, but honestly it does get old.

Bring on Hide and Seek Safari animals. Kids can play with these animals alone or use them with the other Hide & Seek animals. "The Monkey's curved tail allows him to hang upside down indoors or out. Use the Seeker wand to track down and catch this elusive Monkey. Lights flash to show you're getting warmer and the Seeker will sound when the Monkey is near!"

There is also a Tiger and T-Rex. Amazon prices start at $27.95.

I Spy 3D

One of my sons loves I Spy books. He can't get enough of them. So, I figure this will make a great gift, I Spy 3D. You've gotta love any "board" game that comes with super fashionable cardboard glasses. By "board" game, I mean tiles. There are 40 tiles. You could place 15 down at once (see above picture). Then you slip on your nifty glasses and the "board" jumps out at you while the objects on the tiles seem to float. What's cool (besides the glasses), is the tiles will always be in different spots, so you can't necessarily remember where all the objects are - like you can in the books. My son will love it!

Ages 5+.

Amazon, $20.15. Eligible for free Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25.

Sense of Touch

Think back to when you were growing up. Did you ever go to birthday parties where you had to stick your hand in a brown paper bag and feel for a certain small object? If so, I'm guessing someone we grew up with took that idea and ran with it, bringing it to modern times. The New Touch Game sold at Young Explorers is exactly that idea. For kids, it's actually harder than you might think.

This family game includes 49 detailed play pieces such as a turtle, football helmet, or hamburger along with 20 game cards. Within a designated time, you must place your hand into the dome and blindly feel for an object on your card. If you absolutely love the game, you can add up to four expansion packs and you won't get bored with the same old pieces.

The New Touch Game is a multiple award winner from Dr. Toy and Best Product of the Year awards. Ages 5+. Priced at $34.95 and $9.95 for each expansion pack.

Last Minute Gift Ideas

You have your list. You have checked it way more than twice. And now you are in need of some last minute gifts. But what? Here are a few ideas.

For your kids, Back To Basic Toys has some wonderful options for gifts. In some states, you can still order from this website today (by 2pm EST) and still receive your package. And better yet, in some states it doesn't even have to be expedited Fedex. Tell me any kid wouldn't have fun on the Fun Ride Deluxe. I would love to have this! They have 2 other versions for smaller kids and bigger "kids."

From MSN, I also found a list of stores from where you can still order online. It's worth checking out, they have the shipping information for great stores like Red Envelope, Target, Brookstone, Williams Sonoma, etc.

Also on Gifts.com is a section for the Last-Minute Holiday Gifts. It's an easy website to follow.

And of course, if you wish to give an Emily Allyn gift, you can still order it today by 4pm CST and get it by Saturday, the 23rd. That "One-of-a-kind" Snowflake shirt is calling your name!

Still need more ideas? Here are some of my favorites I've posted thus far. Maybe you can find these items at your nearest Target or book store.
Books
If I Build a Car
Dinosaur Stomp
The True Story of the Three Little Pigs
Three-Martini Playdate
The Mommy Chronicles

General
Red from Gap
Soccer Guys, Football Guys, Baseball Guys
Puzzles for kids
The Safe Side (video)
Zingo
Cranium Games

If you are still stumped, there is always the gift certificate option. Like I always tell my husband, you may not know specific items I love, but from the credit card bills you know the stores I like, so you can't go wrong!

For the Little Guys

Get a head start on your Christmas shopping with these "Little Guys" made by Keskey Kids. It reminds me of games we (and by "we" I mean those of us older than 30) grew up with where we actually had to use our imagination and create our own play. They make Football Guys, Baseball Guys, and Soccer Guys. And not to leave the girls behind, they even make Soccer Girls. Each game comes with a playing field, the number of guys you need for that sport, a referee, and goals. It's pretty cool. By using their own imaginations, they can play how they want to play.

And for those dads into college football, they have started coming out with specific teams in their respective jerseys. What dad wouldn't love to play these games with their boys? And Moms... while they are busy it frees up a bit of time for you to get out of the house... all by yourself!

Bingo with a Zing!

For those kids who aren't quite old enough to play many games and for those parents who are sick of Candyland and Chutes and Ladders, this is the game for you! Zingo! I would say a good age is 3-5 years. Older than 5 and I think kids get a little bored.

There are two sides to each card. One side is a bit easier and goes a little faster because there are more of those tiles in the deck. Each tile has a picture and the word, so it I'll also give it a thumbs up for association. It's actually a pretty fun game even for adults... as long as you are playing it with your kids, that is! My youngest went through a stage of wanting to play this about 10 times per day. Then it got a little old, but a few times per day isn't bad!

Let's Bowl!

Baby Farm Friends Bowling game is a great little gift for kids. My boys had these soft, bright, entertaining little animals and couldn't get enough of them. The ball rattles while it rolls down the "lane" ready to knock down any little farm friend in it's way! It's easy to set up and easy to store in it's carrying case. A good age for this game is about 18 months to 3 years. There are quite a few soft bowling sets out now, but I still think this is one of the cutest.

Kids Play

I'm a big Cranium fan for kids' games. In all honesty, the reason I'm a big Cranium fan is because I actually like playing these games! My favorites are:

Cariboo for ages 2-1/2 to 5 years

Hullabaloo for ages 3 to 7 years

Balloon Lagoon for ages 4 to 7 years

(all ages are my opinion)

Cariboo assists toddlers in learning their colors, numbers, and letters. A key is used to open doors to see if a ball is behind that door. Once all the balls are found and placed in the tunnel, a treasure pops up as a little surprise. The concept is easy to learn and the children always love seeing the treasure appear.

Hullabaloo is a great tool for listening and following directions. There are lots of little colored mats that have objects on them like instruments, food, and animals. The electronic speaker gives directions, "hop to a triangle," or "crawl to a food." After a series of these directions, the speaker ends the round by saying, "if you're on the Ice Cream, you win! Winner do a funky monkey dance." But since everyone is usually a winner in tot games, everyone chimes in and performs their own funky dance!

Balloon Lagoon is possibly the most creative game I've seen. It is set up as a carnival, with 4 main carnival games. "Players take turns fishing for letters to spell words, collecting matching snacks at the Snack Hut, pressing levers to spin wheels to unscramble pictures, or flipping frogs back into their pond. Players keep score by collecting little plastic balloons." Thanks to Amazon for the quote, I couldn't figure out how to concisely describe the game!