How is the quarantine coming along for you and your family? Personally, I’ve had “cabin fever” for the past several WEEKS. I can count on one hand home many times I’ve left our home since March 12th (the last day I worked). There is only so much staring at the same four walls 24/7 I can do.
My husband and son have worked the entire time. They are “essential workers.” As for my daughter, she just returned to work (at a restaurant) last week. Since I work in an after school program, I won’t see another day of work until September, if I’m lucky.
We live in the suburbs on New York City, which is the epicenter of the pandemic here in the United States. My area is weeks, even months, away from some kind of “normalcy.” So for now, we do our best to stay indoors (unless my family members have to work or shop for groceries).
I never thought my entire family would be so bored, especially my kids. They normally hang out with friends when not at work. Now they are forced to sit at home and mindlessly watch television or movies.
I’m grateful that we have a giant Jenga set to play with, but I regret that I donated all the games we had. My kids were too busy to play games anymore, so I donated them. Now I really wish I had them.
If you are looking for some fun things to do with your family while we all ride out this pandemic by staying home and keeping safe, why not consider picking up some fun, family games? If that is something that piques your interest, then look no further than Loot Crate.
Some people are familiar with Loot Crate because they offer monthly subscription services for a variety of subjects. Some monthly subscription boxes include Loot Fright (a horror themed subscription box), Loot Anime (Anime themed box), Loot Sci-Fi (Science Fiction Crate) and Loot Gaming (a subscription box for gaming fans). The brand also offers more specific crates like Marvel, Deadpool, Hello Kitty and Fallout.
A crate that was new to me is Loot Crate’s WizKids Game Crate.
WizKids Games Crate will upgrade your family game night with awesome tabletop games. This bi-monthly, mystery subscription crate delivers 3 WizKids tabletop games (a $60+ value!) to your door every other month. Every crate is a surprise and can include card games, mini-games, strategy games and more! And, to help cure those quarantine blues faster, we’re offering expedited shipping – out the door within 2 business days of your order!
I was sent one of the crates to review.
Inside my box I received the following games;
Coraline: Beware of the Other Mother
Coraline is one of my daughter’s favorite movies. She was excited to see this game when I took it out of the box.
This is a cooperative card game for 1-4 players. Honestly, I don’t see how much fun this game would be with just one person. I would think the more people you have playing, the more fun the game would be.
If you are seen the film, Coraline, you are familiar with the characters backstory. This card game is based off the movie.
Players will have to work together to protect Coraline and steal the skeleton key in order to set Coraline free before it’s too late, because once the button shadow eclipses the moon, beldam wins and Coraline is stuck in the other world forever. If you run out of Coraline or bedlam cards, the game is also over.
The object of the game is to take turns drawing a Coraline card and then a bedlam card (going back and forth) and doing whatever actions are written on the cards. The cards also indicate which characters are affected by the cards.
What I don’t like about the cards is that they require a lot of reading. They are not as simple as “Go to Jail” or “Give each player $100” like you’d find in the game Monopoly. I’m not saying that it’s really a “bad” thing, but rather I would have preferred it if the cards had the tasks written in a more simpler way.
This is a card game, but it comes with a little fold-up game board and game pieces. They all fit nicely in a small box, which I like. It doesn’t take up much room on the shelf like a traditional board game.
I haven’t seen the movie in years, but after checking out this game, it has inspired me to watch to watch Coraline again.
Sean Rumble: The Banishing
We haven’t tried this game yet. Reading the description, I think this game is going to take a bit longer to figure out. I’m not saying that we won’t play it, but I think this game needs to be played the first time with either (or both) of my kids. Kids tend to “grasp” things a lot quicker than us “old foggies.” I’m sure they will be able to figure it out and explain it to us in “layman’s terms.”
This game is about a dark void that has opened up, allowing undead creatures to try and make their way into our world. Players are “guardians” that must work together to send the creatures back to where they came from (into the void). Players need to collect cards to cast spells and complete rituals in order to banish the creatures back to the other world.
This is really a game of cooperative play. There are no clear winners or losers, per say.
My husband questioned if this is how Dungeons and Dragons is played, but I highly doubt it.
It does sound really interesting. Now to get both kids to be home at the same time so that we can tackle this game together as a team.
Yummy World Party Picnic Palace
I am familiar with the Yummy World brand. I have reviewed some of their products over the years. Yummy World is a brand of adorable food themed characters. This game will certainly appeal to kids in elementary and middle school.
This game is designed for 2-4 players. I would think 3-4 players would make this game more fun and challenging.
This is a picture card game (with points). It’s kind of like like a matching game, in a way.
The idea of the game is to place the cards in the center of the table. The cards are placed face down. As they are flipped over, adorable characters are revealed. The character cards make them “sets” and the idea of the game is when you see a set you want you need to quickly grab it before another player does. The more sets of the same character you collect, the more points you get.
Some cards are more “rarer” than others, and they have the highest point value.
There are also special cards called “invitation” cards, that allow a player to collect all the face-up cards from any one row on the table.
Honestly, this is not a hard game to figure out at all (I just think I’m not describing it well enough). I’m an adult, and I thought this game was fun to play, even if it was just with my husband.
This is another game that I cannot wait to share with my “work kids” because I know they know the Yummy World characters, so they are going to go crazy for this fun, adorable, game.
Andrew J. Smith: Palm Trees
Palm Trees is a unique card game, unlike any I have ever seen before.
The game can be played with individual players, or teams of two. It can be played with 2-6 players, and it’s geared towards people ages 10 and up. I work with kids ages 9-12, so when I finally return to work, I plan on bringing in this game because they are the perfect age for it.
The game is played by each player (or one person in a team of two) wearing a “sleeve” on their arm that resembles the trunk of a palm tree. The sleeve is made out of a stretchy material that should fit most arms.
This game also comes with plastic cards. Some of the cards have coconuts on them, others have palms (leaves) for the tree. Each card also shows you specifically how the card needs to be held on to.
The cards are a bit slippery, making them hard to handle. I don’t know if this was intentional by the game maker or not.
The idea of the game is to take a card and hold it in your hand (the one with the sleeve) without dropping any of the cards. It might sound easy, but it’s not. I have stubby little fingers and I had a hard time holding a few of the cards.
There are also alternative ways of playing the game to better suit your game-mates.
We have not played this game with my kids yet. My husband and I toyed around with it a bit to figure out how the game is played. When I finally get to play this with my kids, I will take some photos of the game in process. With my kids both back to work, it’s not that easy now to have them both home at the same time.
My “work kids” are going to LOVE this game.
Overall these are interesting games. They are not your typical “run-of-the-mill” games. They are unique games that I’m sure your family has never seen, or heard of before. I also like that these games can be played, and enjoyed, by people of all ages. They are not just targeted for one age group. They are easy enough for most kids to understand (The Banishing game might be a bit hard for younger children to grasp, at least initially), and entertaining enough that adults will look forward to playing them just as much as their kids.
All of these games came from just one WizKid Game Crate.
If you are interested in learning more, you can visit the WizKid Game Crate page on the Loot Crate website. The crates start at $19.99, plus shipping. Considering the cost of most board games start at around $20 for just ONE game, I think the WizKid Game Crate is a steal at this price point.
WizKid Game Crates are shipped every other month. You can sign up for one box, or an entire year. It’s up to you.
With people being stuck at home a lot more than normal, I think this crate is a “must have” for families.
Kimberly
*I received a crate in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and not influenced in any way.