Summary: <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> Apparently, there are 162 games in a season of Major League Baseball. So, we’ve reached that milestone now – yay?<br> <br> <br> <br> We’re going to talk about collecting (kids are natural collectors – or maybe hoarders) and “improving” your collection in various ways.<br> <br> <br> <br> What We’ve Been Playing<br> <br> <br> <br> Brainwaves: The Astute Goose – a memory game that actually improves your memory!<br> <br> <br> <br> Spy Club – the “mosaic” mode (5 games makes a storyline) makes it shine.<br> <br> <br> <br> Arraial – Tetris party. Rotate the “pinwheel” of available pieces and “drop” pieces in to your board space to make “parties” of a single color. Has a very casual look (reminds us of the Curious George picture books) but ends up being a pretty thinky game.<br> <br> <br> <br> CABO – fast moving card game based on “Golf” with a memory element.<br> <br> <br> <br> Jetpack Joyride – remember our <a href="/jetpack-joyride-review/">very first SNAP review</a>? Kickstarter backers (like us) are now getting their copies, and it’s even better than we expected it to be! We highly recommend taking a look at the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/oneboardfamily/videos/479408102905402/">unboxing done by One Board Family</a>.<br> <br> <br> <br> Imhotep with the playmat<br> <br> <br> <br> Sparkle*Kitty – silly fun as usual, even with a group of older men.<br> <br> <br> <br> Imhotep – still one of Anitra’s favorites, even though she lost.<br> <br> <br> <br> Draftosaurus – so approachable, so cute!<br> <br> <br> <br> Monopoly Deal – not a great game, but good enough. It distills the back-and-forth nastiness usually associated with Monopoly into a 10-15 minute card game.<br> <br> <br> <br> Andrew confesses that he wishes he had more time to play games.<br> <br> <br> <br> Panic Island – we want to open the “Do Not Open” envelope, but the requirements are really hard. We keep getting closer, though!<br> <br> <br> <br> Rescue Polar Bears: Data & Temperature – we won! This game is so hard, but by playing strategically (and counter-intuitively) we managed to squeak out a win.<br> <br> <br> <br> Board Game in the Middle<br> <br> <br> <br> Play along with us! We picked 3 boardgames. Guess which one falls in the MIDDLE when ordered by “geek rating” on <a href="https://boardgamegeek.com/">BoardGameGeek</a>.<br> <br> <br> <br> Let’s rank the 3 cooperative games we mentioned: <br> <br> <br> <br> * Spy Club,* Panic Island,* Rescue Polar Bears: Data & Temperature.<br> <br> <br> <br> Andrew predicts Rescue Polar Bears. Anitra predicts Panic Island.<br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="https://www.facebook.com/groups/familygamersaa/permalink/2410138362608973/">Vote in our poll</a> on Facebook!<br> <br> <br> <br> Games as Collection<br> <br> <br> <br> Andrew and our boys attended “Batman Day” at our local game store / “pop culture emporium” (Thanks, <a href="https://www.thatse.com/">That’s Entertainment</a>!) It got Andrew thinking. He doesn’t want to simply collect stuff to have more stuff.<br> <br> <br> <br> It makes us think of the video Rodney Smith did lately: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AtArovBQ2s">Am I a Collector?</a><br> <br> <br> <br> Some people are so protective of their games that those games don’t get played or enjoyed.<br> <br> <br> <br> Games that Look Good Get More Play<br> <br> <br> <br> We think it’s really important for a game to look good if it wants to draw kids (and adults) in.
