Tons o' Gaming Options

There's a gal named Caitlin who, if I was having more kids, I'd name one after her because of the massive box of video games she just sent us to try out. Dare I say, Haste and I are actually getting along all because of Wii Monopoly??? Sad, but true.

There's four items here, I'll be to the point for each:

Monopoly for Wii - I was pumped to try this one first but didn't have time right away. Good thing, though. Since I tried it the first time I've played it once a day. Which takes slightly less time than playing the board game, especially if it's you against 3 computer players. Everything is going on but happens fairly efficiently. There are new styles of boards (like those special edition Monopoly boards you've seen over the years with the theme reflected in the pieces and street names) that you can unlock after playing. We've unlocked a couple so far. The one where the board is made of chocolate and all the streets are candy names is my favorite one to date. I'd recommend it for probably 10 and up. Consider the level of patience it takes to play the real board game for 3 hours and you still have to be that patient to play the Wii version.

Hasbro Family Game Night for Wii - this includes a plethora of classic games we've all played at one time or another over the years. I sat down the other night with the previously embattled junior high son and we went thru them all. I would give highest marks to Boggle and Battleship. The others were fun and the only one I didn't like was Sorry. I think if you're going to play Sorry, half the fun is taking your playing piece and physically sliding it into your opponent's playing piece sending them back to Home and screaming "SORRY!" in their face, like my brother and I did when we played Sorry as kids. It's one of those things that doesn't translate, for me, to the video game format. The games were pretty fun though and some are fast, some take a little longer...depending on the kids in your house you should be able to find one for each different personality that you can enjoy together.

Travel Games for Dummies for Nintendo DS - I would call this a DS game for the adult crowd. Like me. And you. It has Sudoku, Crosswords and Solitaire on it. I had fun playing because I enjoy all those things but my 10-year old son muttered when I asked him, "that looks like it's for old people". Thank you, my dear son. We have a few DSs around here, so finding one unoccupied isn't hard and the kids are pretty darn about sharing their stuff when I give them my meanest mom look, so I'm thinking this game for the next time we're taking a family trip would be a good one for the mom in the bunch!

Nerf N-Strike for Wii - this is the game that my sons said to me, tears glistening in their eyes (ok, that's a lie) that they were thankful I have a "job" where I get sent toys to review. This review blog finally got some props from my offspring and it took a Nerf weapon to do it. *sigh* I did not actually play this myself. They wouldn't let me near it. It came with the Nerf blaster and 3 micro darts (of which one has now been chewed beyond recognition by the dog). My boys have not played any first person shooter games, they've not really been interested in them before. Which is kind of funny, because those are the only games my husband likes. Maybe there's some about this one being Nerf that made it more kid-friendly? No idea. Sorry, I have no idea how to play this game but it got raves from my sons, ages 12 and 10, so if that helps...there you have it.

Phew!
Hopefully you have a few more shopping ideas for some of those video gamer kiddos on your list.