Bop It! Review

Bop It! is a new take on a classic family game and the whole of the mellow household has been bitten by the bug - it's addictive!

Bop It! by Hasbro is a hand-held game that can be played alone, or as a group. The Bop It! shouts instructions at you which you have to follow - miss an instruction and the game ends. It is a very simple challenge that gets you coming back time after time to try and beat your own high score. The classic game asks you to Twist-it, Pull-it and Bop It! but the brand new edition of Bop It! features even more fun instructions that have brought it bang up to date.

The new edition of Bop It! features all the classic instructions plus lots of new ones - in the "action" mode the Bop It! will now ask you to Hammer-It, Saw-It, Comb-It, Golf-It, Cradle-It, Whip-It, Drink-It, Golf-It, Answer-It and Selfie-It!  The Bop-It senses your movement of the device and will make sound effects to match your movement!  The better you get at the game, the faster the Bop It starts to issue you commands!  If you miss an instruction, the Bop It! will make a sarcastic statement about your ability to follow instruction, or perform a motion.

We have all found that it took a few hours of practice to master the movements that the Bop-It expects for each of the different actions.  This put Lara off for a while as she didn't like the feeling of failure but we showed her how Mummy and Daddy do each motion and she has now been tempted back to give the Bop-It another go - she LOVES the classic mode though!

If you're really up for a challenge you can play Bop-It without the verbal instructions. In beat-box mode you simply have to listen to the music and the sound effects and interpret which action to perform - it's phenomenally hard!!!

We've enjoyed playing Bop-It in the garden, in the living room, even just one quick game before bed (in an attempt to beat that high score) but I also think it would be a fun game to play with friends, either children, or adults. In pass-it mode the Bop It! will randomly instruct you to pass the game to the next person for them to follow the next set of instructions - nobody wants to be the person who breaks the chain and misses an action!

We've all enjoyed playing Bop It! - even Holly likes to give it a go.  Look out for the new look Bop-It! with 10 different actions coming to a store near you soon!

#Win the Wet Head game from Zing #WetHeadChallenge

Are you ready for some water filled fun this summer? Brilliant for the hot weather, Wet Head is a roulette game that soaks losers with water following a nerve-racking quiz or truth-or-dare game. Leading YouTubers’ have been taking the Wet Head Challenge and we will be youtubing our family challenges too!

I've got a Wet Head game pack to give away to one lucky Mellow Mummy reader so that you can share the fun this summer.

Take your chances with Zing’s new water roulette game, Wet Head! Grab some friends and family, fill the Wet Head with water, strap yourself in and give it a spin.

Ready for a twist? Players have the option to play with the included spinner or download the free Wet Head Challenge app and ask each other trivia questions. You can dream up lots of different ways to challenge your own family and friends by setting challenges or questions of your own! Any way you play, you might just get soaked!

The Wet Head Challenge app, available on iOS and Android, includes fun trivia questions and a special recording feature. The record feature allows players to capture every drenching moment and share their videos on YouTube or social media. Use #WetHeadChallenge to join in on the splash of fun and to see what others are posting! Will you be the next Wet Head?

Wet Head comes with one hat, eight pins and a spinner. It is available to buy now for a RRP of £19.99 and is suitable for ages 4 and over.

To be in with a chance of winning a Wet Head game pack from Zing, all you have to do is to leave me a comment below with an idea for a challenge or question you would set for your family.  The competition closes on the 24th June.

Christmas Surprises - Orchard Toys Review

The Christmassy magic has begun in the mellow household and the girls are just beginning to feel that first spark of festive fun with this Christmas Surprises game from Orchard Toys.

We love a good family game, especially a game where even Holly, the littlest member of our family feels that she can play as an equal.  Christmas Surprises is just as fun if you are 3, or 33 (or indeed a little more than that...) although it is recommended for children aged 3-6 years old.

Christmas Surprises comes with two different boards to play - Father Christmas or a Christmas Tree - this makes it feel like two different games.  Bonus.  If you play the Christmas Tree board then the aim of the game is to fill your board with coloured baubles by throwing the dice and revealing a different colour of bauble.  On the Father Christmas board you throw the dice to select a shape of present to place into Santa's sack on your board.  Lara and Holly very much enjoy this version of the game as, when it gets to the end, they like turning over their parcels to see what gifts are in them - from teddy bears to cookery equipment!

If you, like me, are a big Orchard Toys fan then you will recognise this game as a festive version of Dotty Dinosaurs (another family favourite).  All four of us can play together so we can can all join in the seasonal fun - I'm quite looking forward to having this as an option to play together on our very first ever Christmas Day with just the four of us (no other family this year for a change).

For Holly, Christmas Surprises is a good exercise in practicing her colours and her shapes.  Lara is currently learning 2D and 3D shapes at school so it is also good practice for her when naming the Christmas present shapes in Santa's sack.

If your are looking for an educational, fun way of getting the whole family into the Christmas mood then I highly recommend Christmas Surprises.  The game costs around £9.50.

Dobble Kids - Family Game Review

Last week we were away on our family holidays in a self-catering cottage in the Lake District with the girls and my parents.  As is traditional on our family holidays, we took a few new family games to play together in the evenings and Dobble Kids came out as one of our favourites.

Dobble and Dobble Kids are fast, fun and easy to play games which are perfect for taking with you on your travels. We took Dobble Kids which is suitable for children from 4 upwards but we did manage to play it (of a fashion) with Holly as well.  The game comes in a metal tin which protects the cards when you're travelling and is compact and easy to put into your suitcase.

Dobble Kids comes with recommendations of 5 different ways to play with the brightly-coloured animal-themed cards.  We chose to play the two most simple games with Lara and Holly as we thought it would be easiest for them to understand.  Every card shares one picture with any other card, the aim of the most simple games is to get rid of all of your cards as quickly as possible by shouting out the name of the animal that matches the central car.  Adults can play with more cards and younger children with less cards to give everyone a similar chance of success.

Each card in the pack is unique; they feature a selection of animal characters of different sizes which makes it hard to pick out the matching animal on each card - this all adds to the fun.

We loved this game because it didn't require Holly and Lara to be able to read - this opens it up to everyone.  Holly took to it instantly and started to make up her own rules (which is absolutely totally fine with me!).  Holly, who is younger than the recommended age for Dobble Kids, did struggle a bit with the speed element of Dobble Kids so prefers to simply take it in turns to try and find the matching animal from one of your cards with the central animal card.

Lara became very competitive when playing Dobble Kids and I think she is ready to try some of the harder game ideas.

Dobble also comes as a family-friendly version suitable for children from 6 years upwards, featuring different images on the cards.  I think its a wonderful game based on such a simple concept that makes it timeless; a game that you can come back to time and again.  It costs around £12.99.

Fun Family Games - Bunny Jump and Don't Rock The Boat

In the Mellow household we absolutely love playing games together in the evenings and at the weekend - it always makes a welcome change from TV and Holly is now able to join in with some of the more simple-to-follow family games.  University Games are experts when it comes to fun family games and they asked us to put a couple of their new games to the test - Bunny Jump
and Don't Rock The Boat.

Don't Rock the Boat is recommended for children from age 5 upwards but Holly is 2 and, although it is chaos when she plays with us, it is still brilliant fun.  The aim of the game is to balance as many pirate penguins on the wibbly wobbly pirate ship as you can without tipping it over and throwing the penguins overboard.

Don't Rock the Boat is so simple and that's what keeps you coming back to it.  That simple challenge of not wanting to be defeated by a plastic boat!  Lara gets very competitive when she plays it and always wants to place her penguins in the most precarious of spots.  She is also awesomely good at it and has really grasped the idea of balance (a KS1 maths challenge!).  I would say that the boat could do with a few more nooks and crannies on which to balance things because most of the penguins end up clumped together on the deck.

For any pirate-mad kids like Holly and Lara, I think Don't Rock the Boat would make a brilliant Christmas gift that can bring the whole family together - it is suitable for between 2 and 4 players. The game costs around £14.99 and is available from at Toymaster, Argos, Toys R Us, Amazon, and Smyths.

Another new family pastime is Bunny Jump!  This is a fast game that usually results in lots of shouting, spin the wheel to find out how many carrots you can try and steal from the field... pull them out one by one and see if that cheeky rabbit catches you.

The mini carrots have to be pulled quite firmly from the field but if the bunny rabbit twangs into the air as you are pulling, everyone has to dash to try and catch him because you can earn extra carrots that way.  Sometimes the bunny jumps up after a matter of seconds, other times it can be a good few minutes before he jumps so he really keeps everyone in suspense.

Both Holly and Lara absolutely LOVE this game and they fall about in hysterical laughter every time the bunny jumps.  They like the feeling of ownership of having collected their own carrots.

Bunny Jump is suitable for 2 to 4 players and I can really imagine this is a perfect way to spend Christmas day together as a family.  My girls have played Bunny Jump pretty much every day for the past fortnight, so the novelty factor doesn't wear off! Bunny Jump costs around £19.99 and is available from Toys R Us, Hamleys, Argos, Smyths, Amazon and Toymaster.

 

Poppin Hoppies Family Game Review

We were sent a copy of the new Poppin Hoppies game to review by University Games.

Poppin Hoppies is recommended for children aged 5-10 but the box said it was suitable from 3 years upwards in terms of safety so we tried playing it with Lara. The aim of the game is to catch as many Poppin' Hoppies as you can and for each one you catch, you earn a piece of a puzzle. The winner is the first to complete the puzzle.

The Poppin Hoppies are brightly coloured spring-loaded critters whose springs pop them up at different times. If no-one catches it, the Poppin Hoppie has to be re-depressed and placed back on the board.

The game is very chaotic and involves a lot of laughter and scrambling! Lara enjoys it a lot but she hasn't quite grasped the fact you have to place the critters back on the board if no-one catches them and just goes around sweeping them all up. Us grown ups end up replacing all of the hoppies on the board so are too busy to catch any. Basically, Lara ALWAYS wins!

The board of the game folds but it wasn't able to withstand Lara's over-eager hands and it tore on the first use. Actually this doesn't make much difference to the game play though.

I thought that Poppin Hoppies was a fun game to play because of the shouting and chaos involved but I don't think it will become a classic in our house.

Pumpazing Children's Game Review

There has been much hilarity in the mellow household over the last week since we received a copy of the brand new game, Pumpazing!

Pumpazing is a bright and loud game for the family to play together and it has really inspired the competitive spirit in Lara. The game is designed for preschoolers to be fun and to help them develop their fine motor skills.

The aim of the game is to be the last person to hold onto their cards. Each player takes it in turn to pump the arms of the bright blue character, Zingy. You keep on pumping his arms in and out until either one of the brightly coloured zinger heads whizzes off into the room, or until Zingy shouts "Uh-oh". If you are unfortunate enough to receive an "Uh-oh" you have to sacrifice one of your cards.

Pumpazing has the suspense of a party game where each player gets excited (actually a bit scared) about whether it will be their turn when Zingy finally says "Uh-oh". It is loud because you can't help but cheer each other on to pump faster and faster and it is a bit crazy with plastic heads popping off all over the place! Pumpazing is unlike any other game I've ever played!  One of Lara's favourite parts of the game is searching for all of the four zinger heads after they have zingged off - they disappear into all sorts of nooks and crannies!

Pumpazing isn't the kind of game I want Lara to be playing in the same room as her baby sister as there have been a few close scrapes when the zinger heads have zingged off in Holly's direction - we shall reserve Pumpazing as a game to be played with friends when her baby sister isn't close by!  I think Pumpazing would be perfect for a big family gathering or a children's party and would work just as well outdoors (perhaps even better as there is more room for the zinger heads to fly off).

I also found that at 3 and a half years old, Lara struggled a bit with the pumping action. I know it is designed to help her improve her motor skills (and I've noticed it improve since she got it) but usually it can take quite some time for Zingy to decide what he is going to do and Lara has to put every single ounce of concentration she has into pumping the arms and often ends up handing him over to us to finish it off. I think he would benefit from slightly shorter pump cycles to keep littlies interested.

Pumpazing costs around £19.99 and you can find stockists at www.drumondpark.com.