Tag: Party game

Tension Play Anywhere Edition

Birthday Gifts, camping, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Games, Gifts for children, Stocking Fillers, Toys

Disclaimer: We received this game free of charge for the purpose of this review and all thoughts and opinions are our own.

Whenever we go away, whether it’s by car, train or plane, I always make sure I have a couple of travel games in my bag to help pass the time. Tension from Cheatwell Games, the top ten naming game is one of our favourite board games so were really pleased to try out the travel version this summer.

The box is very cleverly designed, storing all the cards, timer and counters and also doubling up as the score board with little buttons to pop whenever a correct answer is shouted out.

The cards are double sided, orange questions on one size and blue on the other. The orange questions tend to be easier so when we have been playing with younger children we use these but if you are playing with older children or adults you can choose either. The cards cover a huge variety of topics such as Fictional Doctors, Power Tools, Pub Names Featuring Animals and Things You Can Hang On A Wall so it is a great game to play when you have a mix of ages.

The game is easy to play, you split into two teams and the first team select the top card and place it into the card dispenser, making sure that all the poppers are raised.  The topic is read out, the timer  turned and the other team shout out as many correct answers as they can within the time. It sounds easy but the twist is you need to come up with the same ten answers on the card to gain points. Among the correct answers you will also get plenty of hilarious answers which adds to the fun of the game! When a correct answer is given the popper is pushed down to keep score. Tokens are awarded based on the number of correct answers (yellow =1, red =5 and blue =10).  Play then swaps to the other team and continues until all tokens are used.

This is a great game to play and a fantastic addition to our travel game collection. It is now in my travel bag ready for our next trip.

RRP £12.99 from Amazon

 

Tension

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Games, Learning, Toys

Disclaimer: We received this game free of charge for the purpose of this review but all words and opinions are our own.

This week is International Games Week, so why not join in the fun this weekend and play a board game with your family?

We love board games and this week we have been playing Tension – the Top Ten Naming Game from Cheatwell games. It is recommended for ages 8+ and is played in teams.  

There is nothing worse than opening a game and spending 15 minutes or more setting it up – especially on Christmas day, so I was very impressed with Tension as it can be played pretty much straight away – the only setting up involved was a quick read of the rules and then we were ready to go. It took longer choosing the teams than it did to understand the rules – always the sign of a good game!

Once you have decided your teams then you choose a player to ask the questions (or you can keep swapping – especially if you are playing at Christmas with lots of children) they pick a card and ask the other team to name 10 things that are …….. Italian cities, actors who have played Doctor Who, popular Disney characters etc. The timer is turned and everyone in the team shouts out the answers. It sounds easy but the twist is you need to come up with the ten answers that are on the card to gain points. There is a handy scorer which makes it easy to keep track of correct answers.

There are orange and purple cards and the card you select is determined by the coloured circle on the board. The orange cards tend to be easier so when we have been playing with younger children we tend just to choose these so that they can come up with answers, but if you have older children or are playing it with adults you can play based on where your counter lands.

Once the minute is up the correct answers are counted and the team move their counter forward this number of places. The first team to reach the finish space wins the game.

With Christmas fast approaching it is the perfect game to play as everyone can join in, we’ll be playing it with 3 generations of our family and with 400 topics it will be a great way to keep the children off electronics over the Christmas period!

RRP £12 from Tesco

Top It Board Game Review

Birthday Gifts, Children, Christmas, Family Life, Games, Learning

Disclaimer – we received this game for the purpose of the review but all thoughts and opinions are our own.


Does anyone else look forward to winter and cosy nights in playing board games with friends and family? My family certainly does, and it certainly wouldn’t be Christmas if Father Christmas didn’t leave a new board game alongside his empty beer glass and cake crumbs!

This year we will be playing Top It from Cheatwell Games, it is the perfect game to play at a family get together and can be played by 2+ players. It does say it is suitable for ages 10+ but we played it with our 7-year-old nephew and he was able to come up with plenty of answers but it does depend on the child – you can always select a different question to give them a little help.

The game is packaged in a carboard box and inside the box are
• 75 double sided Top It Topics Cards
• 60 Top It Cones
• 18 Letter Discs
• Sand timer
• Score Pad
• Pencil

It’s easy to play – each player is given 10 cones and then 9 letter discs are placed on a table and finally a topic card is selected.

The timer is turned and then the fun begins! Players shout out an answer that not only fits the topic but also starts with one of the 9 letters on show, they then place their cone on that letter. However, this is where the fun starts – if another player comes up with something starting with the same letter after you, they can then Top-It with their own cone.

It quickly becomes very competitive as the cones stack up, but only the last cone counts, winning all the points! The topics are quite wide and it was quite astounding hearing the items my family came up with to suit the topics. When “Things found in a garden!” came up my son shouted out “treasure chest” I’ve been searching our garden all week but I haven’t found it yet!!!!

This is a great game and a fun way to bring the all the family together this Christmas

RRP £26.99 available from Amazon