Compounded Board Game

 

Are you an homeschool mom or a parent who is trying to make chemistry interesting to your kids?   Or are you a chemistry teacher who is looking into a creative way to teach your students about compounds?

I think I might just have the game for you - COMPOUNDED.

Compounded is a game in which players take on the roles of lab managers, competing to complete the most compounds with elements that they are managing before their competitors finished - or before their lab explode.

Players can freely trade elements, lab tools, and even favors between each other.  

The game is very well designed and the cardboard parts are sturdy.  There is no way you can bend them (unless you use sheer force that is!).   Even the cards themselves are thicker than normal playing cards in other games I have seen.   

The box comes with a instruction booklet, periodic table scoreboard, lab tools, flame tokens, wild element tokens, personal fire extinguisher, 100 plastic elements, cloth element bag, wooden start player lab key, 68 compound cards, thick cardboard work benches for each player, as well as wooden player pieces with custom stickers.

The game can accommodate 2 to 5 scientists and can last from 30 to 90 minutes.   This game is suggested for ages 13 and up. 

Compounded is available to purchase at your favorite gaming store even on amazon.ca.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Dice Hate Me Games for sending me Compounded for review purposes.  I was not monetarily compensated for this review.  Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way.  All opinion expressed here are only my own.

Monopoly Voice Banking

Move over old Monopoly games, here comes a new version this Christmas season - Monopoly Voice Banking -  which allow you to control the game with the power of your voice.
In this electronic version of the game, Mr. Monopoly is the Banker and manages player's money via his top hat. The Monopoly Voice Banking game features lights and sounds, and comes with an interactive Mr. Monopoly banking unit in the form of a top hat. 

This iconic Monopoly top hat is voice activated and the personality of Mr. Monopoly shines as he handles the transactions.  He keeps tabs on player's money and properties so there's no cash or cards to think about. (I suspect that many will like the fact that a banker is not necessary for this particular version of a classic game!)  You simply have to talk to Mr. Monopoly (aka the top hat) and he will respond to you.

For example, press the token's button and say, "Buy St. James Place."   Mr. Monopoly will track the transaction and keeping the game moving.  With the Monopoly Voice game, players will travel more rapidly around the board aiming to be the person ending with the most money and the highest property value in order to win.

The game also got a revamped gameboard with darker colors than the original Monopoly.   I tend to like the darker background as well as the brighter colors on it as it give a more electronic feeling to the game.

Apparently this version of Monopoly will allow to play the game faster as you simply have to speak your decision to Mr. Monopoly and he will manage everything.  This allows you build your properties sets and get the houses and hotels up faster.

The box includes the Top Hat banking unit (including top and brim), the gameboard, four tokens, twenty-two title deed cards, one Get Out of Jail Free card, four reference cards, sixteen houses, sixteen hotels, two dice, and a game guide.

The game was designed for ages 8 and up and will allow 2 to 4 players.  Note that demo batteries are included in the game but you will need to replace them with 3 AA batteries.

The Monopoly Voice Banking game is available at your favorite store, even on amazon (Canada and US).

   

Disclaimer: Thanks to Hasbro Canada for sending me the above mentioned product for review purposes . I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Flock

Flock is a board game that is quite out of this world.   As the name suggest it, the board game is about birds.  

The goal of the game is to have the most impressive flock through feeding, nest building, and hatching.  

The cards as well as the tokens are very well done.  The sturdy cardboard for the cards will make playing this game interesting.  They are action cards – each having a specific actions to perform during your turn.   The cards are feeding, dominance, nesting, hatching, and laying.   You can keep track of the  game and check out the competition at the same time.   All the token are made out of wood and are very colorful.   The birds, worms, eggs as well as nest tokens will be use by the players throughout the game.  The fun token however is used to keep track of the rounds. 

During the game, your goal is to expand your flock and score the most points after 3 rounds of play.   Victory points are determined by who is controlling the action cards at the end of a round.  

The game is fairly quick and somewhat repetitive.  It could be great to illustrate the life cycle of a bird. 

Flock is available for purchase at a board game store or amazon.ca and amazon.com.

 

Disclaimer: I received this kit for review purposes from AEG. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.

Freedom–The Underground Railroad

Freedom – The Underground Railroad
By Academy Games

Freedom The Underground Railroad is a cooperative history game for one to four player which is set during American history.  Players will play the role of Abolitionists characters which are attempting to help slaves to move from the Southern States to freedom in Canada.  As the same time as trying to help as many slaves as possible, players have to avoid the slave catchers as much as possible.

Throughout the game the players will need to work together – hence the cooperation in completing the game.   The goal is to get two victory conditions – to raise the strength of the Abolitionist movement while acquiring support tokens and help slaves to escape from plantations in the south, move them north to freedom in Canada all the while trying to avoid the slave catchers.

The game mechanics is definitively more complicated than regular board games out there.  Keep in mind that this is based on historical events during the Civil War of the USA and that Canada was involved in the underground railroad.  Consequently because of the game mechanics complexity and the fact that it is based on historical events that are hard to understand, this game is essentially geared for thirteen years of age and up.

The game board itself is composed of two distinct sections.  The map on the right features parts available for the escape – slaves and slave catchers will navigate through this side.  On the left side, the North Star Newspaper will hold the resources available to the players.

This game is played over eight rounds – covering the years of early independence up until the end of the Civil War.   In all you will go through three historical periods which all have resources that you will try to unlock.   You have to move rapidly to obtain the support tokens for the period you are in in order to get the Underground Railroad to continue its journey.

The slave catchers add a unique twist of tension during the game.   The goal is to move slaves out of the southern plantations and move them into Canada.   If the slaves lost card get fill you have lost the game.

As you might imagine this game approach a touchy subject of discussion which could be use as part of history lessons on the Civil War or the Underground Railroad.  However, not everyone would be keen into playing this game.   It could be that they find the fact that slavery was very wrong and they do not feel comfortable in using this kind of theme game.  

Keep in mind that this game requires advance thinking skills and collaboration between the players to be a successful one.   Not every game played with Freedom will end up with a win.  You will loose slaves and sometimes the slave catchers will be quicker than you.

This game is available for purchase at your favorite boardgame store or even on amazon.ca and amazon.com.

 

Disclaimer: I received this kit for review purposes from Academy Games. I was not monetarily compensated for this review. Please note that the review was not influenced by the Sponsor in any way. All opinions expressed here are only my own.