Friday's Fave Five #56

It's time for another Friday's Fave Five (hosted by Susanne at Living to Tell the Story).

My Fave Five this week:-

1. We are so thankful for modern technology, especially a prepaid cell phone. Our 18 yo daughter, Alyssa,  was able to call and email us during each layover. It's so good to be able to hear her voice, receive her emails, get her photos, and get updated. She has landed safely in Penang, Malaysia and been transported to the Logos Hope. Thank You, Lord, for watching over my girl!

2. We enjoyed playing Hear Me Out. A very cool board game!

3. We traded our van (Toyota Sienna) in and got a Toyota Tundra. We're happy with our decision and with a great deal we got :).

4. Chocolate dipped coconut macaroons. Yummy!

5. Free devotional book by John MacArthur. Offer expires 8/22.

P.S. I have a giveaway on my other blog, "Fruitbearers." No entries yet! FoundIt is a company that makes it easy for people to return your lost items while keeping your family's identity safe. You can enter to win a free MacDaddy package(valued at $24.99) which includes a set of 62 stickers, 2 key tags, 3 bag tags, 1 luggage tag/ID card, 2 round tags (great pet tags!), and 4 years access to the FoundIt Network. Ends 8/21

Game Review: Skunked

I love to play games with my family and friends. We actually own more than 60 games (board games and card games combined). I was pleased to receive Skunked (The Ultimate Dice Game by Marina Games) to review and add to our game collection :).

The game includes 128 game chips, 2 dice, and an instruction sheet.  It's for 2+ players and ages 8 & up. The object of the game is to accumulate a score of 100 points or more before any of your opponents and to have the most chips at the end of 3 rounds. When it's your turn, you can keep rolling and adding up your points as long as you don't roll a one or double ones. If you roll a single one, all your points accumulated in that round are void and you have to lose 1 chip to the pot (I used the box's lid as the pot). If you roll double ones, all the points accumulated up to that point in the game are void and you have to lose 4 chips to the pot. The winner of each round gets all the chips in the pot for that round. All you need for the game besides what's included in the box is a sheet of paper and a pencil or pen to keep score.

The first time I played with my 9 year old son, he won! Skunked is fun and easy to play. You don't even have to think (except adding the score :)) and hurt your brain like some games (I personally like both kinds depending on my mood); you just have to decide if you want to risk or not. The more players, the more laughter. We played this game at my mother-in-law's house when we visited her this Sat. for Mother's Day. My mother-in-law, my sister-in-law, my 17 yo daughter, my 12 yo son and I had a blast with Skunked. We enjoyed the simplicity and the skunkability of this game. We laughed, gasped, and screamed during the game. How many times can you roll without rolling a one or double ones? You never know; that's what makes it so exciting/nail-biting :). It's about probablilty but then again, we often got one the first time we rolled..hmm... what's up with that :)? Skunked is a great game to take when you travel because it's small and compact. It's also good for kids to have fun while learning math (addition) without realizing it. If you prefer non-thinking games, check out Skunked. I definitely recommend it.

~This post was written for Family Review Network & Marina Games who provided the complimentary product for review in exchange for my honest opinions.

Game Review: Praise Champion

Our whole family have had a blast with Praise Champion (Karaoke World Tour) CD-rom. We had never done karaoke before and Praise Champion blew us away. Well, not at first since we couldn’t score above a few hundred points due to a defective microphone that was included. Hopefully, this wouldn’t happen to you and if it did, I’m sure you could contact them for a replacement. Through a better microphone that we already owned and through practice, we were able to score well over 100,000 points at times. Not only is it fun to sing and rack up points, but you can also unlock new venues (places to sing) and clothing and accessory options for your character by performing well enough to earn silver, gold, and platinum. You won’t receive a new venue/clothing option every time you reach silver or gold on a song but on certain songs you will. *whispers* If you manage to get gold on a certain song and it unlocks something, you can get gold again and again (at least a couple other times) and unlock two more with the medal level on the same song. That’s a free hint from my 17 yo daughter who has really enjoyed this game. In fact, this singing game has been a big hit with my two sons (12 and 9) as well. After performing a song, we can replay our recording and add effects such as reverb and chorus. There are also mini games such as “Pitch-N-Pass” and “Tune-a-Tuna” that aim to help you improve different vocal skills like pitch detection, pitch sustaining, pitch change and lung capacity. While we haven’t personally unlocked anything through them (and don’t find them as fun as the performances), the instructions say you can unlock new stuff if you do really well. The High Scores list shows the high score for each song that has been sung. For those of you who are competitive, you’ll have fun trying to beat others’ scores :).

Praise Champion features 40 wonderful praise and worship songs such as “Revelation Song”, “I Am Free”, “My Savior Lives”, hymns such as “Amazing Grace”, “Just a Closer Walk with Thee”, “Blessed Assurance” plus 20 bonus Christmas songs such as “Silent Night”, “O Holy Night”, “Joy to the World”, and many more. When we sing, we get real-time performance feedback. A glowing pitch bar moves up and down the scale to display the singer’s pitch. A performance meter indicates whether the singer belongs in the shower, in the choir, or on tour :). We all have had a great time singing. It’s so good for me as a parent to know that my kids are singing clean Christian songs (with great lyrics). It’s okay if you don’t know some of them, this is a fun way to learn new songs! Awesome CD-rom for all ages and one of the most enjoyable PC games we’ve ever owned!

~I received this CD-rom for free from LB Games in an exchange of my honest review. LB Games produces quality PC-based Christian interactive games for children, teens and adults. Their games are supported by Focus on the Family, the Billy Graham Center and many preachers who appreciate that their games provide a healthy alternative to other violent games. I share their approval.