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Mastermind Game – Review and Giveaway

Posted on November 4, 2010 11:44 am by TheAngelForever

In August, TechyDad and I went to BlogHer in NYC. While there, we had time to go to the Expo Hall to connect with some amazing companies. One booth that intrigued us was Pressman Toys. The area was set up with their items on display. Betsy, their PR representative, came over and talked with us for quite a while. She introduced us to their products and showed us the revamped version of Mastermind Game and Animal Mastermind Towers (Review and Giveaway coming soon for this). TechyDad and I were immediately interested in them since our oldest son, NHL 7, loved items like this.

A short time after BlogHer, we received both of the games to review. They came just before a big family reunion for my grandmother’s birthday. I packed up the games and took them with us for everyone to play. Here are some photos of my cousin J and Aunt A playing Mastermind. They were quite competitive and tried to make it even more difficult as they got going.

More about Mastermind:

MASTERMIND® Classic Edition

Will you play the part of the codemaker, or the codebreaker? In the classic edition of our MASTERMIND game, the codemaker chooses from six different colors and sets a code of four colored pegs, which are concealed behind a flip-up shield. The codebreaker’s task is to replicate the code in ten moves or less. With each of the codebreaker’s attempts, the codemaker gives clues about the pegs’ color and position. There are more than 2,000 possible code combinations, making every round of this codebreaker logic game an exciting, brain-bending adventure! For 2 Players. Ages 8 to adult.

The Classic Edition of Mastermind retails for $15.00. There are also other versions of the game available including Advanced Mastermind, Ultimate Mastermind, Mastermind Travel Edition, Mastermind for Kids, Disney Mastermind Towers, and more.

What we thought:

TechyDad and I love games that make you think. Before we had our kids, we used to have game nights playing games similar to Mastermind. After taking Mastermind to the lake to use with family, TechyDad and I also tried it out on our own. The first item that I noticed was the compact case that holds all of the pieces. All of the colored pegs are within a storage compartment that keeps them secure. There was no need for an annoying plastic bag to hold them or worries about pegs flying all over the place. In addition to this, the board itself is small and easy to store. When space is limited, this game is perfect to take along, or tuck away.

Game play was a lot of fun. It makes you competitive not only as the codebreaker, but also the codemaker. When you are the codemaker, you have to be able to use the smaller red and white pegs seen above to give hints to the codebreaker about their guess. It was not difficult to figure out how to use these clues and fun challenge to use them to break the code faster each time. TechyDad and I have said we would like to try this game with our 7-year-old one day soon. We think NHL would really enjoy it and is probably ready to try the deductive reasoning skills. We have also said we may step it up a notch and try repeating colors in our codes for an extra challenge.

I highly recommend this game. It will keep you on your toes, make you think/use logic skills, and have a good time. This would make a great gift for anyone for Chanukah, Christmas, or a Birthday. I even think it would be a fantastic item to donate to a teacher for a classroom (the inner teacher in me talking here). Teachers are always looking for educational games to have on hand for students when there is a little bit of down time in the day.

Giveaway:

Thanks to Pressman, one lucky winner will receive their own Mastermind Classic Edition to play.

Rules for Giveaway:

MAIN RULE – Tell me what your favorite board game is and why.

The following Bonus Entries may also be done. Please be sure to leave separate comments for each that you complete below to make sure you get the right number of entries.

1 Bonus Entry – Who will you play Mastermind with and do you want to be the codemaker or breaker first?
1 Bonus Entry – Tweet the following about the giveaway (May be done once a day): Put your thinking cap on and enter to #win your own @MastermindGame http://bit.ly/97A3NbMastermind Great for holidays! #Giveaway
1 Bonus Entry – Subscribe to my RSS feed (or let me know if you already are) in a separate comment.
1 Bonus Entry – Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from the month of October/November. Leave a comment here to let me know which one. This Bonus entry may be done three times per person.
3 Bonus Entries – Add my blog button to your website and leave a link with the location. Be sure to give yourself 3 comments for credit.
5 Bonus Entries – Write a post on your blog linking to my blog about the giveaway. Be sure to leave 5 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries.

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today November 4 and ends at 10:59 EST on November 18, 2010. You do not have to be a blogger to enter, but must leave a valid e-mail address for me to contact you for mailing address once the giveaway is over. I will select the winner using random.org and contact you via e-mail. You will have 48 hours to claim the prize. If there is no response, another winner will be selected. Open to U.S. residents only.

Disclosure: This review and giveaway was made possible by Pressman Toys and their PR company. They provided me with Mastermind Classic Edition to facilitate this review. The opinions of this review are mine and I received no other compensation.

Categories:
BlogHer family fun giveaway looking back photos Product review

Favorite Halloween treats

Posted on October 29, 2010 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Last year, Halloween was quite the bust. NHL was home sick that week with H1N1. Then, just the day before, JSL had another febrile seizure. By Halloween day, NHL was feeling much better. He braved the rainy weather and went out to a few houses in his Luigi costume. Poor JSL was still not doing too well. He stayed inside with me handing out candy to trick-or-treaters.

This year, the boys are both hoping to go out. The little guy is very excited since he does not remember much from two years ago.

So with Halloween in mind I have two question for you:

What are you giving out to Trick-or-Treaters this Halloween? What was your favorite candy to receive as a child?

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #123

Categories:
fun holidays looking back nhl photos sick kid TechyDad

Tuesday Tales – Books of the Hebrew School Kind

Posted on October 26, 2010 1:19 pm by TheAngelForever

My memories of Hebrew School as a child are cloudy at best since I try to forget it. I will be the first to admit that I did not like going. When I was a child, I went Monday, Wednesday, and Sunday. Now, Hebrew School typically begins in kindergarten once a week for children. Then, when they are in second grade, it goes to twice a week. We have been very lucky. NHL loved Hebrew School the last two years as a kindergartener and first grader. This year, the addition of Wednesday had been a big change. Still, he looks forward to going and learning. Just the other day, he mentioned out of the blue that he wanted to be a Mench. I nearly choked on my dinner. This was not a word I expected to come from my seven-year old son.

So, why am I bringing this up for Tuesday Tales?

Good question. I guess this has to do with how far books for Hebrew School have come. The new books are more realistic, interweave Judaic customs and views of every day life. The books are child friendly, packed with great information, and do not intimidate children while learning about our religion and how to read/write/speak Hebrew.

Check out NHL’s books that are being used. I have to admit, I am jealous and would love to get my hands on a few of them to really read.

Now, I can completely understand where the Mench term was coming from. I was also excited to see the amazing collection of Jewish Holiday/Heritage books that NHL’s teacher has. Many of the books we have and others I have never seen. I am sure he will be especially intrigued by The Cat in the Hat and a few other familiar books all written in Hebrew.

To all of the text-book companies out there, thank you! As a teacher and parent, I applaud you for stepping up to the plate. By making books to use in the classroom that are more engaging, you are not only helping teacher, but also reaching more students.

So what have you read recently? Please be sure to link up to your Tuesday Tales and/or leave a comment below. Include something you read on your own, with a child or someone else. Tuesday Tales are all about spreading the love for books.

Categories:
books looking back milestone nhl photos school Tuesday Tales

Another febrile seizure anniversary coming

Posted on October 25, 2010 12:11 pm by TheAngelForever

The other day, it hit me. It has been almost a year since JSL’s last febrile seizure on October 29, 2009. I should be optimistic about this milestone, but we have been there and done that before. JSL’s febrile seizure nearly twelve months ago was his fourth. I had three as a child, TechyDad at least two, and NHL only one, so we know all too much about them. Still, I look at my bubbly child and wonder, will there be another?

Will we need to go on another ambulance ride to figure out why he has a raging fever and seized? I do not obsess over this, yet it is on my mind a lot right now. It is hard not to when you have seen your child stop breathing four times in less than three years’ time.

The first febrile seizure was when JSL was nine months old in February 2008. That was quite possibly the darkest night of my life. The night that my baby’s lifeless gray body had to have breaths of life blown into him by my mother.

A four day hospital stay resulted. I wrote about it at the time, and, then a year later, in my post called Memories of THAT night in February. At the time, I celebrated the fact that JSL had gone a year since his one and only febrile seizure. Typically, that is a huge accomplished and means that a child is less likely to have another. Something I have learned, JSL is not a typical little guy. Less than two months later, I would be writing about JSL having his second and third febrile seisures in less than 30 hours.

Seven months later, while home alone with the boys my worst nightmare happened. While recovering from H1N1, NHL had to help me let paramedics into our house. While changing his diaper, just moments after running around and playing with his brother, JSL had his fourth febrile seizure. To this day we are still not sure what caused that one.

Now, I just hope and pray that we can continue to add additional time onto our watch since JSL’s last febrile seizure. I promise not to jump each time the phone rings and it is nursery school, but I think you can probably understand why the underlying fear will remain for years to come.

Now, I am off to give my little guy a great big hug.

Categories:
jsl looking back milestone photos sick kid vent

Fun autumn day at the amusement park

Posted on October 18, 2010 10:31 am by TheAngelForever

The temperature here has shifted drastically in recent weeks. Frost and more will soon be in our future. Thanks to this, we have been trying to get outside and enjoy the nice weather as much as possible. Sunday, we decided to head to The Great Escape to utilize our season passes at least on more time. We had not been there since June 19th. That was the day that NHL was hurt on a ride. In case you are wondering, no Six Flags has NOT called back about the incident. I have e-mailed, called, and sent Tweets numerous times. Leaves me very confused and upset as a Season Pass holder of this park.

*sigh*

Needless to say, NHL would not go back on the ride where he was injured (can not say I really blame him ). There were not a lot of characters out during the day. The park is clearly running on low staff during the fall season. Still we did see at least one familiar face:

We had a fantastic time going on a lot of rides with almost no wait. Note the special pink DisneySMMoms jacket that I am wearing to keep warm. There were a lot of smiles and memories made. Here are just a few of them:

With any luck we may be able to head up there one more time this season. If not, we can look at all of the photos from the trips we have had this year. Season passes for next year, still up for debate.