Monkey Pod Games

    A few months back, you know before our world went noodles, "Monkey Pod Games" http://www.monkeypodgames.com/ asked if I would be willing to review a few of their games.

   I am here at last, full of chagrin..here's the story.

   I agreed, HELLO who in their right mind would turn away  free family night activities. Well we thought it was awesome. As a matter of fact Ricky said he was going to get on the blog http://mostlysanevincents.blogspot.com/ he shares with his brother and write reviews on all the activities he loves most. Of course he was banking on an array of bliss-filled packages arriving on our doorstep. That was short lived.

   The games arrived. We played the games. Life went nuts. We packed the games...and the laptop.

  We are now, obviously back to our normally scheduled program....well enough to share our experience with you anyway.

   The first game we tried out was "Ludo"  which is basically "Sorry"  To put it simply we loved it! It's easy to set up, easy to understand! This game is great because you can grab some quick snacks for the game table, set up the game in a giffy and you're ready to go! This provides some great time w/ the fam. without the gloom of "a game that will never end". No fear of brain cells that are too overwhelmed to "get the instructions" Understand I am  not insinuating that it is without challenge. It is a game of wit and strategy.  This particular version is actually a wooden box. When you open the lid, where the pieces are stored, it becomes the game board.  It latches shut with loops of red rope and two pegs, which is brilliant.  We have enjoyed sitting on the back patio sipping blueberry tea and playing this new awesome wooden game. Because of its travel ease, we've also taken it on a picnic with us. We plan to take it camping this summer. http://www.monkeypodgames.com/Wooden-Ludo-Large/M/B002XF4OZM.htm

  The second game we tried out is called the Soma Cube. Like, Ludo it is a wooden game. Both are aesthetically pleasing earning them a position on the wooden games shelf in our living room. You know vs the second class citizen shut away in the closet... umm the cardboard and plastic games.

    Anyway....Soma Cube is a set of wooden pieces, your job is to take them apart and put them back together in 240 different ways. The first day we played we where on the middle of the floor. The two boys and I had our heads in a triangle. Our bodies were shooting out from the game that lay in the center of said triangle. After reading the instructions several times we finally figured out the step by step directions for the first construction. The next step was going through the process alone with only the figure of a finished construction pictured. This proved to be MUCH harder. That day we only found two more solutions.  The next time we pulled it out we placed it in the middle of the table. We were stumped on a particular figure. One by one through out the day we continued to go back to that table trying to find the new solution. We needed a new way to build. We couldn't conquer it, so we'd walk away. It followed our thought's, so we'd go back and stare at it. This game is kinda like a cross between the family jigsaw puzzle endeavor and the let's try and conquer the Rubic's Cube generational curse.  http://www.monkeypodgames.com/Soma-Cube-3d-Large/M/B0012LJAMA.htm   We loved it! We hated it! We wanted to pull out our hair, We wanted to throw the pieces across the room. Non-the-less when we finally did feel the victory of conquering one of the figures we were on a natural high!


   Thank You Monkey Pod Games for giving my family these beautiful, sturdy, mind stretching games!!!