Rapidough Family Game Review and Christmas Giveaway Age 8+ (Sent By Drumond Park)

One of my final Christmas Present Giveaways for 2018 is from my good friends at Drumond Park, and it's for Rapidough - a family favourite here for years.

Suitable for 4 or more players aged 8+, this is a very funny family game which involves recreating items shown on a card in dough - and like a good cheese, it matures as your family gets older...

We really like this game and have played it a lot over the years, including reviewing it in early 2015 with my younger children. What I can tell you now is that it gets better as your family grows up. Models become more complex and gameplay speeds up.

Foxy Pants Family Game Review And Giveaway For Drumond Park (Age 4+)

It's September and one of our favourite brands are back with some new games for this Autumn. Foxy Pants from Drumond Park is a great active family game that makes your children squeal with delight and excitement. This is a fox who overfills his pockets and suffers the inevitable consequence. When his pants fall it's your job to grab and save as many of the chickens as you can.... It can get quite frantic.

The game is suitable for 2-4 players aged 4+ and as you'd expect, everything you need is in the box, including 1 fox with pants, 21 chickens, 4 chicken coops, 1 dice and instructions.

Who's The Dude? Age 16+ Adult Game Review

Who's The Dude? is a very different sort of game and it is designed especially for the more mature members of your family. Mature in age possibly, but certainly not in behaviour! This game revolves around a pack of cards and a full size blow up dude... yep - you read right!

Suitable for 3-8 players (or more in teams), this is a great game for after the younger children have gone to bed because you can't help but end up with some very suggestive actions. Hilarious and active, we all laughed non-stop, but funnily enough people were reluctant to have their photos added to this post (I've saved them for birthday embarrassment later on).

King Pong Game Review (age 8+) and Giveaway for Drumond Park

The Summer is over but it's not all bad news, game season is back! One of Drumond Park's newest releases is King Pong, a very active game for 2-4 players aged 8+. This is one that'll get the couch potatoes sitting up and joining in...

Inside the box is everything you'll need, and you do have to assemble this one yourself. Much like the game Crazy Claw there is a cube formed from clear plastic with a solid base, corner pillars and top. Then the pyramid fits neatly into the centre. It'll take about 10 minutes maximum - it's a newer design and much better, less fiddly than Crazy Claw.

SSshh! Don’t Wake Dad! Board Game Giveaway from Drumond Park (age 5+)

Last March we reviewed Sshh! Don't Wake Dad! for Drumond Park and it's remained a favourite all year. This is a board game with a twist in the shape of a sleeping animated Dad, who snores his way through the game and makes everyone jump whenever he is accidentally woken by the sneaky cake thief...

You can find my full review of Sshh! Don't Wake Dad! here, but gameplay is very simple. Players use a spinner to move along the track that snakes across the board, heading for the fridge and the delicious treats it holds. Each square you land on is a risk and you can get sent back to the start quite easily.

Dig In! Family Game From Drumond Park (8+) Review and Giveaway!

Our latest review for Drumond Park is a brand new game released just in time for Christmas. Dig In! is a pretty frantic game for 2-4 players aged 8+, and is a rare occasion where adults can behave like spoilt children, and snatch without anyone raising an eyebrow...

In the box we have 128 assorted plastic playing pieces, the Dig In! bowl, a 15 second timer, 12 press-out double sided Dig In! cards, and the instruction booklet.

Crazy Claw Game Review and Giveaway from Drumond Park (2 Winners).

Our latest review and giveaway is for one of our favourite games companies, Drumond Park. Their brand new game Crazy Claw is definitely one of the most active games you'll play. Suitable for 2-4 players aged 5+, this type of frantic game with great props is exactly what will delight most children.

Inside the box is everything you will need, including the actual Crazy Claw 'arcade machine' set up, 12 balls with press-out cardboard prizes and a fantastic grabber, plus instructions.

Stoopido From Drumond Park Family Game Review And Giveaway(8+)

Drumond Park are releasing some new games this Autumn, and we've been sent an advance copy of one of them, Stoopido, to review. Released on 29th August, Stoopido is a family game for 2-4 players aged 8+, and quite rightly describes itself as 'the game of 1000 silly faces'.

When you open the box you have an entire dressing up box full of mask parts and it does take a little putting together, so allow 10 minutes before you start.

Drumond Park Prize Pair Christmas Present Giveaway (2 Winners).

We are huge fans of Drumond Park, and have been reviewing their games now for nearly 3 years. It's a wonder we haven't played them all yet, but each year new releases add to the list, and it is two of this Autumn's new games that feature in this giveaway.

Two winners will each win Og On The Bog, and LOGO Lite - two games which were developed entirely in-house by the Drumond Park team and have both already won awards.

Drumond Park LOGO Lite Review

My latest review for Drumond Park is LOGO Lite. A family game for 2-4 players aged around 12+. This is a LOGO game with a difference though, because the LOGO Lite version is boardless, instead using a clever circular spinner to hold the counters needed to win the game. Without a board this is around half the size of a standard game box.

Inside the box even the spinner comes apart to save space. This is a much more portable game that is great to take with you when you are visiting friends and family.

Og On The Bog family game review from Drumond Park

For the last couple of weeks we've had a horrid troll in our living room grunting and passing wind and being generally disgusting. And making my youngest son laugh - a lot. Og On The Bog is our latest family game review for Drumond Park, and he's proven a surprisingly popular hit.

Rattle Me Bones game from Drumond Park (age 5+) Review and Giveaway

Rattle Me Bones is one of this Summer's new Drumond Park games, and it's quickly become a favourite in our house - particularly with the younger 2 boys. It has a nostalgic feel and is nicely made with a pirate treasure theme - who wouldn't love trying to steal an old pirate's treasure!

The game is suitable for 2-4 players aged 5 and up, and the rules are simple. Spin the spinner to see which colour treasure you are allowed to attempt to steal.

Drumond Park Barbeque Party Review and Giveaway

It's August, barbeque season is in full swing. Up and down the UK there are people who haven't created anything more complex than 'toast for 2' in the last year, attempting to sufficiently cook a full meal for 30 in the pouring rain, using nothing more than a small fire, a large fork and a comedy apron. But somehow, it's always good...

Drumond Park's Barbeque Party thankfully has weather-resistant plastic food - which isn't burnt to a crisp on the outside and raw in the middle. The barbeque itself is also somewhat cuter...

Drumond Park's 'LOGO Best Of British' review and giveaway

I've got a great review and giveaway today courtesy of Drumond Park. LOGO: Best Of British is a real 'you know it or you don't' kind of board game. General knowledge rules and you'll find you are kicking yourself all night about answers that were on the tip of your tongue.

Best Of British is from the LOGO family of games and can be played as individuals or teams. It has some very tricky general knowledge questions, so is recommended for young people and adults aged 12+. The regular LOGO board game and question card style is very familiar to us because we've played and reviewed several LOGO games over the past couple of years.

Dino Bite game (age 4+) from Drumond Park review and giveaway

Drumond Park are one of our favourite games manufacturers and this one is very different! Designed for 2-4 players aged 4+ there is no board, there are no counters, no timer. Instead we have a snarling spring-loaded dinosaur and a whole nest full of baby dinosaurs that you are trying to pinch!

Drumond Park's Dinobite only requires 2 minutes assembly. Attach the dinosaur to the main part of the model and insert  2 x AA batteries, switch it on and you are ready to go. The batteries power the sound, which plays dinosaur style jungle noises throughout, and the timing to release the dinosaur.

Family Games Bundle Giveaway from Drumond Park

We love board games here at The Brick Castle, and today I am delighted to be able to tell you that Drumond Park have kindly offered a fabulous bundle of games as a prize for one of my readers. Added together these games would cost you over £70, and keep your family entertained all Summer if the sunshine lets us down.

Rapidough Family Game Review for Drumond Park

Our latest family game to review from Drumond Park has proven to be one of the most popular. Rapidough is great fun and fantastic to play with different generations at the same time. Recommended for children aged 8+ and 4 or more players, our 6 1/2 year old can just about hold his own and join in on a level.

Happy New Year 2015

We're back, I'm back. I took an extended Christmas break, and it turned out we all really needed that. Everything still takes a lot longer and your mind wanders, it was enough to just try and 'do' Christmas and New Year and all the rest of it, there's no way I'd have fitted in much writing.

It's 12th night, and for the first time ever, I have to admit to being kind of glad it's all over. Usually I do feel sad after the decs go down, but this year I am breathing a sigh of relief and my shoulders are relaxing. We did it. We really did it. It went well and my little boys will remember it as being the Christmas of Scalextric and Skylanders, and little else. It was very subdued, very reflective, utterly exhausting and the stress was immense. For the first time without a newborn I found myself falling asleep regularly and repeatedly when I sat down, then staying awake until 2 or 3am worrying and over-thinking, but we did it. 

It's sad that I wanted it over, it's sad that we didn't take the usual photo's, we didn't drink enough to get giggly, I didn't cry when I watched Miracle On 34th Street. I didn't send cards even though that has always been something I've taken very seriously - I didn't know what to write. It was Christmas, but it was missing so much.

Christmas Morning 7am

Christmas morning 8.00am

 It's good that we did have decorations and cool presents, we did all stay up to toast in the new year, we did cook a turkey and a gammon and I made a veggie Beef Wellington of which I was particularly proud. 'Santa' managed to get Minecraft LEGO before it sold out, and although we didn't have real snow at all, we had pretend snow by the gallon and the little boys played with it for hours. We stayed at home, we watched a lot of movies, played board games, ate our bodyweight in chocolate and built LEGO, and we gave all our children the best Christmas we could - and there were lots of smiles. 

The New Year doesn't signify a new start for us, if only it really were that simple. We can't make promises to amend our behaviour or give up alcohol or chocolate and it'll all be good. We don't get a reset. This year there were too many gaps, and the gap will always and forever be there, but Christmas 2015 and New Year 2016 will be easier, and it will be okay.

Midnight 31st December 2014

Articulate and Articulate For Kids review and giveaway

Drumond Park make fantastic board games and last weekend we got to play with two of our favourites. Articulate has been around for a long while, and it's junior version, Articulate For Kids, has just undergone a revamp which sees it suitable for children aged 6+.

Our 6 year old is fairly articulate, but lacks nerve, so this is an excellent game for helping him gain confidence with description and memory. It increases a child's vocabulary and social skills. 

LOGO Grab game from Drumond Park review and giveaway

It's been a long while since we've played any games, and LOGO Grab was a great one to come back to. With the tagline 'Roll, Spot and Grab', it's a nice simple card game for age 8+ where being alert and quick will make you the winner.

LOGO Grab can be played individually or in 2-4 teams. 9 cards from the top of the pile are placed face upwards in the middle of the table. Each player or team is given 2 additional cards. The aim of the game is to collect 2 groups of 3 cards from the same set.