Category: Review

Mastermind Animal Towers Review and Giveaway

Fun, Giveaway, Review

I love playing board games with my kids.  Unfortunately, too many games rely solely on luck to win.  Did the spinner land on 3?  Did the die roll go your way?  Did the card you just drew match what you needed?  Thankfully, there are games out there that depend on brainpower instead of luck.  Mastermind Animal Towers is one of these games.

image007In the “grown-up” version of Mastermind, one person is the code maker and one person is the code breaker.  The code maker chooses 4 pegs out of 6 possible colors and arranges them in a spot hidden from the code breaker.  The code breaker then tries to guess the code in 10 attempts or less given the minimal information of how many pegs were the correct color and how many were in the correct spot.  (Specific information like “Green is in the right spot” isn’t given.)  Obviously, this takes a keen mind to figure out.  Simply tossing pegs onto the board and hoping luck will be with you isn’t a winning strategy here.

The same is true for Mastermind Animal Towers.  Of course, the game play is simplified for kids.  In this version, both players are code makers and code breakers.  You each get a series of tiles with animals on them and a “tower” to put the animals in.  When the animals are in the tower, the opposing player can’t see them.  Both players also get a second set of tiles representing their opponent’s animals.

P1330480Play involves trying to figure out just how your opponent has stacked his or her animals.  You ask “above or below” questions such as “Is the Lion above the Giraffe?”  As your opponent answers your questions, your estimation of their tower becomes more and more accurate until you guess it correctly.  Of course, your opponent is also asking questions and trying to guess how your tower is arranged and will try to win by guessing correctly before you.

P1330499 During a family get together, NHL played this game against me and some other family members.  He immediately got the concept and went right to work trying to guess the arrangements.  While he wasn’t always successful (my training in computer science led me to use an effective sorting technique for my guesses), he did have a lot of fun.  Even JSL and his cousin S, both of whom were too young to really understand how to play the game, had fun pretending to play or helping out (e.g. helping to choose my initial tower arrangement).  This is definitely a game that I would recommend to help build your child’s problem solving skills.

Giveaway:

Thanks to Pressman Toys, one lucky winner will receive Mastermind Animal Towers. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What board games do you like playing with your children or did you play growing up?

You can also earn bonus entries by doing any (or all) of the following items. Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each item that you complete.  (Don’t just leave one comment listing everything you did.)

  • Follow @TechyDad on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
  • Follow @MASTERMINDgame on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
  • Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad, @MASTERMINDgame and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: Play more board games with your kids! Win Mastermind Animal Towers from @TechyDad and @MASTERMINDgame. http://bit.ly/bPSskL #Giveaway
  • Subscribe to my RSS feed or let me know if you already are. (1 bonus entry)
  • Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from October/November. Leave a comment here letting me know which post you commented on. (1 bonus entry per comment, maximum 3 entries)
  • Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway. Leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries. (3 bonus entries)

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, November 4th and ends at Noon EST on November 18th, 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. only.

Disclosure: I was given this game by Pressman Toy for free to review and I get to keep the game at the end of my review period. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed above are my own. Pressman Toy is also providing the giveaway item to my readers.

Review: Barbara’s Bakery

Food, Review

It’s no secret that I love to eat.  However, while I like the occasional sweet treat, I like to keep my foods as healthy as possible.  So when I heard that Barbara’s Bakery was looking for people to review some of their foods that contain no artificial flavors, artificial preservatives, trans fats , or high fructose corn syrup, I jumped at the chance.  Soon enough, a big box arrived at my doorstep containing these goodies:

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For the record, that’s Puffins multigrain cereal, high fiber cranberry cereal, baked cheese puffs, Snackimals and a stuffed puffin.  Of course, the stuffed puffin was the item that my kids initially loved.

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I had to convince them that the review wasn’t about stuffed animals, but about food.  Luckily, they were easily convinced to try the Snackimals.  After all, what kid wouldn’t want to try animal crackers with chocolate chips in them?  The boys split the bag almost in half with B and I snatching a precious few cookies to try.  They were very good.  You could definitely taste the molasses (most likely used to replace high fructose corn syrup or another not-so-good-for-you ingredient), but it worked nicely in the cookie’s taste.  There were definitely no complaints from the boys (other than when the bag ran out of cookies).

The boys weren’t as enthusiastic about the high fiber cranberry cereal.  Then again, this is high fiber cereal.  Not exactly the kind of thing kids rush to!  I, however, really liked it.  The cranberries gave a nice, sweet/tart flavor and the high fiber cereal, of course, was very nutritious.  I could definitely eat a bowl of this for breakfast (and, in fact, have done so).

The Puffins cereal was another favorite of NHL’s.  He kept asking for more and would eat half of each puff just to sneak a peek at it’s hollow center.  I loved this too.  It was quite sweet despite the low sugar count on the nutritional label (6 grams for a 3/4 cup serving).  I think NHL would be quite satisfied with having this for a snack instead of some high sugar treat.

Finally, there were the baked cheese puffs.  Cheese puffs aren’t something we typically have around the house so this was a rare treat for the boys.  They both enjoyed these as did I.  They were light and airy with a good crunch.  I could definitely see buying these for the boys.  (My only disappointment with these was that they weren’t kosher like the other products.  That happens often when one deals with foods containing cheese, though.)

All in all, we loved the Barbara’s Bakery items and will definitely be on the lookout for more of their products the next time we’re walking through our supermarket’s organic aisle.

Disclaimer: This post was written for Family Review Network & Barbara’s Bakery who provided the complimentary product for review in exchange for my honest review.

Nestle Butterfinger Snackerz Review and Giveaway

Food, Giveaway, Review

Snackerz singleIt’s no secret that I love candy.  Specifically, I love nearly anything with chocolate in it.  So, when I spotted the Butterfinger booth at BlogHer, I was intrigued.  They were handing out samples of their newest product: Butterfinger Snackerz.  Of course, I had to try them.  To quote those Bart Simpson commercials, they were crispedy, crunchedy and peanut buttery.  (All great things in a candy.)  We brought a couple of packages back from BlogHer for the boys.  Of course, they both loved them.  (The only thing they didn’t like about them was that we didn’t have more!)

A nice thing about the Snackerz, versus a full-sized candy bar, was that we could pick up the smaller, bite-sized pieces instead of holding onto a full-sized bar.  It also meant that one package could be divided up more evenly between two boys.  No fighting over “his half is bigger!”

These will definitely be among our top candy choices when we go shopping for a sweet treat for the boys (or ourselves).

Giveaway:

Thanks to Nestle, one lucky winner will receive either four fun size bags of Butterfinger Snackerz (16 pouches inside) or 2 boxes of full size pouches (24 pouches inside) – depending on product availability. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What types of candy were your favorites to get during Halloween when you were a child?

You can also earn bonus entries by doing any (or all) of the following items. Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each item that you complete.  (Don’t just leave one comment listing everything you did.)

  • Follow @TechyDad on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
  • Follow @ButterfingerMmm on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
  • Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad, @ButterfingerMmm and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: Win Nestle Butterfinger Snackerz in time for Halloween from @TechyDad and @ButterfingerMmm. http://bit.ly/cSSZaG #Giveaway
  • Subscribe to my RSS feed or let me know if you already are. (1 bonus entry)
  • Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from September/October. Leave a comment here letting me know which post you commented on. (1 bonus entry per comment, maximum 3 entries)
  • Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway. Leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries. (3 bonus entries)

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, October 14th and ends at Noon EST on October 21st, 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. only.

Disclosure: I received a free fun sized bag of Butterfinger Snackerz complimentary of Nestle in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed above are my own. Nestle is also providing the giveaway item to my readers.

LuLu.com Photo Book Review and Giveaway

Giveaway, Review

It’s no secret that I love taking photos. I’ll annoy my kids, wife and everyone in a five mile radius just to get that perfect shot. Once the photos are taken, I’ll select the very best to put online to share with others.

But, as much as I love taking photos, I secretly hate printed photos. I never remember to put them in their frames, they never seem to find their way into photo albums and the ones I have up wind up old and outdated. If you were to visit my office, you’d see shots of NHL from when he was under a year old. He’s 7 now, but I just never seem to get around to replacing those photos.

Photobooks, are another story. The photos in them don’t go out of date the way a 4×6 framed photo will. You don’t need to find an album to put them in (since they are already in a book) and you can easily tell which photobooks are for which events.

I was given the chance to review LuLu’s photo books. I’ve put photo books together on other systems and had even made a LuLu.com one awhile back (for a charity project, though I never got around to ordering one for myself). In the time since I had put my last LuLu.com photobook together, though, they must have changed systems because I don’t remember it being this easy… or fun!

First, I choose the theme of my book. I had decided to compile photos of every character we had met while at Disney World and Six Flags. I chose my photos, narrowed them down to eliminate duplicates and logged into Lulu.com. From there, I named the book, chose a cover and a design. I went with one that, I thought, felt like a travel journal. I was able to move photos around and choose different page layouts with different photo sizes. Before too long, my book was done and ready to be printed.

When it arrived in the mail, I eagerly opened up the package and was pleasantly surprised. The book looked even better in my hands than it did on the screen.

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I really liked how some of the photos seemed to be "attached" to the page, as if I had glued them in by hand while others seemed to be floating slightly above it (as if they weren’t glued in completely). We’ve taken this book to family events to show off. Cousin S, who will be going to Disney World soon, especially loved seeing all the Disney characters in the book. We will definitely look to LuLu for future photo book needs (and we have a few photo book ideas).

Giveaway:

Thanks to LuLu.com, one lucky winner will receive a free 20 page, 8.5 square hardcover photo book. To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What types of photos would you fill your photo book with?

You can also earn bonus entries by doing any (or all) of the following items. Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each item that you complete.

  • Follow @TechyDad on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
  • Follow @LuLudotcom on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
  • Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad, @Luludotcom (or Lulu.com) and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: Win a free 20 page hardcover photobook from @TechyDad and @LuLudotcom. http://bit.ly/9XYyFq #Giveaway
  • Subscribe to my RSS feed or let me know if you already are. (1 bonus entry)
  • Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from August/September/October. Leave a comment here letting me know which post you commented on. (1 bonus entry per comment, maximum 3 entries)
  • Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway. Leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries. (3 bonus entries)

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, September 30th and ends at Noon EST on October 14th, 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. only.

Disclosure: I received a free 20 page hardcover photobook and some other merchandise complimentary of LuLu.com in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed above are my own. LuLu.com is also providing the giveaway item to my readers.

NOTE: Due to a Typo (read: me copying and pasting and forgetting to update a section of text), the "@Luludotcom/Lulu.com" part of the tweet requirement wasn’t listed for awhile.  So I’m going to be lax on that requirement.  (Not fair to disqualify entries for not adhering to a rule that wasn’t spelled out properly.)  Tweets should still name @TechyDad and have a link here, though, since those requirements were listed correctly.

Ziploc Review & Giveaway

Giveaway, Review

With school here (and me continuing to bring lunch into work), we’re going to be sending in a lot of lunches and snacks. This means that I’ll be packing a lot of items in either Ziploc bags (which I try to reuse as much as possible to reduce waste) or Ziploc storage containers.

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I was sent a Ziploc sandwich bags, slider bags (both Quart Storage and Quart Freezer) and Smart Snap storage containers. All three of these come in handy around the house. The obvious use for the sandwich bags is lunches, but we also use them to help keep small items together. For example, Box Tops For Education which Ziploc, and many other national brands, participate in. Instead of having those clipped box tops lying around (and possibly getting lost), we’ll toss them into a Ziploc bag and keep them all together until they can be sent in to our school. The Ziploc containers come in handy for storing leftovers and transporting them to work for lunches. As a bonus, we toss them in the dishwasher and use them over and over and over. (There’s that Reuse in Reduce-Reuse-Recycle.)

The freezer bags, obviously, get put to use keeping items frozen. I like to take fruit that is heading past its prime (which I know we won’t finish before it spoils), cut it up and stick it in a Ziploc freezer bag. Then, once frozen, it can be used later on for smoothies or other dishes. The Ziploc storage bags are handy for corralling various items around the house (similar to the sandwich bag example above, but bigger items like batteries).

You can find Ziploc brand storage bags and containers in your local supermarket.

Giveaway:

Thanks to SC Johnson, one lucky winner will receive a Ziploc prize package containing:

  • Ziploc Brand sandwich bags
  • Ziploc Brand Freezer slider bags with expandable bottom and smart-zip seal (quart)
  • Ziploc Brand Storage slider bags with expandable bottom and smart-zip seal (quart)
  • Ziploc Brand Containers with the Smart Snap™ Seal (medium square)

To enter, simply leave a comment below answering this question: What would you store in a Ziploc storage bag or container?

You can also earn bonus entries by doing any (or all) of the following items. Just be sure to leave a separate comment for each item that you complete.

  • Follow @TechyDad on Twitter. (1 bonus entry)
  • Tweet about the giveaway on Twitter. Be sure to include @TechyDad, Ziploc and a link to this post in the Tweet. (1 bonus entry per day) For example: What would you store in a Ziploc bag/container? Chance to #win a Ziploc prize package from @TechyDad. http://bit.ly/9ROgV1 #Giveaway
  • Subscribe to my RSS feed or let me know if you already are. (1 bonus entry)
  • Leave a comment on any of my non-giveaway posts from August/September. Leave a comment here letting me know which post you commented on. (1 bonus entry per comment, maximum 3 entries)
  • Write a post on your blog linking to this giveaway. Leave 3 comments about this to get credit for all of your extra entries. (3 bonus entries)

To enter, please follow the rules above within the comment section. Contest starts today, September 20th and ends at Noon EST on October 4th, 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. and Canada residents only.

Disclosure: I received a Ziploc package (containing the products described above) complimentary of SC Johnson in order to facilitate this review. No other compensation was given. The opinions expressed above are my own. SC Johnson is also providing the giveaway item to my readers.

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