A Fun Family Game Night Courtesy of Imagine Toys

We've been switching back and forth between having Family Movie Nights and Family Game Nights on Friday evenings.  Starting off the weekend with a focus on some fun quality time together is a nice way to depressurize from the stresses that work, school and the hustle of everyday life can throw at a family throughout the week.  We tried out two new games during our most recent family fun night that were provided courtesy of our friends at IMAGINE TOYS.

 

Imagine Toys is a specialty toy store with a focus on providing quality toys that encourage children to use their imaginations.  They offer unique toys that promote creativity, educational learning, and athletics which normally won't be found at a mass-market store.  They provided A GEEK DADDY Blog with the Ice Age DVD Game and Inching Along board game to enjoy for one of our Family Game Nights.

My kids really enjoy the Ice Age movies so this was a great pick for a game night selection.  You are provided with some really nice playing pieces that depict some of the popular characters from this animated movie series which must be moved across a game board depicting a frozen tundra in search of acorns hidden under the thawing ice...be careful though as your opponents can move around Rudy the T-Rex and if he catches your character it is back to Start for you.  The number of spaces you can move in your quest to grab up all the acorns that are colored the same as your starting spot is determined on how well a player completes on-screen games that are randomly generated by the DVD included with the game.  In addition to the games the DVD also features humorous segments featuring the cast of characters from the Ice Age movies.

The television sequences involve 8 interactive carnival arcades style games of skill and chance that are randomly generated and have various outcomes so that players can't predict how to beat the challenge. Incorporating the dvd aspects into the game provides an extra dimension to its play but doesn't overpower to board game elements and strategy.  So while you aren't turning off the television for the night when it comes to the Ice Age  DVD Game, players aren't focused on the television for the entire game as they also have to focus on things taking place on its tiled board like finding their acorns and avoiding Rudy.

The Ice Age DVD game is for children 5 years and older and is for 2 to 4 players.  This game amused and entertained my 5 year old twins for an hour.  Go nuts with this game during your next family game night!

The next game we played was called Inching Along.  This game was dreamed up by a teacher to help kids learn basic math and measuring skills.  It is aimed for kids in kindergarten through second grade.  My twins are about 2 months into kindergarten and the game was just a little too advanced for them as we started getting into the game play.  I have a feeling they'll be ready to play it closer to the end of the school year which was somewhat disappointing because they really were excited about the artwork for the game board and pieces and interested in using the ruler that comes along with the game...but alas their counting and math skills were just not up to par once we started playing the game. So we put it aside for later on but it is a game we will absolutely be bringing back out of the closet in the future.

Inching Along has a nighttime camping theme and I just have to say again has very impressive artwork and a great game layout.  To get from the start to finish players must pull a card with instructions on it then follow those directions to measure lines and translate those measurements into numbers to know how many spaced for their characters to move forward or backward on the hiking trail.  It is a very original concept that reinforces educational lessons in a fun manner for children.

Both Ice Age DVD Game and Inching Along get A Geek Daddy nod of approval for being fun opportunities to promote creative and educational play.  For more information about Imagine Toys visit www.imaginetoys.com

DISCLAIMER:  Imagine Toys provided A Geek Daddy Blog with a $50 credit to purchase products from its website to use for a family game night.  There was no obligation to write a positive review about Imagine Toys or the products sold from it.  The opinions in this post are my own.