DICE THRONE: STORM VERSUS THOR

Sparks are flying as the X-men's Storm takes on the Avenger's Thor in a match of the Marvel Universe edition of the tabletop game DICE THRONE. Strategize the use of upgrade and action cards combined with rolling dice to activate abilities, attacks and defenses in a gladiatorial duel. A fast-paced game where it takes both skill and luck to obtain victory as players take on the role of one of the game's characters which include heroes from Marvel's Avengers and X-men as well as other interesting personas ranging from a Cursed Pirate to Santa Claus.

In today's electric matchup the Asgardian "God of Thunder" Thor battles a mutant named Storm who can manipulate the weather. Dice Throne combatants are assigned a complexity rating to let players know how much use of special effect tokens and playing cards need to be utilized to utilize a character to its full potential. If a player simply needs to roll various combinations of dice to activate attacks and defenses a character will have a complexity level of 1 or 2. The more that cards need to be played and rules manipulated to utilize a character's attributes, attacks and defenses the complexity level increases up to a ranking of 6. 

Thor has a complexity level of 3 mostly based upon the incorporation of his magical hammer Mjolnir into gameplay. Storm has a complexity rating of 4 because her attacks can be "charged" providing extra damage and bonuses by obtaining lightning tokens through a variety of methods.

The roll of dice can trigger a number of attacks from the mutant known as Storm that can unleash the power of rain, lightning and wind upon her foes. Generate a thunderstorm that deals out 7 points of damage while charging future attacks to make those more powerful. Another combination of dice can create a wind gust and another creates a maelstrom. Spin four of a kind of one type of symbol can generate a lightning strike while four of a kind can stir up a blizzard. Each kind of attack has different benefits that can impact the direction of the game. Being aggressive or conservative in going after the different dice combinations that trigger particular attacks can have a major impact on winning or losing a match.

Storm has a number of special attributes that can greatly influence the game and account for mid-range complexity level. If one of Storm's offensive abilities has the outline of a Lightning token next to its name, it may be "charged." These tokens can be earned by dice rolls or utilizing certain action cards from her deck of cards. A charged offensive ability can add to damage totals or even make damage indefensible. It can also sometimes generate a tornado or wind shear for Storm to direct at her foes.

When Storm obtains a tornado token she may spend it at the start of her Offensive Roll Phase. For each token spent, she can gain one of her opponent's die to use during the turn. These dice may be included in all Roll Attempts during her Offensive Roll Phase of a round. So instead of rolling five dice, Storm can potentially use six, seven or eight at a time. That can provide a big advantage!

Playing as Storm also provides the opportunity to use wind shears. When she obtains one of these tokens, it can be utilized when Storm is attacked to counter an assault against her. First it allows her to prevent 2 points of incoming damage. Then she hits back against the attacker inflicting 2 points of undefendable damage on her opponent. Additionally, every time Storm is attacked, she can respond with a Tempestuous response by rolling 5 dice. Depending on how the dice land, Storm can gain Tornado or Lightning tokens as well as block attacks allowing her to avoid 2 points of damage.

Whosoever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor. With that in mind, this character's attacks mostly revolve around his magical war hammer Mjolnir. So much in fact that in addition to dice rolls to trigger attacks there are also a number of other special attributes that involve throwing and retrieving Mjolnir that provide a player with extra ways to inflict undefendable damage on an opponent.

A powerful tool for Thor is his ability to earn Guard Break tokens. When Thor attacks, this token can be spent to enhance his assault. A player rolls one die and if the outcome is 1 to 3 the attack becomes undefendable. 

Another special ability Thor has is called Electrokinesis. If the player earns three of these tokens, they can be turned in at any time to be able to draw 1 additional card in the character's deck to be moved to the player's active hand. With cards such as "invulnerability" that can prevent "all incoming damage" and "helping hand" which allows Thor during an opponent's Offensive Roll Phase to select one of the dice to be re-rolled; this special ability can quickly swing the momentum in a game.

When Thor is attacked, he can also roll three die to defend himself. Depending on how his dice fall, he can counter-attack with Mjolnir, avoid damage from the attack or gain Electokinesis tokens. Even when Thor may seem to be down, he is rarely ever out for the count with his defensive capabilities. 

Storm is available in The Op Games' Dice Throne: X-Men Heroes Box 1 which also includes Iceman, Psylocke & Wolverine. Thor is available in The Op Games' Dice Throne: Marvel 4-Hero Box that also includes Loki, Scarlet Witch and Spider-Man. While the contents of both game boxes are similar and compatible with one another, I have to say I prefer how the Avengers characters are individually packaged compared to how the X-Men content is bundled together inside its packaging. 

Hopefully, if future installments of Marvel characters are released they will be packed more like the Avengers then X-Men as I found that format more convenient for game prep and clean up. I would be so GEEKED if they released a Dice Throne Marvel Villains box with Doctor Doom, Magneto, Thanos and the Green Goblin. A Fantastic Four hero box for Dice Throne would be a great addition too! 

Each player starts with 50 health points. Storm started off the match with a lightning attack that inflicted 7 points of damage on Thor. His defensive roll countered with Mjolnir inflicting 1 point of indefensible damage against Storm. Score: Thor (43) Storm (49)

Thor's first die roll triggered "Mighty Summon" which inflicted 3 points of damage on Storm, healed 2 points of damage, and provided 2 Guard Break tokens. Storm's defensive die roll allowed her to block 2 points of damage though. Score: Thor (45) Storm (48)

Storm rolled three of a kind on her first toss of the Offensive Roll Phase. Each player can roll up to three times on attack during a round. She went aggressive trying to go for four of a kind to engage her Blizzard effect which would inflict 8 points of damage and give her 3 tornado tokens. Doah! That didn't pay off ... she wasn't able to get that last die to roll her way resulting in zero points of damage against Thor. Score: Thor (45) Storm (48)

Thor's dice roll activates the Chain Lightning attack generating 10 points of damage against Storm. She hits back inflicting 10 points of damage back on him. Thor's defensive roll impacts 1 point of damage back at her. Score: Thor (35) Storm (37)

It is a close game so far! Storm hits Thor with another lightning attack for 7 points of damage. Thor counters though blocking 2 points of damage and sending 1 point of damage back at Storm. Score: Thor (30) Storm (34)

Thor utilizes "Mighty Summon" again with his dice roll! Score: Thor (32) Storm (33) It is a really close back and forth game between these two Marvel superheroes. 

Using a charged lightning attack, Storm inflicts 4 points of undefendable damage on Thor. He hammers her back his next turn inflicting 6 points of damage but she is able to block 2 points of that. Score: Thor (28) Storm (29)

A few more rounds of back and forth between the two find them tied at 23 - 23 in health points. The first player to be knocked down to 0 health points loses! Who do you think it is going to be?

Next Storm unleashes a thunderstorm on Thor inflicting 7 points of damage! He responds with a Mjolnir counterattack. Score: Thor (16) Storm (22).

Thor starts off his next turn using a Guard Break token and rolls a 2 to activate the special effect. Whatever attack that he triggers with his dice roll will be indefensible by Storm. Oh my ... Thor's roll activates the "For Asgard!" attack resulting in 16 points of damage! Score: Thor (16) Storm (6).

Storm hits back with another lightning attack worth 7 points of damage. Thor defends himself though with a successful die roll that reduces Storm's attack by 2 points and inflicts another point of damage on her. Score: Thor (11) Storm (5).

Thor triggers a ricochet attack with his dice roll causing Storm 3 points of damage. She's down but not out yet! Score: Thor (11) Storm (2)

Before Storm can start her next attack, Thor turns in 3 Electrokinesis tokens that has earned through his prior turns. This allows him to pull a card from his action card deck to be playable in his active hand. Wow! Luck would have it, an "invulnerability" card is pulled that can prevent "all incoming damage." He plays the card and Storm can't inflict any damage on him this round!

Thor's next hammer attack hits Storm with 7 points of damage. Storm's last die roll can't even block any of it coming up empty on having any countering effect on Thor's attack. Game over! Thor wins!

As is often the case with Dice Throne games, it took both strategy and luck for Thor to pull ahead to get the win. He had some luck in getting the dice combination to trigger the powerful "For Asgard!" attack that really was the deathblow in this match. Utilizing his Electokinesis tokens to pull a card for use in the final rounds of the game was also a nice bit of strategy that contributed to his win though he was also very lucky to pull probably the best possible draw he could have gotten.

The Asgardian bested the mutant in this contest of two powerful Marvel Comics characters. It was a fun, exciting game of two fairly equally matched adversaries. These characters are available in Dice Throne hero packs from The Op Games which feature some of Marvel's fan favorite Avengers and X-Men ranging from Black Panther to Wolverine. Marvel hero pack characters are also compatible to play against other Roxley Games Dice Throne characters such as Krampus and The Headless Horseman.

Next up is Spider-Man vs Ice Man in the Grandmaster's Dice Throne tournament! How do you think these Amazing Friends will fare battling one another? 

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DICE THRONE MARVEL EDITION

Warriors from multiple dimensions and times have been transported to a gladiatorial arena to engage in combat to see who is the greatest champion among them in the dice-rolling tabletop game DICE THRONE. This Yahtzee inspired dueling game from Roxley Game involves the tactical use of unique abilities and the manipulation of dice rolls to battle opponents who roleplay from a fantastic lineup of characters ranging from a Barbarian to a Vampire Lord. It is a fun, fast-paced game that is complemented by fabulous artwork incorporated into its components. 

And now players can take on the roles of characters from the Marvel Universe in their DICE THRONE battles. The Marvel Edition of DICE THRONE incorporates the Scarlet Witch, Miles Morales Spider-Man, Loki and Thor into gameplay. Battle in one-on-one duels or multiple player battle royals among these Marvel characters or incorporate them into gladiator matches versus warriors from any other published DICE THRONE game. Pit Spider-Man versus Shadow Thief, Scarlet Witch against a Monk, Thor taking on Paladine, or Loki engaging against the Tactician for example.

This Geek Daddy took on Groot to see who would come out on top in the sibling rivalry between Thor and Loki a DICE THRONE Marvel Edition bout. Thor has strong attacks to overpower adversaries; but Loki utilizes illusion and trickery to his advantage. We studied the rules and got ready to jump into the DICE THRONE arena playing as the Gods of Thunder and Mischief. Every player character starts with a set number of health points and the first combatant to reach 0 loses. 

The game starts off with each player rolling a die. Highest roll gets to go first in the turns. Each player starts off four action cards in their hand that can impact offensive and defensive moves by your character. You can accumulate up to six cards in your hand at any given time during the game. You also start with 2 combat points which are a currency that is needed to play action cards or to potentially utilize some of a character's unique abilities and skills. For example, action cards range from 0 - 2 combat points to activate. The game includes health and combat point trackers for each character to make keeping track of these stats easy.

Every turn starts with a player gaining 1 combat point and drawing an action card. At this time a player can also discard a card from their hand to buy 1 combat point. Next the player can roll any number of their five dice up to three times to activate a single offensive ability. Players can either utilize the numbers on the dice or the symbols to activate different attacks and defenses. So, in my first roll Thor the die had the numbers showing 1,3,3,5,6. I kept the 1 and one of the 3s and re-rolled 3, 5 and 6. The second roll came up as a 1, 2 and 6. I kept the 2 and rerolled the 1 and 6. My third roll came up a 4 and a 1. That gave me a small straight 1,2,3,4 which triggered a lightning rod attack dealing 7 points of damage to Loki. 

Opposing players though can attempt to Defend against an attack. Each character has a unique defense ability. Loki's don't really prevent damage but allow him to essentially utilize or gain a skill or ability from any roll of the die during his defense move. In this situation, Loki's roll of the die allowed him to gain another action card but he still had to subtract 7 points from his initial 50.

Now it was Loki's turn. Groot drew a card to add to his hand and added one to his combat points moving him to 3 on his dial tracker. On his first roll of the die, Groot's dice showed three with scepter symbols and two with illusion symbols. Loki then inflicted his confuddle attack upon Thor which inflicted two status effects plus seven points of damage upon Thor. 

Each character may have one or more status effects which are represented by tokens. Positive or Negative status effects can be gained or inflicted on yourself or other players. Status effects are usually activated or inflicted via dice rolls activating an offensive ability, such as Loki's Confuddle attack, or through a player utilizing an action card to trigger one.

Loki actually has three status effects that he can utilize: Illusion, Bag of Tricks, and Spellbound. Loki utilized these status effects to negatively impact and damage his opponents more than direct attacks against them. When combating Loki he will try to have your head spinning with these status effects.

Utilizing Illusion, when Loki is attacked he can present the other player with three face down Illusion cards. The attacking player picks one card to flip over and resolves the attack based upon the text on the card. Illusion could have no impact at all on an attack or could totally eliminate any negative impact on him.

Loki's bag of tricks makes a player who has been inflicted with the status effect to remove it at the beginning of the next turn after it has been inflicted by rolling one die. On a roll of 1, the player loses one combat point; on a roll of 2-5, Loki chooses whether the player heals two health points, gains one combat point, or receives two damage points; on a roll of 6, Loki gains two combat points. Bag of Tricks is especially valuable when there are multiple players in a game who Loki may want to ally with and in 1x1 combat Loki can potentially up his own health or combat points from its use.

Spellbound allows Loki to limit an opponent's attacks. When inflicted, a token is placed so that it covers the name of an opponent's offensive ability. Loki can use this to eliminate another player's easy to gain attacks such as the high and low straight triggered offensive abilities. This causes the attacker to be more reliant on the luck of the roll of dice and could befuddle offensive options against Loki,

Thor has two status effects of his own: Guard Break and Electrokinesis. Utilizing Guard Break, Thor can roll one die after completing his offensive roll phase. If the outcome is 1-3, Thor's attack becomes undefendable! The Electrokinesis status effects can be used to boast Thor's abilities or cashed in to draw one action card.

Thor also has a companion, his trusty weapon Mjolnir, which has its own special rules and is represented by its own token of the magical hammer. Throwing Mjolnir provides one point of undefendable damage against an opponent. Mjolnir is thrown or retrieved by discarding an action card or by triggering an offensive ability that includes throw or retrieve instructions upon it. Mjolnir can be a game breaker for Thor if he uses it strategically.

Who do you think prevailed in this epic battle between Loki and Thor?! To find out, I encourage you to play out your own DICE THRONE Marvel Edition game to see who comes out on top. Which of the two is your favorite?

LOKI VS THOR

Reveling in trickery, Loki the God of Mischief must be found hiding among his Illusions. Befuddling his foes with a deft hand, he will put a spell on you. Caution is advised when he smiles and graciously gives you a gift as his bags of tricks might backfire in your face.

Thor's attacks sizzle with energy, pushing the God of Thunder to new levels of power that can penetrate all manner of defenses. When he grasps the handle of Mjolnir, his legendary companion, he can call forth the lightning from the storm to bring low all his enemies.

Also joining the DICE THRONE fray are four more Marvel characters available in expansion packs. Marvel DICE THRONE 2-Hero Boxes let players bring Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Black Widow and Doctor Strange into the action. Captain Marvel's cosmic rays, Black Panther's Vibranium suit, Doctor Strange's Premonition and Black Widow's Time Bomb create a variety of new scenarios for players to engage in during DICE THRONE duels.

DICE THRONE is recommended for ages 8 years and older. It has an average game time of a half hour per match. These Marvel versions of DICE THRONE are available from The OP Games and are fully compatible with other Roxley Games editions of the game.

Who is geeked about the Marvel Edition of DICE THRONE? Which character are you most excited to play as? I'm looking forward to playing some matches as Dr. Strange!

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LEARN TO DRAW MARVEL SUPERHEROES

My son and daughter love to doodle and sketch, so they've really appreciated these books that Quarto Publishing sent our way to try out which teach kids how to draw their favorite Marvel superheroes. Spider-Man, Iron Man, The Hulk … who is your favorite hero from Marvel's comic books and movies? These Learn to Draw Marvel books range from teaching early readers about colors to showing beginning drawers how to do super sketches to tutoring advanced artists on illustrating characters worthy of being on a comic book page.

LEARN TO DRAW MARVEL: THE AVENGERS

Assemble your favorite Avengers by drawing them together. Create your own artwork featuring Earth's Mightiest Heroes with the help of this 128-page guide that will help anyone, no matter what their skill level, learn to draw Marvel's The Avengers. Inside you will find step-by-step instructions for drawing both Avengers superheroes including Ant-Man, Captain America, Black Widow, Hulk Thor, and Iron Man as well as some of their adversaries such as Loki and Hela.

Learn to Draw Marvel: The Avengers provides instruction on drawing fundamentals, basic human anatomy, along with inking and coloring techniques used by professional comic book artists. The book is full of  helpful artist tips and filled with interesting character biographies and fun facts. It teaches professional technique while also sharing some of the rich backstory behind every character. Whether you are a beginner or an advanced artist, there is something for every skill level to appreciate and learn from in Learn to Draw Marvel: The Avengers.

LEARN TO DRAW MARVEL: SPIDER-MAN

This book is for amateur artists who dream of being professional comic book illustrators someday. Wouldn't it be cool to draw one of America's most popular superheroes like a pro?! Learn to Draw Marvel: Spider-Man shows readers how to do amazing illustrations of the wall-crawling web-slinger no matter what your talent level may be by teaching spectacular sketching skills. Diehard Spidey fans will also appreciate that this 64-page manual also shows how to draw the Sinister Six.

Learn to Draw Marvel: Spider-Man demonstrates three different drawing methods: tracing, grid-drawing and the basic shape methodology. Making your way through the different methods step-by-step and you will evolve from notching down simple shapes to actually being able to draw the Amazing Spider-Man free hand. The book includes tracing paper, drawing grid sheets and practice pages to use while going through the lessons inside it. Just grab a pencil and you will be ready to get started learning to draw Marvel's Spider-Man.

MARVEL'S AVENGERS CHALK BOARD COLORS

Preschoolers can even get in on the action with Marvel's Avengers Chalk Board Colors. Iron Man, Captain America, the Hulk, Black Widow, Thor, and Hawkeye help children learn the colors red, yellow, blue, white, green, purple, orange, black, brown, and gray in this book. Children can draw right on the pages of the book as they practice writing skills, and the write-and-wipe blackboard style pages make clean-up easy. The book even comes with chalk specially sized for small hands.

My kids are a bit old for the chalk board book but we wanted to share it with you because it looks like a fun, useful guide for those of you who have toddlers at home. My son and daughter though have been spending a lot of time learning to draw their favorite characters by flipping through the pages of these Avengers and Spider-Man illustration guides. I highly recommend them for anyone who loves comic books and has an interest in drawing superheroes for themselves.  Because these books demonstrate how to do this in a manner that most anyone can follow, the LEARN TO DRAW MARVEL lineup of books from Quarto Publishing earns a Geek Daddy nod of approval.

Stargate SG-1 coming to COMET TV

One of my favorite all-time science fiction television shows is coming to COMET TV in April of 2017.  The television channel which broadcasts horror and science fiction genre programming that can be received by digital antennas in select markets and is streamed on their website comettv.com will begin showing reruns of Stargate SG-1 episodes beginning on Monday, April 4 at 8pm ET.  Tune in to catch the galaxy exploring exploits of the SG-1 team.

Stargate SG-1 picks up the story from the conclusion of the 1994 STARGATE motion picture.  The television show  follows the adventures of a military team called SG-1 and other counterpart SG teams as they explore the galaxy by traveling to distant planets through worm-hole portals generated by a device called the Stargate.  During their travels they make new friends and foes which lead to a variety of adventures and conflicts.  The series was shown on Showtime from 1997 - 2002 and on the SyFy cable channel from 2002 - 2007.  Throughout the show's 10 season run it was was also syndicated on Fox television stations across the United States.

Comet TV will also be airing two Stargate television specials beginning on Saturday, March 17 to celebrate the show coming to their channel. "Behind the Mythology of Stargate SG-1" will be airing at Midnight/11 C and "Stargate SG-1: True Science" will be shown at 1 am ET/ Midnight Central Time.  These specials look into the historical and scientific aspects of the television series featuring cast and experts in the areas discussed.

 "Behind the Mythology of Stargate SG-1" hosted by actor Michael Shanks who plays archeologist Daniel Jackson in the television series delves into how many of Earth's mythologies are intertwined with the plots and characters of Stargate SG-1.

"Stargate SG-1: True Science" hosted by actress Amanda Tapping who plays the team's science officer Samantha Carter in the television series explores the real life science that is relevant to the technology displayed within the Stargate universe.  Tapping discusses with scientists for example the concept of what is a worm-hole and discuss the physics behind the potential of creating an actual working Stargate.

Visit comettv.com to find out more information about specific air times for the Stargate programing the television channel will be airing.

Have Your Kids Unleash Their Inner Super Hero

It was nice weather outside the other day and my kids were being rambunctious inside the house.  When I urged them to go out and play they whined back at me "there's nothing to do in the backyard."  I urged them to use their imagination as they were ushered outside.  It didn't take long for me to hear them having fun as they started to pretend they were the Avengers and imagining they were on an adventure to save the planet.

My son threw on his Iron Man Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron Hero Mask and Iron Man Arc FX Armor and was racing around the backyard pretending to blast apart the robotic hoards of the villainous Ultron's cybernetic army.  Hasbro's Arc FX armor provides kids with a pair of articulated gloves that assists them in role playing by featuring a light-up repulsor with sound effects so they can blast into their imaginary battles like Iron Man.  Raising your hand activates lights and blasting sound effects.  Meanwhile my daughter was pretending to be the Fantastic Four's invisible woman so she could ignore my son and stay out of the fray.

Iron Man next stumbled upon Thor's mighty battle hammer Mjolnir and tested himself to see if he was worthy to hold the famed weapon.  He used all the power of Iron Man's armor but was unable to budge the hammer from where it rested.  This peaked my little girl's interest who wandered over and without a bit of hesitation hoisted Mjolnir into the air.  That action transformed a six year old kindergartener into the mighty Thor!

Thor and Iron Man then teamed up to tackle a variety of challenges as they leaped, rolled, and wrestled their way through an imaginary adventure.  They spent about 2 hours outside on a nice spring day playing Avengers.  These role playing Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron toys from Hasbro were really a nice enticement to encourage my kids to get outside and play in a fun way that also got them some exercise and spurred their imaginations.

According to a post in Scholastic's parenting blog, pretend play, like my kids Avenger's adventure in our backyard, has important learning benefits that assist children with problem solving, critical thinking, self expression and imagination. The children's publisher Scholastic notes that when kids pretend to be different characters they have the experience of "walking in someone else's shoes" which helps teach the moral development skill of empathy.  The article also mentions that pretend play can assist children with language skills as they use words to reenact a story or act out their own adventures.  CLICK HERE to read the full blog post by Scholastic on the many benefits of children engaging in pretend play.

There are also a bunch of benefits in regard to getting kids outside to play. One of the most important is that the American Heart Association recommends that children 2 and older should be involved in at least 60 minutes of moderate intensity physical activities each day to stay in good health.  Getting your kids to pretend they are super heroes is a great way to get your kids outside playing and being active!  These Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron role-playing toys really can spark a child's interest in pretending to be a super hero and spur them to run, leap, and wrestle in imaginative play.

In addition to the Iron Man and Thor gear I've show above, here are a few other Hasbro role play items in their Marvel's Avengers: Age of Ultron collection that can be used to #AssembleYourTeam and help your child unleash his or her imagination to join the ranks of Earth's Mightiest Super Heroes.

 AVENGERS HERO MASKS
Wear the Hulk's scowl, Captain America's iconic 'A', Iron Man's flip up visor, or Thor's helmet to suit up as your favorite Avenger.  Recommended for children ages 5 & up.

HULK GAMMA GRIP FISTS
These foam hands let kids imagine battling evil like the most powerful member of the Avengers: the Hulk!  Recommended for children ages 4 & up.

CAPTAIN AMERICA STAR LAUNCH SHIELD
Pull the rip cord to deploy the shield's center disc and send it flying for a surprise attack.   Recommended for children ages 6 & up.

These toys are available at most major retailers and on HasbroToyShop.com 

Avengers Assemble! Get out there and have some fun adventures of your own!

DISCLAIMER:  I was not provided any financial compensation for publishing this post and there was no promise made to Hasbro that if they provided complimentary products that they would receive a positive review or in fact any post on this blog at all.  Opinions and views expressed in this post are my own.  Some of the product information and photographs used in this post were provided to A Geek Daddy blog by Hasbro.  A Geek Daddy blog was provided some complimentary products that were utilized in this post.

AVENGERS SAVING THE DAY - FREE DIGITAL COMIC BOOK TEACHES KIDS TO SAVE FOR THEIR FUTURE

While your kids may be anxiously awaiting the arrival of MARVEL's Avengers: Age of Ultron at movie theaters on May 1, 2015 now may be a good time to wrap up April which is Financial Literacy Month with the team of super heroes providing some help on assisting them in being money smart.  VISA's financial education program, Practical Money Skills for Life, has a FREE digital comic book featuring some of MARVEL's most popular characters that can be downloaded to help parents and teachers begin a conversation with children about being money smart and financially literate.  AVENGERS: SAVING THE DAY features Ant Man, Black Widow, Hulk, Iron Man and Thor teaming up with Spider-Man to save a bank from being robbed by The Mole Man and his evil army while also providing tips to help Spidey from overdrafting his bank account as he considers what to buy his Aunt May for her birthday.  This comic book features some nice artwork and action scenes that intertwine an entertaining super hero story with educational tips and information.

AVENGERS: SAVING THE DAY is a 16 page comic book that introduces children to concepts of budgeting, savings, and banking terms.  Spider-Man's youthfulness (remember he is only a teen / young adult in most of his portrayals) and wise cracking personality create the transitions for the comic book's author, James Asmus, to provide educational insights while keeping the publication fun and interesting for its readers.  Andrea Di Vito also contributes with providing a decent job on the artwork for AVENGERS: SAVING THE DAY that I am sure most kids will appreciate and enjoy.
This comic book was originally published in 2012 to coincide with the movie release of THE AVENGERS, but is just as fitting and relevant of a tie-in now with its sequel.

The comic book is available in eight languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, Portuguese, French, Russian, and Bahasa Indonesian) and includes a budget worksheet and financial literacy terms checklist.  CLICK HERE to download AVENGERS: SAVING THE DAY.

"A wise man once said that with great power there must come great responsibility and that certainly applies to managing your finances.

In an uncertain world, understanding how to save

and properly budget your hard-earned money is one of the keys to personal success.

The Avengers are not only the world's greatest heroes, but they also know a thing or three about financial health. After all, Iron Man hasn't managed his vast wealth of Stark Enterprises by accident, and as Spider-Man learns, you don't have to be a millionaire to be a saving hero." 

-Marvel Editor Bill Rosemann

There is also an alternate version of the comic book available on the Practical Money Skills For Life website printed in Spanish and English that is essentially the same story but replaces Spider-Man with a super hero named Nova.  A teachers guide with a lesson plan can be downloaded from the website too.

Super Heroes Assemble App Lets You Turn Your Next Visit to Walmart into a MARVEL-ous Adventure

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #AvengersUnite #CollectiveBias

Unleash the power of MARVEL's The Avengers through your smart phone with Walmart's Super Heroes Assemble app available on Google Play and through the App Store.  This augmented reality app lets you engage in photo ops with characters from MARVEL's The Avengers: Age of Ultron movie, explore their world from a 360 degree perspective, and even suit up to transform yourself into one of your favorite heroes like Hulk, Iron Man or Thor.  The powers of the Super Heroes Assemble app are unlocked when you use it to scan special images located on posters and products at your local Walmart store.   After downloading the app for my iPhone, my daughter and I headed to Walmart for a scavenger hunt to test out the augmented reality capabilities of Super Heroes Assemble.

Our first find was a poster in the toy department. Each of the locked powers for the app has an Avengers character associated with it that when you click on their face it shows you an image of the poster or product that needs to be scanned to make the feature accessible.  The app automatically opens your smart phone's camera so all you have to do is point your device so that the virtual image displayed on its screen overlaps with the real world one.  When we scanned this poster a giant Hulk Buster Iron Man appeared to take a photo with my lil Thor.

Searching through the aisles at Walmart we found specially marked Doritos, Dr. Pepper, Kellog's Fruit Snacks, and Cheez-It baked snack crackers products and displays with special images for us to scan.  Scanning these images as we found them around the store unlocked access to 360 degree interactive experiences, for example you can run the Mark 44 Iron Man armor through its paces and see what it is capable of through the Hulk Buster Testing Facility,  opened access to various character abilities that let you suit up as a favorite Avenger in photographs you take, and others created in-store Avengers photo ops like our picture with Hulk Buster Iron Man.

While the Photo Op feature only works specifically when you are scanning the special images, the Suit Up functions will work anytime after you have scanned the images that unlocks one of the eight featured characters which are Black Widow, Hawkeye, Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, Incredible Hulk, Hulk Buster Iron Man, and Ultron.  We had a lot of fun playing around with the Suit Up features around the house and at the playground after we had unlocked all the characters during our Walmart scavenger hunt.

Here's a HINT, if you can't find all the special images while at Walmart they also have them displayed online and you can scan them off the screen from the store's special MARVEL's The Avengers: Age of Ultron web site section by looking for the "unlock more epic content" banner. 

 The Walmart website also features some coloring pages you can print out for the kids to have some fun with in the MARVEL's The Avengers: Age of Ultron section including the one below.

Make your next visit to Walmart a MARVEL-ous adventure with the Super Heroes Assemble App.  Have some fun with your own scavenger hunt while you pick up all the fan essential toys, clothes and food items to get yourself ready to see MARVEL's The Avengers: Age of Ulton which arrives at movie theaters on May 1, 2015. We had some smashing good daddy-daughter time playing with this app (hey remember Avengers isn't just popular with the guys, girls are big fans too!) and I'd encourage you to check it out to avoid becoming green with envy that you missed out on the chance to suit up as one of your favorite Avengers.

So which member of the Avengers is your favorite?  Black Widow, Bruce Banner, Captain America, Hawkeye, Hulk, Iron Man, Quick Silver, Scarlet Witch, Thor, or Vision?  Iron Man has my vote while my daughter loves to role play as Thor while her twin brother pretends to be Captain America in their adventures at the park and in the backyard.