Penny

Home you go!

March 27, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Could a board game have a title that sounded any more Brexit than “Home you go”? The cover artwork’s not much better with a poor blue counter having a look of fear on their face as they’re kicked from behind by a red one. Whatever your views on the current political mess here in the UK, let’s turn our attentions to this vintage gem from Spear’s Games that I found at a car boot sale for a pound.

Home you go! is a game that was actually completely new to me, yet when I shared a picture of us playing it on Facebook loads of people remembered playing it as children, often with their grandparents. I believe this box artwork dated from 1968, but there’s nothing on the box I have to tell me exactly how old it is.

The copy I picked up is certainly in good condition though. There’s a previous owner’s name on the box, and it’s very slightly scuffed, but inside everything is laid out exactly as it would have been on the day the game was bought.

Home you go! – Aim of the game

The main aim of Home you go! is to get to the other side of the board. As a game for 2 or 4 players (slightly overlooked when we tried playing for the first time with three of us!) players sit opposite each other, and the aim is to get your five playing pieces across board, rather than round it.

Playing pieces can only move forwards, staying in their lanes, and how many spaces they can move is dictated by the roll of the die. If you land on a square occupied by an other piece then you say “Home you go!” and that players piece has to return to its starting square. You are able to move over and past opponent’s pieces if you throw enough to do so.

To get to the other side you have to roll the exact number, and the finishing position can not be already occupied. This would be the case if the opposing player had been sent home. What you can do though is get a larger number and “bounce back” off the last square.

How to win

The winner of the game is the first player to have his five men on the opposite side of the board.

We read what the winning criteria where before we started playing and it all sounded quite straightforward. Then we started playing…

Confusion

What really confused us, and then confused us more when we looked at the (rather brief) instructions, was what happens if the finishing position that you are sat on then becomes occupied by another player’s piece. So if you are already sat there and someone else in the game, coming at them at right angles, sends then home. Do they then send you home? Are you aiming to get to the other player’s coloured squares, or the row in front of them?

Home you go! – our verdict

I’m going to be honest and say that we didn’t exactly fall in love with Home you go! The game just didn’t really flow for us, and I found the forceful nature of concentrating on trying to send the opposition back home not really the sort of thing I wanted to do with the kids. It was as if that distracted from the aim of trying to get across the board. Maybe that’s just the way my two were playing it? The confusion about exactly where you were supposed to be getting to didn’t help either. Or maybe we were just all being a bit dim when playing?

Home you go! – the facts

The vintage version of Home you go! that we played was published by Spear’s Games. It is designed for children aged 6 up and two or four players. A modern version of the game is available online.

If you’re interested in vintage board games then why not head over to Facebook and join our new vintage board games group.

Disclaimer: This post contains an affiliate link. All opinions remain my own.

Call the Midwife – The Board Game

March 17, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

AD: Call the Midwife – The Board Game Review

I absolutely love Call the Midwife. It’s required Sunday evening viewing in my house and it’s one of those programmes that give you that warm comforting feeling. Like you’re being wrapped up in a handmade crochet blanket and served a cup of tea and a slice of cake whilst watching it.

When Bonn and I were at the recent Toy Fair at London’s Olympia an advert on the floor of the hall caught my attention. Who wouldn’t love a board game version of my favourite TV programme?

I managed to make time between meetings to find Rachel Lowe’s stand and talk to her about the game and was thrilled when she asked me to review it here on Penny Plays.

The aim of the game is quite simple really. Be the midwife to deliver the most babies. Sounds easy doesn’t it? But in Call the Midwife life is never that simple!

Players choose to be one of the four midwives – Nurse Trixie, Nurse Valerie, Nurse Lucille, or my personal favourite Nurse Crane – and they have to travel around Poplar delivering babies. The game board is not designed as most usually are with a clear route round them. Instead you have a plan view of poplar with various addresses and key locations marked and routes between them. It’s up to you how you travel around.

Players start off by having to travel to Nonnatus House to collect a Delivery Card telling them where they need to head for their first delivery. Delivery locations are scattered around Poplar and could be a home address or possibly even the police station or the Doctor’s surgery. Off you go, rolling the die to move around the board towards your destination. But on the way there, there is a chance they’ll be called away to deal with something else. This happens by landing on a Nonnatus House symbol which means a player has to collect a Nonnatus House card. This could mean that you instead have to head to a different location on the board before making your delivery, or it may be some slightly better news. Something along the lines of getting another turn, passing on your delivery to the player sitting next to you, or your next delivery being twins or triplets meaning you can collect two or three baby tokens instead of the usual one.

Each time you reach a delivery destination you collect a baby token and it is the number of these tokens that you manage to collect in the game that decides the winner. That’s why delivering twins or triplets can be super helpful in trying to win the game.

After each delivery the midwives need to return to Nonnatus House to find out where they need to go for their next delivery.

The end of the game is when all the baby tokens have been collected. At this point all midwives have to race back to Nonnatus House and the first one to get there gets on bonus baby token (denoted by a larger baby token). The total number of babies per midwife is counted up and the player with the most is the winner.

In the event of two midwives having made the same number of deliveries, each is given a new delivery card and the first midwife to reach their delivery is the winner.

We played Call the Midwife with my eight year old daughter who was very keen to play a game based on “Mummy’s favourite TV programme”. She picked up the rules quickly, and it also sparked some very interesting conversations with her about the move away from home births and the role of the NHS in history. She thoroughly enjoyed the game play and was rather pleased to finish the game in a very close second place.

I thought the game was excellent and great fun to play. The way that you kept darting around the board gave you a very good feel for what the midwives were actually doing – darting all over Poplar, not knowing where they would be going for their next delivery or what else they might be called away to do first. Picking up the Nonnatus House cards as you went around the board really kept you on your toes. I am inclined to agree with a bit of feedback that Rachel Lowe said she had already received about increasing the number of Nonnatus House cards in the game as we did tend to work our way through them all quite quickly.

You don’t need to be familiar with the television programme to be able to play, but I can see the game being a huge hit with fans. Personally I loved being no nonsense Nurse Crane for the evening!

Call the Midwife The Board Game is available to buy online here and is priced at £28.99.

Disclaimer: We were sent a copy of Call the Midwife The Board Game for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.

[AD] Review: 3D Children’s World Map Globe Puzzle from Ravensburger

March 2, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Anyone who knows me knows that I am map obsessed. Maps of all different shapes and sizes. New and old. One of the best gifts I was ever bought was a globe. I used to spend hours pouring over it, looking at the various countries, seas and oceans. Looking at places I had visited and lands I wanted to explore. We have a huge world map on our stairs at home and the kids and I spend ages looking at it and pointing out where different places are and talking about the ones that I have visited. It seemed fitting therefore to be sent a a Children’s World Map Globe Puzzle to review from Ravensburger.

We’ve reviewed some of Ravensburger’s 3D puzzles before (notably Big Ben and also a Union Jack Sneaker) and the kids are now pretty good at understanding exactly what you need to do to put them together. All 3D puzzle pieces are numbered on the reverse, and they also have a small allow on them pointing to which side the next puzzle piece has to connect.

The previous puzzles we’ve completed all had a base to them, but with a globe obviously being round I was intrigued to see how this fitted together and how they kids would find it. Six year old Master C and his 8 year old sister made swift work of it though.

We started off by doing some maths practice and splitting all the pieces up into numbered sets of ten, so that we could share out the building of the globe fairly between them.

The build starts off with the kids being able to hold it as they add the pieces, but then as it goes on there is a supplied stand that you can rest the globe on as you put the next pieces in place.

The only really tricky bit was the final two or three pieces where it is impossible to have fingers on both side of them, so a small slip means a piece can fall inside the hollow globe. It took her a couple of attempts, but LMC soon managed to click the final piece into place.

The completed globe has countries and capital cities marked on it and it is also illustrated with some famous landmarks, alongside various animals and birds. There are also a selection of boats and sea life covering the seas and oceans.

As well as the enjoyment and education value of building the globe puzzle, the finished globe makes an excellent decorative addition to a child’s bedroom or playroom. In the box are a plastic stand and the pins required to attach the globe to it. Once assembled this can then stand on a shelf or desk and children are able to spin it round to look at places on it. Once we’d finished building we spent quite a bit of time together looking up places and their landmarks as well as an against the clock challenge for the kids to find a list of countries that I gave them.

Educational as well as fun, this 3D Children’s World Map Globe Puzzle is perfect for any child who has an interest in travel and geography. With 180 numbered pieces it worked perfectly for my two children aged 6 and 8, and it has a suggested age range of 7 to 12 years.

The Ravensburger 3D Children’s World Map Globe Puzzle has an RRP of £19.99 and is available in toyshops as well as online here.

Disclaimer: We were sent the Ravensburger 3D Children’s World Map Globe Puzzle for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.

[AD] Nick Baker’s Window Bird Feeder

February 25, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

When we bought our current house one of the big bonuses was that it had a lovely back garden. I’ve aways loved a garden, but I have to admit that I’m not at all green fingered. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that I’m more someone who goes for the wild look and then says it’s done purposefully to encourage nature and wildlife!

Gardening skills aside though – I am a big fan of encouraging wildlife to a back garden. At my old house I was lucky enough to have a gorgeous nature pond in the garden and I used to love sitting and seeing all the various insect and amphibians that it attracted.

Here we have a much smaller garden, and a pond isn’t really practical with a new baby in the family, but there’s one thing that everyone with even the smallest amounts of outdoor space can do – and that’s feed the birds. We were sent the Nick Baker’s Bird Window Feeder to review and it made me realise that you don’t even need outdoor space to feed the birds – just a window!

This Window Bird Feeder is basically exactly as the name suggests. A bird feeder that you can attach to the outside of the window.

Assembling the window bird feeder

The feeder comes in five separate parts in the box and is incredibly easy to put together. Firstly you place the one-way mirror into the outer plastic frame and then clip a green cover to the top of the feeder. The seed tray slots into the bottom and then around that you push a green plastic rounded perch into the holes provided.

All that’s left to do is slide in the window suckers that are used to attach it to the window. Make sure the window is clean first to get a better seal between the suckers and the glass.

The kit also comes with two little pieces which work as a mounting boss so that you can actually attach the feeder to a fence or wall instead of a window. You just need to provide your own screws to do this. Full instructions are included in the kit.

Where to put your window bird feeder

Whether you attach the feeder to a wall, fence or a window you just need to make sure that the feeder is high up enough so that it is out of the reach of cats or squirrels. It also helps to find a location close to a bush or tree so that the birds can hide there easily if a predator appears.

Once the feeder is in place, all that’s left is to fill it with bird seed.

With any bird feeder, don’t be disappointed if the birds do not come straight away. It can take them a while to discover a new feeder and to build up the confidence to visit it.

Maintaining your bird feeder

It is important to remember that your bird feeder will need some maintenance as time goes on. You should clean the bird feeder every time that you refill it to help prevent the spread of disease within the bird community.

Helping your little birdwatchers

Nick Baker’s Window Bird Feeder is a really rather attractive feeder and looks rather stylish when attached to a window. With the inclusion of a one-way mirror it’s also a great way for kids to get up close to birds and to learn all about them. For those new to bird watching the booklet that comes with the feeder has a guide to the most common garden birds. If your kids want to find out more though I can strongly recommend the RSPB’s website where there are some excellent free bird resources for children.

About the Nick Baker’s Window Bird Feeder

Nick Baker’s Window Bird Feeder is part of the My Living World collection from Interplay UK, and has an RRP of £14.99. It is available to buy online here at at the time of writing is priced at £12.99.

Disclaimer: We were sent the Nick Baker’s Window Bird Feeder from the My Living World collection by Interplay UK for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.

The Cooking Game – the delicious new family board game

February 11, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

Finding vintage board games in charity shops can be a bit hit and miss. Some days there is nothing at all. Other days you don’t have arms big enough to carry everything you find. The latter was the case when B and I went on a recent trawl round the charity shops of Upminster. We were there to tick off a few District Line stations on our Tube Stop Baby Challenge but decided to use the opportunity to see if there were any vintage board games to be had and I’m so glad we did. Mainly for finding The Cooking Game.

We’d found a variety of games in the charity shops and were feeling very pleased with ourselves when we agreed to just go in one last shop before catching the tube home. That particular shop had one game in that we wanted, but as I walked towards the till I quickly cast my eye over where the jigsaws were as experience has shown me that charity shops often end up confusing the two and there are sometimes games to be found nestling between 1000 pieces scenes of the English countryside.

My mini-detour paid off when I spotted The Cooking Game on sale at a bargain price of just £1.99. Published in 1984 by the The Garden Game Ltd this has the subtitle of “the delicious new family board game” and my interest was immediately piqued. The box shows a variety of outdoor landscape scenes and also a load of food ingredients.

What is The Cooking Game?

Other than a note saying “with recipes by Jane Grigson” the front of the box doesn’t really give away much of what the game is about. Turn it over though and you get a black and white picture of the game board and a bit more information. As a game for 2 – 6 players it is described as “fast-moving, funny and informative” and I can see why.

Aim of the game

The aim of the game is to be the first player to collect all the ingredients for at least two courses of a dinner – a main course (consisting of 12 ingredients) and either a starter or a pudding (each consisting of 6 ingredients). The recipes that you are collecting ingredients for are created by Jane Grigson, at the time one of the country’s best loved cooks. The recipes all come from different parts of the British Isles, and to add an educational angle to the ingredients on the cards are written in several different languages.

An overview of how to play

The game board is a plan layout of a house. Think Cluedo style, but with a kitchen as the centre of the house. All the ingredients you need for your recipes (plus a few other cards that I will come along to later) can be found in six different places on the game board:

Front Door
Back Door
Larder
Kitchen Cupboard
Cellar
Garden

You basically go around the board collecting cards when you land on the doorways to these places. You either collect an ingredient, or in the case of the Front Door you find Front Door Arrivals. These are helpful people that can help with some of the chores that you find as you go around the board. This means you could get a fetching you man delivering a Dishwasher, or a Niece who will dry the dishes. The Front Door can also mean the arrival of various extras to enhance your meal. Possibly a bottle of Campari, or some After Eight Mints.

Between the doorways on the board are a variety of chores and hazards which might involve you having to miss a go whilst you sweep the floor, or possibly even climb up on to the kitchen table to avoid scuttling mice!

Going to the loo

This has to be the only board game that I have encountered that involves going to the loo! Yep, you read that right. If you land on the bathroom doorway then you have to miss a turn whilst you “go to the loo”.

Making phone calls

The real twist in the cooking game is the fact that at certain positions on the board a player is able to make a telephone call. You can make a call to ask any other player if they have ingredients that you need for your recipe. It’s not as simple as just asking and getting though. You can only ask if you already hold two ingredients for that recipe yourself. Also, whilst on the phone, if successful with your first request, you might ask for ingredients for a second recipe. If they don’t hold what you need this time round though the person you telephoned may instead ask you for up to two sets of ingredients.

In other words telephoning someone can be risky business as it might actually result in you losing some of the ingredients that you hold. Phone at your own risk.

End of the game and scoring

The Cooking Game ends when one player has all the required ingredients to make one main course and one starter or desert. You then move on to the scoring stage of the game when I think everyone playing hopes that they haven’t consumed so much wine that they can’t do the maths involved.

With points allocated to completed recipes as well as for each ingredient in a complete recipe players can also get additional points for extras they may have picked from the Front Door like After Eights or Flowers.

Things then get really complicated though with points for “impure recipes”. In other words, if you can convince the other players that ingredients you hold can be combined into an acceptable course then it can score you points!This could be something as simple as Strawberries and Cream, or something much more complicated, with no limit on how many ingredients an impure recipe can contain.

It’s therefore quite possible that the person who finishes first isn’t necessarily the winner.

Game Sponsors

It’s obvious that The Cooking Game wasn’t a big budget production, yet the finished result, although dated, was a quality product. The playing pieces in particular are really weighty and made of metal, rather than the plastic that you might get today.

One of the reasons for this touch of quality is probably the fact that the game had a number of sponsors. The instruction booklet has five pages devoted to them and they also appear throughout the game. I’ve already mentioned cards bearing After Eights and Campari, but all domestic appliances in the game are from Zanussi, the luxury vinyl flooring in the kitchen is from Amtico and the house’s cellar seems to be sponsored by Roberts & Cooper wine merchants.

Even the playing pieces are linked to the sponsors with a bottle of Piat D’Or wine, a tin of Tate and Lyle Golden Syrup and an Oxo cube as playing pieces.

The prize for most obscure sponsor though has to go to the Halifax. At the time proudly still a Building Society, and sponsors of the two spare cards in the game. Random!

Taste of the 80s

We actually had great fun playing The Cooking Game, but it really was like being back in the 80s in so many ways. The style of recipes, the cards and game design, and the whole notion of having elaborate dinner parties. If that weren’t enough the instruction book tries to explain how the telephone call part of the game works by giving examples of two couple playing the game – Charles and Diana, and Paul and Linda!

Play with us on the Podcast

If you want to experience The Cooking Game for yourselves then why not join Bonn and myself as we play on the Hobbies and Interests podcast? Look out for the new episode that will be released very soon.

How to Train Your Dragon 3 Jigsaw from Ravensburger

January 28, 2019 by Penny Leave a Comment

It wasn’t until Little Miss C started reading the HTTYD books that I became familiar with Hiccup and Toothless, the stars of the How to Train Your Dragon books and films. Following on from reading the books came the films and it didn’t take long at all before she became a huge fan of Cressida Cowell’s magical creations. It goes without saying that she is massively excited about the new film How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World.

As with most large film releases like this, there is rather a lot of related merchandise on the market right now – or arriving soon, if what I saw at last week’s Toy Fair is anything to go by. LMC has seen the hype surrounding the film’s release and was therefore delighted when Ravensburger sent us this How to Train Your Dragon 3 jigsaw puzzle to review.

With 100 pieces the puzzle has a suggested age range of 6+ and it seemed to be the perfect size for 8 year old LMC. Large enough to be a bit of a challenge on a wet Sunday afternoon, but not so complicated that she needed help or that it took too long to complete.

With Toothless and Hiccup taking centre stage in the picture, they are joined by various other characters from the film, including Astrid and Stormfly. There are plenty of characters in the picture making it relatively easy to complete those parts of the puzzle. Meanwhile the scenery sections near the bottom provide a bit more of a challenge.

For How to Train Your Dragon fans who enjoy jigsaw puzzles this makes the perfect gift for occupying them when the weather outside is encouraging you to stay in the warm and dry inside.

This How to Train Your Dragon 3 jigsaw puzzle is produced by Ravensburger and is priced at £8.99. It contains 100 XXL pieces and is aimed at children aged 6+. It is available to buy online here.

Disclaimer: We were sent this How to Train Your Dragon 3 jigsaw from Ravensburger for the purposes of this review. All opinions remain my own. This post contains affiliate links.