Home Field Advantage

I came to Minnesota for a work related conference. Over the weekend, I've been spending my time in Wisconsin with Ben and my parents. To make use of our time, We've been digging through the basement to play some of the forgotten games. We started with...

Ready! Set! Spaghetti! 2-4 players
In this game, players try to spin their spaghetti (string) in before the other players can. The only thing preventing all players from doing this immediately are the pegs that get added to the board during setup which represent the toppings. On a turn, a player rolls the die then removes a topping (meatball, tomato, bell pepper, onion, mushroom) of that type from the board. Each player can then spin their spaghetti in as much as possible. The first person to spin theirs in completely and yell Ready! Set! Spaghetti! wins.

The last time I played this game I lost 6 times in a row to Ben. I needed a decisive win this time. I was being very careful with my topping picks and got lucky with my string a few times. I had the clear win.

Both of us had a good time with this game. We were twisting so strongly at times that a pepper nearly popped off. I'm leaving this one here for now. It wouldn't fit in my luggage anyway.

Bed Bugs 2-4 players
In this game, players race to remove plastic bed bugs from a vibrating bed. The rules state that all of one one color must be removed at a time before moving to a new color (each new color being called out by the youngest player). The player with the most bugs wins. We played with our own shorter rules. We just saw who could remove their designated color first.

Once we got the C batteries to work in the bed, the game was on. There were a number of bugs that jumped out on their own. Ben had the lead for most of the game. I caught up when is seemed like 4 yellow bugs jumped out in a row. When I was down to one bug, Ben switched to a defensive game and messed with my tweezers. I still won!

It's a fine game for kids, but there are better kitchy games to play. It's annoying to put bugs back in the bed when you're busy trying to tweeze your way to the top.

Bumper Cars 2-4 players
This is a roll and move game with a Backgammon feel. A player rolls two dice and moves two of their cars (if possible) across the board towards the parking lot. When moving, the car may not move backwards and may not retread over a space. If the car ends on a space with another player's car, then that player's car is bumped back to is starting spot. A car can not be bumped if is on a space of it's own color. Each die must be used to move a different car. If doubles are rolled, the player gets another turn. The first person to get all of their cars in to the matching parking spaces by exact count first wins.

Mom joined in on this one. I had a lot of doubles and got pretty far. There wasn't a lot of bumping until mid game because we all played it save and were able to move to our colored spaces. Even though I started strong, I still finished last. Mom was the champion.

This isn't a great game, but there is something about it that I really like. It doesn't play well with 2 and plays best with all 4 players. It's a backstabbing game that no one takes personally.

The Barbie Game 2-4 players
This is an old one from my Mom's collection. Another roll and move. Each player is trying to get a steady boyfriend, buy a dress, and become president of a school club. The player to do all this and then make it to the prom is the queen. The second is declared the princess.

It was a very random game. Much like Mall Madness, the fun is really found in committing to the theme and the role of a 1960's Barbie girl.  I was crowned queen being president of the Music Club and with my boyfriend Bob. Mom was voted princess having her boyfriend Tom and being president of the Drama Club. Even though Ben did have everything needed to win (Ken, Scholarship Club) he kept getting stuck in school.

I would have loved to take this one home with me, but it's too long to fit in my suitcase. I'm hoping my parents can bring it out on their next visit.

Quizzard 3-7 players
This is a trivia a game, but with one awesome addition. It has it's own set of buzzers that tell you who buzzed in first. There are 3 modes of play, but we went with the standard, whoever buzzes in first get to answer. If they are correct, they get two points. If wrong, they lose a point. The first person to 20 points wins (each player starts with 2 points).

We played 3 games in a row. I was the Quiz Master each time, so I didn't actually answer any of the questions. The first game was between Mom and Ben. The last two games included Dad too. All of the games were won by Ben. Dad nearly had the last one, but lost his mojo when he got to 18 points.

I love this thing. This one is definitely coming home with me. It can fit, so I'm counting this as part of my collection.

Tally: 143/177  Bonus: 39/50