Activity Toy Reviews

After a failed attempt to order this game on e-bay, I was glad to finally buy it at a local toy store. The game contains a voting box, a pad of paper for voting, several pencils, a paper with the rules on it, a big stack of challenge cards and, of course, a million dollars (kidding). Sorry, there's no immunity idol. The game follows the rules of Survivor: you compete in two challenges (the second of which the winner gets an immunity idol or necklace) and then go to tribal council where you vote one player off the island. I brought it home and gathered my family together to play- that's when the trouble began.
-Rule #1 (the most important one): ONLY play this game with people that have good senses of humor and that will not get mad if they are voted off. My little sister was very upset when she got the boot. You should probably only pull Survivor out of the closet when friends are over.
-Rule #2: Play with a lot of people. This game requires a "host" as well as four or more players, but playing with eight is more fun (I haven't tried it with the max number, 16). Playing with more people allows a lot more challenges and voting. Also, a lot of the challenges are made for two tribes to compete against each other, and are less fun with just a few people.
-Rule #3: Get creative! The challenge cards are extremely diverse, and include challenges such as "make a musical instrument out of things from nature and play a song with it" and "give an ice cube to each tribe, whoever melts it the fastest wins". Don't expect to sit on your butt the entire time you play this game, you are going to have to get up a lot and find materials for the challenges around the house. Because a lot of the challenges have to do with creativity, the judging is very subjective. The host gets to judge the challenges, so make everyone promise before they start to play not to argue with him or her.
-Rule #4: Make up your own rules. If you're a fan of the show, you know that alliances are formed (and broken) while playing the game. Even though it doesn't say it in the rules, I suggest a five minute "common time" after the challenges where people can form alliances. When we were playing, there was only one two person alliance that swayed the vote and ended up in the final two.
This game is very fun if you can meet the requirements of all these rules and really makes you feel like you're on the show. If you don't think you'll be able to get enough people, then you probably shouldn't buy this game (instead check out the computer version, Survivor: The Ultimate Edition). I gave this game 4 stars because of the many requirements for fun, and don't expect any educational value except finding out who's willing to betray the others for a prize. Well, the tribe has spoken!

A lesson learned to pay attention to dimensions. This bench appeared to be much larger than it was. I must have received a defective item as all of the pegs easily slipped into the slots instead of being able to tap them in with the hammer. The threaded pegs also fell easily into the slots instead of being able to tighten them with the screw driver. The bottom tray was cracked as well. It is an ok toy. Make sure you compare it with others that are similar to get the best item.

My son received this bench for Christmas last year. It was the best gift he had! It has no batteries, which I love, and it provides endless hours of fun play. He and his sister will take the entire bench apart and put it back together many times, and in many different ways. They still play with it often, almost a year later! I would highly recommend it for preschool age.