Games Reviews

I loved this game with a passion as a child, and have many vivid memories of sitting with my father playing it with him. My father, like so many of his generation, was a busy working man who didn't stop very often for such "trivialities" (but did enjoy games of skill), I think it's a huge testament to how this game bridges age gaps in its universal appeal.

Now, all these years later (30 to be exact) I rediscovered the game with my own children. It's challenging, fun, and doesn't get tiresome precisely because it IS great entertainment for all ages. My husband even uses it as a mentor at the local school, and has found it a great conversation opener in the course of the mentor program.

I have one small beef--it should come with a ready supply of extra game pieces. As far as I can tell our game didn't come with any extras. Of course, that could just be that we lost those too. :)

If you enjoy games at all, you'll definitely love this one--and your kids will be crazy about it!

This is a good quality Othello set. We haven't played in a while. Othello is a great thinking game, easier than chess, but there is much more to it than most other board games.

We have two boys ages 6 & 10. There are very few games that the boys can play together without the youngest saying its too hard, or the oldest complaining its a baby game.

Othello is perfect for a household that has children of different ages. Both our boys (and my husband & I) play this together and all have fun. The game is extremely easy to learn (great for young kids), but "tricky" enough that each play is different so adults and older kids don't get bored.

I recommend this game highly. Best of all? No batteries to replace and no beeping sounds.

I work PT at Janie and Jack, where we have one of these rockets on display. All the kids LOVE it. Boys, girls, a whole range of ages from infant through toddlers. I can also say I've been very impressed at how well it's held up against the abuse our many guests can dole out. Highly recommend it! -Rich

I bought this toy for my son when he turned a year and it has turned out to be the best purchase I have made in a long time. He is now 15 months and it is still a daily play toy.
He loves the buttons and pushes it all over the house. The seat has a compartment and he loves to put various toys inside and then ride it around the house.
I wouldn't use it outdoors because it really is a nice toy to have so keep it indoors and have a blast!!!

We got this for our little boy's 2nd birthday and he LOVES it. He didn't actually ride on it the first couple weeks but he pushed it around like a big car, liked to put things in the secret storage compartment, he'd flip it over and play with the wheels, push the buttons and click the nose cone. Once he started riding on it, it was just one more fun thing to do with it. I was worried that the lack of an actual steering wheel might be a drawback since a steering wheel is one of his favorite things in the world but he never seemed to mind it being fixed in place. The vibrating button scares him a little and sometime he'll push that button and then run a few steps away from it while it does the big noise and vibration.

I've seen a couple negative reviews where people thought it was bigger from looking at the picture, assumed it was made of metal and were disappointed to discover it's plastic... Well, if you read the info that's available to you before ordering you won't be disappointed when what you get is not what you imagined. It's exactly what I expected, perfect size for a 32.5" tall 2 year old to sit on and doesn't take up too much space around the house either. It does have a couple slight scratches from being turned upside down but toys are meant to be played with, not kept pristine IMO, so we're not woried about it.

One note: beware of eBay sellers trying to price gouge this item, claiming it's HTF, rare, etc. I looked there to do some price comparisons and people were setting minimum bids higher than you can buy it for through established retail outlets online, and with higher shipping costs.

Anyways, it's perfect and he loves it. I don't consider it to be intended as an educational toy, hence the 3 star rating. Do your research before buying and let the fun begin!

Please note that my review is based on my daughter's experience from 18-21 months old. It was purchased for her as a gift. As a mother and an educator, I think that this product would be better suited for an older child as it is quite hard for a child younger than the age of 2 or even 2 1/2 to sustain the attention needed to interact with the games, etc. I would recommend waiting to purchase this for your 18 month old. I am an advocate for Fisher Price products as I feel Fisher Price is pretty accurate in guiding parents to age appropriate toys. However, with this one I feel they missed the mark. In addtion, the screen is simply too dull and dark in color to really see exactly what you are pushing. For this reason, I personally would not have bought this toy.

My son is an active two-year-old who loves to run around and I was surprised by how much he was captivated by this toy. He receives hours of enjoyment and has learned so much from his Learn Through Music Plus system. He has several of the software cartridges and he likes each one, especially Dora the Explorer and Blue's Clue's Singing Playdate. However, as much as he enjoys the software cartridges, his favorite aspect of this toy is the microphone. He records himself singing along with the cartridges, saying his name and reciting numbers and the alphabet.

When visiting her older cousins, my daughter got to play with this toy, which belonged to my 3 year old nephew. He is special needs, and can be VERY hard on toys. He would drop it, throw it and step on it on an hourly basis. The fact that it still worked like a champ after at least 6 months of him owning it was a miracle in itself.

They sent us one as a gift for my daughter, 13 months, after seeing how much she liked it, and she cannot get enough of this toy!

I love that it is durable, literally - she stands on it sometimes, and it's fallen I don't know how many times. It's not too big for her to carry around or manipulate, and she figured out how to work it immediately.

For now just listening to the songs, watching the screen rotate and making noises into the microphone keeps her happy. But her older cousins love the educational games on the cartridges they have, and really get a kick out of singing into the microphone.

The cartridges are big and sturdy, and easy for a child to put in himself if they are old enough.

It would be nice if the microphone cord were longer, but I'm guessing it would be a safety hazard to make it longer. Teh speaker is REALLY loud but some clear packing tape over it muffled it enough for our comfort. A lower volume control would be nice.

Overall, I've seen it work for a 13 month old, 3 year old and a 5 year old. If it broke I would replae it immediately, only one other toy we own gets more mileage.

Ok so my son got it for christmas and here it is june and i just hooked it up. it took me all of 5 mintutes not even that to program it. the first try #4 wouldnt take so what i did is i put the toy remote on one thigh and the remote on the other so that there were almost touching and so that the "eyes" were right on top of each other. and it took straight away.

Its really fun for my 4 year old my 10 year old got bored. my only suggestion is that there needs to be a bigger choice of games. they are so similar that my 4 year old changes games quite a bit.

i am actually having trouble finding games for it now.

its great and if they are going to be in front of the TV might as well be learning. he also hase VSMILE which is a little bit better if you can afford the 60$ for the game unit and 20$ for the games. (grandma and grandpa got ours for us with games) so it wasnt bad for us.

read with me DVD is good though, i really enjoy playing it and listening to the stories!

The Read With Me DVD is a wonderful tool to add to a list of many items that will help children learn to love reading. Programming the remote is not too difficult. My son got this for Christmas when he was almost 3 (January Birthday) and we waited to program it until he was taking a nap so he was not frustrated while trying to set it up. It only took about 10-20 minutes to program, but I would still recommend waiting until the child is asleep or busy.

My son figured out how to work it very quickly and at first it was more about reading comprehension. The questions are about the story and the children select the correct answer. We also got him a couple other stories like Green Eggs and Ham and The Little Engine That Could (we now have all but one story). Although the words are highlighted quickly, they are at about the same pace as if you were reading the story, he was still able to pick up many words. My son is fascinated with words and within a few weeks of using this he was able to read the book Green Eggs and Ham by himself. We thought he had memorized it, but he actually corrected mistakes and knew words if I pointed to them individually.

He is now 3 years 5 months and has had the DVD system for 6 months and is now reading at a level 1 or 2 (My First Reader Books) and is reading at the same level as his 5 year old sister. He loves to play his "video game" and I have to say that I am happy to let him play it.

Recently he has even started asking to have the words on when watching a movie (closed caption subtitles) and as he's watching a movie he will listen and point to the words at the bottom of the screen.

I would recommend this toy to anyone with children 3 and up. Again it is just one tool that should be used to help a child learn to read, comprehend what they are reading and begin to enjoy reading. It is not by itself necessarily going to teach a child to read but used with other items can help. I would recommend that you buy the actual books to go with the DVD's, we already had most of them but that way they can have the story read to them slower, or be able to work on learning the words with the parent's help. My son always takes his books to bed with him and reads using the light from his nightlight.

For learning how to sound out words and basic reading concepts check out the website starfall.com it is another wonderful tool.

We purchased the read with me DVD system for our 3 year old son for Christmas.Ok, so first, setting up the remote took all of mabey 10 minutes. Then you simply pop in one of the DVD's and your good to go! This system is so much fun, it really brings these familiar stories to life. My son had previously been familiar with the titles offered as we have them in the traditional book form (nothing should replace reading aloud with your children), I hope they come out with more titles soon. The illustrations are the same as the ones you will find in the books but they are animated, that is reallly entertaining. The narrators voice is very clear and nice to hear. The words along the bottom of the page light up to correspond to what the narrator is saying. The $15 dollars you will spen on each DVD is a bargain considering each dvd comes with 4 different play modes and tons of questions you and your little one can answer . My son will play with the system often and it will usually have his attention anywhere from a half hour to an hour.As someone who is studying to be a teacher I like some of the other educational aspects of the system other than just the reading benefits. When you answer a question that is wrong it will prompt you to give another answer , rather than immeadiately give the right answer. When you answer the question correctly it goes further and explains why the answer is right. This a good tool to use in conjunction with daily reading to your children. Fisher price definitely got it right!

This stoller seemed perfect when we bought it. My husband loved the "manly" color and I liked that it is lightweight and folds standing up. However, it is not the perfect stroller by any means. The seat does not lay all the way back, so my son has a hard time sleeping in the stroller. I often find it is not easy to steer and it does not fit in small places. The seat belt is EXTREMELY difficult to adjust. I do like the bar to help secure the infant seat and look of the stroller. I would recommend you really shop hard and think about it before you buy this stroller.

This stroller is the best!! It was easy to put together and easy to manuver. I have no problems or complaints!! It's an Eddie Bauer product and you can expect the best from it.

My son is now 2 years old and I love this stroller, have never had any issues with it. I am a small person and I find it easy to maneuver, easy to fold down and lift into my SUV. I don't find it takes up much space either. The only drawback would be for an infant, it does not fully recline. Otherwise, 2 thumbs up!!

My son is 2 and a half and this was his first bike.He looks adorable on the bike but unless I want to go over and help him he can't seem to manage on his own.Why?Well the darn trike is impossible to steer for one and secondly it tips over very easily.It is really unsturdy.Also what is up with no breaks? This is a cute bike to take some pics looking cute but for serious bike riding..forget it! -mom in Orlando,FL

My son is almost [...] - he loved the bike but it took less then 1 weekend for the handle to break off.
I thought that we just got a bad sample so we requested a replacement, it took less than 5 minutes for this one to break.
So my son does not have a bike and I have to start looking for one that will last 1 summer at least.

Bought this for our gentle 3 year old daughter. In a couple of months of light use, the front bearings are shot. Also, didn't realize it until we got the trike home -- it has no brakes!!!! We live on a long, inclined hill... so we're teaching her "Okay, if you start going too fast, head for some grass." Not a lot of security in that lesson. She likes the trike, likes the fact it has a trunk (so do I). The push bar is sturdy enough for us, and has come in handy for pushing her uphill. But, in all, I'd say Radio Flyer let us down... and it's going back to the store.

I,my wife and 2 daughters have long been fans of the Friends TV show (in fact we own the 10 Season Box set). I got The Friends Edition as a gift for my wife, who is not realyy a game board enthusiest. Well, we had the most fun playing it. I was laughingly surprised at how little I knew and how much the other members of my family knew! I heartily recommend it as a fun, entertaining way to spend with friends, family and anyone looking for a good time!

I love this game! I remember everything I read, and I love Harry Potter, but this game can be difficult sometimes. My friends who have only seen the movies can even answer questions, and my little brother and his friends love playing it.
My only complaint would be that sometimes the movie clips are too long, especially for the die-hard Potter fans, who have seen all of the movies enough. The questions on the clips sometimes do not go hand in hand also.
One other complaint is that if you are afraid of some of the darker elements of Harry Potter, you might get a little creeped out by the dark music and colorings. My younger brother has closed his eyes on two occasions, so only younger kids MIGHT be a little scared.
Other than that, there is nothing wrong with this game. If you love Harry Potter, either book or movie form, or you want to learn more about it, this game is perfect!

We bought the Scene It? Harry Potter Edition for our family game night. It covers the first 3 Harry Potter Movies; Sorcerors Stone, Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Askaban.
My son is in kindergarten and is only 6, but reads very well (at a 2nd grade reading level), so we were able to easily play the game, read the questions on the screen etc... Another reviewer mentioned that the movie clips are very long (30 minutes!); this is not true. I would guess they were 2-3 minutes long at the most. We also enjoyed the "Hidden Scenes" where something is missing from the scene (person, wand, hat, chair etc...) and that was really fun.
The nice thing about this game is, you can condense the gameboard and have a quick match when you are limited on time (perhaps if it's close to bedtime!). We really enjoyed it and this morning when my son woke up, he pulled the game out and was playing it alone, while my husband and I slept in- you can't beat that!
I wouldn't call ourselves huge Harry Potter fans, but for those that own the movies and have watched them a couple of times, this should be enjoyable.

I bought this for my son for his 4th birthday. I read a few reviews that had said it didn't work when it was opened but figured I would take my chances. My son had played with a different turbo twist game and really enjoyed it so I thought he would love it. I didn't realize it when he opened the toy, but when it is set on the loudest setting (which isn't very loud at all) the voice skips continuously and you cannot understand anything it says. He hardly uses it at all...

My 2 year old has struggled with the concept of addition ever since his exodus from the womb. Leapfrog seems to be one of the few companies in corporate America that cares as their cutting edge product the Twist & Shout has worked miracles for my child. The random quizzes and raucous electronic voice both work to subdue my child into hours of learning, laughs and all around good times. He'll one day be telling the tale of this product to his grandchildren, with a broad smile across his then wrinkled face, fondly recalling what toys were like "back in the day". Let your youngins share the same future pleasures by buying them one of these today.

My twin six year old daughters fight over playing with this handheld game and within a day they have learned the basic facts for 0, 1,2, and doubles. They've even challenged themselves with the lightning round and have gotten at least 8 points out of that!
This is a must have for a child learning their addition basic facts. This would make a great gift for a child between the ages of 5-7.

Both my boys play with this truck. My oldest was around three years old when we purchased this truck. It has held up well over the past three years. It is a good size for little hands to hold onto.

Our five year old has had this Monster Truck since he was two, and has had many hours of fun with it. We purchased another one for our two year old because they were fighting over it. Our two year old sits on the back of the truck and rides it up and down the hall. These trucks are extremely durable and are great fun indoors or outdoors.

My son recieved this truck when he was 2. He is now 5 and still plays with this truck every day! It has been crashed into every piece of furniture in the house and is still in excellent shape.
When my son was little he would sit on the bed of the truck and ride it all over the house. He would push off with his feet and take off across the floor. Now that he is too big to ride on it (although he does try) he places his spiderman toys inside and "drives" them around the house.
Excellent buy! Would purchase again and again!