Game nights are a fun time of bonding and laughing together. When Out of the Box Games let us play their Snake Oil – Party Potion for this review, we were excited! But the fun we got out of this game was more than we bargained for!

What It Is

Snake Oil – Potion Party is a physical game for ages 8+. This is for 3-6 players and only takes about 5 minutes to learn how to play. A game can last 20-30 minutes, depending on how you play…

The rules that come with the game are fun and easy to understand. You have your customer cards (who you need to sell the oil to) and you have your word cards that you combine two words together to make your item you want to pitch to your customer.

During your first round, one player gets to be the customer, they pick a card out of the customer pile, and take on the role of that customer. Once the other players have chosen two of the six cards from their pile, they go and pitch their item to the customer as best as they can to get the customer to pick their item over the rest.

The customer picks the “winner” of the round and then you get to move on to the next round with a new customer and a new set of words.

The best part about this game, the option to make a variation if it is needed!

How We Used It

Since we were playing with little ones who were much younger than the recommended age, we did a variation on our end of how we played the game. We kept the main idea of the game, but we had one person designated to be our customer, daddy. Daddy would pick the customer we was going to be for that round, and let us know. We (meaning the kids) would get their cards, and I would help them decide what to make up to sell to the customer.

Little Miss hung out for the first round, where our customer was a dad, ironic, and she was able to sell him a Discipline Bubble…to keep those naughty kids in when they won’t listen.

We had planned on having 3 rounds, which would give each child the chance to win once, but after those three rounds, the boys were begging for more time.

What We Thought

Well, I thought we would have fun, I didn’t realize how much fun we would have. The boys kept begging for another round, and everyone was laughing the entire time. I would never have told my kids that they were learning while we were playing this game. Why would I ruin that for them 🙂

Little Miss was a little too little for this, she did well for one round, and I was happy with that. Since she was way under the recommended age, I wasn’t too worried…however, Ray Ray. He is my little salesperson! I didn’t know how long he would last, but this kid can sell! Who else would try to sell a trumpet trampoline to a clown or a how about a magic bucket to a wizard? He could take any two words and make it work into whatever that customer was after!

Moe Man loved the game, but has a fear of public speaking and thinking fast on his feet. It didn’t matter how easy it was, he would clam up and have a hard time. I loved that he wanted to play and that we could work on the speaking fear as a family and in a fun way.

Out of the Box Games has another, original Snake Oil game also. I can’t wait to read what the other wonderful reviewers have said about both of these games. Why don’t you hop on over and see what everyone is talking about!

 

 

 

 

Do your children love scavenger/treasure hunts as much as mine? Do you need a way to get your kids to actively focus or learn something? Need some fun play date or birthday party ideas? Well let me tell you a little about Clued In Kids! We were able to play with their Homework Reward Treasure Hunt ($5.99) and the Princess Treasure Hunt ($8.99) at our house.

What Is It

These treasure hunts are nothing but fun! My kids, all three of them had fun with them…but Moe Man won’t admit to it, being 14 and all 🙂 Little Miss was thrilled the day we received “her” Princess Treasure Hunt in the mail. I decided to take a break from our day to set this up for all the kids. The boys were told to “help” their sister and work on the hard parts that she couldn’t do. The age range was 4 and up and there was some writing that was involved, so I wanted her to have help. Even though it was a princess theme, the boys joined in and helped out.

Each clue is printed up, either from the PDF version, like the Homework Reward Treasure Hunt, or pre-printed like the Princess Treasure Hunt. On each clue there is an activity that will lead the child(ren) into the direction of the next clue. The bottom of each clue gives the “hunt leader” the directions as to where to hide the next clue, hello easy for mom or dad!

As the kids keep completing the clues, they are working on their thinking skills…going through mazes, solving riddles and figuring out coded messages. There are even some fun(ner) things added in like making paper airplanes, or balancing a book on your head to show your “princess posture”.

The treasure part of the treasure hunt is left up to you. You can pick and choose how big or small these treasures are. We did our afternoon snack with the homework hunt and money for the princess hunt. I loved being able to decide what I wanted to give to the kids. I love that I could adapt to make smaller gifts for more kids if I had done this with a birthday party group or play date group.

How We Used This

I was impressed when we got our preprinted copy of the Princess Treasure Hunt Clue Pad. The colors were beautiful and everything was ready for me to hide right away. I didn’t have to plan, I didn’t have to organize anything or even go out and purchase anything crazy to make this work for the kids. I opened it, sent the kids outside to play and put all the clues where they needed to be and the treasure at the end. After calling them back into the house, I laid down the rules…my own; 1. No fighting over the clues, 2. Take turns finding the clues, 3. Share the treasure. And I handed them the first clue!

I watched as all three kids, yes, 14 year old tough guy included, raced through the house in search of the next clue. I was not allowed to take pictures of Moe Man, but he was involved in everything!

Our Homework Reward hunt was used as a reward after a rough day of school. This could be used for any type of school…it is not geared toward homeschool at all! Once again I sent the kids out of the house, but had to make sure they didn’t see me going to the mail box this time. With the PDF printable I had to print the clues this time. There were two on the sheet and I used my paper cutter to slice them in half. Still, super simple set up for me! We used the same rules as the first time and the kids had just as much fun!

What We Thought About This

The kids were highly disappointed that I only had two of these treasure hunts! They would do them all day if I let them. I loved how simple they were to put together. The kids loved how much fun they had with them! There was an equal love on all sides! These will work for any house and any family. Our family gives these treasure hunts an A++

There are many treasure hunts available, I hope that you will head over and read the other reviews with me!