Out of the Box Publishing; Board Game Fun for the Whole Family!

We're not big fans of television here at our house.  My kids tend to behave much better if they're not allowed to veg out in front of the tube.  Often when I tell people that we really don't let our kids watch TV, they ask in amazement, "So, what DO your kids do?"

Easy peasy!  Aside from the wonderful outdoor things like mud puddles, chasing bugs, bubbles and sidewalk chalk, there are a plethora of indoor activities we keep on hand.  Among them are board games that are geared for multiple ages and abilities.

Honestly, it's kind of hard to find a game that a 5 and an 8 year old can play together (and obviously my 2 year old isn't quite there yet!).  There is such a difference in academic ability at those ages, it makes most board games irrelevant.  When I was asked to review a game from Out of the Box Publishing, I was a bit skeptical, thinking that I'd have to choose which of my sons would get to enjoy the game.  I was pleasantly surprised, however, at the wide range of choices they offer that could be easily adapted for a younger sibling.

I actually had a hard time choosing just one!  I finally picked a game called Backseat Drawing Junior.  It's kind of a cross between Pictionary and Taboo.  The "director" has to help his teammate draw an image without telling him what the image is.  For example, to have your teammate draw a house, you might say, "draw a square, with a triangle on top".  The first person to correctly guess the image gets one point.

It's a very simple game to learn, and very funny once you get going.  My husband and I and the boys played it while my daughter was napping (so she didn't sabatoge the game pieces!) and had a lot of fun.  My five year old was trying to direct me to draw a stick figure with an arrow pointing to it's foot (the word was "foot") and amidst hysterical laughter managed to have me draw what looked like a five-legged alien with huge eyes!

The game comes with two sturdy dry-erase type boards, a set of cards (double sided- one side more difficult than the other), four dry-erase markers, and two very nice, well-made erasers.  Everything seemed great quality, but I gotta say, plan on getting some dry erase markers of your own.  We played for about 20 min. and two of the markers were starting to fade out pretty badly.

Out of the Box Publishing is the original distributor of the very popular game, Apples to Apples, and the company boasts over 30 different game titles.  Many of their games are educational, and their games are grouped into categories such as "Party Games", "Quick Games", "Engaging Games", and "Distributed Games".  Their age ranges are from 7 to adult, and games can be as quick as 20 minutes, or up to an hour for the more involved titles.  With such a vast array of entertainment to choose from, it's gotta be easy to say "Adios!" to your TV!!

Buy it:

The entire line of Out of the Box Publishing games is availble online at

www.otb-games.com 

Win it:

Out of the Box Publishing is offering a lucky reader their very own Backseat Drawing or Backseat Drawing Junior game.  Simply visit their website and come back and tell us what your favorite game is.

Contest ends midnight EST, June 29th

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Giveaway Rules:

1. Giveaway is open to those with a US mailing address only, unless otherwise stated.
2. You must answer the question in the giveaway accordingly. Please don't just say "I want to win" or "Pick me."
3. You must have a visible email address in your Blogger Profile, otherwise it needs to be listed on every entry. (Don't worry, you won't be spammed).
4. Winner will be chosen via random.org and notified via email.
5. Winner will be asked to respond with full contact information within 48 hours of being notified. Failure to do so will result in another winner being picked.