Under the Weather and Under the House
Folks, I've got some good news, and I've got some bad news. The good news is that Oaklynn is over her cold! The bad news is that she passed it to me ☹ But, like any good mom will tell you, I'd always choose to be sick over my daughter - I can handle the stuffy noses and the sore throat on myself, but it just breaks my heart when I hear my little girl struggling to breathe through a pair of crusty nostrils - erm, maybe that's a bit too detailed, huh? Sorry! Blame it on the cough syrup!
I feel like there's two types of people in the world: people who want attention when they get sick, and people who don't. Rich is one of the first type. When he gets sick, it's as bad as Oaklynn! He whines and moans, asking me to fetch him more tissues even when they're right next to him. He doesn't just want a bowl of soup, he also wants me to sit on the couch next to him and stroke his hair while he eats it. Now, I really don't mind this: it's something special to see my burly, self-sufficient lumberjack of a husband reduced to toddler behavior. And, what can I say, I like to take care of people! But it couldn't be more different from how I am when I'm sick. Sure, I like for someone to go to the store for me and bring me tea, but then I want to be left alone with my book or the new season of Riverdale. Mommy's bed is off-limits when she's sick! (Not really: Mommy's bed is never off-limits, but in a perfect world...)
Luckily, I'm home alone right now and I do have the bed to myself. Well, myself and a couple hundred used tissues - I asked Rich to bring in the wastebasket from the bathroom but he forgot. Anyway, this is the perfect time to catch up on e-mails, read what some of my fav bloggers have been up to, and, of course, write this week's game review! Game night happened to fall right on the perfect day, when Oaklynn was already feeling better and I wasn't feeling sick yet, so I was clear-headed and cold-free when we sat down to play the new game from Ultram Media, Under the House.
Under the House is a card game for 2-5 players, recommended for ages 5-10. It's a card game, with no small pieces to lose (or swallow!). The game has kind of a Go Fish vibe, in that most of the game involves putting down colored pairs - but instead of fish, it's kittens! And there's a super fun catch. The story is that you discover a litter of kittens under the house (hence the title) - cute, squirmy, kittens! But the mom's nowhere in sight. Its your job to find new homes for the kittens - but you don't want to separate them, so you have to give them away in pairs. The catch is that some of the kittens are dead, and can't be given away. The game has two main goals: give away the most kittens by making the most pairs, and get rid of the dead kittens in your hand.
First off, the illustrations are SO cute. The illustrator is Ericka Lambert, who also did the illustrations for a game we played two months ago, Promposal. We loves the illustrations on that game, too, but found it a little difficult to keep Oaklynn on track and following the rules. We didn't have that problem with Under the House, which is great. You know how I love a game that encourages rule-following!
Anyway, there are four colors of live kitten: white, black, orange, and calico. All thirty-five kitten cards feature a kitten in a unique pose - playing with a ball of yarn, yawning, hunting a butterfly. You make pairs by the color, and it made for some very fun pairs when you had one white kitten on its hind legs looking up the other sitting on top of a cabinet looking down, almost like they were actually interacting! The dead kitten cards were cute, too, though all the dead kittens were in the same pose, lying crumpled on their belly with their tongue slightly hanging out. Besides the kitten cards, are the action cards: pass a kitten and kill a kitten. Here are the game rules:
As you might imagine, Rich and Oaklynn spent half the game trying to sabotage each other with trades. Rich taught Oaklynn the meaning of the word "cunning" - literally and figuratively! Meanwhile, I focused on making pairs. Even though I had the most dead kittens in my hand at the end of the game - three - I still came in first! Next time we play, I think Oaklynn and Rich will try to steal my strategy!
We had a lot of fun playing Under the House. It was just the perfect difficulty level for Oakylnn at seven, graduating from Go Fish to something that requires a little more thought. And there was little room for bending the rules, since the rules were both straightforward and there weren't many of them. The game also seems to have a high replay value, as Oaklynn has been begging to play again - she really wants to overthrow my spot on the throne! The biggest downside is that the game says it can be played with two players, but that would be really boring. You really need three or more players to make it fun. That, and the cards are so slick and slippery right out of the box that they were hard to keep hold of - for once, I wished that Oaklynn's fingers were stickier!
Oaklynn's Opinion: I liked trading for the kittens the best. It was like Go Fish but better because yhou didn't have to give them the card. Sometimes you can be sneaky, and you always have to use cunning. My favorite kitten is the orange one who has his butt in the air and looks back at you with a smile! The kittens are funny. They look soft. Can we get some real kittens, Mommy?
Okay, so maybe that's the game's biggest downside...🤣
Overall rating: 9/10. We might play again tonight, depending on how I feel - or we might just watch a movie about kittens, instead! Any suggestions? How do you like to be treated when you're sick? Comment below and give me something to do while I recuperate!
TTFN, gamers ❤
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you click through to a website and purchase something, I get a commission from that sale at no extra cost to you. All opinions and reviews are my own.
I feel like there's two types of people in the world: people who want attention when they get sick, and people who don't. Rich is one of the first type. When he gets sick, it's as bad as Oaklynn! He whines and moans, asking me to fetch him more tissues even when they're right next to him. He doesn't just want a bowl of soup, he also wants me to sit on the couch next to him and stroke his hair while he eats it. Now, I really don't mind this: it's something special to see my burly, self-sufficient lumberjack of a husband reduced to toddler behavior. And, what can I say, I like to take care of people! But it couldn't be more different from how I am when I'm sick. Sure, I like for someone to go to the store for me and bring me tea, but then I want to be left alone with my book or the new season of Riverdale. Mommy's bed is off-limits when she's sick! (Not really: Mommy's bed is never off-limits, but in a perfect world...)
Luckily, I'm home alone right now and I do have the bed to myself. Well, myself and a couple hundred used tissues - I asked Rich to bring in the wastebasket from the bathroom but he forgot. Anyway, this is the perfect time to catch up on e-mails, read what some of my fav bloggers have been up to, and, of course, write this week's game review! Game night happened to fall right on the perfect day, when Oaklynn was already feeling better and I wasn't feeling sick yet, so I was clear-headed and cold-free when we sat down to play the new game from Ultram Media, Under the House.
Under the House is a card game for 2-5 players, recommended for ages 5-10. It's a card game, with no small pieces to lose (or swallow!). The game has kind of a Go Fish vibe, in that most of the game involves putting down colored pairs - but instead of fish, it's kittens! And there's a super fun catch. The story is that you discover a litter of kittens under the house (hence the title) - cute, squirmy, kittens! But the mom's nowhere in sight. Its your job to find new homes for the kittens - but you don't want to separate them, so you have to give them away in pairs. The catch is that some of the kittens are dead, and can't be given away. The game has two main goals: give away the most kittens by making the most pairs, and get rid of the dead kittens in your hand.
First off, the illustrations are SO cute. The illustrator is Ericka Lambert, who also did the illustrations for a game we played two months ago, Promposal. We loves the illustrations on that game, too, but found it a little difficult to keep Oaklynn on track and following the rules. We didn't have that problem with Under the House, which is great. You know how I love a game that encourages rule-following!
Anyway, there are four colors of live kitten: white, black, orange, and calico. All thirty-five kitten cards feature a kitten in a unique pose - playing with a ball of yarn, yawning, hunting a butterfly. You make pairs by the color, and it made for some very fun pairs when you had one white kitten on its hind legs looking up the other sitting on top of a cabinet looking down, almost like they were actually interacting! The dead kitten cards were cute, too, though all the dead kittens were in the same pose, lying crumpled on their belly with their tongue slightly hanging out. Besides the kitten cards, are the action cards: pass a kitten and kill a kitten. Here are the game rules:
Each player gets seven cards to start
Each round, players can either
Draw a card from the pile
Try to trade with a neighbor
Put down one (or more) pairs
Calico kittens are wild
Dead kittens cannot be made pairs of. You can get rid of dead kittens by:
Making two pairs at once
Making a calico pair
Passing them to a neighbor with a pass a kitten card
Sacrificing a pair of kittens you have already paired using a kill a kitten card
Dead kittens and action cards go in the pet cemetery when they're discarded.
You can also use the kill a kitten card to kill a kitten in a neighbor’s hand (useful if someone in the group is down to 3 cards or fewer). When you play a kill a kitten card against a neighbor, you will randomly pick a card they hold and replace it with one of the dead kittens from the pet cemetery. The card you replaced should be placed at the bottom of the draw pile.
The game ends when someone has played all the cards in their hand. Each pair of kittens you have made is worth 5 points, but you must take off 5 points for each dead kitten you still have in your hand! The player with the most points wins.
As you might imagine, Rich and Oaklynn spent half the game trying to sabotage each other with trades. Rich taught Oaklynn the meaning of the word "cunning" - literally and figuratively! Meanwhile, I focused on making pairs. Even though I had the most dead kittens in my hand at the end of the game - three - I still came in first! Next time we play, I think Oaklynn and Rich will try to steal my strategy!
We had a lot of fun playing Under the House. It was just the perfect difficulty level for Oakylnn at seven, graduating from Go Fish to something that requires a little more thought. And there was little room for bending the rules, since the rules were both straightforward and there weren't many of them. The game also seems to have a high replay value, as Oaklynn has been begging to play again - she really wants to overthrow my spot on the throne! The biggest downside is that the game says it can be played with two players, but that would be really boring. You really need three or more players to make it fun. That, and the cards are so slick and slippery right out of the box that they were hard to keep hold of - for once, I wished that Oaklynn's fingers were stickier!
Oaklynn's Opinion: I liked trading for the kittens the best. It was like Go Fish but better because yhou didn't have to give them the card. Sometimes you can be sneaky, and you always have to use cunning. My favorite kitten is the orange one who has his butt in the air and looks back at you with a smile! The kittens are funny. They look soft. Can we get some real kittens, Mommy?
Okay, so maybe that's the game's biggest downside...🤣
Overall rating: 9/10. We might play again tonight, depending on how I feel - or we might just watch a movie about kittens, instead! Any suggestions? How do you like to be treated when you're sick? Comment below and give me something to do while I recuperate!
TTFN, gamers ❤
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, meaning that if you click through to a website and purchase something, I get a commission from that sale at no extra cost to you. All opinions and reviews are my own.
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