GIVEAWAY & REVIEW: Grow Your Brains With Gigamic Games Like Quoridor and Panic Lab

Happy 20th Anniversary Quoridor

We are huge fans of brain games here at ChiIL Mama. My kids have grown up playing puzzle games, memory games, board games, card games and brain games from toddlerhood on. So, when Gigamic games reached out to us to partner up on a review and giveaway, we jumped at the chance. 

Disclosure: We have been given games for review purposes and for our giveaway. This post contains affiliate links. As always, all opinions are our own.

I fully believe playing smart games has increased my kids' brain power. Now that my kids are 13 & 15, they're both in advanced honors tracks in two of the best public schools in the city of Chicago, if not the country. My 15 year old son, Dugan, is the VP of a card game club at Lane Tech, and taking 3 college level AP classes and the rest senior level course work. He's also a great game tester for me, along with his sister, Sage, who is an 8th grader in the IB honors program at Taft high school's academic center.

Now that my kids are teens, family play is even more fun, and we're all pretty evenly matched. Want to add Quoridor to your family's game collection?

ENTER HERE for your chance to win a 

gorgeous wooden Quoridor set ($34.95 value) from Gigamic & ChiIL Mama just in time for the holidays!

Open to US entries nationwide. Enter through midnight 11/24/16.

We were given Quoridor and Panic Lab to review. Both were huge hits with the family. Quoridor is a gorgeous wooden set, classy and classic enough to leave out as decor, on our gaming trunk. Games are meant to be seen and played. We've found that when they're unboxed they get played even more often. Both games are easy to learn quickly. Quoridor remains challenging as it's strategies are easy to learn, tough to master. 



Panic Lab is a fast paced, playful game, perfect for multi age groups and keeping the kids off the video games for some family together time. The tin makes travel with Panic Lab a snap. This was my daughter's favorite, hands down. And I will say the kids beat the adults on this one on just about every round. The game play resulted in a lot of laughs. We highly recommend both games!

Many of Gigamic's puzzle and strategy games have educational benefits while the wooden games also make beautiful (yet functional) decorations as coffee table games, on home bars, in man caves and on desks. Many of the tin games are great for travel and will make fantastic stocking stuffers. They are fun, casual games with short teaching time and are fast to play. Gigamic makes quality games that stand the test of time. Quarto is celebrating 25 years and Quoridor is celebrating 20! Whether you want a timeless classic keepsake or a colorful newcomer, Gigamic has you covered.

Get Social:

Follow Gigamic on Facebook and Twitter here & Check out the Gigamic site to order your brain games!

Get Gigamic Games:

Marbles (Quarto, Quoridor,Katamino), Amazon (Quoridor and more), Barnes & Noble, & local Chicago games stores like one of our favorites, Cat and Mouse.

Disclosure: Once again, we have been given games for review purposes and for our giveaway. This post contains affiliate links. As always, all opinions are our own.

Spontuneous Game Night

Review:

Our family and friends love to play board games.  It's a chance to laugh and make memories together. In these tech heavy times, it's a treat to unplug, disconnect, and reconnect face to face. 

Disclaimer: Thanks to Tryazon, we were given a "party pack" sample of Spontuneous for review purposes and 10 $5 discount coupons for our guests and our readers.

Looking for a fun, multigenerational game to play over the holidays and beyond? Check out Spontuneous. We had a blast playing, and it was fascinating how much difference there was between the lyrical knowledge of every generation.

We did have to modify the rules a bit for the snarky teens who didn't want to sing. We ended up allowing spoken lyrics. And the rules weren't entirely clear about whether players can race to blurt out the lyrics to the same song or if one player has the right to finish until stumped. We also had a few debates about what constituted lyrics. We decided to allow BULBOUS BOUFFANT - The Vestibules (ala Dr. Demento) even though the "lyrics" aren't sung and it's more of a sketch comedy piece. Your family and friends will have to be creative a bit on what you'll allow. 

We had all kinds of crazy, challenging lyrics come up, like cornbread, gymnastics, apple, Cadillac and Snapchat! 

Still, overall it was easy to learn, fun to play, and great for just about all ages. It's suggested for ages 8+, but younger players could team up or play with a bit of writing help. We like that 4-10 players can all join in and game play is fairly fast paced and averages a half an hour, if you don't have Monopoly marathon type time available. We recommend it. 

Spontuneous - Family Board Game is Available ONLY on Amazon. Click HERE to order (affiliate link). 

Have you ever heard a word that "triggered" you to sing a song? If so, then YOU are Spontuneous! One player says a word and the race is on for the others to sing a song containing that word. Don't worry though, talent is NOT required! 

Spontuneous is America's Hottest New Party Game! If you're looking for a hilarious game to entertain your family and friends, then it's time to throw a Spontuneous Party! It's fun, fast paced, full of laughs and a perfect game to spice up your next get-together!

The idea for Spontuneous®, the fun family board game where everyone participates by singing, was first conceived on August 2nd, 2009 by Rob Ridgeway of Billings, MT while hanging out with family. It all started after a spur of the moment singing outburst where everyone quickly agreed that they do the same thing with lyrics. Little did they know that they had just come up with the basis for what would become Spontuneous. 

After months of trials and testing the concept out with friends, owner Rob Ridgeway, finally decided to make the game into reality. After much research and a lot of hard work the first prototype was finished just before Christmas 2009. With help from a lot of different people along the way, Spontuneous finally burst onto the scene in 2010 where it was featured at the Toy Fair in New York City. After a few revisions, the Spontuneous that you play today was finally mastered. 

After winning the Game of the Year award from Creative Child Magazine, it is safe to say that Spontuneous has arrived and is here to stay! 

If you're a person who often bursts into a song upon hearing a word or phrase, you are going to love Spontuneous! This hilarious and interactive family party board game is a great gift for all music lovers of all ages. Spontuneous will have your whole group laughing as you compete against each other to quickly sing songs using trigger-words. Not only is it fun, but is good for your brain as it helps memory recall and word association skills. With several awards and a 4.5 out of 5 star ranking on Amazon, it's sure to become a favorite in many homes this season.

Disclaimer: Thanks to Tryazon, we were given a "party pack" sample of Spontuneous for review purposes and 10 $5 discount coupons for our guests and our readers.