Tryazon is a company that sends out products so people can have parties to test them out and then post about their experience on social media. It's a pretty nice deal for all involved and I've been doing any and every one of their board game parties for a few years now and I LOVE them. Every once in a while they go nuts and send out a huge pile of games, like they did this time with Spin Master Games. Six games! Plus an extra copy of one to give to a party guest!
We had a few little parties to play the games because there were so many. It was really fun because we got to play them with different audiences and player counts and really got to know the games. Some cool teenagers that played a couple of these games with us told me that I'm supposed to do tier-ranking because that's what all the legit YouTubers do and I certainly want to be cool so here goes!
Top Tier: Less is More and Sink n' Sand
I was surprised just how much we all loved the little word game Less is More! It definitely got the most play of the bunch because it turns out everyone loves a family friendly word game. One person has a secret word they're trying to guess and everyone else writes down the shortest clue they can think of to help them guess the word. You don't have to use real words, which I thought I wouldn't like but turned out to be one of the most fun aspects of the game. If you remove too many vowels people might interpret your clue incorrectly! This is like a competitive version of Just One and it's going into regular rotation into our game nights going forward.
Sink n' Sand was like Don't Break the Ice meets Kerplunk and kids of all ages were all in. The sand isn't messy and this is going on quite a few game lists in the future because it's a perfect mix of toy and game and it's so cute and easy and fun. Five stars!!
Mid Tier: Headbanz and Escape Your House Spy Team
These are good games. We really like them, they just didn't get played as much as the top tier games. In fact I have four different versions of Headbanz now (thanks, Tryazon!) and I have opinions about the merits of various versions. This one has different style headbands for people to wear which seems pretty simple but makes it so kids are excited to play. It's basically 20 Questions but with a few extra rules and I really like how it walks kids through the process of asking about their clue - there are cue cards included that really help.
The Escape Room game was awesome for kids but it's work for adults to set up in their house and I give demerits for making me do work and move around the house even though it's an awesome little game and the kids loved it so much.
Bottom Tier: Beat the Parents and Soggy Doggy
Again, just because these are bottom tier doesn't mean they are bad games. It's just out of all the excellent games they sent us, these were played the least. Beat the Parents is a fun, easy trivia type game that literally had us laughing out loud when we played it and my seven year old keeps begging to play it again. HOWEVER - navigating the bet portion of this game is an ordeal and my children wanted to bet for a puppy, a new phone, and unlimited video game time. Nope nope nope. Also, there are challenge cards so you have to run around and do active things. Some are really cute, like laying in a circle with your heads on each others stomachs and then saying "hah" and trying to not laugh. We all laughed. So much fun.
And Soggy Doggy is adorable, it's not as messy as you think for a game involving water. There's a little cleanup involved so the pieces dry out which is good to know going in. And it's a good game - but Sink n' Sand is for the same age group and we're so obsessed with that one!
It was a nice mix of games and as always, we were so grateful to Tryazon and Spin Master Toys for sending them to us to test out. We had great time with friends and family testing them out and made some great memories, which is the main purpose of a good family game!
