X ~ XLR8

     Words beginning with an "X" are a bit more challenging and I have at various times during previous A-Z challenges simply resorted to using words beginning with ex and placed a heavier emphasis on the x part of it. 
    Today however I decided to turn to a little game Steven used to love playing.
    

    XLR8 was simple enough to play being very light on strategy.
    Most of the time it was only Steven and I playing it, though it can be played with up to six players.
    You start with the little speedometer at zero and five cards in your hand. On your turn you play a card and then draw another. The MPH cards helped you accelerate your speed. You play the card and turn the wheel on your speedometer to indicate your new speed. First one to get to 200 MPH wins.
    Included in the cards were caution cards. When played,  all your opponents had to reduce their speed to 25 MPH. Blow Out cards could be played on another player making them have to return their speed to zero. A Pit Stop card has the player of your choice have to skip a turn. A rare 2x or 3x multiplier card allowed you to double or triple your speed.
    This game appealed to Steven because of speed and racing. 
    I enjoyed it a lot because it was an easy one to pick up and play when ever, and the adding and multiplying was a nice bonus to slip in something educational while having fun.
    This little game won a creative child Game of the Year award back in 2008, I can see why.  
    The only complaint I have with this one is that instead of a game box it comes in ziploc "chip bag" of sorts. It works, but it's not my container of choice.

I ~ Ice Cream Empire

    Playing games is part of our daily life. Not only do we enjoy it, but we have found that they often aid in learning more effortlessly.
    For an example, the game Ice Cream Empire.

    It was a game that used to get quite a lot of table time when Steven was younger. He loved the little trucks that were used as tokens to drive around the gameboard hauling the ice cream chips on the back as we bought and sold ice cream and built our chains of stores across the states.

    He thought it was all great fun, while the teacher part of me smiled at the learning that was unwittingly happening.
    The game board had all the states labeled, and as he was building his chains of stores he was also learning the names and locations of the states.

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    As he bought and sold ice cream he was doing math.

    Though not heavy on the strategic side of games there were critical thinking skills involved in decision making.
    There are two superficial things I really don't like about this game. The first is the artwork on the cover. It looks very unprofessional to me and always makes me cringe just a bit when I see it. The second, the cursive writing. As someone who has taught our children to write in cursive and the care that went into their daily penmanship, the poor display of spacing, slant, and letter formation bugs me a lot.
    

Would I recommend this game? Yes, as far as a fun family game goes it is a decent choice. While not in our top ten list of games, I'm still glad it's part of our collection.