Pokemon Without Energy

My daughter has created a way to play Pokemon TCG without using any energy.

We each get a deck of pokemon - any pokemon, our pick. I'm not exactly sure of her mental algorithm, but she has one for determining which pokemon powers we can use, and when we can bring out our stage 1 and 2 pokemon. When we play, I ask her whether it's OK each time I want to use a power.

It's interesting playing this version with her. She's bypassed all the boring red tape of the game, and created a version that has only the fun stuff - attacking each other.

The downside - there's very little strategy. For a 7 year old, I think that's just fine.

Webkinz Unicorn and Sorry!

There is a super duper cute Webkinz Lil Kinz Unicorn I found on Amazon today. I wonder if the Valentine's fairy is reading my blog today.

Last night, the family played Sorry! together. I forget how much fun classic games can be.

Webkinz Rare Gems, Crown of Wonder, and the Rare Items

I've been finding some great Webkinz info. Today I found out three things from this informative Webkinz post:

1) Arte, the Curio Shop vendor, will tell you secret things when he likes you. There are 6 levels of friendship. And he has different text for telling you what level you're at.

2) Each mine has specific gems to find. The list of gems and which mine they are in are listed here.

3) Rare items are only available in the curio shop certain times of day.

Last night I snuck on to Webkinz and answered some quiz questions to give my daughter a little extra spending cash, and open up some of the available jobs. I'm not sure if Webkinz would be as fun if I weren't being sneaky about it.

Is It Fair to Say "No Ads" In Our Commercial-based Society?

Webkinz has ads. Some people don't like it and are trying to get them taken out.

IMHO, ads give the company more resources to have more fun stuff. So long as they aren't intrusive, annoying or discontinuous, why not? The ads are for things the kids know exist anyway (ie. Alvin and the Chipmunks movie).

How much is too much though?

Webkinz Secrets

I thought Webkinz was pretty straight forward. You go in, you play games, you spin the wheel of wow, feed your pet, log out.
But noooooo. It's not at all that simple. There are secrets.
The first secret I found out about was that we get extra stuff if we click on the ads. The second secret I discovered today was that the little critters can cook food.
I asked my daughters about cooking. They said, "No". But when I asked them about the grill or the blender, they said they didn't have enough money to buy them.
So, like in the real world, the more money you have, the more secrets you have access to.
Webkinz imitates life, or life imitates Webkinz?

How Many Webkinz Is Too Much?

If I had 140 Webkinz in my house, I would scream.

I shouldn't say anything though. My kids have been asking many people for Webkinz for Xmas. We might just end up with more than a few.

Collecting Webkinz - Is It an Obsession or a Learning Experience?

My daughter has 1 polar bear webkinz. I really like webkinz, but I'm on the fence about whether or not having more than one critter is a positive learning experience or an obsession in the making. Or perhaps, it's merely collecting, like kids used to do with stamps.

We're getting our other two kids a webkinz for Xmas. We have one computer. That will certainly be a lesson in shared computer time, if anything.

Mom Is Playing Webkinz

Well, the girls finally did it. They roped me into playing Webkinz.

Here's how it happened: I was innocently reading my email, and the girls were frustrated because they never had enough money to buy the stuff they wanted on the game. In my mind, I thought, "I wonder if they'll learn to save their money."

Instead, they gave up. Saving would take forever, especially with a four year old who, when left alone for just a minute, spends all the hard-earned cash the 6 year old was trying to save. ("Mommy, I want my own webkinz for Xmas," she tells me.)

I was curious - how hard is it to make money in Webkinz? Especially for a 4 year old?

So I logged in when they were asleep and poked around.

It turns out, Webkinz is really fun! I earned the kids 500 Webkinz Cash (which the 4 year old spent on a fish lamp. For her bear. He likes fish, she says.) It's really not that hard to earn cash (for someone who is old enough to understand how to game the system). And there are a lot of fun games to play to compete with others. Not to mention the toddler gambling - Wheel of Wow, Mining for gems, Webkinz Scratchers, The Wishing Well.

I spent the rest of the day exploring "Today's Activities". Hour by hour, I checked back to see what new cool stuff we could do.

I can see why Webkinz has earned the name "Toddler Crack".

So moms, be wary. It's not just toddler crack, it's mommy crack too.

Pokemon Christmas Shopping and Gifts

My son, my daughter and their two cousins have asked for Pokemon things on their Christmas list. What in the heck can I give them? So I made a list. Here are the things that a pokemon enthusiast might like for Christmas (and possibly not yet have.)

Pokemon drawing books are great for the artist who loves Pokemon. My six year old daughter would enjoy this.

The latest Pokemon board game is actually a DVD game. Can't decide to get your Pokemon enthusiast a game or a DVD? Here's the best of both worlds. All my kids would like this.

If your little Piplup can't get enough Pokemon, or wants to have something to do when his gameboy run out of batteries, here's a book chalk full of Pokemon - only if you can find them. In the same vein as Where's Waldo, Let's Find Pokemon offers hours of fun Pokemon seeking.

Has your Pokemon catcher got an iPod? If so, she can listen to ten years' worth of Pokemon music on her headphones. Over, and over, and over again.

This way, kids can enjoy Pokemon, even when they are asleep.

And finally, for those times it's hard to get the kids to put down the DS and do something, oh, I don't know, like reading... there's Pokemon chapter books.


Happy holiday shopping!

Son Who Loves Pokemon Is Also an Engineer

This year, at the top of my son's X-mas gift list is the I-Coaster. It's sold out pretty much everywhere. We found out with a little bit of Google research that our local Target has "limited quantities." My husband has to go to the Target shopping center anyway to get a suit from Men's Wearhouse. Should I fight the crowds tomorrow for this thing? I'm considering it. Oh, what we do as parents for the things our kids want for Xmas.

Hungry Hungry Hippos

I guess one can never be too old to play Hungry Hungry Hippos. For my son's 9th birthday, that's all he wanted. He wanted it so much, he asked everyone for it.

I was sure we'd end up with several boxes of the game. So I didn't get him one. Of course, he ended up not getting his game and he was really disappointed. So, 6 months later, we finally got it.

It's loud. It's hectic. The marbles get everywhere. But one great thing about this game is that all three kids are on a level playing field. The 4 year old, 6 year old and 9 year old. They smash it with all their might. And who wins? Who cares? It's all about the smashing.

Hungry Hungry Hippos was a huge hit when I was a kid. My brother and I would play it for what seemed like hours of good fun. My mom must have been extremely tolerant (or deaf) because she never complained about the racket it made. I'm not as strong.

Do you remember Hungry Hungry Hippos? Do your kids enjoy the games that you played as a kid too?