games – Lori Romano

Day 40 – Pie Face

February 9, 2019by Lori RomanoLeave a comment

It was adorable how excited Henry was to buy Cadence a birthday gift this year. He talked for days about going shopping, and kept insisting that Cadence wanted a Buzz Lightyear rocket. (We warned her ahead of time that she might get something Buzz Lightyear related if we weren’t able to talk him out of it at the store, and she was cool with it. She’s such a good sister!)

Luckily, there were no Buzz Lightyear rockets to be found, and after a few laps around the Target toy aisle, Henry finally settled on getting his sister the game Pie Face! And for the last 6 days, he has been asking nonstop to play “the cream game.”

I don’t know exactly what he thought this game was, but when we finally busted it out to play today and Stevie explained that he might get slapped in the face with whipped cream, Henry suddenly didn’t seem so sure about the whole thing.

And you know hilarity ensued.

Elf on the Shelf 2017 – Day 6

December 6, 2017by Lori RomanoLeave a comment

If you’ve never heard of the game Bean Boozled, let me take a moment to fill you in (because this is one game you definitely don’t want to agree to play unless you have full disclosure of what’s about to happen to you). Basically, you’ve got a box full of jellybeans. You spin the little wheel, pick the matching jellybean, and eat it.

Easy enough.

But this is where things start to get messy. See, the evil overlords at Jelly Belly thought it would be fun to hide awful-tasting jellybeans in the mix and make it into a disgusting (and sort of hilarious) game. So you spin the wheel and that little orange-flecked jellybean you choose might taste like peach, or it might taste like barf. Black jellybeans might be licorice (which is horrible), or they might be skunk (who knew licorice flavor could get any worse?).

Stevie and I were first introduced to Bean Boozled at his Dad’s house in New York, when Stevie’s nephews TJ and Tyler busted out the box to play the game with Cadence. I politely declined to join in. I don’t really enjoy jellybeans to begin with, so there is sure as hell no way I’m going to pop a jellybean in my mouth that could either taste like coconut or spoiled milk.

Nope. No thanks.

But Stevie was curious enough that after a few moments of all of us egging him on, he decided to test his luck. He choose the orange-flecked jellybean, popped it in his mouth, gave it a couple chews, and then bolted for the sink to spit it out.

You guess it, barf-flavored.

Fast forward to this year and Cadence happened to spy Bean Boozled on the shelf at Hobby Lobby. She wanted to prank some friends, so we picked up the box, and it sat in our cupboard until Halloween when we got to talking about it with some friends and decided to bust out the box and show them what it was all about. I’m not sure if our friend Jeff just has tastebuds of steel or the flavors mellow with time, but he ate a couple dozen of the Bean Boozled jellybeans and said they all sort of taste the same.

Cadence was excited this morning when she got up and saw that Cosette and Leo decided to play. Cosette is either going to get a taste of blueberry or toothpaste (which Cadence says is a good choice because both options taste pretty good). Leo looks a little ill, like he may have gotten a bite of canned dog food or moldy cheese. Henry saw the elves had candy and immediately reached to grab a bite, but I managed to distract him with a bowl of oatmeal and a banana muffin. I mean, the kid has already barfed on the carpet once this week, I don’t need a repeat performance because he happens to choose a jellybean that tastes like rotten egg.

He’ll thank me one day. And so will you. Beware the Bean Boozled invitations people.

SaveSave

Dave Thomas, the Founder of Wendy’s

January 14, 2016July 12, 2016by Lori RomanoLeave a comment

“Ok, you’re gonna think I’m a total lunatic, and if that’s the case, I’ll understand if you say no, but I’ve got a game that I think we should play…”

Anytime my hubby leads into a conversation with “Okay, you’re gonna think I’m a total lunatic” I know I’m in for something good because, odds are, I’m gonna be game (and I’m probably going to think it’s just as crazy/funny/awesome as my hubby does because, well, we both have a very similar and very warped sense of humor).

The game is called Dave Thomas, the Founder of Wendy’s. Stevie found out about it listening to Episode 20 of the What Say You? podcast with Brian Quinn (Q) and Sal Vulcano, whom you may recognize from the hilarious TV show Impractical Jokers (and if you haven’t watched it yet, do so immediately).

Ok, so here’s the premise, you have to get someone to say the word “Who?” You have to bait someone. You have to pick your moment carefully. If a person knows about the game, they are automatically playing the game. So you scheme and you plot and you pick your moment and you get your friend to ask, “Who?” and then you fire back at them “Dave Thomas, the Founder of Wendy’s!”

Bam! You get a point.

And the game continues.

The game is going on 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. January 1, the slate is wiped clean and the games starts over and you play for sheer joy and that gotcha moment where you are victorious and your opponents are kicking themselves and vowing revenge.

Six months might pass, but Stevie could turn to me randomly while we’re cooking dinner and say, “Oh, I almost forgot to tell you who I saw today…” If I say, “Who?” He will suddenly yell, “Dave Thomas, the Founder of Wendy’s!” and then proceed to dance around the kitchen and rile the kids up into a tizzy.

But, sometimes I just might be on my game, and instead of falling into his carefully laid trap, I can fire back with a “Dave Thomas, the Founder of Wendy’s! Booyah!”, and then I get a point.

It’s simple and stupid and so freakin’ satisfying.

When we first started playing, Stevie was routinely kicking my ass. He Dave Thomased me every day for almost a week. I got a little smarter and managed to get a few points here and there. Then we branched out and introduced the game to a few of our friends. Looking through some old iPhone picks from 2014, I happened across this little gem:

Inspired by my cleverness (and the fact that Beebe and I haven’t Dave Thomased each other in more than a year, I decided to try and catch her tonight while working on my blog post. It took her awhile to answer, and I was afraid I may have tipped her off, but then this happened…

And now my night is complete.

2016 scorecard
Lori = 1
Beebe = 0

Until next time…

Family Fracas

January 12, 2016July 12, 2016by Lori RomanoLeave a comment

Henry was very uncertain about this card game…

Elf on the Shelf 2015 – Day 6

December 6, 2015December 6, 2015by Lori Romano2 Comments

Just recently (within the last year or so) Cadence has gotten interested in board games. She’s been really into cards for awhile now. We’ve been playing Uno with her since she was 3, and this year she has gotten really good at War, Old Maid, and Crazy 8’s. And she’s freakishly good at Go Fish. Sometimes we wonder if she’s figured out a way to cheat.

But as far as board games, she hasn’t really been all that interested until more recently. Maybe it’s finally that she’s old enough to really understand all the rules and formulate a strategy to emerge the victor. See, here in the Romano house, we don’t believe in letting our kids win. My friend Kara wrote a great article for Good Housekeeping recently that pretty much sums up our views the that subject, and you can read it HERE. Sure, there are times when we will pause a game to explain a strategy to Cadence or to advise her to look closely before she makes a move, but mostly, we believe in letting her figure it out for herself. After all, these games we’re playing and the decisions she is making today are laying the foundation for the way she is going to tackle much bigger problems later on, and we would be failing her if we weren’t teaching her that failure is a part of life.

It has been awesome seeing Cadence grow through the process. Instead of crying or quitting when she loses, she takes time to think about why she didn’t win and immediately asks to play again. She’s incredibly resilient, and these days, she’s even winning more often than she loses. Her current favorites are the aforementioned card games (hell, maybe we should start teaching her a little Poker and Blackjack now), Connect 4, Zynga (which is sort of like a cutthroat Bingo), and a game called Bugs in the Kitchen where you have to strategically lead a skittering little Hexbug through a maze and into your trap to win the game.

We bought her the Minion Operation game last Christmas, thinking she might get a kick out of it, but the first loud buzz freaked her out and it has been collecting dust ever since. Cosette and Leo noticed it sitting on the shelf and figured they might put it to good use. And wouldn’t you know it, Cadence suddenly seems very interested in learning to play.

Game on!

Elf on the Shelf 2013 – Day 23

December 22, 2013by Lori RomanoLeave a comment

Life is all about what you do with the hand you’re dealt. Let’s face it, sometimes you manage to draw some really shitty cards, but you just never knew what’s coming next. So, you gotta keep playing. And if you’ve got some good friends beside you, you might even have a little fun.

Both Cadence and Cosette woke this morning, feeling a little better so what better way to celebrate and spend a Sunday than learning to play a little UNO?