Spartacus: Blood and Sand (Comic review)

 It's been a while since I've checked out this mini-series. I've reread the books already and really enjoyed them. I didn't remember much from this comic so I decided to check it out again. 

Meh. 

The first story is about a slave-turned-gladiator who is plotting revenge against the romans. Only to be killed by a young Spartacus who has just entered the scene. 

The 2nd arc is about 2 brothers who entered the arena and act like animals. Devouring their competition. 

Both of these stories are so-so. The best one happens in the 3rd issue where they reveal the origin of Theokuleese, the Shadow of Death. 

Pretty good but not the best. Overall the comic leaves a lot to be desired and overall isn't worth reading. Glad I was able to get around to it again to realize that now. 

Terramara Promo Pack (Mini-reivew)

 I love this game so being a completist I had to add this one to my collection. It's a little bit extra of everything that comes in the game. So nothing new in way of mechanisms, it only adds more choices to the game. 

I'm fine with these sort of mini-expansions and enjoy the extra choices. I don't see anything too powerful or ground-breaking with these cards. I only know it will add to the already incredible gameplay experience overall. 

And in the end, that's all that matters. 

Have a good weekend folks!

Snickers Rockin' Nut Road

 Who wouldn't want to try something from this name?!?!

It's rocky road in a candy bar and it's ok. The dark chocolate saves it from being "meh"

I didn't mind it but probably wouldn't try it again. 

Chocolate Frosted Flakes

 Decided to try something new in the morning, I like chocolate cereals, I like frosted flakes, so I thought "why not?"

It's...not that good. Really surprised. I thought it'd taste a lot better. 

Even worse...the kids won't eat it so it's up to dad to finish it off. 

I'll choose more wisely next time. 

Grenotype Promo (mini-review)

 At first I decided to pass on this expansion, thinking it was the same as another I already had. But after closer review I found out that it IS different so I ended up grabbing a copy. 

Copying a trait from another player is pretty powerful for a one-time move but since there's only 2 of these in the deck it shouldn't be overpowered in the game. 

Now that I have these I now own all the promos for the game. And as a "completist" it always gives me peace of mind to know that. 

Florence: Metal Rings

 I LOVE this board game. And after making my review on it a little while back I decided to go ahead and upgrade to the metal rings. This game makes you feel like royalty and these rings amplify that feeling from the game. 

Super happy I found them on sale too! Well worth it in my opinion. I tried looking at Ragusa again (the 3rd game in the "trilogy" from the company) but it looks like hot garbage so I decided to pass on it and get these instead. 

Worth it. 

Do you remember Kangaroos???

 I used to have these as kids. I remember keeping my spare change in them until a wore a hole in the pocket area and change was dropping all the way down the road!

Oddly enough, they STILL make these shoes which I never knew! Not that I'd want a pair but these but I also wouldn't mind one. I looked on Amazon but sadly couldn't find any my size!

Have a good weekend folks!

Grand Austria Hotel Christmas Time promo (mini-review)

 Another game I love but it's too bad this is only a print and play. I spent 15 minutes cutting and gluing together these from pieces of a cardboard box. They don't look good but I plan on playing it once at least and then decide if I want to keep it. 

Each player starts with one green room that can be played anywhere but only fulfilled with a green customer. Once it's done, you bag 2VP for the room (not counting whichever floor its located on) then a present tile which gives you a little bonus. 

Not bad. Again, I'll try it on my next play and see if its worth keeping or not. Just wish there was a professional version of it instead. 

Tabannusi Promo (mini-review)

 For one of the best games I've played this year, it was a no-brainer to purchase the promo which provides more variety around the harbor. 

LOVE this game so anything that adds to it is good for me!

Australian Survivor Season 4 (Review)

 Another amazing season. Just as good (maybe a little under) the previous season, I haven't decided yet. 

Here are the highlights of the season (SPOILERS)

- One contestant loses his shorts during a challenge and finishes the competition butt naked. That's dedication. 

- Great production. Big sets. Really unique challenges I've never seen before. 

- Tarzan (one of my favorite players) had the most heartbreaking moment in the game. He was starving, had NO friends on his tribe and when he found a jar of cookies he could keep to himself or firewood he could give for his entire tribe....he chose the firewood. 

Afterwards he was crying in the interview. His quote? "I wanted those cookies. Sure. I'm starving out here! (pause, as voice waivers and tears welling) but what good is a meal when you have no friends to share it with"

One of the saddest moments of Survivor I've ever seen. Twice this show has made me tear up. Bravo.

- Tara was one of the people who made it to the final two and thankfully didn't win. She was AWFUL! She gloated when the numbers were on her side and literally cried when they weren't. Biggest baby for the whole season. So happy she didn't win. 

- One tribal the other tribe got to witness and before the vote the host gave the option for one person to mutiny from the tribe. And someone did just that. Sinking another players game immediately. 

- There was a SUPER idol that canceled another idol PLUS gave you one in return. It was nice but not as "amazing" as they made it out to be. 

- At the auction (which I miss in the US version of the show) someone bid all out on the first mystery gift...and ended up get a duplicate reward of every auction won going forward. Brilliant. 

- When there was a tie at the auction (he let both people bid the max $$$) they drew rocks to see who'd win it and who would lose all their money and get nothing. I really liked that idea. 

- The winner was deserving, though for a moment, I didn't think he would win at the end. 

- They had a reunion show this time around and it was a lot of fun to watch. 

Already binging the next season as I type this!!

Twix Cookie Dough

 I thought this would be good, so I picked one up a month ago while grocery shopping. 

Yuck. Bland, disgusting. Really shocked Twix even put something like this out in the first place. 

Avoid at all cost! The salted Twix are much better, but still nothing beat the classic. 

Icee Cereal (review)

Found it at Sam's Club and since my girls love Icees, I decided to go ahead and get it. 

Odd but it DOES taste a little like an icee. I don't know how and I don't know why, but they did it!

Worth getting if you're interested. Very unique taste I've never experienced before!

Have a good weekend folks!

 

Nutty Buddy Cereal Review

 I've tried a few of the Little Debbie cereals in the past and have not thought much about it. I know they've made a few other since then but I've had no interest in getting them until I saw this one. 

It's Megan's favorite Little Debbie which is why I got it in the first place. 

Tried it.

Awful. One of the worst cereals I've ever had. 

Never trying another flavor of these ever again. 

Blech!

Peeps Cereal Review

 Found it on sale for 75 cents a few months ago. Bought a box, my little babies LOVED it. I didn't decide to try it until I wanted to finish off the box a few months ago.

I hate peeps. I think they're one of the nastiest things EVER. But because I can't throw anything away and wanted to make room in the cubbards, I decided to polish this cereal off. 

And surprisingly....it was good! I was shocked. The actually make a good cereal. 

So next Easter, you may want to pick up a box. 

Just saying. 

Australian Survivor Season 3 (review)

 WOW!

So Seasons 1 and 2 of this show have been lost in time. But from what I understand they were made back in the early 2000's and weren't that good. But fast forward to 2016 and they brought the show back, bigger and better than ever and I LOVED IT. 

THIS is Survivor on steroids. 24 survivor's 55 days and it was chalk FULL of excitement each episode. I worried that too many names and faces would get lost in the mix but I knew and remembered each player as the show went along. Amazing!

They started with 3 tribes, which merged to 2, where the winning tribe in a challenge got to break up the other teams. (really cool) 

Epic moments, where a male model tries to break the "models are stupid" stereotype but ends up forgetting who he needed to vote for and essentially gets himself voted out during the tribal. Leading his team without any strong players and getting beat down at every challenge until merger. 

The final challenge was TV GOLD! As the weak coat tail riding girl begs the dominate male for the victory while her father watches on. To "achieve a like long dream" It's gets to the guy who starts weeping too with her and he decides to go ahead and let her have it. 

It ended up costing him the win in the finals. Even though the girl was AWFUL at the final tribal, she won in a landslide because everyone held sour grapes to the male who played a flawless game. Amazing. 

This girl bragged to everyone's face that she "outsmarted" them all, when the truth was Lee (the guy) carried her all the way to the end! But the jury was bitter and you could see it in the final tribal. People would make statements about how awful they thought Lee was. Or demand on apology from him when they had no intention whatsoever of giving him the win. It was a shame. 

Such an incredible season, ruined by a bitter jury. But, this was an earlier version of the show. Mature voters didn't hit the US show until way later in the series. Perhaps we'll see more of that as the show moves along. 

Either way....I'm SO ready to watch the next season...in fact, I'm already 4 episodes in as I write this!

Will it be any good? Wait and see...    

Santa Bowl Update VII

 This year, we have a special coin that will be flipped at kickoff this year!

Merry Christmas on one side (Tails)

Santa on the front. (Heads)

Just adding a little bling to this year's event!

Spartacus Primus Map

 Not many things I want more in the world of board games than these out of print game mat for one of my favorite games of all time!

A few years back I saw a few go on sale for $200 each. I laughed and thought "Who would pay that?!" 30 minutes later when all 5 were sold out, I got my answer. 

Sucked. 

I haven't seen them since. I know there's been an effort online to try to get the dimensions for a reprint but so far, no one has done it. 

So now I'm left pining for a game mat that I'll probably never have. 

Have a good weekend folks!

Chocolate Factory: Master Chocolatiers Mini-Expansion Review

 

At long last I finally was able to retrieve the last mini-expansion I've been looking for!

I love the base game and all this is, is more stores, characters and factory cards to insert into the base game. 

I love it. I love having more choices than before. 

If you own the game and love it, get this. $13 (w/shipping) I believe and well worth it! So glad I'm not on the diet anymore because it's impossible to play this game without eating chocolate!

Survivor UK Season 2 (Review)

                                        

Much better than the first season, but still hits far from the mark. 

Again, this was back in 2002 so I can't come down too hard on it. But here's my review. 

Before the contest started it showed them being searched for contraband with a warning that anyone caught with contraband would be replaced IMMEDIATLY by one of 2 people sitting in the room! (wild) 

This time there were only 12 people which made the show a lot shorter. Also, the fans got to cast a vote for the winner at the end which was interesting. 

Exit interviews were handled on a separate show the following night, I couldn't watch any of them but they appear to be sit down episodes for 30 min. 

The F word is allowed on british TV, or was in this case. It's everywhere in the show NOT bleeped out. 

This was a VERY low budget production. Hardly anything was built for the contest. A lost of trivia, bow and arrow, search the island and stand on a log were the challenges you saw. Obviously they didn't want to spend that much on production. 

One of their "twist" was to bring everyone to tribal only to tell them there would be no vote but how the rest of the game would play out for all of them. (merge tribe and fan vote) Weird....and lame. 

Tiebreaker's this season are determined by....trivia. Because they love trivia on this show. And they never tell the contestants what the reward is until after the challenge. 

As for the players? John was dominate in the challenges but lost the final (trivia) one and it ended up losing it to girl who picked the other guy and lost 7-0 in the votes. 

Outstanding. 2 seasons, 2 unanimous decisions.

I know the new season this summer is probably up to date with the times so I look forward to seeing what it's all about.  

Happy 4th of July!

 Not my favorite holiday but if my littles get excited seeing fireworks...it may be worth it. 

Have a good one folks!!

Dr Pepper Strawberries and Cream

 I don't like Dr Pepper that much but whenever I see a new flavor I have to try. 

Last year they came out with the Dark Berry which I LOVED, but this one?

Isn't that bad!!! I actually enjoyed it. I wouldn't go out of my way to try it again, but I'd have one if it were offered or available to choose. 

If you like strawberries this flavor is strong! I think you'll like it. 

Pretty good stuff!

SCOTUS on a roll!

Pretty good group of decisions they've made lately. 
 

Here's to hoping they continue to strike down ungodly and unlawful actions and protect religious freedom.

Good stuff! Happy 4th weekend folks!