Alrightgames: Monopoly Expansion – Go to Jail

Monopoly Expansion: Go to Jail

2025 / Board game expansion pack / 2-6 players

*

Do you like going to jail in Monopoly? Of course you do! Here's more of that!

This was the least appealing of the frivolous Monopoly expansion range, especially for playing with a child who I try not to be "mean" to even when we're playing fairly, and who I didn't really want seeing crime and corruption rewarded. This denial naturally made it the one she wanted the most. I let her trade in some unwanted stuff that was hogging shelf space, so her inevitable criminal career will be her own fault, don't blame me.

Unlike the other ludicrously lucrative expansions, this one didn't noticeably make the game faster as claimed, and no one even went to Super Jail where they stash the good cards. We quit when bedtime was approaching and boredom had long since set in.

It's more palatable when mixed in with the rest to play inadvisable Meganopoly, but it'd be better without.

Alrightgames: Carcassonne – Under the Big Top

Carcassonne: Under the Big Top

2017 / Tile placement board game expansion / 2-6 players

**

Resold

Never released in the old art style, this next-generation original wasn't on my radar at all until someone dumped their collection on eBay at prices too good to pass up for a big stack of tiles and wooden people with funny hats.

With more animal tokens and precariously balancing meeples, this is firmly in the category of completely unnecessary frills like all the later expansions, but this time the novelty wore off before the end and I got tired of seeing them come out. It was a memorable visit from the circus, but I don't need it to come again.

Alrightgames: Top Trumps Quiz – Safari Animals

Top Trumps Quiz: Safari Animals

2021 / Card game / 1+ players

**

I told her there were only going to be 30 questions with up to three multiple choices (two, as it turned out), which we'd quickly learn by trial and error like I did with that Amiga Trek Trivia Quiz. But she wanted to complete the set ("why is it Top Trumps?"), it's at least educational, and they're the cheapest games on eBay. Plus, she gets to feel good about beating my worldly knowledge most of the time.

Alrightgames: Atmosfear III – Anne de Chantraine, Witch

Atmosfear III: Anne de Chantraine, Witch

1992 / Video board game expansion / 3-6 players

**

Our next stop after the vampire was less impressive, and that bar was already quite low. Appointing selected players as her minions is a nice touch, but the multi-part spell cards and having to remember who's who (especially when you're two players doubling up in the first place) is all too distracting when you're already struggling to shift your pieces around the board before the next infernal interruption. I'm glad I tried it once though, and hope these characters don't show up in the six year old's nightmares.

Alrightgames: Fluxx

Fluxx

1997 (2008 version) / Card game / 2-4 players

***

I was introduced to this chaotic card game in a hostel on my first travel stop in 2010, while appropriately pissed, and found its unstable "rules" and lolR@Nd0mness hilarious in my debilitated state. It'll never be that enjoyable again, but it seemed like a good call for playing with a child who enjoys the similarly swinging futility of Monopoly's Buy Everything expansion when it was going cheap on eBay.

The Action cards are a bit wordy for a six year old who refuses adult assistance, but that doesn't stop her from generally winning after a few turns anyway by randomly matching the goal. It's not exactly the madcap party I remembered. Maybe we need to get pissed?

Alrightgames: Boss Monster – Tools of Hero Kind

Boss Monster: Tools of Hero Kind

2013 / Card game expansion / 2-4 players

***

This themed add-on rounds out the cardboard video game and makes it more interesting, challenging and amusing by giving the NPC Heroes familiar power-ups that translate well. It makes me root for those plucky little guys, even as I orchestrate their gruesome demises. It's just a shame they insisted on the quirky Game Boy packaging that's more than twice as large as it needs to be to store some cards you're going to mix into your other box anyway.

Alrightgames: Unfold – Through the Wall

Unfold: Through the Wall

2023 / Puzzle game demo / 1-5 players

*

Donated

I said I wouldn't buy any more cheap and nasty games based on price alone, but this envelope game combined a quirky gimmick with a minimalist footprint, so I figured it wouldn't do any harm to add it to the box of miscellaneous curiosities.

I was wrong. Of the three puzzles in this sub-Usborne adventure, one is a basic spatial puzzle and the others require telepathy or a lucky guess. This has no value.

Alrightgames: Star Realms – Frontiers Solo Challenges

Star Realms: Frontiers Solo Challenges

As a fan of solo games, it's strange that I've generally overlooked the solo mode of one of my long-time favourites. That's probably because playing proper Star Realms against myself is satisfying enough, and the ones I've tried didn't feel as satisfying as proper Star Realms, but maybe there's a more rewarding challenge lurking somewhere out there. And it's an excuse to play lots of Star Realms, even if it's not proper Star Realms.

Junior Gamesmaster: Missing Earth Ponies / Rescue Run / Crocodile Wedding

My Little Pony: Tails of Equestria – Missing Earth Ponies / Rescue Run / Crocodile Wedding

DIY roleplaying game adventures

Inspired by the one YouTube RPG playthrough we've ever collectively sat through to create her own stories from scratch, the six year old GM took our latest ponies out for another spin before making us prematurely replace them with more generically capable elemental superheroes and guiding us through encounters with monsters, creepy witches and friendly crocodiles, invariably culminating in feasts.

I've lost control forever now. I wonder whether she'll move us onto D&D or something more hardcore next? I hope she can help me understand the rules.

Babyliography CCXL

Clare Helen Welsh and Ángeles Peinador, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Recycle It

2022 / School book / 24 pages

**

The class' elected Eco Warrior learned how it undramatically works.

Samantha Montgomerie and Pedro Riquelme, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Mighty Mud Race

2022 / School book / 24 pages

*

Would my life be richer if someone had documented every individual Oxford Reading Tree and Ginn 360 book I went through? I don't imagine so, and yet still I do this for us.

Zanna Davidson and Nuno Alexandre Vieira, Fairy Unicorns: Islands in the Sky

2022 / Hardback / 112 pages

**

The grand finale of the series (probably). She thought she'd spoiled the ending by looking ahead to the pictures, but she doesn't know all the conventions yet.

Catherine Baker, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Welcome to My Home

2020 / School book / 24 pages

**

Some of the things some kids get up to in some countries, when they're not being terrible brats (presumably).

Scott Campbell, Cabin Head and Tree Head

2025 / Library book / 88 pages

**

Kinda weird, though not intriguing enough for us to carry on beyond the first skit.