Alrightgames: Star Realms – Cosmic Gambit Set

Star Realms: Cosmic Gambit Set

2018 / Deckbuilding card game supplement / 2-4 players / USA

**

Not really worth buying without the extra goodies of the first set, but worth trying out for free with a handwritten list and a D12. There are fewer overpowered power-ups than in the first round, but only the Black Market and Hidden Base are really inspired concepts. But having to keep these in mind also means I invariably forget about something else, like the Scenario, so my star realm can do without more overcomplications.

Alrightgames: One Page Adventures – Nexus of the Four Seasons, Arctic & Fort

One Page Adventures: Nexus of the Four Seasons, Arctic & Fort

2022 / Roleplaying game adventures / 2+ players

***

A multiseasonal sandbox centred on a neat little gimmick that the six-year-old had no trouble getting her head around with the aid of descriptive hints. We saved a stranded giraffe kid, rescued the wizard, got moderately scorched by dragons and ate a load of burritos. Most of this wasn't in the prompts.

Alrightgames: One Page Adventures – Desert, Desert II, Pyramid & Mausoleum

One Page Adventures: Desert, Desert II, Pyramid & Mausoleum

2022 / Roleplaying game adventures / 2+ players

****

A desolate change of scenery from generic forests and plains, I was able to adapt most the physical, mental and mystical challenges from these D&D prompts to our kids' game, but swapped out the angry kobolds for an animated pharaoh mask and combined the two tombs into a parody of The Crystal Maze. I was especially pleased with myself when I noticed the Mumm-sey potential.

Alrightgames: Dixit – Anniversary

Dixit: Anniversary

2018 / Card game expansion deck / 3-6 players

***

Dixit and Stella are our favourite family games for evenings when both parents are around, so more variety is always welcome, but this ended up being our default Muse set when we discovered that.

We chose this as our next card supplement (after Memories and Journey) after checking out several flip-throughs on YouTube. There didn't seem to be as many creepy ones on the screen as in the flesh.

Alrightgames: Too Many Poops

Too Many Poops

2018 / Card game / 2-6 players

***

Enhancing basic set collection with educational scatological realism, this was a no-brainer birthday present when I saw it on sale.

The rules are a bit fiddly, but the six-year-old got it, even if she's squarely focused on the kawaii foreverhome building so far and not the more diabolical side where kitties are weaponised in neighbourhood feuds. Enacting the rule that whoever most recently scooped poop goes first could get me out of that chore in the future.

Alrightgames: Monster High – Share or Scare Game

Monster High: Share or Scare Game

2011 / Truth or dare game / 2-6 players

**

The usual crude pasting of franchise over stock game, with many questions and challenges either inappropriate or physically impossible for the minimum age recommendation, but with enough paraphernalia and poorly-proofread variations on the same tasks to keep it endlessly entertaining if they're into it. It was her favourite of her birthday games, unfortunately.

Babyliography CCXXVII

Mark Sperring and Tim Budgen, 20 Dragons at Bedtime

2025 / Library book / 32 pages

**

I don't know why it took them three years to find-and-replace this specific version of exactly the same thing.

Dana Simpson, Unicornado: Another Phoebe and Her Unicorn Adventure

Collected 2022 / Paperback / 176 pages

***

Cover didn't happen, never mind.

Suzanne Senior and Angelika Scudamore, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Not in Otter's Pocket

2020 / School book / 24 pages

**

Set 5 comes with a page boost and sentences that seem less like traps. She's encouraged to read them multiple times by the lure of raffle tickets, which hopefully won't lead to a gambling problem.

Unknown, Weird But True! 2025

2024 / Library book / 256 pages

****

National Geographic's annual junior cornucopia of oddities and interesting facts, favouring animals over human freaks.

Various, Usborne 100 Science Experiments

2006 / Library book / 96 pages

***

There seemed to be a few more practical suggestions than these things school holiday library loans usually have, but I still didn't get around to buying the missing ingredients.

Babyliography CCXXVI

Julia March, Rosie Peet and Victoria Taylor, The Amazing Book of My Little Pony

2017 / Hardback / 48 pages

**

An elaborate toy advert, luckily she got most of them for her fourth birthday already. It's Monster High now, granddad.

Roger Hargreaves, Little Miss Contrary

1984 / Library book / 32 pages

*

One of the less distinct concepts, I guess he'd run out of ideas now, especially as the story mainly revolves around established Mr Men.

Sarah Snashall and Alfredo Belli, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Harper and the Big Dog

2020 / School book / 16 pages

***

Painstakingly constructed alliteration and tricky trigraphs to catch early readers out, that's the spirit. The message might be helpful too, now that dogs are scary again.

Raina Telgemeier, Guts

2019 / Paperback / 144 pages

****

Mainly enjoyed as another instalment in her favourite tween drama, I thought this was going to be more about bodily functions than brain, so it was a bit more complex than the poo book expected, but was a helpful introduction to the idea of therapy.

Samantha Montgomerie and Elena Napoli, Collins Big Cat Phonics for Letters and Sounds: Spook Night

2021 / School book / 16 pages

**

These cartoon ghouls might have creeped her out a year ago, but she's got five Monster High dolls now.

The Smiling Balloon by Aimee

The Smiling Balloon

One day, a lady was just having breakfast. She had three pieces of toast with honey on them. She ate them all up.

She looked outside. There was nothing strange going on. All she saw was a duck toy that she never saw before. She didn't buy it. She never saw it. It was standing there.

The next morning, she looked out and she saw the duck toy again. It had moved from the spot where it was before.

The next day, she looked out and she saw the duck toy and a monkey toy.

The next day, she saw the duck toy, a monkey toy and a rabbit toy.

The next day, she saw the duck toy, a monkey toy, a rabbit toy and a bee toy.

Thw next day, she saw a Monster High toy lying down on the ground.

Every day, she saw something different in her garden. One day, when she was going in town, she saw her iPad on the ground. She picked it up and thought, 'I left it at home, I never bring that out.' She went home, she put it back.

She went back to the same spot and the iPad was there again. She went home and put it back.

She went back to the same spot, and it was still there again. She didn't pick it up, she went back home.

The iPad wasn't there, so it was the same iPad.

She saw the market in a different place where the toy shop was, and the toy shop where the market was. She didn't know what was going on. She asked some people, 'why did it move?' They said its always been like that.

She looked up in the sky. She saw grey clouds and rain coming down, but she didn't feel wet at all. She didn't have an umbrella, she didn't even have a coat, and everybody else got wet.

She looked up in the sky again. She saw a balloon with a smiley face on it, grinning at her.

She went back home, she was so confused, but this time the rain was coming inside her house, and outside it was sunny. She looked outside. The balloon was grinning at her. Soon enough, it was in her house. She popped it.

Then her breakfast that she had this morning suddenly appeared and it was night time in the middle of the night and she still saw that balloon grinning outside. And then she fainted.

We don't know why the balloon went inside her body.

Ranking the Bruce Dickinson albums

At the height of my Maiden mania, I was pleased to learn that Bruce Dickinson had solo albums (often involving other alumni too), but I hadn't realistically expected them to be as good as they were, sometimes far surpassing what the bigger band was doing at the same time. And other times, not so much. Here are my Top 7 Bruce Discs-inson.