This month's independent game review sent to us Asmodee is a word-guessing game for 4-8 players aged 8+. Trapwords is a fast-paced game where two teams battle it out to guess the most words, and like a lot of independent games, it's beautifully presented and really quite special.


Inside the box are lots of components: a game board made up of 7 different 'room' tiles, 5 monsters, 2 team figures, 4 books, 50 word cards, 10 curse cards, 10 monster cards, 2 torches, sand timer, pencils and a pad of trapword list sheets.


You'll need 5 minutes set up and 5 minutes more before first play to press out the cardboard elements. Unlike other word guessing games, Trapwords is played with a board (made using 5 tiles from a set of 8) and as you progress it gets harder.

Today sees the DVD and Blu-ray release of epic family-friendly adventure, The Kid Who Would Be King. We've watched it and it's a great family action movie, and I have a DVD copy to give away to one of my readers, courtesy of 20th Century Fox.


My boys will watch quiet and considered films, but mainly they like a good lively film with plenty of action, so The Kid Who Would Be King was a hit with my boys. It's PG rated and there's no gore, but a strong storyline with plenty of peril and fight scenes. Some characters do not survive to the end of the movie.

Alex thinks he’s just another nobody, getting bullied at school and told what to do by his teachers, until he stumbles upon the mythical Sword in the Stone, Excalibur. Now old school magic meets the modern world and with the help of the legendary wizard Merlin, he must unite his friends and school yard enemies into an allied band of knights to defeat the wicked enchantress Morgana. With the future at stake, Alex must become the great leader he never dreamed he could be and save the world.

A Stone Called Fred is written by S.M.Locke and has been sent to us by publisher Matador for review. A relatively light-hearted fiction book for teenagers and young adult readers, the focus of the story is Jack, who one day awakes to find a mystery object on his kitchen table. The object often appears as an ordinary stone, but Jack spots it glowing, sometimes it buzzes and it definitely has some pretty fantastical properties.

This is a Twilight Zone style shorter story that I'm sure Roald Dahl would have been happy to include in any series of Tales Of The Unexpected. I loved it.


Jack discovers that by touching the stone he can become invisible and even when he leaves it at home, somehow it will appear nearby, as if it is following and keeping an eye on him. Other people can touch the stone without any effect, so Jack feels it's special to him and even names it. Fred.

Jack's neighbours find the whole thing really amusing and aren't sure if he hasn't just had a bump to the head. His girlfriend is a journalist and has been away with work, but when she comes home, Jack has to try and persuade her that Fred really isn't just a large pebble.