We’ve been sent the brand new independent adult party Game of HAM to review. Suitable for 3-15 (or more) players aged 18+, the developers describe it as "Cards Against Humanity meets Sorry (but a little darker)". It is definitely an adult game and it is definitely very dark. If that isn't your thing, you may as well stop reading this review now. The box doesn't give much away....

Gen 7 is a mainly co-operative 'crossroads' game, where players decisions affect the outcomes and change how gameplay and the storyline progresses. Made by Plaid Hat Games, we've been sent a copy to review for the Asmodee Blogger Boardgame Club, and it's brilliant.


Suitable for 3 to 4 players aged 14+, you are the 7th generation to exist aboard a huge colony ship fleeing Earth for a fertile new home planet. The journey is around half way through and everything has gone well so far, until now. The entire mission and lives of everyone on board are threatened and it's up to the crew to find the clues, solve the puzzles and save humanity.


There are more elements included in the Gen7 box than just about any game I've played. It makes it seem very exciting, but it also seems much more complicated than it actually is. The secret nature with lots of hidden information adds to the anticipation.

We've been to adult night at LEGOLAND Discovery Centre before and I've even written about it, so being invited along to review is something I was more than happy to agree to. Adult Fan Of LEGO nights take place every month, and it's only £12 for adults 18+ to play as much as you want for 2 hours without little people in the way.


This month LEGOLAND Discovery Centre are hosting 2 AFOL nights and hopefully it'll do really well because we had a brilliant time last night. Right from the start we were excited - a new brick in the 'Factory Tour' to compliment this season's 4D movie and theme of LEGO City Police and Emergency Services - Report For Duty.


The specific theme for this month's AFOL Night was Terrific Telly and there were several special games to play plus the Big Build Competition and loads of prizes to win.

My entire household love Big Potato Games. They make and distribute slightly more grown up games, with an element of adult humour and understanding that makes them ideal for teenagers and young people, or for playing together with your older children. We've been sent Dan and Phil's Truth Bombs to review. A 14+ rated game for 4-8 players which is incredibly easy to play straight out of the box and it's a massive hit here.


Inside the box you have everything you need to play: 70 double-sided Question Cards, 7 Coloured Card Mats, 160 'Target' (or Answer) Sheets, 8 Pencils, A Scorepad and the very short Rules.


The double-sided Question Cards have print repeated upside down at the opposite end - like a playing card, you can read from either side of the table. This stops everyone constantly picking them up to read them. Genius move.

Asmodee and the Blogger Boardgame Club have sent us House Of Danger to review this month. A really brilliant choose-your-own-adventure card game, suitable for 1 or more players aged 10+. All players work cooperatively, taking the role of a troubled amateur detective and psychic investigator. You've been having nightmares and believe the visions you see really mean something. It's the players job to find out what the cause of your nightmares is and what the visions mean...


This is a compact and neatly boxed game, which is entirely made from printed card and very Earth-friendly. You can start to play through the first mini-chapter immediately using the quick start guide, which worked very well for us. We were instantly hooked!

Here at The Brick Castle we have the 2 young boys, but we've also got 4 grown up children. They are all still studying and haven't got their own families yet, so Christmas gift buying for us is more about finding interesting gifts for big kids than it is visiting toy shops...


Here are a few of the things we've been sent to review over the past year or two which have really impressed us and make a great Christmas present, especially if you aren't quite ready to grow up just yet. Oh, and Amazon links are affiliate. It only earns me a few pence each time if you order through my link, but it helps keep the website running and doesn't cost you a penny....

Manchester's Contact Theatre's permanent home on Oxford Road is being transformed, so they are still out and about for their Christmas show, The Forest Of Forgotten Discos!, and it will be performed at the acclaimed Hope Mill Theatre – The Stage’s 2018 Fringe Theatre of the Year.

The Forest Of Forgotten Discos! is a fun, heart-warming story that can be enjoyed by all types of families and anyone aged 5+. We'll be attending to review and I'm really looking forward to it - although excuse me if I don't wear sequins or spandex!


Contact have teamed up with Jackie Hagan to present The Forest of Forgotten Discos! She is a stand up comedian, playwright and theatre maker who creates work that celebrates the experiences of people left out of the mainstream and director Nickie Miles-Wildin had a starring role in the London 2012 Paralympics Opening Ceremony. The Forest of Forgotten Discos! integrates sign language and visual storytelling into all performances. Truly inclusive.

Contact is dusting down its glitter ball to solve the mystery of the year. Everyone in the forest has forgotten about dancing and bright lights and disco. Even Alexa the virtual assistant from the Amazon Rainforest, who normally knows everything, doesn't understand what's happened...

A while ago I took part in a Twitter party for Jumbo Games And Puzzles, showcasing their new Disney products. I didn't receive my parcel before the party unfortunately, but I have it now and can show you some of the new titles on offer...


Starting with a couple of titles for younger puzzle fans, the Vampirina and Puppy Dog Pals 4 Shaped Puzzles. The rrp is £7.99 and the puzzles inside have 14, 16, 18 and 20 pieces. Age 3+.

Puzzles are great for practising hand-eye coordination and fine motor skills, and there's a real sense of achievement and success when they are completed, whatever your age.

Weird Things Humans Search For is our second review for Big Potato Games. Suitable for 3 or more players and recommended for around age 14+, you can play as individuals, but this really comes into its own as a team game for teenagers or older and makes an ideal party game.


A game about 'Weird Things Humans Search For' instantly has the potential to be hilarious, and we weren't disappointed. There are plenty of giggles and genuine belly laughs as players attempt to guess the most popular ending to an internet search phrase. A sort of modern day equivalent of  Blankety Blank meets Family Fortunes.


Everything you need is in the box, including pencils and paper, so you can play immediately. There's no set up, play centres on the Question Cards and the rules are simple. Each round choose 1 player to be 'The Search Master', who reads out the question and knows the true answers. We simply took it in turns.

I've written about Swizzels before and I've expressed my adoration for their sweeties plenty of times. This year the Derbyshire confectioners are celebrating a staggering 90 years in the business and they have a very special Sweetest Invention competition to celebrate.


Swizzels want members of the public to design a new sweet for their factory at New Mills to make. The four most inventive, interesting and delicious ideas submitted by entrants will be judged by a panel of experts.

Hearing Things is a great party game from Hasbro that can be played really quietly! It's very different to other games we have, and loads of fun. It's also one that can create some risque answers so, unless you can be very careful with what you say, best for older players.


Packaging is entirely card and inside the box you have the headphones and pack of 150 Phrase Cards, as well as instructions. You'll need 2 x AAA batteries to power the headphones, and learning the rules could hardly be quicker.

The Game Of Things is a truly hilarious game for 4 players or more. It's very easy to play, but does often lead to answers which could be a bit risque or rude, so it's recommended for age 14+ only. Players secretly write down the answers to questions, and it's up to everyone else to work out who said what?


The Wooden Box is a lovely tough and it makes this a really excellent present. It feels special, it protects the contents well and it'll look good on the shelf for as long as you own it.


Inside the box are the game cards, scoresheets, answer sheets and pencils, as well as instructions. The answer sheets are serrated, so once you've written your answer, you can cleanly tear it off to pass to the reader.

Midnight Taboo is a very different sort of game review to my usual because it's not exactly a family game. Suitable for age 18+, it takes the original Taboo word guessing game to a whole new grown up level, and it's probably not great for the easily offended...


Inside the box are an egg timer, score pad, 4 packs of Midnight Taboo cards and a battery operated buzzer (2 x AA not included). We actually played mainly while the kids were in bed, and although the buzzer isn't horrendously loud, we didn't use it a lot.

Books are a brilliant gift. They can be precious for many different reasons, and true treasures that we can all hold and own. They can be epics with a real sense of achievement when you have read them, or a few paragraphs long. Books don't have to be expensive or huge to make you laugh, cry, or feel nostalgic, and there is something for everyone, whatever age.


I love to buy books as gifts, and I find they can be especially good for the older males in your family. I liked the sound of all of these books myself, but I've chosen them with 3 of my (not quite so) young men in mind, so this the Carlton (Mainly) Men's Book Bundle Giveaway...


For my partner I've chosen Peter And Dan Snow's Treasures Of British History (rrp £30, currently £21). This is a gorgeous large format, hardbacked book in slipcase which, over 112 pages, examines British History via 50 of our most important documents.

Guru Company (formerly Cley Designs) are a small UK company making unique, handmade, personalised gifts. They specialise in personalised jewellery and keepsakes, including text, fingerprints, handprints and footprints. Treasures to keep forever....


I was offered a review, and I actually let my teenage daughter's boyfriend choose her something for her upcoming birthday - so she hasn't seen it yet! He chose this gorgeous and fairly delicate personalised Mini Heart Necklace with her name on. It arrived really quickly, within a week, nicely presented in a gift box.


Inside the gift box the necklace was carefully wrapped in very pretty tissue with silver hearts. It felt very special opening it, and I've rewrapped it with care, so that she will also get that special newness too.

As all parents will understand, date night with your partner can end up a rare and illusive beast, especially if you are lacking in regular babysitters. Life gets in the way and before you know it the closest you've come in 2 years is the occasional 2 person meal in the kitchen, which is lacking a little in excitement and romance. Plan Our Date help to give you back that spark of unknown, and inject a little surprise and 'couple time' into your relationship.


Each month they send out a little box of treasures for you and your partner to have a date night with a difference. We've been sent the July box to review, and when I peeped inside at first I wasn't sure it was for us, but it's good for everyone to try something new, and doing it together with just your partner really does serve to help you focus on each other for one very rare evening...

Roald Dahl would have been 100 this September and one of the new releases to commemorate is a fascinating book celebrating his classic and timeless children's stories. The Gloriumptious World Of Roald Dahl from Carlton Books is illustrated by Mr Dahl's long-time collaborator Quentin Blake and brought together by the children's author Stella Caldwell, and it really is an absolute treasure.


This is not a collection of Roald Dahl's stories, it's an accompaniment, and although it will mean a lot more once you know each of the tales featured, you could enjoy it in it's own right. The Gloriumptious Worlds is crammed with imagined backstory, comments and quotes, and fantastic oddities and items that set the scene for the stories.

Father's Day this year falls on Sunday June 19th - so you still have more than 10 days to choose that perfect gift. Here are a selection of my favourites from what's on offer this year...


Memories are precious to Dads, and they can be emotional, hilarious or just make him proud. Cheerz have an awesome range of gifts including their letterbox sized Cheerz Box which starts at £16 for 30 beautifully packaged prints delivered. We also reviewed their Retro Magnets at £17.50 for 12 awesome magnetic prints delivered to your door. Our Cheerz photogifts review is here...

Simbrix are fairly new, so you may not have heard of them before. A very different sort of toy for children aged around 5+, they describe themselves as a 'Craft Toy', but that doesn't begin to cover it. We've been sent some Simbrix to review, and if you follow me on social media you've probably already spotted them in my photos because they are constantly covering my table...


All Simbrix kits come in a cloth bag - this is genius. They're tiny and arrive in multiples of 850. A cotton drawstring bag in which to store them is perfect. It's beautifully made and a really nice size too, so can store partially made models as well as loose Simbrix.

My partner and I have always marked Valentine's Day. With our large family and a lack of local relatives I actually don't think we've been out together for Valentine's Day since 2008, but we have had some lovely candlelit meals alone in the kitchen. We swap cards and small gifts and that's been our limit until now...

This year I've been asked by several companies if I wanted to have a look at their products for Valentine's Day. I felt like spoiling myself and my partner, so I picked the ones I liked and said yes. I just hope he doesn't actually read this...

Snapfish asked if I wanted to look at their personalised gifts, so I made a card for my partner and a photo mug with a nice picture of me on it. My partner saw I was making him one and he made one for me too, proving he really is just as romantic as I suspected...