You've Been Sentenced! Review and Giveaway

I was so excited to have the opportunity to review these games from 

 McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds.

You've Been Sentenced!

Simply put: 
It's a word game.  
It's a party game  
(3 or more players...and in my opinion, more the merrier).   
It's really, really fun.
Add alcohol and you'll be shushing your guests to quiet their laughter and threatening bodily harm should they wake your sleeping children.

On Tuesday night I had my sister and brother-in-law over for 

GAME NIGHT to play and review the game.

 

I personally loved every thing about this games packaging.  The game comes with 5 decks of cards (that's 540 cards) which are a unique pentagon shape, just like the box.  It has a 4 page rule book that is very clear and understandable.  It also offers several variations to game play which I thought was awesome. I also stated several times how cool it was that there are score sheets included(and you can print out more at the games website).  This has become a rarity in board games now a days. It also comes with a pencil and a sand timer.

 

When playing a round, each player takes 10 cards from the word pool.  On each of the cards are 5 words.  You must choose one word from each card and try to form a grammatically correct sensible sentence using your other cards.  You must use at least two of your cards and if you are lucky enough to use all 10 you may receive a 10 point bonus.

Once every one has selected their sentence the players begin to read theirs aloud(trying hard not to spit out Chicken Wing Dip in the process).

  

They are able to "defend" their sentence to the jury (the remaining players).

Each player with an accepted sentence scores points for their cards.
 

Sentences that the jury votes out get a big fat zero points.

(I am ashamed to admit I was the first one to get my sentence voted out...ashamed!)

Along with the main game I also received 5 Add-on decks.

Reader’s Digest National Word Power Challenge, Gourmet Cuisine, Pop Culture, Sci-fi/Fantasy, and Sports Highlights.

We were able to play with the Pop Culture (still trying to figure out what Grok is?) and Gourmet Cuisine.  
These decks opened up even more possible sentences, making the results endless and hilarious.

At the beginning of the night our sentences were guarded as we played safely, trying to be careful, feeling the game out.  Half way through game night (and a few drinks) the sentences were becoming bold and some quite astonishing.  By the end of the night the sentences grew shorter and very entertaining. 

Here are a few of the best sentences from the night:
(click on the images to view them larger)

 










My personal favorite was:


Martha Stewart ordered guns and Iraq got scared.


You've Been Sentenced has received positive feedback from teachers and students.  This game teaches sentence structure, parts of speech, grammar and oral presentation.  
Most importantly (I think), it teaches creativity.  Not that I'm in a rush for my boys to grow up but it'll be fun playing this game with them in the future.  The game is recommended for ages 8 and up.

 Twisted Fish

 

Twisted Fish is a more challenging version of Go Fish.  I played it with my husband, my 13 year old niece and 14 year old nephew. We had such a blast.  The illustrations on the cards are funny and kept us laughing through out the entire game while the zinger wild cards kept us on our toes.  Twisted Fish is easy enough for younger children to play alone but it also a fun family game for all ages.

Wheel of Chore-ture

A fridge magnet WITH attitude.

A very cute and light hearted way to remind yourself and others that

"there are chores to be done!".  A quick spin of the wheel and your next chore is selected for you.  Just be careful--you could become overly ambitious and spin the wheel repeatedly like I did.  I kept getting Feed The Pets.  Eventually, I realized it must be the Wheel's way of saying, Take A Break.  

Hey...you don't have to tell me that twice!!

McNeill Designs for Brighter Minds    has generously offered an entire set of games that I reviewed to one lucky reader!   

This includes the You’ve Been Sentenced game, all the Add-on packs, the Twisted Fish game and the Wheel of Chore-ture. 

A $78.00 value!

Here are the ways you can enter.

First and foremost a mandatory entry 

(must be completed before other entries are excepted)

Simply leave me a comment telling me:

What games and/or activities do you and your family like to play/do for fun?

EXTRA ENTRIES:

Once you have left a comment answering that question you can get extra entries by doing any or ALL of the below.

Please leave a separate comment for EACH thing you do. 

Be a follower or become a follower 

(even if you are a current follower please leave a comment saying "I follow" or if you're new "new follower")

If you are a friend of mine on Facebook - re-post this Giveaway on your wall page.  

(Leave a comment saying "Re-posted giveaway on Facebook)

Refer a friend.  Please make sure they mention YOU sent them in their comment. (2 entries)

Include a link to this giveaway in a blog post. Leave a comment telling me where to find it (3 entries)

Giveaway ends April 11th at 11:59 EST winner will be selected by random.org and results will be posted on Monday April 12th.

Good Luck!

This review was made possible by Business2Blogger.  

Free product was received from McNeill Designs for the purpose of this review.  No monetary compensation was received.  

The opinions expressed in this review are my own and may differ from yours.