Tag: tabletop

Nerf TablePros, Demo and Review! (available now)

Nerf TablePros – Table top sports for a decent price and a retro feel 

Thanks to Nerf for the sample! From their Spring 2017 Sample Box – they included a Nerf TablePros set. It’s a mostly papercraft construction kit, give or take a couple of pieces (in the case of the basketball set, there’s a connector and the basketball hoop that are plastic). There are three different types for now; the basketball set shown, the soccer set, and the football (American) set. With the basketball set, you bounce/throw the ball into the hoop. Soccer and Football involve flicking the ball into the net/in between the field goal posts.
These are a bit of a throwback as well. I remember some other tabletop sets where the basketball would launch off a catapult which this kind of reminds me of except you bounce your shots in. This lends itself well to trick shot setups, or some quick time killing H-O-R-S-E, maybe something else? It’s a quick set up, easy to store, and a good bit of fun trying to make the foal on such a small target. For $10 (or less, depending on where you shop) you aren’t at a loss at getting these for yourself or a gift. Would I recommend this as a travel game, for a car ride or some other mode of transportation? Not so much, too many loose pieces (like the ball). But for a board game that could easily engross a few people for awhile, I can definitely see this fitting the bill. Thanks again to Nerf for the sample! (Opinions do remain my own.)

Monday Funday: ZipStix From Hog Wild (Game, not Nerf)

Gratuitous glamor shot of the ZipStix.
 Thanks to HogWild Toys for these fun samples of the ZipStix! Let’s mix things up with these tabletop construction/destruction toys, and take a closer look. You can build your own trick setups using the ramp, quarter pipe, cones, and launchers available in the separate kits, from starter packs  to the Mega Pack. Each pack has everything you need to start launching, including ZipStix, Launchers, and cones. The ramp and quarter pipe are sold in the larger kits, but they add another level of complexity and air time to your launches. The sets have an MSRP of $3.99 to $19.99, and after you start launching, I’ll admit it’s a lot of fun setting up a target and then knocking it back down. 
Prices taken from the HogWild Toys site here:
The ZipStix Mega Pack – $21.95.

ZipStix Dual Pack – $6.95.
The ZipStix themselves are essentially stronger slap bracelets- they flex and click straight, then pressing the ZipStix will make it curl up and spring about. The Launcher hooks the ZipStix, giving it a direction to go. Simple, and straightforward, and actually a bit of fun. If you think about it, you’re not limited to those options either. I have to put the video together, but if you throw a straightened ZipStix in a particular manner, it will bounce up.Even though you already will have plenty to do setting up and launching, there are plenty more ways to play long after the inital purchase. Keeping everything together is pretty easy too, I like to stack my cones all together, and then snap the ZipStix around the top cone, making a cone tree of sorts with a ZipStix topper 🙂
This isn’t a blaster/game review, but it’s nice to mix things up now and again and I did have some fun playing/setting these up. My nephew (seen below) is 10 and had a good time aiming these around as well. The cones are light, so crashing the ZipStix through them is a pretty satisfying experience, even if you spend a good amount of time picking up/setting up the cones. However, for those of us used to picking up darts/loading large quantities of magazines, this shouldn’t be too different. 🙂 
The price range of the kits is decent, but I will admit the $21.95 did make me double take a bit. However, if you are a completionist and want to explore all avenues of building different courses/shots/targets/tricks, it’ll probably be worth the money just to see the height the ZipStix get when you shoot them. As time permits, maybe I’ll do some future trick shots with these to show you what I come up with. Definitely a fun time to play with though.
Thanks to HogWild Toys for the sample, it was nice to try something different! I’ll be back next time with the more traditional programming (VMD, Super Soakers, Next Generation Toys, etc.) are on-deck, and I’ll have more then.
’til next time!
The Setup! Stack your cones and then bring them crashing down when you launch the ZipStix though them (or try to launch them over, whichever tickles your fancy). In use, the kicker ramp from the Stunt Pack. Flip it for another angle to use!
Box art for the Stunt Pack – $10.95
Different designs for a good number of ZipStix, you can make a whole collection of them.
Cones for targets, ramps for added hilarity.
 
The best part is, make up your own rules as well! Maybe you don’t want to to use the cones?
Step 1: lock a ZipStix into the launcher.
Aim!
Press on the end of the ZipStix to make it curl up just a bit, getting it ready to launch, then let go to see it fly!

Heads up from Tacticool Tag and Gaming Society of Chicagoland – Gears of War 3 – the board game!

For those of you (like me) that don’t own an Xbox 360 (why? Uhm… I’ll tell you about my early days playing, “Halo” and why I can’t trust myself with a nextgen system that has online play sometime), Fantasy Flight games made a tabletop Gears of War board game.  Snake (of TTAGS) checked with them at Toy Fair, and here’s what he thinks of this offering:

http://ttagschicago.blogspot.com/

Check it!