Epinions Recent Reviews for theeye

Comfort Inn Heart Of The Poconos: No Soap Radio

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 13:38:59 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - No Soap Radio, or: As God Is My Witness, I'll Never Be Hungry Again It is entirely to the credit of Tara, the intrepid hotel manager on duty this past President's Weekend, that the Discomfort Inn of the Heartless Poconos has eked...

A Shining City on Your Desktop

Sun, 26 Mar 2006 10:10:37 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - My regular readers are familiar with my ongoing love affair with ThinkFun, the maker of a line of deviously clever solitaire puzzles. We buy them for our five-year-old son, but many of them offer challenging fun to adults as well. During a recent...

Game, Set, Match

Wed, 1 Mar 2006 18:24:35 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - Introduction: In Which We Meet a Much-Beloved Game Packing for vacation when you've got a five-year-old math whiz and game addict in tow is an experience not dissimilar to packing when bringing a baby along. Instead of carefully checking that...

Plainly Amazing

Tue, 14 Feb 2006 18:32:59 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - In Which a Boy of More Than a Little Brain Amazes All Who Behold Him It all began last spring with our astounding experience with ThinkFun's Rush Hour, Jr. puzzle. That was when we first truly understood...

Comedy, Cake Crumbs and Kiddy Columbo: Clue, Jr.

Wed, 11 Jan 2006 15:49:54 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - This is a tale of a cake. A wondrous cake, given to us as an unexpected present by a dear friend several weeks ago. A layer cake, covered in glorious light blue frosting and exquisitely decorated especially for Chanukah with dreydels and menorahs...

Prepare to be Stumped

Tue, 10 Jan 2006 14:01:28 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - If you've been following my recent series of game reviews, you know that my five-year-old son is hopelessly addicted to solitaire brainteaser puzzle games. Particularly the deviously clever puzzles designed by the brilliant folks at ThinkFun...

Hopping Around: Exercise for the Mind

Wed, 4 Jan 2006 16:08:02 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - Most parents have been there: you're taking your bright, but easily bored, child to some grownup event and he needs to sit quietly without disrupting the proceedings. Chances are something called a Hoppers Jumping Game isn't going to be on the...

In Loco Parentis: A Card Game the Whole Family Can Enjoy

Thu, 20 Oct 2005 14:38:22 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - Our household has recently turned into Gaming Central. Those of you who've been following my recent series of game reviews know that our five-year-old son has developed an addiction to games and, in lieu of enrolling him in a Twelve Step program, we've...

A Hex on Polygon

Tue, 11 Oct 2005 13:11:23 GMT

rating: 1/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - There's something you need to understand about our household: it's full of math geeks. My husband and I are both engineers by education and software developers by vocation. He reads professional math journals for fun; I develop advanced mathematical...

Sum-Thing Everyone Can Use

Fri, 30 Sep 2005 12:42:09 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - Every child ought to have a children's abacus by the age of three or so. If you like, you can stop reading now. That categorical recommendation pretty much, um, sums it up. But if you need more convincing, allow me to marshal the evidence for you...

Four for Four(-Year-Olds): Deal Me In

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 06:46:37 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - I've recently become a huge fan of ThinkFun (previously known as Binary Arts). Their solitaire puzzle games are clever, innovative and loads of fun for kids and adults alike and the company is clearly staffed with a bunch of bright and fun-loving game...

Monopolizing the Big Apple with your Little Guy

Thu, 22 Sep 2005 01:13:53 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - Mention Boardwalk and Park Place to my five-year-old son and you'll likely get a blank stare. You'd never guess that behind that blank stare lurks a Monopoly addict. My husband and I received Monopoly: New York City Edition as a gift years...

En Garde! There's More Here Than Met TheEye

Thu, 15 Sep 2005 01:15:04 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - I did not expect to be writing this review. When my husband picked up the DuelMasters: Battle of the Creatures board game for five bucks at our local going-out-of-business KB Toys (apparently, we'll be getting yet another unneeded bank in the...

The Game of Chips: Add It Up Yourself

Tue, 13 Sep 2005 17:04:36 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - As you know, if you've been following my recent series of game reviews, my five-year-old son has for some time now been obsessed with game-playing. When my friends come over, he laments, they only want to play with toys. I want to play...

Fun for kids and adults alike? Groovy, man, groovy.

Fri, 9 Sep 2005 01:36:24 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - You've got to hand it to Looney Labs. They know how to design simple, fun, sociable games that serious gamers, dilettantes and kids alike can enjoy. My husband and I first discovered Looney Labs years ago, when we picked up a copy of...

The Preschool Puzzler: To The Rescue!

Tue, 6 Sep 2005 22:07:19 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - I ought not to have been surprised. After all, my purchase of Roadside Rescue, the fiendishly clever sliding block puzzle from ThinkFun (previously Binary Arts), had been prompted by the surprising success we had already experienced with...

Kids and Adults Alike Are Welcome at The King's Table

Wed, 31 Aug 2005 22:40:31 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - A long, long time ago, when my husband and I were still childless and when quiet, grownup evenings of playing board games had not yet faded into distant memory, we received a wonderful gift. King's Table (The Viking Game) was the name on...

The Preschool Puzzlemaster Presents

Tue, 30 Aug 2005 18:12:29 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - I've found some terrific toys for my son through recommendations on Epinions. Then again, some of the best toys I've found have been purely serendipitous. Case in point: Rush Hour, Jr., the solitaire puzzle game by ThinkFun (formerly Binary...

A Throne Worthy of Your Little Prince(ss)

Wed, 15 Jun 2005 14:10:39 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - We reached another milestone the other day. Less momentous than the day, over two years ago now, when my son announced that he finally wanted to try out the potty seat we'd acquired some time before and would no longer be wearing diapers (to this day, I...

Give it to the pregnant lady! She'll drink ANYTHING!

Mon, 6 Jun 2005 14:41:20 GMT

rating: 2/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - First things first: no, I am not pregnant. Why, then, you ask (not unreasonably), am I reviewing this rather odd product which purports to provide 'balanced nutrition for pregnant and nursing moms?' Good question. Odd answer. I received an...

Brabantia Stainless Steel Trash Can (50-liter): Trashy? Nah. Brabantia is a Class Act.

Thu, 6 Jan 2005 20:31:44 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - There may, perhaps, be some message in the fact that the impetus driving my return to Epinions after so long a hiatus is, literally, garbage. I leave the decoding of that message to more curious minds. For those whose interests lie more in history...

Beau Woes & Other Problems Of Modern Life by Christine Lavin: As Long As You Count My Outs When I Come Up To Bat

Sat, 13 Jul 2002 23:48:13 GMT

rating: 4/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - Do you remember that song by Janis Ian?

The one where she complains about not getting chosen for the

basketball tea-um?

(Remember? 'For those whose names were never called / When choosing sides for basketball')

Well, I would've...

The Wonder Bib

Wed, 20 Feb 2002 15:30:20 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - I was at the grocery store when the cell phone rang.

"You know that DuraBib you've been planning to write an epinion about?", asked my husband in that falsely cheerful, "this is not going to be good news" tone of voice.

"Uh,...

Don't Judge It Until You've Walked a Mile in its Moccasins

Wed, 30 May 2001 18:39:25 GMT

rating: 5/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - The Fisher Price Activity Walker was an object lesson for me in how not to write an epinion.

Several months ago, my son, who had already become fairly expert at crawling, pulled himself up to standing and very shortly thereafter...

Sometimes Quantity Trumps Quality

Wed, 21 Feb 2001 15:10:49 GMT

rating: 3/5 by: Epinions Author theeye - As anyone who's read many of my toy reviews knows, I'm a big Sassy fan. Their infant toys are beautifully designed with an attention to detail that's hard to miss. A Sassy rattle is more than a simple noise-maker; their "Visual Cards"...