Move over Pokemon!
Take a hike Roblox and Webkinz!
There's a new game in town stealing hours of our children's lives.
Skylanders: Spryo's Adventure!
I first heard about Skylanders on WGN Morning news (like there's another AM news show to watch). It was before Christmas, when the tech guy was showing hot gift ideas. He totally predicted right; Skylanders is the hot IT toy this winter. I say winter, because there were families who bought Skylanders after playing it at our house (sorry!). (To be fair, the kids bought the game with their birthday money in both cases, and one is gonna get it for his- sshhh don't tell).
Say Blogging Lady, what is Skylanders?
It's a video game that comes with a portal and 3 figures in the starter pack. The figures are really cool too, appealing to both boys and girls. A dragon with copper wings. A water guy with fins shooting water cannons. Awesome.
When you pick what guy you want to play with in the game, you put his figurine on the portal, and whoosh- he's there. You run, play and attack with him. Each guy has their own attacks too, and they get more as you level up. When you're done playing, you can run around with the guys having make believe play (score!). During the Super Bowl party, all the kids were Skylanders and went around attacking each other all day. We barely saw them, and all were happy.
In the game, you explore lands, battle witches, cyclopses (cyclopsi?) and the Chompies (according to Zoe- they're little guys with giant teeth that bite, but they die easily). Your aim is to rebuild the 'core of light' because Kaos destroyed it, then...you battle Kaos. (Not chaos, as that would be -ahem- chaotic).
From Wikipedia: The base of each toy contains an RFID chip which communicates wirelessly with the portal to inform the game which toy is currently active. The RFID chip also retains several key stats including gold, level and upgrades purchased and won through gameplay. Due to the use of RFID, the toys are portable between supported platforms while retaining their stats, allowing players to use their characters in other player's games with all upgrades in place. Two figures can be placed on the portal simultaneously, for cooperative or versus play.
You can bring your guy to your friend's house and it remembers what level you're on and attacks gained! Then both play together. Our playdates are now centered around this game, with the kids toting their Skylanders.
Here's where the creators are geniuses: they made 32 Skylanders guys. Once you own the game, you wanna get more guys. There are families they belong to (Undead, Life, etc) and each is different and has it's own attack.
My favorite is Hex, she is a cool 'undead' chick that can summon skulls to attack.
Zoe likes Whirlwind: 'air' type (maybe?) a blue dragon that shoots rainbows out of it's horn.
Sam likes all of 'em. He really wants a 'fire' type, as we don't have one, and I cannot find one.
These guys are scarce. Right after Christmas, we bought 3 more with Christmas money, then it was a few weeks until I could even find any more (since I had yet to buy any-Skylanders came from Nana and Papa McCarron! HIT!) Target had a row of empty racks just yesterday. They are selling for triple price on eBay! Really rare ones even more than that.
We have several, but I am trying to reiterate the, 'hey, it's OK to want things, but you don't always get things life' lesson.
Last Friday I swung into Gamestop on a lark. The guy was on the phone with someone telling them what new ones he was just unpacking from the box just in! I ran over, peeked in and got a 4-pack I'd never seen before. I texted my friend Amy who ran in and bought the other one left, and poof- they were all gone. Maddness! (I laugh that this is my Beanie Babies of the 2010s).
Huge hit. Huge fun. And when I had the flu, I bought 2 new guys and was able to camp on the couch for hours. Bad parenting? Maybe, but I was sick and they were thrilled. Ay, Mama!
Filed under: Video Games
Tags: Skylander, video games
Casting Lindsey
1 week ago