Sunday, December 14, 2014

In the Box: December 2014 Awesome Pack Big Kid Box

If you've been reading my blog for a while, you know that, aside from books, I am also a huge fan of tabletop games.  If you read my other blog, Trying to Nail It, you will know that I am a huge fan of subscription boxes.  You can imagine my delight when I heard of a brand new subscription box geared towards tabletop games fans!  Awesome Pack's first month is December (you can still order by end of today, December 14th for this month's box), and for $44.99 a month, you do get a box of sheer awesomeness, geared either towards the whole family or just adults!  Their site does not have referral links set up yet, nor can you log into your account yet, but they do have a referral program, so if you do decide after reading my review to try it, I would very much appreciate if you told them you heard about it from me, Ricki.  Now, time for the review of my Big Kids Box (the one for adults).

My December Awesome Pack came with an info sheet showing me each item and explaining why the bigger items were awesome.  Before receiving your pack, you take a very detailed survey and they gear each pack to your family.  Depending on your answers, the packs vary, but I imagine some of the smaller geeky items might be the same for each pack in a month.  It also came with some promo stickers and a magnet (yay for magnets!).

Each box contains at least one full size game.  I was lucky enough to receive a game I have had on my wishlist for years now, Smash Up (a $29.99 value).  Smash Up is a deck building, or "shufflebuilding" according to the blurb on the box, game that mixes many geeky genres.  It also has a ton of expansions, so maybe some of those will be included in future boxes.  There is also a smaller game included (this might be replaced by a hands-on activity in the family boxes, but as I didn't get a family box, don't quote me on that).  I received Loot (a $10.99 value), another game that has been on my radar.  Loot is a casual pirate-themed card game and looks easy enough for my husband to enjoy, too.

Aside from the big items, each box contains a variety of smaller items, which can be small toys and coloring books in the family pack, but seem to be collectibles in the big kid box, of which I received four, all of which are blind boxes.  The one that interests me the least is the Marvel Captain America The Winter Soldier Heroclix (a $3.99 value).  I have heard of Heroclix, which is a miniature game, but I never got into it as miniatures are not my thing, so I am probably going to trade this.  Going along with the Marvel theme, I also received a Marvel Series 3 Mash'Ems (a $4.99 value).  I have never heard of Mash'Ems before, but they seem to be big-head, squishy characters.  I am on the fence about keeping or trading this.  The "girl" version of Mash'Ems seems to be Fash'Ems, and I received a Disney Frozen Series 1 Fash'Ems (a $4.99 value).  These are also squishy characters, but their heads look smaller and the capsule is lighter than the Mash'Ems one.  I am keeping this one just because I am totally curious to see what they look like out of the capsule.  The last collectible I received, and probably my favorite, is The Simpsons 25 of the Greatest Guest Stars Series 2 Collectible Mini Figurine (a $5.00 value).  I love The Simpsons, so I cannot wait to see what I got, although I am debating whether this should be my husband's stocking-stuffer or not.

Awesome Pack was having a deal that if you ordered Black Friday week, you received a free gift, and the add showed two Adventure Time mini games.  I am not an Adventure Time fan (I even wrote that on my survey), but almost all of my friends are, and I needed some cool rob-your-neighbor gift, so I took advantage of the offer for that specific reason.  Imagine my surprise when it turned out to not be one game but both!  I got the Adventure Time Shape Shifting Jake Puzzle Game (a $5.99 value) and the Adventure Time Finn-ominoes Domino Game (a $5.99 value).  These are pretty cool in that they come with a carrying case for gaming on the go, which my friends will love because they always seem to have a game sitting in their car or in their bag or somewhere convenient.  (Not sure why this pic loaded sideways, but I cannot get it to turn.)

All told, my December Awesome pack had an estimated retail value of $59.95 with out the Black Friday free gifts, $71.93 with it, and I got it all for $44.95, which included shipping.  I'd say that is a great deal!  If you would like to subscribe, once again, I ask that you say you heard it from me, Ricki.  (Please note: as collectibles can vary in price based on demand, I tried to take the price from the manufacturers site whenever possible.)



No comments:

Post a Comment