WordSearch

WordSearch

Do you use word search puzzles and wish you could kick it up a notch? Or want to teach someone in a more playful way than paper and pencil? Or want to add in-hand manipulation to the mix? Or maybe you would like to turn it into a 2-player competition. Then check out WordSearch by Goliath.

The game board will consist of four pieces - a base, a puzzle sheet, a clear plastic top with shallow pits for the playing pieces to sit in and a movable ring that snaps on top to hold them all together. All pieces are plastic except for the paper puzzle sheet.

There are 10 2-sided puzzle cards, 20 puzzles in all. Each puzzle card has 28-30 words to find. Each card is a theme such as beach, animal, body, and countries. All of the words to find are printed around the outer rim of the puzzle card (see image above). You can see in the assembled game, above right, that there is a small opening on the red ring, at the very top. This is where the words will show up as you move the red ring. There is a green rectangle on the top of the rim of each puzzle card which you put into that space when setting up a new game, so that no player sees the first word and gets a head start. As the red ring is turned and a word appears, all players will search to see who can be the first to find it. Once a word is found, move the ring clockwise until the next word is in the opening and search again.

There are small bingo-type chips that are grooved so they will sit into the dips on the board. As you find a word, place your chips over the letters. At the end, the person with the most chips on the board wins the game.

For a junior version of this game, check out my post on Word Search Junior.

Object:
Have the most chips on the board when all the words have been found.

Set up:
Set up the game board as shown above, making sure that the green rectangle is showing in the opening of the ring.

Play:
All players play simultaneously. Turn the ring to the first word. Players race to see who can find it first. The person who spots it first places his chips over the letters. Turn the ring to the next word. Keep playing until all words have been found. If a word ends up crossing over another word that has already been covered, and someone else's chip(s) is already on a letter(s), take their chip(s) off the letter(s) you need to cover your word and return them to the players. Each player collects his chips off the board and counts them at the end of the game. Player who had the most chips on the board wins the game. Put in a new puzzle and play again.

Try this:

• Don't move the ring to reveal words. Set a timer for 3 minutes and see who can find and cover the most words, whether they are on the list or not.
• Hold several of the chips in your hand as you play. Bring each chip to the fingertips, one at a time, to place as you play. 
• Teach the individual to scan a line looking for the starting letter. When it is found, scan the eight letters surrounding it to see if the second letter is there. If it is, follow it to see if it spells the word.
• Sort the chips by color into the four cups in the corners of the board. Hold several at a time bringing them to the fingertips one at a time and drop them as you sort.
• Let the person who will have the most trouble sit with the game oriented upright in front of him. With several people playing, inevitably others will have to look at the board and the letters from different angles that might make it more challenging, especially if you are having to read words upside-down. Or, play four games and turn the board 90 degrees each game so each player has the same advantages/disadvantages as to location. Keep score and the winner is the person with the highest score.

In the box: 3 piece game board, 10 2-sided puzzle cards, 280 chips (4 sets of 70 in red, blue, green, yellow)

If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below:

Fun Employed

Fun Employed - Practice thinking on your feet

Do you work with individuals who are preparing to look for a job? Are you planning mock interviews? Preparing for and participating in job interviews is intimidating to many, the fear often compounded by not knowing what questions may be thrown at you. Interviewers tend to use many of the same common questions, which you can find online and use to practice. However, it couldn't hurt to get a little practice thinking on your feet. That's where Fun Employed comes in. The creators of this game state that Fun Employed is "the interview game of actual jobs and absurd qualifications".

What you get is a box of 488 cards - 89 job cards and 359 qualification cards. Here are examples of each:

• Job cards 
• Game show host
• Nanny
• Blogger
• Private detective
• Professional athlete
• Professional thief
• Televangelist
• School nurse
• Super hero
• Travel writer
• Qualification cards
• Hipster
• Furry
• Lives with parents
• X-ray vision
• Million dollar smile
• Indecisive
• Heights
• No sense of humor
• Patient
• Plenty of pockets

During the game, a job card will be revealed and each player will get a chance to pitch themselves as the best candidate for the job. How would heights and living with your parents qualify you to be the best game show host candidate? It will be up to you to figure it out and then be persuasive as you explain, as you will be up against all other players for the job.

I need to note that there are cards that would not be appropriate for a therapy setting, and maybe for your family setting. Examples of cards that I have removed are hungover, pimp, porn star, organic meth and nude selfies. Go through the cards before you play and remove any cards that you feel would be offensive or inappropriate for your audience.

In addition to the Build Your Resume version of the game, there are also two additional variations for play: Late to the Interview and With Friends Like These.

Build Your Resume

Object:

Get hired for as many jobs as possible. Have the most job cards at the end of the game.

Set up:

Shuffle each deck of cards and place the decks face-down by the play area. Choose the first employer. The rest of the players are applicants. Deal each applicant four qualification cards. Deal the employer one job card for each person that is playing. For example, if there are four applicants the employer will get four job cards. The employer gets one qualification card for each applicant. Deal 10 qualification cards face-up in the middle of the players.

Play:

The employer will flip over the top job card and each player will get a chance to interview for that job. After the card is flipped, all players have a chance to trade any cards in their hand for any of the face-up cards on the table. All players trade at the same time. Choose cards that you feel will be easy to defend in a job interview for that particular job. Trade as many times as you want, but once the interviews begin, no more trading.

Starting at the left of the employer, each applicant must reveal their four qualification cards, one at a time, and explain how each one would help them be the best candidate for the job. The employer then reveals one of his qualification cards as an unknown and the applicant must explain that card also. After interviewing each applicant this way, the employer chooses the person they feel is the best match for the job and gives the job card to that person. Discard all the qualification cards in use and re-deal following the instructions in set-up above. Continue this, giving each player a chance to be the employer. This is one round. Play two rounds. The person with the most job cards wins the game. 

Late to the Interview

Play as instructed above with the exception that you get four qualification cards that you cannot look at and do not put 10 in the middle for trading. Players are late for the interview so they have not had time to prepare, so cannot look at their qualification cards until they flip each one during the interview. You will need to think on your feet.

With Friends Like These

Use the same set up as for Build Your Resume. After card trading is done, every player passes his hand to the player on his left. That is now their hand to defend. Will you choose cards that will be easy to defend or difficult? Play two rounds and the person with the most jobs cards wins the game.

In the box: 89 job cards and 359 qualification cards

If you are interested in purchasing this game or just want more information, click on the image below.