 September 2008 |
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Greetings, and welcome to the first monthly newsletter from Cat & Mouse!
Every month we'll send you the latest news from the store, information on
events, and short articles that we think our customers will find
interesting. We hope you enjoy reading the news and that we'll see you
in the store soon. Thanks for subscribing! - The Cat & Mouse Team (Linda, Andre, Cyrus, and Milo) What's Happening in the StoreDemo Games Fun New Stuff
Events This Sunday the 21st we're holding our first Family Gaming event, where parents can come in with their children and discover some great games that the whole family can enjoy together. Family Gaming will be held on the first and third Sundays of every month. Please RSVP for this event so that we know about how many people to expect and what ages the kids are. Tuesday the 23rd will be our first Game Night for adults, starting at 7pm and going until around 9:30 or whenever the last game is finished. This will be a bi-weekly event, and we're thinking of adding additional game nights as we get more staff. A complete calendar of events can be found on our web site. Good Games that TeachAndre is a veteran middle-school teacher and we have two kids of our own, so we're always looking for good educational games. Now, lot's of games bill themselves as "educational" but often that's an indication that a game is really not that interesting to play. We love it when we find games that are not only educational, but are also actually FUN! Each month we'll let you know about one or two games that live up to that goal; they're games that are kid-tested and teacher-approved!
Featured Games - It's Harvest Time!You may be in the city, but that doesn’t mean you can’t celebrate Fall
with our bumper crop of farm and animal-themed games!
Rustic Challenge Chess Set
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Did You Know...
Upcoming EventsSat. 9/20 Heroscape 3-5pm Sun. 9/21 Family Gaming 11am-12:30pm Tues. 9/23 Game Night 7-9:30pm Sat. 9/27 Afternoon GO 2-4pm Save the DatesOur Grand Opening event is scheduled for Saturday October 11. We'll have a full day of fun events, contests, and prizes, so be sure to check our web site for a complete schedule of activities as the date gets closer. Also mark your calendars for the sales we have scheduled for September and October:
October ReleasesHere are some games to keep an eye out for next month. We offer this as general information only, though, since many publishers don't always meet their expected release dates. If you'd like to pre-order any games, drop us a line and we'll make sure we set aside a copy for you. We'll let you know when your copy arrives in the store and is ready for pick-up.
Cat and Mouse Game Store 773-384-4454
Hours: » Getting to Cat & Mouse Game Store
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Incan
Gold - This game was the top-seller on our opening weekend, and for good
reason. It's a quick, fun and tense game in which you and other adventurers
explore an old Incan temple in search of gold and treasure. In each of the
five rounds, you secretly choose if you want to continue exploring the
temple in search of more treasure or retreat to the safety of your camp with
your share of the treasure that has been discovered so far. So where
does the educational part come in? It happens to be one of the best
games we've come across for teaching the concept of division.
When treasure cards are turned over, the treasure gets divided evenly
between the players and the remainder gets placed on the center path. Our
son Milo started playing this game when he was five and quickly picked up on
the concept without even realizing that he was doing some pretty tricky math
problems for a guy his age! 
Backseat
Drawing - In this new game from Out of the Box, two teams race to
identify drawings done by their own team members. But the artists don’t know
what they are drawing—they can only follow the instructions given by another
team member. There are a lot of drawing games out there, but this is
one that can easily be adapted for play by kids of all ages, and can be
played in teams or one-on-one. This game rewards good listening
skills, plus the ability to speak and describe things clearly
and concisely, which can be a challenge for a lot kids. Come to think
of it, it's not just kids who could brush up on those skills, so everybody,
gather around a table and play some Backseat Drawing! 
Agricola – The eagerly-awaited agriculture game that is destined to
be an all-time classic Euro game. If you enjoy Puerto Rico or other heavier
Euros, this one is a must-have. Includes rules for a lighter family version
which is equally enjoyable. HIGHLY recommended. Demo copy available is
available in the store so you can try before you buy.
Zoff im Hühnerhof a.k.a. Chicken Squabble – Farmer Fred flings feed
and chickens chase the chow. Watch out for the furtive fox! Lots of fun to
play with your younger kids; the game requires some dexterity and some
strategy. Demo copy available in the store.
Chicken Cha Cha Cha – This is our very favorite memory game. The
wooden chickens are awesome, and kids have a blast hopping over other
chickens and stealing their tail feathers. Add the Duckling Dancin’
expansion to add some obstacles and allow you to play with 5-6 players.
HIGHLY recommended. Demo copy available in the store.
Shear Panic – You need
to maneuver your sheep away from the shearer and toward heartthrob Roger the
Ram in order to score the most points. Don’t let the cute sheep fool you; there’s more
strategy here than you might think! Demo copy available in the store.
Bohnanza – You say you’re interested in bean farming? Well, Bohnanza
is the game for you! The cards are colorful depictions of beans in various
descriptive poses, and the object is to make coins by planting fields (sets) of
these beans and then harvesting them. This popular card game is a hit with
older kids and adults
alike. Demo copy available in the store.
Have you Herd – In this
lively European dice game players battle to get each of the five animals on the
farm: rabbit, sheep, pig, cow, and horse. Players build and trade their way to a
complete “herd” of animals, and try to avoid rolling the hungry wolf or sly fox
that will make a meal out of the herd. Easy to learn game that’s perfect to
take along when you need a quick game to play with the family.
Cosmic Cows – It's
time for the Annual Extraterrestrial Cow-Pulling Contest, and aliens from all
over the galaxy have come to watch the event! Go head to head with your
cross-cosmos rival to see who can abduct three Cosmic Cows first! It's
completely ridiculous, but who can resist alien-abducted cows engaged in a
tug-of-war contest? We sure can’t!