I firmly believe that game night is an essential activity for every family and friend group. They can really teach you a lot about someone, like that your Uncle John tends to hide Monopoly money under his leg and then “doesn’t know how it got there,” or how your mom is more competitive than you thought. It can also make you question years of friendship when your BFF starts says things he or she doesn’t mean while playing Mario Kart. I have game nights to thank for some of my most cherished memories from growing up (and even now when I’m in my twenties).
Games are the best way to get friends and family together for friendly (or fierce) competition, and even teach kids great life skills such as taking turns, sharing, and patience. But now, thanks to Hasbro, classic game play has just gotten bigger and better.
Hasbro has teamed up with Chromecast to give fans of classic family games the opportunity to play anytime and anywhere (literally). Gone are the days when you have to worry about lugging around board games everywhere and wondering where the missing pieces went. Instead, board gamers can now enjoy digital versions of games that have been around for decades, like Monopoly, Catch Phrase, and Yahtzee.
Chromecast is a device that plugs into a TV to let you “cast” whatever you have on your phone, tablet, or laptop to the screen of the TV. So, players can simply use their smartphones and game tablets as the game controllers. In addition to sparing me from giving my sister an evil glare when she mixes up the different colors of Monopoly money, this also means absolutely no clean up!
Anyone can get involved as long as he or she plays on a smartphone or tablet device. All you need to do is download the “Big Screen Editions” app for whichever game you want to play, hit “play on TV” button in the app, and then choose which device you would like to cast. Voila! It’s game time.
Up to four players can play at a time, but depending on the game, you will only need two smart devices to play as two teams or every player will need his or her own device. In Catch Phrase, players are divided up into two teams and can play in “classic mode” or “free for all” versions. Yahtzee is the same game you know and love, but with a digital twist. The Big Screen Edition for Monopoly: Here & Now is the new edition of classic Monopoly, where you travel across the world and claim cities instead of properties. You only have three free games to play on each device before you need to wait for a new game to reload, or purchase within the app to play more games.
#casual #Friyay @TheToyInsider playing @HasbroNews #catchphrase Big Edition! pic.twitter.com/9kBhXWK5tL
— Marissa DiBartolo (@MarissaDBartolo) November 20, 2015
The Big Screen editions of the game encourage everyone to participate and are just as fun as classic game play. I don’t care how old you are or if you claim that you’re “too old” to play games—every single person can get in on the fun. We played an office-wide game of Catch Phrase, and I don’t remember the last time I laughed so hard!
In addition to these games, you can play solo in other favorites, such as The Game of Life, Connect 4, Scrabble, Hungry Hungry Hippos, and more!
