Battle Bands is an affordable, collectible game that would make a great stocking stuffer for a boy ages 6-10 this Christmas. Simple addition of two digit numbers is required to play. The concept is really quite simple. After a millennium of peace and prosperity on the world of Maelstrom, a dark force has arisen sowing strife between the nations of Fire, Water and Earth (Air apparently got voted off the island a long time ago). Everyone fights for control of Maelstrom. Gameplay mechanics are fairly simple, all players have a team of 5 battle bands composed of the four factions-- darkness, water, fire and earth. Players take turns launching their battle bands at the game board, which is divided into various regions of different point values. If two band occupy the same region, they MUST fight! The outcome of the fight is determined by the relative colors of the bands. Red (Fire) beats Green (Earth). Blue (Water) beats Red (Fire). Green (Earth) beats Blue (Water). And Black (Darkness) beats them all! A player cannot have more than one Darkness band in their army. After the players have launched all five of their bands, their scores are tallied. Scores are based off of where the band lands and the point valve of the band (all bands have descriptive cards and point values). If a band misses the game board or falls into darkness, that band is not scored for the round. After the scores are tallied, the next round begins. The game continues until a player reaches the predetermined point value based on what type of game they are playing. The game is sold in three packages: Starter Pack, Booster Pack and Rumble Pack. The Starter Pack and Rumble Pack both come with a game board. The Starter however, only comes with enough battle bands for one boy to play. So if you plan to purchase a starter pack for more than one child, make sure you buy a booster pack to go along with it. Unlike a lot of collectible games, the starter pack for Battle Bands actually lists what bands are in the package on the outside. There are over 70 different bands to collect. The Battle Bands themselves are a decent quality, but I suspect from how many went under our couch that they will get easily lost or kidnapped/stolen/absconded with by household pets. However at their affordable prices this should not be a deterrent. The Starter Packs are $6.99. Booster Packs are $3.99. And the Rumble Pack which comes with 15 bands and a deluxe game board is $9.99. Battle Bands can be found at Target, Walgreens, Rite Aid, Trans World Entertainment and Fry's Electronics. If you have a little boy who is big on the silly bands craze, these bands are the perfect stocking stuffer!

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Copyright © 2010 By Sidra and Zack Roman