Disney Brings the Magic to Codenames

Thanks to Tryazon and Usaopoly I was selected for the chance to host a Disney Codenames party. I love a good game night and I love to throw a little get together for several of my friends.

For some reason I thought The Little Mermaid was a wonderful theme.

I even decided to make a mixed drink that I called Ariel's Under The Sea Punch. It was delicious!

Anyway if you aren't familiar with what Codenames is let me explain a bit. There are two teams competing against each other. Pictures and words are laid out on a 5X5 grid. There is also a small card that tells which pictures and words belong to which team. One person on each team is the giver of clues. 1 word only clues and a number that correspond to how many pictures or words are on the grid. The game is simple enough but it gets competitive  quite quickly.

This is an example of the how the game is laid out. There are two colors that represent each team. If you were the red team you might give your teammate the clue of ANIMAL 4. Meaning there are 4 animals that are the red color. 

The real fun of codenames is coming up with clues. That is not always an easy task because sometimes what seems like an obvious clue could make your teammate choose the wrong teams card. It should be noted though that this game is best played if you have seen a variety of Disney movies. I mean most common movies are covered. If you are a huge fan of the Disney universe then you won't have any issues in figuring out what cards belong to what movies. The game can be played with either words or pictures, but I found the pictures version to be more fun. Especially since the artwork on most of the cards is stunning. 

Overall I had five people show up at my party. Which is a rather small number. The game can be played with 2-8 people but I have found four or at the most 6 to be the magic number.  We played a couple of different ways first with 3 on 3 and then since we had a second game in our kit we decided to break up and do two separate 3 player modes.

We became the main players as Group 2 was enjoying their version and the Disney music videos in the other room after they split from us leaving us on this side of the table.

Group 2 taking a break from playing. I apologize for the lousy quality of this pic. I didn't realize till the party was over that the sun ruined this image..

It was a fun day to be had by all and everyone had a good time at the party. I will be adding this to my regular game nights as a social ice breaker type game. I thank Tryazon and UsaOpoly once again for giving me the opportunity to host this party. 

Codenames is one of my favorite games to play and I have a few different versions. This holds up and plays just as well as the rest of them. It is geared towards the Disney fan. So if not everyone in your group is a huge fan of Disney then I would personally say stick to the regular or casual themed versions of the Codenames game. With that being said I would normally give regular code names a 4.5. out of 5. Since this retains a lot of what makes that fun but loses the casual element, I give this....

4 out of 5 Stars
★★★★☆

The Battle of Karaoke Apps: Smule's Sing vs Starmaker. Which one will win?

SMULE SING APP

STARMAKER KARAOKE

Karaoke is a passion of many people. Gone are the days of having to go get your karaoke fix at the bar and wait for your turn to sing a song that the dj may or may not have. There are options online such as websites like Singsnap. While they have their own app, I believe it is only available for IOS devices at the moment. I may review Singsnap the website in a future update. Youtube is another wonderful option for karaoke but with that lacks the ability to record yourself to the karaoke track. Let's get this sing off started and see which app will go home the winner. 

ROUND 1 - Song Selection, Quality,  and Vocal Effects

Both of these apps have an amazing selection of songs to choose from. When it comes to terms of quality of the songs Smule has the advantage. While both apps do sometimes suffer from uploads where the vocals have been removed in audacity, or not at all. Smule blows Starmaker out of the water when it comes to the overall quality and presentation of the songs. For example on Smule you can preview what the karaoke track sounds like before you sing it. This helps you determine if it is worth recording and what kind of quality the track is. It doesn't appear that you can yet do that on Starmaker. Both apps do have a rating system for quality of the tracks but not everyone rates the quality accurately leaving a mixed result. When it comes to vocal effects both apps are similar. Both have an auto tune type of effect, reverb, and different styles. Even though Starmaker's effects are all free and you can apply them during or after.  Smule does have some VIP effects but they still have overall more variety and control. 

This Round goes to SMULE 

ROUND 2 - Who has the better free version?

Both of these apps are free to use. While I don't know off hand if either has a recording limit I have not hit it on either one of them and I have a few hundred songs recorded. The Vip versions of the apps are the same price $4.99. The vip versions both do the same things. They remove ads, give you a few exclusive songs that may have a higher quality or in some way be better than one you can find for free. They both give you the option to join a duet for free. Where they differ is with Smule you have to be VIP to start a duet, or sing solo. On smule you are rather limited to hoping someone has sung a version of a song you like so you can join them. On Starmaker you currently have the option to do a solo, start a duet, or join a duet all for FREE!  

This Round goes to STARMAKER

Round 3 - Popularity

Both of these apps have a ton of users. You will rarely not find someone to duet with. Starmaker does have a few more features that tend to appeal those looking for more followers. The option to send gifts and contests hosted by the app. It does start to fall into the category of a lot of people just following others in hopes that they get more followers. On Smule I feel like I've made some better connections and found a few regular singing partners because not everyone is just liking and commenting whatever gets posted. Although in that regard with the daily rankings and higher chance for exposure to gain more followers... Starmaker edges out Smule if you are looking to get a little more views.

This Round Goes to STARMAKER

Round 4 - User Interface

One important thing is how the app looks and interacts overall. Honestly both apps are very similar in that regard. Their UI is very similar. I did find Smule to be a bit more user friendly the first time logging on. Everything was very easy to navigate through. Starmaker isn't difficult to navigate through but it didn't feel as natural or fluid if that makes sense. In terms of other visuals the songs display similar singing cues for duet. Person A is given one color and Person B is given another and there's a third color that indicates when to sing together. On Smule the words are bigger and bolder and move more naturally and the transition in color changes is much smoother. On Starmaker it is a bit more rough. One bonus starmaker has here is the ability to skip straight to the song. For songs with longer intros that is a nice bonus if you are pressed for time but that doesn't totally make up for where it is otherwise sloppy. 

THIS Round goes to SMULE

Round 5 - Extra Features

This could be the decision maker for a lot of people. Some of the extra features in Starmaker are interesting. Such as the previously mentioned contests, singing rooms, gifts giving, and  daily rankings. While Smule doesn't have those it does have the ability to do large group songs and probably its most fun feature SING WITH THE ARTIST. Being able to do duets with some of today's top recording artists is an experience many fans dream of. Not many will get to ever do that in real life so this is the closest that they will get. That does increase the fun factor.

THIS ROUND goes to SMULE

TOTAL
SMULE 3 STARMAKER 2

Winner: SMULE

It was a close contest. Neither app is bad and each has their own unique charm that make them both incredibly fun to use. 

Exciting New Content Coming Soon!

As this blog grows and evolves I wanted to share with you guys what I am planning to do.
Product reviews are a big part of this blog. That will continue to happen as I get to try out more brands or box subscriptions and things of that sort. My voice acting projects will also continue to be highlighted when I find the projects I participate in are finished. I am currently in the middle of recording lines for 3 different series. All of which will be online at some point. Most of them are collaborations with newer content creators. We are all trying to improve our skill after all.

Other things I am going to be adding to this blog in some form.

TOP 10 LISTS!!
I know people love top 10 lists and I have been thinking about this for a while. I keep watching these videos and thinking of lists they are missing or ways I could make the lists a little better. Working on researching the first few now and may have one of those up soon.

Golden Girls Fan Theories
This may expand to other tv shows in the near future but I love discussing and coming up with my own fan theories. The purpose of this will be more focused on the show's many inconsistencies and how they can possibly be explained with a few fan theories.

MORE GAMING
I'll be a regular member of the GamerJesters podcast going forward. We are currently working on a new setup that will look like a more professional style podcast. We will try to be doing these on the regular basis. I will mostly be the Nintendo guy.

BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE
There is still some more things that I haven't covered but these here are the near future. One of the things I am thinking of is coming up with some sort of name to reflect the mixture of things my blog is about. I mean  don't even have to change the name. Look at sites like Perez Hilton. He's focused on celebrity gossip and entertainment and he just used his name. So maybe a name change isn't even needed.

You Know I'm Feeling LUCKTASTIC! My thoughts

Hello There! Forgive me that it has been a few days since I had my last blog up. I'm aiming to eventually turn this into a daily blog but for now a few times a month is better than nothing. Moving right along shall we!
If you like scratch off lottery tickets as much as I do and the thrill of winning then the LUCKTASTIC app MAY be for you.... that is also a very big MAY!

I've been on the LUCKTASTIC app a little over a month now. In the beginning I was on it daily playing all 30-40 cards that were available to me. Believe me it was quite time consuming and I will get to why that is in just a second, but first let me tell you a bit more about the app.

LUCKTASTIC is an app that simulates the thrill of scratching off lottery tickets without having to spend actual money. These virtual scratch off tickets can reward you with either Tokens or CASH a bit more on what you might be able to win in just a bit...

HOW DOES IT WORK AND IS IT REALLY FREE?

Above Image: Is the general layout of the app. It can only be viewed in landscape mode

The app will basically give you between 30 and 40 ways to win. Most of them are going to be scratch off style cards where you can potentially win cash prizes or tokens in varying amounts. The app is made free via advertising. You will see a lot of video ads.(Which I am assuming is how the app makes money)  After nearly almost all of the scratch off cards you play. They are mostly 30 second advertisements. This is a game best played over wifi. You can expect to spend at least an hour scratching off all your available cards due to the amount of video ads you will watch.

DIFFERENT WAYS TO PLAY AND WIN!
They recently introduced surveys to this app as an additional way to earn more tokens. I haven't yet participated in any of the surveys so I can't give any feedback on that. One quick way to earn a few thousand tokens is to download and install some of their partner apps. Generally you install the app and run it and it you'll get your token reward. Sometimes it may require you to reach a certain level or objective in the partner app so the app is actually getting used and not just installed and uninstalled. In all fairness it is a fun way to discover a new app or game you may not otherwise bother looking at.

The fun is in the scratch off tickets! Although don't expect to be able to quit your day job. While there have been people who have won large cash prizes in this app. They have the happy smiling people with their checks to prove it! It just isn't a common occurrence. If everyone was winning $100 to $1000 at a time then you'd see nothing but glowing 5 star reviews and the company that runs it would probably be broke.  Although you never know! Even though the odds are low, much like in real lottery games.. you just might be that lucky person.

Each game has a BONUS box and I found that is where the most winning occurs. I have yet to see any cash winnings in a bonus box but that doesn't mean that they aren't there. Mostly the winnings I've had were just low token amounts. Every once and a while it gives me a couple hundred or thousand tokens.

FINAL THOUGHTS?

Overall the app does have some fun moments. Unless you are one of the lucky few then it will take you a bit of time to build up enough tokens to get some rewards. The rewards page however is loaded with a lot of different cool rewards ranging from magazine subscriptions to gift cards. There is also a cash out page. There are a few different options for cashing out such as gift card, check, prepaid visa debit card. Each of those options have their own minimum. For example the gift card is a minimum of $2 and the check is a minimum of $10. So you can win if you are willing to do some work for it. I generally find myself using this app when I'm watching tv and there is a commercial on. They do have a referral program to help you earn more tokens. If you enjoyed my review and are interested in checking out the app feel free to use my referral link.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE LUCKTASTIC APP ON ANDROID OR IOS