Product Review of Goliath Games – Photo Pearls Rummikub Paint-Sation Make7 Smath

In our large family of nine, we love games.  We try to have a family game night once a week.  Goliath Games was kind enough to send my large family several of their products for me to review.  In this post I will give my product review of Goliath Games products named: Photo Pearls, Rummikub, Paint-Sation, Make7 and Smath. This is an older post from 2018. (We now have 8 kids instead of 7.) Just bringing it back to the top.

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Product Review of Goliath Games – Photo Pearls Rummikub Paint-Sation Make7 Smath

Photo Pearls

We had never heard of Photo Pearls before so we were very curious to check it out.  We saw on the package that no heat or iron was needed and we wondered how the beads would stick together.  When we opened the packaged we saw some double-sided adhesive, which is very sticky glue paper that is used to keep the beads together and stick them onto thick cardboard for display. We used the free app download and used a photo I had taken of our cat nursing her two week old kittens.

I selected a fairly large photo that took 3,500 beads to make.  It would take up the full size of the cardboard that was included in the package and all four of the clear plastic templates would be needed for this.  The app made my photo into an amazing bead pattern with little circles that have a number inside each circle.  The numbers match the colors of beads in the tray and helps us know which one to use for that space.  The printouts were a full sheet of paper each, but we cut out the small part we would need.

A person could place this pattern under the clear plastic platform, but when I did that, I could not see the numbers very well.  That could be because I have 44 year old eyes. Anyways, the kit came with these nice numbered stickers to place in your tray to help you easily find the bead you need for your space. We used some plastic dishes to hold some of the colors we were using as there were four of us working on this project.  It was my 7 year old daughter, Miranda, my 15 year old daughter, Mercedes, my 18 year old daugher, Marissa and I.  We each took a section to work on.

I noticed the girls decided not to stick their templates under the paper either so maybe it is not just my old eyes, maybe the printer didn't show the numbers as well.

It is tedious work and really, we are looking at the back of it, which is the way you have to do it because of the glue paper that gets put on later.

My two oldest girls were able to finish their tiles quickly, in less than 90 minutes.  I was often interrupted by my 5 and 18 month old boys, so it took me 3 hours for my section! My 7 year old worked on it about 2 hours, until it was her bedtime.  She did not want to go to bed, she wanted to finish.  I said I would have to finish it so we could get the project done and up on the wall. But she did finish a great portion of it and only a few rows had to be redone because of mistakes.  We did run out of a color but had a very close color from another company and it worked out just fine. We wondered if they would iron together okay as we are used to doing that.  We tested it and they do iron just like other brands do, so you can iron them if you choose, but it's nice that you don't have to.  Here is Mercedes finishing up her section…

I finished Miranda's section in about an hour, with some interruptions, of course. You take the finished tile and peel off one side of the double-sided sticky glue paper and place it on the tile.  This is tricky.  My daughter tried to start on one end and that did not go well, I started in the middle and spread outward from there and that was successful.  This is what ours looked like after we had the sticky paper on all four sections and removed them from the tiles.  You can leave the tiles on, but we were too curious.

Now for the tricky part.  We turned the pieces upside down and tried to plan where they all needed to go.  In hindsight, we realized that the papers that came out of the printer had which column and row they should go in, but we had discarded those when we cut the smaller part out and the garbage had already been taken out.  For a moment, we almost had the head in the wrong position, but my 12 year old son, Maris, noticed it just in time.  Then we peeled the paper off to reveal the stickiness, adjusted a touch, then placed the cardboard carefully onto them and pressed down hard all over.  This is what it looked like when we flipped it over.

We were absolutely amazed at the results as the photo came from a cropped version of this photo.  I love how she is clutching her little calico baby.

I chose to put masking tape with yarn on the back to make a hanger and my husband hung it high in the kitchen above my cat clock and next to my collection of cat plates.  It looks amazing!

I am really happy with the results of this project and I recommend you give it a try.  We are planning to make another 3D art creation with the free app and beads and take it to the county fair. I feel we could do really well!  Here is a video you can watch to get a better idea of it.

Rummikub

This fun family game is similar to playing a game of cards called, “rummy”. Basically, everyone starts with some tiles and a holder and tries to make sets of at least three numbers, either a run of numbers or numbers that are the same and strategically place them on the table to try to get rid of all their tiles so they can win or score better.  Mason, me and Miranda are ready to play family game night tonight with this game! Our family does have a trophy that goes from one family member to another in the household depending on who wins the trophy that week at family game night.  Since all of us share bedrooms in this 4 bedroom house, we usually display it our our dressers, as each person has his/her own, Dad has two!  Since there were 7 of us playing this night, some of us had partners.  Mason and Mom, Miranda and Mercedes, Dad and Mattingly and Maris was on his own this time.

My husband is reading the rules next to my 16 year old son, who made words with the tiles on the table.

Mercedes was not sure how to “split” the tiles to make two “sets” so Dad helped to clarify that while the bored teen boy next to him started to write, “sucks”, because he wanted to play an online game with a friend and we were making him play.  Gotta have family time too!

Here is what some of the sets and runs look like laid out on the table from us playing.  This was our first time trying it so the rules had to be near at all times so we could be sure we were doing things right.

This is a game you need to keep score for. You have a better score if you end a round with no tiles left! Mason and I were able to do that and we won the trophy.  I let Mason have it on his dresser as I know it means a lot to him!  It was a little hard to figure out at first because our family doesn't play rummy, so it was all new.  We did enjoy it after we understood it and we will play it again soon!

Paint-Sation

Oh, do I have some artists at my house, including me!  We LOVE art projects!  This product was so exciting to try.  Mason was literally jumping up and down with joy at the prospect of being able to use this first as the older kids were all off to a 4-H event in another county on this day to show rabbits and guinea pigs. He enjoyed how organized it was with having a place for everything, even the paintbrush (in the holes in the top of the clip).

The extra refill pack that we were sent came with finger nibs that feel rubbery and have a shape at the tip.  He liked to use the crescent shape the most.

Miranda wanted to give it a try when she came home. She thought it was really fun and made even more pictures than her brother did.

I really enjoy this product and love how it all goes right back in the box so nicely for storage.  Here is a little video to watch.

Make7

This math learning game is great for homeschool or extra Math practice at home while having fun.  I played this with my seven year old.  She was able to place the stickers on the structure right where they belong.

Miranda would often count on her fingers as we were playing and kept asking, we need to get to seven right? I think she was planning her strategy of what numbered tile she would need to play next. The number 3s can only go in the red sections, but the 1s and 2s can go anywhere.

I won this round with my green tiles going vertically from top to bottom with “3,2,2”. She knew it and I got “the look”.

But that's okay, because she has won many rounds as well.  She really enjoyed this game.  I thought it was okay. I didn't like how the bottom opens and shuts, I thought it was difficult to maneuver and the tiles have fallen through a few times and we had to start over.  It may have just been the one we received though, yours may be better.

Smath

This is a board game that you need to make math equations to score.  Much like the game of Scrabble TM where people use letter tiles, here you use numbers and symbols and keep score. Not all of the pieces go in the black plastic bag though, just the digits do. Other pieces like the plus, minus and equal sign stay available for use.  I really like that it doesn't matter what math level you are at, you can play this game.  I think it would be best if you keep the level at the youngest player's level though, to be fair.

Miranda surprised me with some of the things she did in this game.  I was trying to keep it to addition and subtraction because that is what she has learned so far in homeschool, but she really wanted to use the division symbol! So, I taught a little division while playing the game and she made a division problem. Very cool! Us homeschool teachers love moments like that! The following is what I look like when playing most games, usually holding a baby or toddler.  This one is in his pajamas, asleep!

I really love this game and totally recommend it for any level math student, even algebra, as there are parenthesis tiles too.

The next Goliath Game I want to buy is:

Doggie Doo

Doggie Doo is everyone’s favorite pup! Feed your doggie, squeeze the leash, and after he makes his gassy sounds – plop! If you are the player who cleaned up the doo, you get a fart token. The player who has the most tokens at the end of the game wins!

• New improved design used food pellets that make for mess-free clean up
• Models responsibility in a fun (and gross!) way

Where to find Goliath Games:

• Website: http://www.goliathgames.us/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GoliathGamesUS/
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/GoliathGamesUS
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/goliathgames/
• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/goliathgames

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