by Jamie Wiersma

Editors Note:  Congratulations to Betty Hamilton for winning a 3 month subscription to E-mealz.com!  And we’re happy to congratulate Rebecca Anderson for winning a one year license for SocialGuard. 

BLACK FRIDAY MONTH!  November marks the celebration of  Black Friday Month.  Every week we will be announcing another chance to win some fun tech giveaways!  Be sure to sign up for our e-mail newsletter so you don’t miss out!   Other giveaways going on now:    Kingston urDrive USB thumbdrives(very cool), and  Ritmo in-utero baby sound system($179 value!).

Win a copy of Dabble either for your home, iPad, or iPhone!  See Win Me! details below!

If you are looking for a fun, quick-thinking game, look no further – Dabble is the game for you!  If you are looking for an educational game that will improve your child’s spelling, this fast thinking word game is the perfect choice!  Dabble* recently won the Dr. Toys 10 Best Games for 2011 Award, Dr. Toys 100 Best Children’s Products for 2011,  the Parent’s Choice Gold Award, and is already a new hit in our family.

To play the game, 2 to 4 players pick 20 tiles each and then attempt to create a 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 letter word in five minutes. The first one to accomplish the goal receives the points from the tiles that his opponents were unable to use (incomplete words.) If no one can create all 5 words, each player is allowed to trade in whatever tiles he does not want for new tiles and another round begins.

Want to add another element? Pick a “Subject Category” like clothing or foods and if a player is able to spell a word that would fall in that category she gets the point value for that word added to her total score.

Dabble has been a hit with everyone that I’ve played it with so far. It is geared for ages 10 and up which I feel is very accurate. I also sat down and played it with my 8-year-old and with an adult partner, it really challenged him in his spelling and became a great educational tool. My brother-in-law who doesn’t particularly enjoy spelling games like Scrabble and Boggle even gave it 2 thumbs up! (He even won a few rounds!) I’ve also sat down and played a few rounds of “solitaire” Dabble.

Dabble As An App!

As a side note, Dabble can also be purchased as an app for your iPhone or iPad. I got the chance to try it out and I think that it is just as fun as the actual board game. It has more of a solitaire-type feel because you are playing by yourself against the clock.  It is very easy to move the tiles around and it looks like every set of letters has a solution available.

So, if you’re REALLY good, you should be able to complete the puzzle each time – I wasn’t!   I had two friends looking over my shoulder as I was trying out the app and they both were intrigued. Well worth the $.99.

Where to Buy

Overall, 84-year old inventor George Weis got it right with this one! “If you can spell, you can play,” says Weiss.  Dabble is now a new favorite in our family and we look forward to sharing it with more people.  Dabble launched this year at the New York Toy Fair and retails for $19.69 through Amazon.com.  Dabble is also available in stores at Target, Toys R Us, Barnes & Noble, Calendar Club, and many Specialty Retailers.

Win It!

WellConnectedMom.com is celebrating Black Friday Month with Giveaways chances every week!

Do you LOVE word games?  How would you like to win the physical game of Dabble to play with your friends and family?  How about the iPhone version?  Have an iPad, would you like Dabble for the iPad?  We are giving away one of each version of Dabble as a part of our Black Friday Month Giveaways!  Happy spelling and good luck!

TO ENTER

• Fill out the form below.  One entry per person.
• Only USA addresses please.
• The contest ends November 25th, 12am PST.
• Winners will be chosen by random.org.
• Prize will be fulfilled through online download for the apps and through the mail for the game.

GET EXTRA CHANCES TO WIN

• Get 1 extra entry for following Well Connected Mom on Facebook.
• Get 1 extra entry for following @wellconnectdmom on Twitter.
• Get 1 extra entry for tweeting on twitter, “I hope to win Dabble, the fast thinking word game or app from @wellconnectdmom http://bit.ly/uv2ssm”