Day 138, Game 138 - Scribblenauts Unlimited

Today was a strange, yet enjoyable day for me. For the first time since my life was turned upside down, my four year old daughter spent the weekend with me at my new humble abode. I've spent lots of time with my two boys over the last couple of months because of baseball season, but I haven't been able to spend that quality time I've needed with my little girl. 

Well, this weekend finally happened. And it's been pretty awesome, for the most part. 

Earlier today, while trying to keep her as entertained as possible, between watching Spongebob Squarepants and 3D movies, I talked her into playing some games with me. Specifically, Scribblenauts Unlimited. Seeing as how she is four, she isn't exactly a true gamer ... yet, at least. She has played a lot of NintendoLand on the Wii U with me, and really enjoys the chase games, especially when I let her win. 

Because I have already played that game for my blog though, I talked her into playing a different game with me to satisfy my requirements for this silly project. So we played Scribblenauts Unlimited for the Wii U together. When I say "we," I mean mostly "I" obviously. But my little princess did help out, participate and "play" along with me, so that has to count for something, right?

For those unfamiliar with the game or the series, the concept is simple. You interact with different characters and objects in the game that act as puzzles, because they all need something to fulfill their tasks or goals. What they need is wide open to interpretation, allowing your imagination to run wild. How so, you ask? Well, you get to come up with any noun and adjective to produce the key to solving each "puzzle," simply by typing the word. You type it and *poof*, it appears before you, allowing you to interact with it, and if you're lucky, solving the mystery of each character. 

So my daughter and I played together, as I was asking her to come up with words to type in and try to solve each puzzle. I tried to put each puzzle into terms a four year old could understand, hoping to get some good words out of her. For a four year old, she has a pretty strong vocabulary, but being asked to think of specific words on the spot is not an easy feat. Some of the puzzles are challenging enough for me, much less her. However, I was able to get some puzzles accomplished with her help. 

Mostly, however, it turned into her saying funny words over and over just to see my type them and have them pop-up on screen. Once she realized how cool it was to have her imagination brought to life on screen, the flood gates opened. I had to remind her several times that actual characters she knew from cartoons wouldn't appear, but that didn't stop her from being creative. That is until she came across the word "bigfoot." I probably typed that word in a couple dozen times it seems, with every time being as funny as the last. Oh, and once I showed her how using descriptive words could change the appearance of the objects she was coming up with, everything became pink for some odd reason. 

And yes, that meant that eventually every bigfoot I created was pink. And she thought it was the best. 

It was a lot of fun playing with her today. I've spent so much time playing games with her older brothers over the years that I tend to forget what it's like to them when they are very young and amazingly easy to entertain with the simplest of games. Makes me think back to when I was her age, playing Super Mario Bros. over and over and over again. Back when gaming was simple, non-stressful and flat-out fun. 

Maybe one day she will look back at these times with me and remember how fun they were. Or maybe she will just grow up thinking pink bigfoot's actually exist. Either way, it's all thanks to Scribblenauts Unlimited and our time spent together in our first weekend of just father and daughter.

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