by Donny Yankellow

This weekend was my third time attending the Maryland Renaissance Festivalin about thirty years. For me, it is not a yearly event (obviously). I thought it would be fun to go with my family, and it was a fun day. We looked at art, watched some shows and the glass blower, ate some food, and played some games.

Surprisingly, most of the food was reasonably priced. Our lunches were $6-8 each, and the portions were not skimpy. 

The festival itself seemed to have tripled in size since I was last there. There are a lot more games and a lot more stages and food vendors. Obviously, this makes for more to do. Of course, there are the wooden sword/weapon vendors that every kid wants to buy. Yes, mine did too, but he did not walk out with one.

Here's my problem with the festival. For a family of three it was about $60 for us to attend. That is admission pricing (it varies throughout the season). We expected to pay for food and drinks that we bought. I even understand having to pay extra to play a game, if it has a chance for a prize. Even theme parks like Kings Dominion and Hersheypark do this. Several of the games had no prizes or gave a wooden nickel for a prize when the game was $1.

However, charging $1 to go down a wooden slide or charging $1 at a game vendor to try one of the games is ridiculous. The slide and non prized games should be free. After all, you are paying a hefty admissions fee. The game vendor was truly wrong. You are charging me $1 to try a game you are trying to sell me (you get the $1 back if you buy a game)? Many people heard that and left the area. My son got lucky and the person helping him didn't ask for the $1. That is just bad business, and those were the vendors we saw doing this.

Don't get me wrong. The Renaissance Festival can be a fun experience, But nickel and dining the customer as we experienced is wrong. Hopefully when, or if, we go again (won't be for a while) things are better. Then again, they might start charging for seats at the shows!

by Donny Yankellow

Have you ever grabbed a tennis racket or similar and just started hitting the ball up and down yo yourself? Did you keep count and see how many you could hit before the ball hits the ground? If so, Tiny Pong by Hasbro gaming is for you.

The concept is simple. You have a mini ping pong table that you hold in your hand with a handle. You also have a ping pong ball. There is a yellow spot you push down and set the ball into and press the trigger on the handle. The ball pops up and you start hitting the ball up and down as many times as possible.

You are suppose to hit the ball from side to side of the plastic net. However, my family has been hitting the ball on either side of the net, even if it doesn't go over the net. There is even a harder mode where you have to hit the ball to diagonal quadrants.

You can even remove the net to make the game easier. This is a good way to get used to the game.

As you play the table keeps count of your hits. When you are done a voice comes on and gives you your score, lets you know if you made a new high score, and more. This is where the only issue with the game comes in. There is no volume control for the voice and/or no off button. The only way to turn off the voice is to take out the batteries. 

Overall, Tiny Pong is a ton of fun and You Can Never Have 2 Much Fun. Hasbro has a hit on their hands with this one.

Fun Rating: 4.5 out of 5

Hasbro is not a sponsor of this site and did not provide a copy of Tiny Pong for review. However, if you are interested in buying Tiny Pong please consider using our Amazon referral link below and support the site.

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