Pros: Mario and company will spend time with you even when nobody else will!
Cons: Can be a little "childish". Gets boring fast.
The bottom line: This is not something I would play daily, but beats cleaning up the mess of an old fashioned board game!
If you were (or are) one of those lonely kids like I was growing up, you still carry around baggage over not having anyone to play board games with. Maybe it's because I was an 80's child that board games were so important. Anyway, over time I grew up, and eventually learned to stop asking for anyone to play games with me. It also helped that I got my first Nintendo Entertainment System (AKA the NES). I began diving deeper and deeper into the game world declaring Mario and Luigi my best friends and feeling like I should always try to save the princess from whatever might try to harm her.

Ok, ok, so maybe it wasn't THAT bad. But, I did grow rather attached to the world of make believe plumbers and princesses created by Mr. Miyamoto and company. Over the years I have not only grown up with but come to love Mario, Toad, Bowser, and all the little Koopah's.

So imagine my joy when I was given Mario Party 8 for the Wii as a Birthday present! At first it seemed a little kiddish. And it is. But it's one of those games that really does bring out the child in you. For me, I was turning 28, and my 10 & 12 year old step sons were ready to jump in and go to war.

The game itself is designed to play much like a board game. You pick your Mario World based character and "roll" a die (by bopping it with your characters head or should I say a flick of the wii-mote) to see who goes first.

As you travel around the board you can either be given coins, have them taken away, participate in mini games or receive items.

The best thing you can get is a star. They are worth 20 coins and also how you win the game!

The items allow you to roll multiple dice, Bowl over opponents, turn into a vampire and eat their coins, or a hand full of other options.

You can also meet up with some shady characters who will do some dirty work for you and steal other players coins and stars. Remember at the end the person with the most stars wins.

Once you've carried out a set number of turns you enter an awards ceremony where you have a chance to earn a few more stars. They can be awarded for just about any reason (which is a new feature in this version compared to others), so you have to stay ahead of the game to ensure your victory!

There are several different boards to choose from, and lots of items to unlock. You can play with one person or more. And if you're secretly a sore loser, you can give yourself a heaping helping of stars before you even enter the game! I'll never tell!

All in all it's a fun little game to pass the time away and definitely something you can play alone or with a group of people. Ages 4-94 will enjoy this at least once!