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(doorbell rings) (knocking on door)

Neil Dandy: What the heck? It’s 6 in the morning.

(more knocking on door)

Neil Dandy: Who’s at my door?

(more knocking on door, Neil opens door)

Delivery Girl: Package for idiot! (shoves package into Neil’s stomach) Up yours!

Neil Dandy: Ow!

(Delivery Girl walks away in a huff and Neil looks bewildered)

Neil Dandy: Huh? It is way too early in the morning for this. I wonder what I’ve got here. I’ll set it down on my couch. (sound of cat hissing) Oh, hi Mr. Mittens! Good morning! At least you’ll be nice to me.

(cat attacks Neil’s hand leaving deep claw marks) Owww!
(Neil sits on couch) Well, we can at least see what we’ve got….

Couch with an angry voice: Get off me!

Neil Dandy: What the heck?

Couch with an angry voice: How’d you like it if I sat on you?

Neil Dandy: No! You’re my couch! I’m gonna sit on you! That’s what you’re made for!

Couch with an angry voice: I don’t like it!

Neil Dandy: I’ll be off in a minute.

Couch with an angry voice: Well make it fast!

Neil Dandy: Everybody’s being grouchy today! What’s going on? (Neil looks into the box) Oh! Maybe it has something to do with what’s in this box! It’s the game of… Grouch Couch!

Hello and welcome to the Dandy Fun House! I’m your host, Neil Dandy, and this is where we talk about retro pop culture, toys and games and all the fun stuff! Thank you for coming and hanging out with me today. We are unboxing and going to put together what needs to be put together and show you how to play the game Grouch Couch by Spin Master Toys!

Spin Master Toys is kind of an interesting company. They started out in the 90s with just $10,000 and a toy made out of pantyhose called Earth Buddies. You rubbed seeds in them or something and grass grew out of the tops of their heads.

Since then, over the years, they’ve bought companies, sold companies, and now they do all kinds of stuff. Like Kinetic Sand, Batman, DC Universe, Etch-a-Sketch, Hatchimals, Monster Jam, Orbeez, Paw Patrol, Rubik’s, Jumanji, Giant Candy Land, Giant Sorry, and Earth-friendly versions of classics like Connect Four, Chess, Jenga (although I don’t think they’re allowed to call it Jenga, but you get the idea) and a whole lot more!

Anyway, let’s crack this baby open and see what we’ve got (and maybe some people will get in a better mood around this place!)

So here we have the game… Grouch Couch. There’s the couch. Looks more like a love seat… No, it’s got three seats on it, so I guess it qualifies as a couch. The Furniture with Attitude game by Spin Master. Pretty cool. This is, I don’t know what they call it, when it’s a game and a toy combined. A toy with a game. A twig?

Oh, there’s like French writing on this. And as usual we’ve got kids on the back of the box having a good old time with it. I think the object of this is you get some game pieces, you put them on the couch, the couch eats some of the pieces, and if it likes what it ate, it spits coins at you! And at the end whoever’s got the most coins wins! Whoever dies with the most toys wins, whoever gets the end of Grouch Couch with the most coins wins!

It looks like the back cushions are eyebrows, and when it comes alive it shows you eyeballs and teeth and eats all your candy and knick knacks that you normally lose between your couch cushions. It’s like a game based on losing stuff in your couch cushions, and you’ve got a really grumpy couch.

Alright, time to unbox this thing. I’ve got it open here and the whole thing comes out. There’s a really nice background that all slides out, kind of looks like a living room in the background. Very nice.

The Grouchy Couch is kind of strapped into place. Looks like he’s got some little feet underneath that you turn to release him from his packaging.

On the back of the couch, we’ve got some elastic bands… I’ve read some reviews online from people who have bought this thing, that the elastic bands are part of what makes this toy move. The couch is already in the grouchy position here however. And I’ve heard complaints that people have had to adjust the bands or get rid of them altogether. I’m not really sure.

I think this thing’s not supposed to be in the position of showing its teeth and eyes right now when you start. I think that’s what happens when you get it animated and make it come alive. So I’m going to go ahead and remove the elastic bands altogether. Sometimes I read reviews and a whole lot of people just get it wrong from the get-go. And a product will end up with a lot of really unwarranted bad reviews that it really shouldn’t have. And this might be the case with this game.

When I remove the elastic band, the couch settles down into the resting position and looks like a normal couch instead of a monster couch. I’m pretty sure at this point that the elastic band’s just not supposed to be in there at all and was only for the purpose of holding things in the open position so you can see the couch in it’s more alive state for the purpose of the presentation in the packaging.

So here we go! I’ve got a whole bag of coins, and the coins have different images on them and all kinds of knickknacks and objects and a die that you roll. This looks very, very, very simple. I’m going to dump the contents right there.

With the coins; Some have cars on them. Some have a kitten. There’s a pair of underwear… How often have you lost your underwear in the couch? Don’t answer that question! There are game pieces that look like grandma candy, especially the little ones with the clumpy bulbs. There are also soda cups.

Now, in order to make this thing come alive, there’s an on-off switch on the very bottom, and a screw which covers the battery compartment, and it takes three AAA batteries. I’ve never liked the screw because then you have to go through a big rigmarole to get to the batteries. But then I started thinking, if little kids are going to play with it, people probably don’t want them getting to the batteries because they’ll start sucking on them! And they’ll inhale them down their windpipes, and who wants blue children?

So let’s go ahead and take the bottom off here, access the battery compartment. I did actually pick up some AAA batteries today in anticipation, and the whole little door comes off. Load in the batteries and… There we go!

… And I think it’s turned on now. (I push the remote control on the couch arm and the couch comes alive for a brief second) That’s pretty cool.

Next you load it with the coins into the middle cushion. There’s a little flip up door in the middle cusion which was too stiff for me to open by hand but with the help of a small screwdriver, I did manage to get it to release with some gentle pressure. I’m guessing you’ll probably be able to do it with just your fingernails after a while once the toy gets broken in a bit. And you load the coins into the middle of the center couch cushion. It has a cylindrical receiving hole and then you snap the lid back down.

Next you roll the die and it tells you how many pieces of candy to place onto the cushions.

I really like things like this that are animated, things that come alive, things that are fun, things you can pick up and hold in your hand. That’s what we’re missing these days. That’s why I don’t review video games and things of that nature.

The die doesn’t have dots on it. It has numbers, and it also has a vacuum on it. And I believe the vacuum allows you to suck up somebody else’s coins. And if you get the vacuum, you roll again, and whatever number that is is how many coins you get to steal from someone else. But anyway, let’s go ahead and roll this thing. Let’s see what happens!

(rolls die)

I have a three, so I’m going to take three candies, toys, knickknacks, put them right there. And I think all I do is I push the remote control that’s on the armrest of the couch, and it’ll eat whatever it wants.

(couch grunts briefly and move just a small amount without eating any treats)

Or it’ll eat nothing. So I roll again here. I’ve got a two… So I’m going to put two more on here.

(couch becomes very animated and eats most of the treats then shoots coins out of the front bottom of the couch)

Boy, it really shoots those out! I mean, the candies spit towards me and ended up on the floor by my feet (because I am positioned behind the couch for demonstration purposes in front of the camera). And then the coins shot forward and went flying right off the edge of the table. So it’s got some some gusto there!

But it’s a kick! This is fun! I love the sounds it makes. It makes some nice grumpy sounds, burps and sometimes plays music.

I don’t think there’s a whole lot more to say about this. Grouch couch by Spin Master! I like this guy. This game is a hoot! I don’t know who could possibly be complaining about it. This is obviously people who have not read the instructions, but mine works great right out of the box.

Spin Master has knocked it out of the park once again! This one is DANDY FUN HOUSE APPROVED!

BECOME A DANDY FUN HOUSE SUPPORTER!

And if you’d like to help me knock it out of the park and do more toy and game reviews, which will allow me to go out and buy more stuff like this and tell you what I think about it, unbox it and have fun with it here, please consider becoming a Dandy Fun House supporter by visiting the website and patronage page at http://www.dandyfunhouse.com.

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Super Supporters will not only gain access to the exact same bonus material, but I’ll also send you something really cool from right here at the Dandy Fun House studios IF you provide your mailing address!

I’m not going to send you Grouch couch. I’m going to donate this to the kids room at my church and let them have some fun with it. I’m going to let my son play with it for a little while first, though.

Also, if you’re listening to the podcast and your player supports the podcast 2.0 protocol, you can donate tiny slivers of Bitcoin known as Satoshis.

And even if you donate nothing and just leave me a good review somewhere, you’ll have my undying gratitude.

All right, that’s it! Grouch couch is a hit! Yeah, this is about the best 15 or 20 bucks you’re going to spend!

You guys come back real soon and spend some more time with me here at the Dandy Fun House where everything is always FUN AND DANDY! Stay grouchy my friends!

Neil Dandy is the creator of The Dandy Fun House and the alter-ego of Neil Smith, the Big Cheese at Neil Smith Entertainment and Productions, musician, DJ, Emcee and author. Aren’t you impressed?