My husband, John and I, both consider ourselves to be gamers. I really haven’t had as much time for it lately as I would like, but I still enjoy playing video games when I can find the time. John and I were both born in the early 80’s, so we grew up playing the classic Nintendo games, like Super Mario Bros. Our love of gaming has stayed with us after all these years, and we actually met several years ago while playing World of Warcraft with a group of mutual friends!

I would really love for our two children to develop a love for gaming as well. It was such a fun part of my childhood, and it would be so awesome to have family game nights! Playing video games is also beneficial to children for a number of different reasons, which include learning problem-solving skills, using imagination and creativity, inspiring interest in history and culture, helping them to make social connections, gaining leadership skills and more!

My three year old daughter, Kayleigh, has already developed an interest in playing with different apps on her tablet, but I have been a little leery of allowing her to install games, as there are a lot of them out there that make it so easy to rack up a bill (when buying credits, coins, power-ups, etc.). I recently discovered Amazon Underground, and it completely solves that problem, as everything is FREE!

Amazon Underground is an upgraded Amazon app for Android smartphones. It has lots of enhanced features and access to content that isn’t available on the Amazon Shopping app found on Google Play. Additional features include instant streaming of Amazon Video and 100% free apps and games, and even free in-app items. That means your children have access to unlimited levels, lives, upgrades and everything else associated with those games, for free, making it a perfect app for your little gamer! You don’t have to worry about your kids racking up a huge bill when playing these games, because everything is free!

GET ACTUALLY FREE APPS FROM AMAZON UNDERGROUND

Upon browsing Amazon Underground, I found several apps I was interested in downloading, but my nostalgia kicked in, and I just had to download the Wreck-It Ralph app. It reminded me so much of the classic Nintendo games I used to play as a child, and I thought my daughter, Kayleigh, would have a blast playing these games too. We also just recently watched the movie, and she and I both loved it.

The Wreck-It Ralph app comes with 5 different mini-games to play – Fix-It Felix, Jr., Sugar Rush Sweet Climber, Hero’s Duty, Turbo Time, and Hero’s Duty Flight Command. Kayleigh and I tried all of them out, and they were so much fun!

In Fix-It Felix, Jr., the goal is to fix all of the windows that Wreck-It Ralph breaks, and avoid getting hit by the bricks that he throws at you. I found this game to be very easy for young children to play, and I really loved the nostalgic feel of the 8-Bit graphics. In this game, you basically just move up and down and across the building, fixing the windows as they are broken, while trying to avoid those falling bricks. This is a great game for developing hand-eye coordination.

In Sugar Rush Sweet Climber, you try to climb up the vines and collect candies along the way, without falling off. I found this game to be a bit more difficult, as it is very easy to fall off the vines. You tilt your phone to the left or right to move your character in the game, and I did find that a little bit hard to control, as the movements had to be very precise in order to not fall off the vines, but maybe I just need more practice! This game is still a lot of fun and Kayleigh loved watching Ralph jump up the vines to collect candies.

Hero’s Duty is a really fun game where you help the Space Marine force defeat enemy cyborg insects before they can spread. As the levels rise, so does the number of enemies and enemy types. Barriers, which block your bullets’s trajectory, bug-laid traps, and other nasty combat elements are also introduced, so this game requires a lot of concentration in order to keep your character alive.

Turbo Time is a racing game, which I always loved as a child. It was so fun to pretend to drive, when I wasn’t old enough to actually drive in real life. In Turbo Time, you race around the track and try to collect coins along the way.

The last game, Hero’s Duty Flight Command had a similar feel to Hero’s Duty, but this one is a flight simulator game, in which you fly down tunnels in a space ship while blasting at obstacles in your way. I think this game was my favorite, as I was a huge fan of Captain Skyhawk back in the day, and it sort of reminded me of that game.

These games are all found within the Wreck-It Ralph app, available for free from Amazon Underground. You swipe your screen left or right to get to each of the 5 different games. I like the arcade feel of the screens, with the leaderboard at the top. It really brought me back to my childhood days, and I think these games are ones that my kids will grow to love over the next several years.

Amazon Underground is available to customers in the United States, UK, Germany, France, Italy and Spain, and is generally compatible with all Android phones that run Android version 4.0 or greater. Amazon Underground is only supported on 5th Generation (2012 – newer) and newer Fire tablets, and Android phones.

You can download the Amazon Underground app here and discover all of the great free apps available for the whole family! If you are accessing from a laptop or desktop go to: https://www.amazon.com/underground and follow the on-screen instructions.

*When downloading the Underground app to your Android device, you will be walked/prompted through the “unknown sources” process. To install app stores not initially present on your device, Android devices require you to enable the Unknown Sources setting. Enabling Unknown Sources allows you to download apps and games from sources other than Google Play to your mobile device and any app or game downloaded from Amazon Underground will not harm your device.

When installing Amazon Underground, your device may display a notification indicating that the app will get access to sending SMS messages, and that “this may cost you money.” At this time, SMS verification is only used by the Amazon Underground in selected regions and is not required if you have an account on Amazon.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.

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