October Arcade Block Review

My boyfriend, Pete, is a big gamer, so when I saw that Nerd Block was coming out with a new box that was video game-themed I knew he would love it!  Arcade Block boasts licensed merchandise that's hand-picked by the Nerd Block team.  Even better, each box comes with a t-shirt, just like the original Nerd Block.

Arcade Block ships from Canada and costs $19.99 a month.  After shipping costs to the United States ($9.50), the box cost $29.49.  Considering all of the items inside, I still think it's a pretty good deal.  Since boxes ship on the 25th of each month, my reviews will usually be posted during the month after the box was sent.

Here's what the box looked like when we first opened it up.  The boxes don't have a specific theme, but they release a few spoilers each month about what will be inside.  For example, for October Arcade Block advertised that this box would be "Da Bob-Omb (Super Mario Brothers)" and would have a Street Fighter item.

Here's everything that was inside.  All values are approximate based off of Google searches, and the two with question marks are ones I had to guess at.

• Flying Squirrel Mario Plush (~$20) - I thought this was cute, but I wasn't sure how Pete would like it because it's a plush toy.  He actually liked it quite a bit, though, because Squirrel Mario is one of his favorite characters.
• Street Fighter Pixel Bricks (~$12) - This building block model contains 188 pieces and is the character "Ken."  This is the one item Pete said he probably won't use, but it's still fun.
• Super Mario Pull Back Racers (~$10) - I used to love toys like this when I was a kid; you pull back the car against the floor and then it zooms forward.  I thought my cat would like chasing it so I opened it up and let it go, and I was right.
• Portal Key Cap (~$5?) - Portal is one of the few video games I've actually played myself and is also a favorite of Pete's.  This key cap is fun, and ours is the "Companion Cube" design.
• Notes from Hyrule (~$8?) - These are two magnetic note boards with erasable markers.  One has Zelda on it and the other has Link, from the Zelda franchise.

The t-shirt for this month says "Freeman's Crab Shack" ($15?) and is from the Half Life series.  I didn't know anything about it, but Pete told me that there are crab things in the game that look just like the design on this shirt, and they latch onto peoples' heads.  Nice!

Bottom Line: We were really impressed with this Arcade Block box and are looking forward to getting more!  Assuming that my price estimates are right, the value of the box is about $70, which is well worth the $30 price.  Next month's is going to have an Assassin's Creed item, and Pete is really excited for that because it's one of his favorite games.

*Disclaimer: This is not a sponsored post.