Nice write up. Smash Up is a great game and gets a lot of play in my house.
My daughter loves the idea of it, loves the cards + combos, especially the Pretty Pretty expansion (go figure), but it definitely takes too long in a 2 or 3 player game, going by the official rules. Likely going to drop the number of bases, and the number of VP, next time we play. The goal with her at this point isn't to have a long game of give & take, it's to have 45-60 minutes of fun card play at most, with a winner of some sorts at the end.
About game carrying, I like cloth grocery bags. They're usually pretty sturdy and can hold 2-3 "normal" games.
Yep, much the same here!
When I'm taking games to a con, particularly to trade, I'll stick 'em in boxes or plastic tubs & stick in some padding - like was mentioned earlier in the thread, game boxes can take way more damage than you think in the back of a car. But for just going to a buddy's, or to work? Those 'green' grocery bags work well enough on the back seat of the car
