"Play It! Belize" by Mesa Somer is "a game, a guide book AND a souvenir."

The new spiral-bound book is billed as "a visual guide to the 150 most essential Belizean sights and experiences."

It covers the highlights of Belize in about 60 pages with full-color photos -- Maya sites, national parks, animals of Belize, birds of Belize, trees and flowers, reef fish, insects and reptiles and Belizean food.

The game part comes in this way: You score points -- say, 20 points for seeing a quash in the wild or 10 points for a strangler fig, 50 points for visiting Xunantunich, 70 points for visiting Cockscomb, and so on. At the end, you total up points and rate yourself as Explorer (400-690 points) or Adventurer (700-990 points) or whatever.

You can check off the different places you visit in Belize, so it also serves as a souvenir of your trip.

It could be fun for families with kids.

--Lan Sluder

Product Description
A visual guide to the 150 most essential Belizean sights and experiences, Play It! Belize turns your sight seeing into a game. Collect points as you spot the unique animals, fish, flowers and birds of Belize, and for exploring Maya ruins or going on adventure tours. Twelve chapters with color pictures of all the special Belize sights and creatures helps you know what to look for on land, on sea, or in town. Each chapter gives you a quick, visual guide with the most essential facts you need to identify and spot the best of Belize. Compete with others to see who can spot a manatee, a gumbolimbo tree, a chachalaca or a black howler monkey. Whoever spots the most sights wins! Compete with yourself to see how many sights can you see during your trip. At the end of your trip, the book becomes a great souvenir of everything you did and saw.

About the Author
Photographer and author Mesa Somer is a frequent visitor to Belize.

Click here for "Play it Belize!" on Amazon.com