Playing Board Games, or Is it Spring yet?

What is it about the post holiday winter season. I mean, the beginning of winter, though cold, snowy and sometimes grey, starts off with a bang with the holidays and all the associated merriment. Then somewhere around the second week of January it usually hits me -- while the holidays are over, the winter is most certainly not. Indoor activities are needed to pass the time and luckily Maddie usually gets a few as gifts. This year she received some real winners...

Pictureka Is a picture finding game recommended for kids 6 and up. There are 9 square, 2 sided cards with all kinds of wacky pictures all over them and you need to find either a specific object or a certain number of objects depending on the card you get. We've already played it quite a few times and it's great for the adults as well as my 8 year old.

SORRY! Sliders is better than I expected. I'm an old school kind of girl, so I thought this would be a newfangled game with the Sorry name slapped on. And while it is quite a bit different from the original, it's still fun. You get a scoring card and scoring tokens as well as sliding tokens which have a ball bearing in the bottom. A track for each player (up to 4) attaches to a central game board. There are 2 different 2 sided cards for the center board and we determined that the green one is definitely best and results in the longest game. There is both skill and strategy involved but while the game is recommended for kids aged 10 and up, my 8 year old had no problem playing it. I will say that it was more fun with 3 players than 2 as there are more tokens in play and more chances of knocking your opponents into the "Sorry" spaces.

LOOT by Gamewright, who also makes Wig Out! and Scrambled States, is a wonderful pirate themed card game that is a twist on the classic card game war. Once again, this is recommended for ages 10 and up, but my daughter didn't have any trouble playing it and was quite good at it. I think they make that recommendation because there is some addition involved -- but nothing too advanced.

Rush Hour is a one player game, but you can make it into a group activity by passing it around as we have done. In fact, every day in school Maddie and I do a card. But first let me explain... This is a variation on the classic slide puzzle where you set up pieces on a board according to diagrams on cards and then you shift the pieces around until your piece (your car, in this case) can get free of the board. It's recommended for ages 8 and up and that seems about right to me. In fact, don't be surprised if your child is better at it than you! The game is very compact -- the deck of cards stores in a drawer in the base and the base and pieces all are stored in a drawstring bag. And if you find yourself wanting more, there are add-on packs to keep you going.

So, what games does your family play on these grey, cold days? We're always looking for new ones to try, so let me know!

Comments

[Dee Kauffman]

You should give Gobblet! a try. Kind of similar to tic-tac-toe, but with some twists. There's a junior version, but the original is super-easy to learn, and rated for ages 7 and up. Mike and I played it at a Christmas party, and are hooked!

[Amanda]

My daughters got the game Killer Bunnies by Playroom Entertainment for Christmas. My 7 year old loves rabbits and always wants anything with rabbits of any kind, even killer ones. This game is listed as 12 and up but after a little time reading over the two books full of instructions we have had a great time playing it. We spent last weekend playing it three times a day, every day. They can't get enough of it. One of the things we really liked about this game was the the 7 year old can win it without help. Being the youngest she tends to lose most things to the rest of us. Also, you can buy expansion packs for this card and dice based game to keep it interesting for a very long time.

[Katy]

New games at our house are: Quiddler (card/word game, same maker as LOOT); Qirkle; Pass The Pigs; and Blokus 3-D. Regular faves are Sequence, Pass The Pigs, & Settlers of Cataan.
I'll have to add the ones you mention to our wish list!

[Shelley McBride]

I bought three new board games for the holiday season and we have played all. "Battle of the Sexes" worked for a large group and was fun but mostly for the trivia buffs. Better than that was "Wits & Wagers" which we did with a group of about 8 people in varying ages. It was GREAT and we played it again and again. It also has trivia questions, but you write your answer on a card and then get to bet on others' answers too. Very clever game. We happened to have a genius (no joking) who clearly knew almost all of the answers in that one. We also bought a new version of "Scrabble - Upwords" which is a bit more fast-moving and fun than regular Scrabble.
We also learned to play one new card game - Strife and Malice which is really fun with about four people (using 2 or 3 decks of cards). Nice to pass the time on a cold snowy day.

[Liz]

I've been wanting to get Sorry Sliders but wasn't sure- now I think I'll get it :)

One of our favorites is "Blokus", http://www.amazon.com/Educational-Insights-2995-Blokus-Classic/dp/B00011F5DK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=toys-and-games&qid=1231342887&sr=1-1

Sort of like Tetris in real life. It's loads fun when you have 4 players, but my kiddos play just the two of them and still have fun. And you can even do it one player- just a different set of rules. Fun!

[Annie]

I'll second the recommendation for Quiddler. It's Scrabble, solitare, and rummy all rolled into one game--but not too complicated, and it moves quickly.

[car games]

New games at our house are: Quiddler (card/word game, same maker as LOOT)