Quirkle
Quirkle is a pattern recognition game that plays similar to Scrabble. It was enjoyable by all the kids and adults, but maybe not as competitive as some of us would like. My biggest complaint about it was the packaging. It includes a cloth bag for the tiles, but comes in a box four times the required size, which is unnecessary for game storage.
Bananagrams
Bananagrams is another tile game and is also played similarly to Scrabble. However, instead of having a board where you play off each others' words, you draw your own tiles and create your own words in front of yourself, while your opponent(s) does the same. All of my kids would be able to play this, but it would be difficult for a smaller child to keep up with a teen or adult, though there is no pressure to make complex words or play. Still, there is a racing element to this game that would be hard to equalize. As opposed to Quirkle, Banagrams is smartly packaged in the cloth bag alone.
Blink
Blink is a fun, quick card game for two players. I first played this in Indonesia with my friend's kids. It is a fairly even playing field across the board, and my 7 year-old can nearly keep up with me on this one. It reminds me a bit of War (though I haven't played that in decades) or similar.
Bezzerwizzer
Bezzerwizzer is a trivia game for adults. Our 13 year-old received this from his grandparents. While he knows plenty of the answers, it is still a challenge to compete with his brilliant parents. ;) We played this as a family one time, which worked out well enough since there were enough questions that the littler guys could answer. It is far, far preferable to Trivial Pursuit in my opinion, as it plays much quicker and has a better range and variety of questions. I am pretty sure I like this game more than the recipient.
Sequence Dice
This is a dice and board game that feels similar to Bingo. I did not care for it particularly, as there is very little strategy. Aside from the ability to add the two numbers on the dice together it is also not really much of a math game. However, it goes quickly and it is not mind-numbing, so it is a good choice to play with the younger crowd, or for the kids to play sans adults.
Logic Links
I haven't had a chance to play this one yet, as it got left at the grandparents' house, but Quinn (13) says it's a fun game that provides a series of clues to figure out a puzzle. I suspect it was enjoyed by adults as well the kids and that's the real reason why the grandparents still have possession of it. ;)
Double Take
This card game is similar to Rummy or Gin, but, frankly, not as much fun. The "Take" and "Double Take" cards allow you to take other player's books, which led to tears and fighting in my house. It was a bit of a challenge for the 7 year-old to keep up, and the 10 year-old struggled with the "letting go" piece. I have to say that I prefer good old Rummy to this one.
Simply Suspects
A modern Clue-type game, the players try to figure out who is who. Instead of there being one perpetrator, however, everyone has an identity that is trying to be solved. The first round was a little rough, but once everyone caught on all the kids could play their own game easily. Lots was learned about bluffing and being obvious as well.
20 Questions
More of a book with a spinner, than a board game, this is simply the old-fashioned twenty questions, but with four categories (person, place, thing, or year), and 20 questions written out. This was a bit tough for the 10 year-old, and almost impossible for the 7 year-old, though he did enjoy being the "reader." I think this would make a marvelous car game, or a great activities for teens to do whilst hanging out.
1 comments:
cool post. We're a game family too, you know the game that we had the most fun with? Scribblish. Its a hoot.
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