Wednesday, January 11, 2012

THAT'S A DEALBREAKER: Quick recommendation to pass along, which I learned via Isaac and Spaceboy 1.0 during my visit to Greater Fairyland last fall—if you've got a child age 7+, Monopoly Deal is a super-addictive card game involving tons of strategery, and is a great gateway drug to Monopoly proper. Isaac will appreciate that by Game 3, she already was playing a Just Say No to my Just Say No on a Dealbreaker.

If you have recommendations for games, toys and whatnot for the young ones, or slightly older or younger ones, do share.

54 comments:

  1. Dan Suitor11:35 PM

    My friend circle of early twentysomethings loves Monopoly Deal. We're still working on codifying a set of rules for the drinking version, but it's impossible to visit my buddy Russ without a game or three breaking out.

    As for recommendations: Phase 10 should be fine for anyone 10 and up, and I wholeheartedly endorse the age-old game of Mancala.

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  2. spacewoman1:00 AM

    My favorite toy of the Chrismukkah haul has been Tetris Link, a Connect Four-style tetris game.  I can't wait until I start dreaming in tetris again!  The spacies were also happy recipients of Boogie Boards from Brookstone, which are like magna doodles for the middle-aged child. 

    By the way, we don't consider Monopoly Deal to be a gateway drug to Monopoly; in our house, it was the methadone for weaning 1.0 off his 4-12 games of Monopoly per day habit. 

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  3. Lou W9:00 AM

    I play a LOT of games, and am tempted to give a whole list, but instead let me recommend the hottest game in our house right now.   Risk: Legacy.  Yes, Risk, the classic game of world domination, but with an amazing twist.  Your first game of Risk: Legacy is pretty much just an ordinary game of Risk, albeit with a much better end-game design that keeps the game under an hour.  But at the end of the game, things change, a lot.  The winner gets to sign the board, in permanent marker, and gets to name a continent, permanently.  The losers get to add and name minor cities to the board.  During the game, the players will also play cards like 'Bunker' on a particular region, which gives the defender an advantage there.  But the card has a sticker on it, and, again, the sticker goes on that region permanently.  At times during the game, special cards might be played that say 'Destroy this card after playing', and that's exactly what you do.  Play it once and then rip it up and throw it away. 

    By the 3rd or 4th game, you'll meet some sort of condition that hasn't occured before.  Such as "A player is eliminated from the game", or "All 9 minor cities in the game have been placed on the board".  When those happened, sealed packs are opened that contain new types of cards, new player powers, and new rules.  Oh yes, the rules for the game start incomplete.  There are blank spaces throughout the rule book to be filled in later as you play.

    The combination of making permanent changes to the board, and having the game evolve with multiple plays, it unlike anything I've ever played before.  We've played 9 times in under 3 weeks, and we'd play every day if my 8yo had his way.  No game has ever made the kids more excited.  A couple downsides.  The game is designed for 15 plays with changes, after that you will have a heavily customized version to replay, but it will be static.  I'm not sure if this will be a let down for the kids.  Also, the game is still Risk, and yes, it is a game of conquering and destruction, although heavily abstracted, which could be a concern for some families.  Finally, as the secret packs are revealed, the game gets more complicated, and I would say that a smart 8yo is the bare minimum player age.  But that is good enough, as he's 4 of 9 (in 3 player games) on the strength of his continent of Barbaria (formerly Australia) and it's capital Monkeyland.

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  4. victoria9:01 AM

    Chomp, by Gamehouse, is big here, as is Scrabble Slam and Slamwich. The kiddo and I also love to play Scotland Yard, but we only rarely have a quorum for that.

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  5. bristlesage9:47 AM

    Man, I can go on at LENGTH about games, but let me say, you want Acquire (the Sid Sackson classic), not Monopoly, as far as real estate mogul games go.

    Favorite game, ages 6-ish and up, anything in the Ticket to Ride series by Days of Wonder.  The original board of the U.S.A. and Canada is the simplest. You can read about it here.  This age is also good for press-your-luck games--Incan Gold and Can't Stop are classics of the genre.

    Favorite game, ages 8-ish and up, Dominion.  A card drafting game that has a lot of ways to win.  Here's that description.  Kingsburg is another good one (here). 

    I'd say that that's a decent age for Bohnanza, too, though we've had some people say that the kids need to be a year or two older to really understand what makes a good trade.  And another good one for families because it has a sense of drama and because it's cooperative is Pandemic

    I really, seriously could go on for a long time about this--we're big board gamers, and though we have no kids, we play with our nieces and nephews and friends' kids and so have pretty good ideas about what works. 

    My true loves for adults?  Princes of Florence, Power Grid, and the crayon rails games, where the knock is that they're multi-player solitaire, but whatever.

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  6. Marsha10:09 AM

    My kids are still young enough that I'm not into the heavy duty games yet, so most of my recommendations are common ones - we're big into Yahtzee, Uno, Skip-Bo, Sorry. (And we're SO CLOSE to being able to play Bananagrams - I can't wait.)

    The Spacepeople introduced us to Hiss and both boys love it. It was also a big hit at our recent syngogue Shabbat games day, where people were quite excited to have a game for the non-reading kids that wasn't CandyLAnd or Chutes and Ladders.

    bristlesage, my students have become completely addicted to Ticket to Ride - there's a game going on in our lounge pretty much constantly.

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  7. Ticket to Ride is great, and the iPad app is particularly wonderful with a nice clean interface, many boards/variants available, and automatic scorekeeping.  That said, it's a LOT easier to play on the U.S./Canada map because you have a basic sense of where cities are--playing with Switzerland is completely different because you have to keep checking where the locations are.

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  8. bristlesage10:25 AM

    That's awesome! 

    Good things for little ones, because they have a chance to beat the grown-ups, are things that are memory-based (oh, we've all been smoked by five-year-olds at Concentration, yeah?) and stuff with a dexterity component.  Magic Labyrinth is a great game in the first category (not nearly as dull as regularly old Memory), and Tumblin' Dice and the tragically out-of-print Gulo Gulo are good examples of the former.

    Another fun free-for-all family game (also great for grownups, especially as a palate cleanser between bigger games or for something silly to cap the night) is Jungle Speed.  It can be tricky to tell the difference between some of the symbols on the cards, which is whole point of the game, but it's better for kids who find that sort of confusion fun rather than frustrating.

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  9. Anonymous10:39 AM

    I played Ticket to Ride over the summer and really liked it.  I played with all adults and it was still a fun game.

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  10. Amy Watts10:42 AM

    I played Blokus over the summer and, even though it was all adults, I could see it being a game that would work at different levels for different ages.  The parents at the party confirmed that it's a game kids can play.

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  11. bristlesage10:53 AM

    Oh, it's totally fun for adults--I should have said that these games are appropriate for kids of the ages noted, but they're not FOR them in the way that, say, CandyLand is. 

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  12. isaac_spaceman11:19 AM

    The kids absolutely murder us at Spot It.  Flip EYE! Flip SPIDER WEB! Flip IGLOO!  And after they say it, I still have to hunt for it for a while to confirm.

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  13. Genevieve11:19 AM

    Yes, I just played Ticket to Ride for the first time and it was the Asia map - I had to check all the locations on every turn.  (and once the Himalayas were blocked off, two of the three of us were screwed.)  Great game, though, and I'd like to play again. 

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  14. gretchen11:25 AM

    We are big Ticket to Ride fans here -- it's strategic, but very accessible even the first time in.

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  15. gretchen11:26 AM

    Also, any recommendations for two-player games?  Settlers and Ticket to Ride, our long-time favorites, are much better with more people.  Would love more games like Lost Cities that are designed for two.

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  16. Genevieve11:41 AM

    I'm a big fan of Blokus, and my son loved it from a fairly young age (maybe 6 or 7?).

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  17. The TTR Switzerland map is designed for 2, though it's pricey.  Most of the really highly regarded two-player games, though, tend to be wargames--Twilight Struggle (about the Cold War) is supposed to be spectacular.

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  18. Maggie11:52 AM

    Growing up, we loved Ravenberger's Labyrinth and Journey Through Europe (which I don't think they make anymore).  Race to the Roof, too, although I think that geared for a slightly younger audience than the other two.

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  19. Unspeakable Words -- spelling game that makes longer words riskier. 10-20 minutes
    Zooloretto -- build a zoo: easy strategy game. 30 minutes
    Elfenland -- travel & strategy with wooden pieces and gorgeous artwork. Seems complicated, but after one play it all makes sense. 45-60 minutes

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  20. I LOVED Rat-a-tat-cat.  For slightly older kids, Frog Juice is a great, silly card game.

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  21. victoria12:15 PM

    Dominion is good stuff -- we have played a lot of it over the last couple years. I got introduced to Power Grid around Christmas and totally enjoyed it.

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  22. bristlesage12:39 PM

    Two player games!  Hive, the GIPF project games (YINSH is our special favorite), Balloon Cup, Jambo, and Battle Line are all designed for two players.  Battle Line is an especial favorite.  Oh, and Mr. Jack

    There are tons more, but these I've played more than once and liked, so these are my best recommendations.

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  23. bristlesage12:41 PM

    Twilight Struggle is one of my all-time favorites, yep.  But my husband doesn't love it like I do, more's the pity.

    ALOTT5MA Venn Diagram Person!  Rich Sommer, who plays Harry on Mad Men is a big board gamer, and the cast over there plays a lot of different stuff...including Twilight Struggle.  That makes me happy.

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  24. AndreaJ1:00 PM

    Also great for families with both readers and non-readers, any of the Pictureka games. We have three different varieties and they can all be adapted so we can all play together. 

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  25. Marsha1:38 PM

    Nearly forgot - Set is an awesome game, and even my 7 year old can play. It can be played solitare or by any number of people. Completely addictive, though I do find it fascinating how different people find the rules to be easy or hard to grasp, having nothing to do with native intelligence.

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  26. Amy Watts1:40 PM

    Man, when I  had a live-in game partner (aka husband) we played the heck out of some cribbage and backgammon.  Oh, and gin rummy.  Not new or exciting, necessarily, but especially backgammon, gets more interesting the better you get at it.

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  27. Amy Watts1:43 PM

    I guess it's too old to be in print anymore, but I started playing Babuschka as a kid and still get it out if I find someone willing to play with me.

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  28. bella wilfer1:47 PM

    How awful is it that I was confused Twilight Struggle was not about Bella Swan's need to choose between Edward and Jacob...?

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  29. Amy Watts1:47 PM

    Also recommended: The Great Dalmuti - although you have to be careful, it brings out the tyrant in some people. And then you can't play it with those people anymore because they don't understand that it's JUST A GAME and is SUPPOSED TO BE FUN.  And that even if the rules say the Greater Dalmuti can order the Greater Peon around there is still such a thing as BASIC HUMAN DECENCY AND COMPASSION.

    Ahem.

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  30. bella wilfer1:48 PM

    The Great Dalmuti sounds like a kid-friendly verson of "Asshole," no?

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  31. For a 2 person game, has anyone played Arimaa? You can play it on a chess board with chess pieces, and...quoting wiki, design a new game which could be played with a standard chess set, would be difficult for computers to play well, but would have rules simple enough for his then four-year-old son Aamir to understand.

    Sounds interesting.

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  32. Amy Watts1:56 PM

    Pretty much - the illustrations on the cards are cool - and it means you don't have to say "Asshole"

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  33. Heather K2:09 PM

    Oh cribbage, nothing takes me back to an inaccessible-by-road cabin in Hell's Canyon family vacays like cribbage.  

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  34. Heather K2:12 PM

    New Year's Eve that just past, I taught two grown-ass men how to play Uno.  Neither of them grew up some place crazy and Uno deprived they just didn't really think they'd ever played it.  WHAT?  Also when I clarified by saying, it's kind of like crazy eights at its most basic level with some added specialty cards, they got very confused having not played that before either?!  I am marrying one of those men in September and now I'm very confused as to how he spent his childhood.

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  35. Heather K2:13 PM

    Well then how is it still fun?

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  36. Watts2:54 PM

    See above re: tyranny and torment.

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  37. InertiaGirl3:27 PM

    We've found that adults and kids age 9 and up love Farkle, which I had previously played as a game called Ten Thousand.  Ones and fives have points as do threes-of-a-kind (three-of-a-kinds?) and other combinations. There is a risk component as you must decide whether to stop on a turn and keep your points or keep rolling and risk a "farkle" (a roll with no point-accruing dice). I find it an interesting psychological study: Are you a "slow and steady wins the race" kind or person or a gambler?

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  38. J. Bowman3:39 PM

    You could get Gang of Four, which is the same thing but without so much ordering people around.

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  39. J. Bowman3:46 PM

    My current favorites are Pentago (a four-in-a-row game where you rotate a quarter of the board after each move) and Hey, That's My Fish, which has a customizable gameboard and rules that take a couple of seconds to explain. Plus, there's a lot of cool graph theory concepts in the strategy, if you want to go that deep (not that I expect many people will want to, but it's there). Also, it has penguins.

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  40. bristlesage3:50 PM

    Hey, That's My Fish! is an excellent two-level game, yeah.

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  41. agree on Hey, That's My Fish. Amazing game.

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  42. D'Arcy4:53 PM

    My just-turned-eight-year-old LOVES Blokus.

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  43. Andrew5:30 PM

    And my friend circle of early thirtysomethings are also addicted to Monopoly Deal. I don't think I can emphasize how awesome and addictive it is. 

    As far as converting it into a drinking game, just play the game while drinking. No rules change necessary. 

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  44. Adam C.7:52 PM

    We have epic Blokus battles with the kids.

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  45. a different kate9:36 PM

    we (all adults) have gotten a lot of mileage out of Rummikub - similar to the card came Rummy 500, except with domino-sized plastic pieces instead of cards.  you put together sets of at least three pieces - either of a kind or a run, and any tiles you play become part of the board so you can move them around to create new combinations.  we've been known to make epic moves of 8 or 9 tiles at a time just to play one or two new pieces.  great fun, definitely suitable for the 8+ set.

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  46. Amy Watts11:24 PM

    I have a computer game "Hoyle Board Games" that has Rummikub on it. I've enjoyed it on there, but I've never played it with the real board/pieces.

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  47. TinaMiles11:39 PM

    We have loved a number of the games listed above (and I'm adding the other ones to our game list). Anothe rone we've liked is Carcassone. The starter game is simple enough our 4 year old was playing it (though not with a great deal of stratagy) and as the kids have gotten older, we've added expansions that make it more challanging/interesting. 

    There is a Yatzee Hands Down that is like Monoply Deal--taking a familiar game and making it a card game. We all enjoyed that. The Sorry version of it we didn't enjoy as much. 

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  48. J. Bowman5:43 AM

    I'd suggest they just claimed that in order to spend more time with the pretty girl, but by the time you've reached actual wedding plans, a gentleman would probably have come clean.

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  49. KCosmo10:16 AM

    Oh my . . . this is the greatest list ever. 

    We just started Rummikub with the Cosmo kids (ages 8 and 5) -- I played it a lot as a kid and we just rolled it out.  Big fan.

    We also play a LOT of card games, as it is easier to carry a random deck of cards around at all times than other types of games.  The crowd favorite is Blitz, which I gather from google is the same game as Scat.  http://www.pagat.com/draw/scat.html

    We have owned Monopoly Deal for a long time, but have never played it for some reason.  I will pull it out this weekend.

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  50. Marsha1:15 PM

    Rummikub is an all-time favorite of mine. I have very fond memories of playing it with my grandmother and her friends, and having to stand on a chair to reach the middle of the table to move the tiles around. I just played this past weekend. Can't get enough of it!

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  51. Genevieve4:42 PM

    I used to play it with my mom -- should suggest to her that she get it out to play with the kiddo.

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  52. Genevieve4:50 PM

    I like games that make me laugh, and the kiddo does too (though we also like word and strategy games).  Quelf was a big hit a couple of years ago.  http://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/19370/quelf  The husband is not a fan, but the kiddo and several of his friends laugh uproariously when they play, and sometimes we play 2-player by just playing two characters each.  I love Pictionary and Taboo because they usually involve laughing.  And we liked most of the Cranium games for the same reason, and because they were inventive.

    Games we learned this New Years' Eve included Sour Apples to Apples, which is regular Apples to Apples with the addition of the judge picking worst match (as well as best one, as in the original) and that player having to push the little toy apple to get a penalty (such as not being able to talk for a turn, therefore not able to argue why one's match is the best), and  Scrabble:  Cooking Edition, where cooking-related words get bonus points (you don't have to know how to spell sous vide, you get points for boil and fry) and "recipe cards" give cool twists such as being able to play a word anywhere on the board, remove a word, or take a letter from someone.

    On the Wii, I'm a fan of Smarty Pants, a trivia game that lets you give each player's age, so the kids can have questions they're more likely to have a reasonable shot at.

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  53. kenedy jane10:23 PM

    These are more educational toys than games, but I have to put a good word in for the Brain Quest flash cards and the LeapFrog Twist & Shout Multiplication toy.  My daughter really loved the Brain Quest cards when she was 3 or 4.  She would ask to do them at night rather than playing a game.  And the LeapFrog was a lifesaver as she practiced her multiplication tables in the backseat on the way to soccer practice - and thought it was a game.

    And, now that she is 20, let me just assure everyone that growing up with family and friends who play board games does lead to carrying on the tradition.  My daughter and her roommates have ongoing game nights at their apartment at college.  And, after rediscovering Pictionary over the holidays, we went out and bought her the game and a white board and they are playing this weekend.  (Yay for traditions carrying on!)

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