Rolling the Dice

When my younger brother and I were in university, we made a pact. We decided that we would each give the other a board game for Christmas. The only rule was that it had to be something that could be played by two people (though it could be played by more), because we would rely on them for entertainment for the whole Christmas break.

We spent Christmases at our grandmother’s house, where there was a small but interesting collection of old board games. Monopoly and Chinese Checkers shared shelf space with Triominos and Head of the Class.

But by the time we got to university, we’d long ago memorized all of the answers to all of the trivia games, and while Monopoly is a good way to waste three to five hours (especially the way my brother plays), you can only play it so many times before you start dreaming about rolling double fives.

I’ve come down with a nasty cold that’s left my head feeling like someone’s been shoving cotton in it while I sleep, and my voice sounding like I smoke 15 packs a day. All of the loving attention my husband’s been giving me has made me think about comfort games.

Comfort games are the ones you play when you’re feeling cosy and safe, like when the power goes out or a snowstorm’s a-brewin’. Or maybe it’s the ones you play in the tent with your kids when it rains the whole vacation. Funny how all of this seems to be related to poor weather for me!

So, I’ve got reviews of three of my favourite comfort games (all of them found on my personal shelf).

Scrabble

This is a classic, and it is so for a reason. I’ve always been a word-lover, and the words you can learn trying to get that Q or Z on a triple word score are quite interesting. For kids under 8, it might be best to start with Scrabble Jr., which has two levels of play to get them used to the idea.

But if you’re feeling patient, and you’re willing to relax the rules a little, you can play this game with any child who can spell. Allow proper nouns and contractions, or include French spellings if your child (like mine) is in French Immersion at school. Or, abandon keeping score, and just see how many words you can make together.

Cribbage

I grew up with all of my dad’s family playing this any time they got together, for hours on end sometimes. My dad even went home to play an all-night Cribbage marathon with his brothers last summer.

For the un-intiated, Cribbage can seem complicated - my husband always wondered why there were two pegs used to keep score - but once you get the hang of it, it’s a speedy game. I reccommend learning by either playing online in a social room, or reading Hoyle’s guide to card games.

Once you’ve mastered the regular game, try this twist that my brother and I loved: Backwards Cribbage. A rule that can be applied to almost any game, Backwards Cribage is just like regular cribbage, only you’re trying NOT to get points, and the first one to the finish is the loser.

Kids as young as 5 or 6 can learn to play this with a parent, but I do reccommend starting by playing to 61 instead of the usual 121.

Tour de Force

This is a classic Canadian trivia game, introduced to me by my husband and his parents. It was created by Pierre Burton  and Charles Templeton. Waddingtons, the company that produced this game (and many others that I love) was bought out by Hasbro (or at least that’s what Wikipedia claims), so you’ll have to scour second hand shops and eBay for this one.

But it’s a beautiful game, played in teams of two or more (we often play old vs. young or men vs. women), and has lots of Canadian content. My favourite part is getting the special 10-point bonus cards… even though we usually end up going back five places.

This is a tough one to play with younger kids, but is a good way to get teens talking about the chanes to some of the answers (it IS 20 years old, after all), and the way they’d change the categories if they could.

Playing games with kids aged 6 to 10 is a lot of fun. For the most part, they can read, they understand how to take turns, and they generally have enough life experience to know that even if they lose this time, next time, they might win.

There’s an increasing range of games available for the elementary school set, too. Most of the classics have a junior version that works really well for this age - Monopoly, Scrabble, Clue, etc., but they’re not limited to these.

As you get into older elementary school kids, you’ll find that they’re looking to play the “grown-up” versions more often. This age range thrives on feeling that they’re older.

That’s why this is also a great age to introduce your own personal favourites. I suggest starting with the favourites because you’re going to end up playing these games over and over and over.

For the younger end of this age range, try games like Guess Who? that require some reading skills, but also introduce logical thinking. We’ve also had success with The Castle, a tile-laying game from the makers of Carcasonne and Settlers of Catan.

As kids approach 8 years old, introduce trivia games. One games I’m actually really excited to try out this year is the latest version of Trivial Pursuit that has three levels of questions.

Another good way into trivia games for this set is a verson of Scene It? that features a show or movie that they watch a lot. For instance, we have the Disney version. This gives the advantage to the kids, who have watched far more Disney movies than we have (or at least watched them more times!).

Also good with this age group are games like Life, Ratrace, or Cranium’s Zooreeka. Each has elements of collecting and/or trading, which kids this age really get a kick out of.

All of the games you play with kids this age are warm-ups for the full-out adult games they’ll play when they’re older, so any game that gets the whole family involved is great.

We’ve had lots of fun with Cranium’s Family Fun or Whoonu, and also discovered some classic “cabin” games, like Tock, Uno and Parcheesi.

The bonus for classic games like the last three is that there’s opportunity to play with grandparents and other older adults, since they are more familiar with them.

Once the kids hit middle school, social and strategy games become a more popular option. It’s also the time when they really start playing games with other kids. We’ll tackle those issues tomorrow.

Hello all you game-lovers out there.

Not “gamers” - I’m not into video games. No, this blog is all about the kinds of games you can play in a tent in the middle of the woods, in the living room in front of the fireplace during a snowstorm, or even outside with a bunch of energetic kids.

It’s about the fun, laughs, learning you can teach and share with kids of all ages through board games, co-operative play and other games that don’t require a computer chip.

I’ll be tackling ideas for games you can play with little ones that can’t yet read, right up to games you can play when the in-laws are in town.

I’ll give suggestions for good games to play at your next youth group, Beavers, Brownies or 4-H meeting, or at the family reunion when it’s too late for lunch and too soon for supper. 

I’ll review some of the zillions of games I currently have my shelves, and will gladly take requests and suggestions - I’m always up for a game.

Up first (tomorrow’s post) games to play with non-readers….