A couple years ago Stephanie started an email correspondence with me talking about her time organizing game events and sharing detailed info about the games she was playing with her own family. I love talking to people about board games but her emails were exceptional in terms of how thoroughly she researched and talked about the games she played and her insights into what made a game work really well in her household. She also plays a LOT of games and I'm constantly adding games to my wish list because of her. I asked permission to share her messages in case anyone else wanted a peek at the invaluable info she has shared with me over the years. I'll be posting about one email per week until I catch up to where we currently are in terms of correspondence. Enjoy!
Hey Anne,
The event went well. There were 6 kids (counting my five year old son) between the ages of 4-15. We played: floor is lava, taco takeover, battleship, shark mania, 3 things (which is for ages 16+ but I pulled the cards that were inappropriate), the sneaky snacky squirrel game, perfection, uno, pokemon the card game (we were doing make up rules not the official rules), twister, fast fish, donut dash, and ninja squirrel. Twister is now the new favorite game in my house; he is currently playing with hot wheels and twister at the same time.
Thank you for your advice. It is much appreciated. I had some game suggestions that you might be interested in.
My Weird School the game - based on a book series, it is a math and reading skills game where you build a sentence that scores the most points. Kids make wacky sentences. I am not familiar with the book series but it looks fun to play as well as funny for kids. My son is still too young to play this one but I look forward to it.
Mountain goats- from boardgametables.com, this one is about scoring points by reaching the top of the mountain. After rolling 4 dice, you have to add the dice together to get a desired number and score if you are at the top. You can also knock others down to the bottom of the mountain, which my nephew seems to relish. This takes 20 minutes to play.
Sequoia- from boardgamestables.com, can play in 10 minutes, see this video for a good review. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmirRwD7iPw&list=PLL-u82dYAG0HZKyCWKejRcngdCpBPjGVy&index=12
GPS- from boardgamestables.com, can play in 10 minutes
Chickapiglets- this is a cooperative/competitive memory game. You have two animals on your card (for example, a camel and a bear) and you need to find the camel and the bear tokens in the middle of the game board. But watch out if you find the cow poop, the cow moves 5 spaces; if the cow crosses the finish line first you lose.
Food fighters- from kids table board games. It is a 2 player game that can be played in 20 minutes. you play either as meat or veggie and try to take 3 of a kind of the opponents' cards. You can defend your meat/veggie with cute little spoons, pans, and crackers. There is more to the game if you think this sounds fun then I encourage you to look up a review.
In a pickle- a fun word game, it may take more than 20 minutes depending on how into word/story games people are into.
timeline card game- the goal is to build a timeline. At the start of the game you get 7 cards, you want to place the events in the order. If you place a card incorrectly, you discard the card and put another one. It takes 15 minutes and is a nice travel game. https://www.amazon.com/Zygomatic-Timeline-Classic-Eco-Blister-TIEC03/dp/B08FXSBPWQ/ref=sr_1_2?crid=28O0MHZANWTZH&keywords=timeline+card+game&qid=1646423447&sprefix=timeline%2Caps%2C189&sr=8-2
donut dash or fast fish - You have 3 dice with different colors. After you roll, you match the colors to the item (either donut or fish). It can be cooperative or competitive. It is fun with the different themes. I prefer the donut one but my son like fast fish because he wants to get the "pink shark".
Dr. Microbe- Similar to Dr. Eureka, with this germ themed game you have to find the superbug, a "germ" that is different in color and shape compared to the other germs on the card/dish. We like this for critical thinking plus fine motor skills (you use tweezers).
Ninja Squirrel- This is a fast paced game in which you have to grab as many acorns as possible to win. To grab an acorn, the card flipped over should have a matching squirrel and acorn (ex: orange squirrel with orange acorn). Everybody can try to grab it; so paying attention is important. If you flip over a card and it is not a match, the next person goes. My son likes the game and it can get competitive
Build or boom- by goliath, this is similar to Rhino Hero games because you have to build a structure from the "blueprint" card. If you finish first, you can "blow" up the other player's building and you take the point. My son loves this game for the building and knocking down as well as just free play to see what he can build. Sometimes, he will make up challenges like "lets try to use all the pieces" or " just use these pieces". The pieces are plastic; overall, it is a nice two player game.
taco tacoover- by University Games, this is another quick card game where everybody has an "order" and races to see who can fulfill the most orders. There are no turns, all players can pull ingredient cards, if the ingredient card is not needed for your order, you must discard it. someone can pull from the discard pile if an ingredient they need is there. There are two ways to stop your opponents; either you give them a cockroach or an antacid card, once they receive either of these cards they must discard all ingredients and start over. My only complaint about this game is that it is hard to shuffle the ingredients.
3 things- This was the surprising favorite with the 11+ group. You have a scenario like " you are trapped on an island with hungry dinosaurs. Grab 3 things you will use to survive." then you grab 3 tilles out of the 55 double sided tiles in front of you. Then you explain why you picked what you picked. One of the players is the judge and gives out points (I think this part is adaptable). There were a few cards that I would pull out the deck for younger groups; mainly they dealt with dating scenarios. I did ask the librarian if she thought it would be okay and she said yes as long as an adult monitors for the iffy scene cards. The teens like the story telling part of it. It made me think of MacGyver at times. The bag says the age s are 16 years old and up. https://www.amazon.com/Shenanigames-Spicy-Party-Games-Improvise/dp/B07V3NW55Y/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?crid=Z8VJEEKTHFL3&keywords=3+things+survival+game&qid=1646425457&sprefix=3+things+%2Caps%2C123&sr=8-1-spons&psc=1&smid=A1I1M317MFZ94Z&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyM0g1MVJCUTNCQUcwJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwMzgwNzM2MlE5WlJETVlDOElPJmVuY3J5cHRlZEFkSWQ9QTA3MDE5NjMxWTNLRERGWkoyUFFEJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfYXRmJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==
Frankie's Food Truck Fiasco game - by edcuational insights, it is about shapes and has a cute cat tong.
Shelby's Snack Shack Game- by educational insights, it develops numbers and counting skills with cute dog bone pieces and dog tongs.
Let me know if you have any questions, I hope that you don't mind me giving you any game suggestions.
Thanks for your time,
Stephanie