Monday was our March 2017 Game Club meeting. As usual, we had a variety of games new and old for the kids to try. Here are the new games we played this week:
Three Little Pigs – Help the three little pigs build their houses out of straw, wood, and brick. Roll the dice to determine what you build, but beware the wolf! He’ll blow your house down! Get the most complete houses built, and become the best piggy builder! Recommend for 7+.
Survive: Escape from Atlantis – Get your “meeples” to the boats, Atlantis is sinking! But beware of the sharks, whales, and sea serpents that your opponents are sending after you. The whales will sink your boats and leave your meeples stranded. The sharks will eat your meeples. And the sea serpents will do both! Get the most meeples off the island and you win! Recommended for 8+.
Santorini – Come help build the island of Santorini, with its beautiful blue domed roofs. Play is simple. Move a worker, then have that worker build. Master the basics, and then enlist the Greek gods to help you! Build a beautiful three dimensional island, and if your worker reaches the top you win! Recommended for 8+.
Sneaky Snacky Squirrel – The squirrels need your help! Spin the spinner, and the help your squirrel place it on your log. Be the first to fill your log with acorns and you win! Recommended for 3+.
Chocolate Fix – In this solo play game similar to Sudoku, examine the cards, and use the clues to determine where to place your candies. 4 levels with 40 different puzzles to solve! Recommended for 8+.
Brownie Match – Can you remember which brownies are where? Spin the spinner, choose a brownie. If the brownie matches put it on your plate. If the brownie has a start, keep it and go again! First to five brownies wins! Recommended for 4+.
Quadrillion – Snap the four magnetic grids together in any combination, then try to fit all of the pieces on the grids. Get them all on and you win! Multiple set puzzles to solve, or put them together yourself and see if you can solve it on your own! Recommended for 8+.
Age of War – Using your dice, marshal your samurai and conquer as many castles as you can. Collect all the castles of a single clan and get bonus points. This Yahtzee-like dice game is quick and easy to play. While it’s recommended for 14+, we’ve found that kids as young as have no problems understanding it.
Cat Tower – That’s right, you’re stacking…cats? You start with seven cat cards, and you roll the die and stack a cat, but if the tower falls down, all the cats become yours. Stack all your cats and you win! Recommended for 4+.
Logic Labyrinth – You have the map to the genie’s treasure! There’s only one problem. It’s been torn in multiple pieces. You have to put the map together to claim the treasure. The person with a quick eye for matching the map back together claims the treasure! Recommended for 6+.
Tricky Fingers – Use your fingers to make the marbles match the patterns on the cards. If you can do this the fastest in this dexterity game, you win. Recommended for 4+.
Thank you to Kate for bringing these two games:
Dragon Run – You’ve got the dragon’s loot, and now you have to escape. Advance boldly, flee cautiously, or cry like a baby, but if you get caught by the dragon twice you’re out. If you can survive long enough for the dragon’s temper to cool and you have the most loot left you win, but if everyone gets charred the dragon is the victor! Recommended for 8+.
King of Tokyo – You are a monster from a those classic Japanese monster movies. Roll your dice and collect your energy, punch your opponents, or claim victory points! Knock your opponents out of the game, or get to 20 victory points first and you win! Can your monster become King of Tokyo? Recommended for 8+.
We had some games from earlier meetings as well.
January 2017
Catan Junior – A great introduction to Catan for the younger crowd, with the added bonus of pirates and parrots! This is played on islands, each with a specific resource. Players start by building hideouts and ships, then work to get resources by rolling the dice and trading as necessary. The goal is to control seven pirate hideouts. Recommended for ages 5+.
Love Letter – Though the game only has 16 cards, it is full of palace intrigue and deductive strategy. Players seek to get their love letter into the hands of the princess, and use their cards to eliminate romantic rivals. The game plays quickly, but is lots of fun. Practice is necessary to master it. Recommended for ages 8+, but younger kids who can keep their cards secret can also play.
Quoridor – This labyrinth building game has you trying to move your pawn from one end of the board to the other. To block your opponent you build walls using wooden fence pieces. This game was enjoyed by the 8+ crowd, and while easy to learn, it would be a fun game to master and even more enjoyable when applying strategy.
Roll For It Deluxe This game is another that is easy to learn and addictive to play. Up to eight players take turns rolling their dice, trying to match their dice to the ones pictured on the cards. The first person to match all the dice on a card wins those points; first person to 40 points wins the game. Recommended for 8+, though younger kids who can count can easily match their dice to the cards to play. Highly recommended for parties or family events because you can easily chat while playing.
April 2015
Zeus on the Loose – A mixture of math and mythology, this game is great for kids who enjoy Greek mythology, and is a great way to sneak in a little addition and subtraction practice. The cards feature various Greek gods, all of whom have the power to help you or keep you from claiming Zeus. This game is fast-paced (most games finish in 15-20 minutes), and is great for adults and kids ages 8 and up, though younger kids who can do addition and subtraction to 100 and enjoy strategy will do well too.
March 2015
Sushi Go! – Imagine a sushi restaurant where the plates travel past you and you select what you want. Now convert those plates into cards featuring adorable sushi. That’s Sushi Go! Each player is dealt a number of cards (7-10, depending on number of players), selects the best one from their hand and places it face up on the table, then passes the hand facedown to the next player. Play continues in this way until the hands are empty. The cards are then tallied. What makes the game fun? The cartoons on the cards, the search for pudding cards, and the strategy that begins to develop the more you play – do you add to your set of nigiri cards? or do you take the sashimi card to prevent a fellow player from completing their set? For ages 8 and up, though younger kids like the fun artwork and passing the cards.
Spot It! – This pictures only game is great for kids and adults alike. Kids love to spot the matching items, and this is a subtle way to work on pattern recognition while having fun. Adults with, ahem, a competitive streak, can also have a good time with this game. There are now several versions of this game, including a junior version with animals, but the original version is still lots of fun.
December 2014
Left, Center, Right – This pocket game is quick, fun and highly addictive. The rules are simple – each player starts with three tokens, rolls three dice, and does what the dice say – pass their tokens to other players, put their tokens in the center, or keep their tokens. The winner is the player who ends up with all the tokens. This game is so much fun and so easy! We take this game for restaurant waits, enjoy it as a quick and fun game for after dinner, little kids love it, adults aren’t bored by it, and since there is no strategy, it also makes a great game to play while chatting. It’s also inexpensive, which makes it a great game to buy and try.
