|
| |
Board Games for the Holidays
Written by: Margherita Miserandino
Five Great Board Game Ideas for Christmas!
I absolutely love games. The good old-fashioned activities that families played before television sets came along. I was excited to review or, should I say, play a bunch of games I recently received.
One of the first games I tried was a card game called, Pig Pile, from R&R Games, which is geared for ages seven and older and is suitable for three to six players. I have to say that the little plastic pigs are absolutely adorable and I had just as much fun posing them when it wasn't my turn! It is a pretty easy card game to learn and play. You basically have to be able to match and know which numbers are greater than others - pretty simple for a seven-year-old. It's a quick-paced game that, I feel, makes it more fun.
Another fun game suitable for young children is Green Alligators by VidaGames. This charade card game is suited for ages four and older and can be played by two to six players. It's a descriptive word game that doesn't involve any reading and the pictures are well illustrated. Basically, you have to guess the picture of either the action or object on the card and the objective is to, of course, obtain the most cards. Although this isn't a new concept, the fact that it doesn't require reading makes it a great educational game for young children and it is a great vocabulary builder.
I really enjoyed Time's Up, from R&R games. Although the game was designed for ages 12 to adult, I really found the game to be geared toward adults. This is a great party game because the more people that play; the more fun it is. There are three rounds to each game and the objective is to get your teammates to guess what famous person you are describing. Each round gets harder in that, in the first round you can say or do anything, but in the last round you can only pantomime. This game solved a problem I've always encountered. Sometimes you have to describe a supposedly famous person you have never heard of. Well, this game includes a booklet that describes all the people in the game. I thought that was such a great idea!
If you're into using your brain for some hard thinking, Spy Alley by Spy Alley Partners is a great board game. It's for ages eight to adult and can be played by two-to-six players. It is a game of strategy and intrigue. Each player assumes the identity of a spy from a particular country. The mission is to collect the required codebooks, keys, passwords and disguises and make it to your embassy in Spy Alley without being detected or to remain the last spy to retain your identity. Being a good bluff artist comes in handy. I thought this was a great game for children in that it is fun and teaches good reasoning skills.
There's nothing like a good word game. WordXChange, by Prodijeux, is a great word game for lovers of scrabble and anagrams. Without offending Scrabble lovers, I think this game is better because it is shorter and quick paced, yet it still requires the same skills as Scrabble. The object of the game is to create and keep six words. The keeping part is difficult because other players can steal your words. What fun would it be without word stealing?
|
|
|
|
|
|
