Fun Games for Family Time

Why so few posts lately?  It’s August and I’m on vacation, relaxing with the family.

Lazy days at the beach are absolutely wonderful, but we’ve been faced with more than a few rainy days.  What’s a family to do?  It’s yet another example of that saying, “It is what it is.”  We can’t change the weather, so how do we make the best of it?  We found a toy store and sifted through shelves and shelves of games until we found some gems.  If you find yourself in a similar situation or have listened to your kids say, “I’m bored” too many times to count, check out these games which have provided hours of fun for our family:

The Game of Coda

Coda is particularly good if you have kids who love to crack codes or enjoy games like Mastermind. Players select black and white numbered tiles and try to identify their opponents’ codes. When a player says the correct number, his/her opponent must turn over the identified tile, making it visible to all players. Play continues until the last person with tiles still standing wins.

Bottom line?  It’s a quick, fun challenge game that’s best for kids 10 and up.

ESPN 21st Century Trivia

I like sports just as much as the next mom, and my son regularly rattles off statistics and scores, but this game still proved fairly challenging for our crew.  Game play took so long that we never finished the game.  Having said that…if you have intense, competitive sports fans in your family and/or circle of friends, they’ll probably be all over this game.  In that case, it would be more fun than many of the other trivia games out there, but I’d recommend that you save it for large groups of kids (who can play in teams) over thirteen who are all sports fanatics.

Bottom line?  Family full of sports fanatics?  Great!!  Family with one kid who likes sports and another who would rather be listening to music?  Pass on it.

The Game of Life

Life? Seriously?  A game that’s been around since the 60s?  Yep.  Frankly after suffering humiliation with that ESPN game, I enjoyed playing the familiar role as banker, and used it as an opportunity to explain basic financial concepts like the risks associated with gambling and going into debt compared with the benefits of investing in a college education.   Definitely more fun for me than all those obscure sports questions.  Actually, everyone in the family enjoyed this game (except that sports fanatic) and we completed the game in about an hour.

Haven’t heard about Life? Game tokens are little plastic cars with holes for people-pegs that players insert as they move around the board doing things like getting married, choosing college or career paths, having kids, getting paid, earning salary increases and so on.  Simple, silly fun with a spinner (kids always love those).  Younger kids will probably lose interest before you finish, but tweens and preteens might get a kick out of it.  We had fun!

Bottom line?   Simple fun with topics that parents can use to share their thoughts about values or to tell stories about their own lives.

Mille Bornes

Mille Bornes, pronounced (meal-born) is a fun auto race card game which is easy to learn and fun for the whole family (older kids only unless you play in teams with the younger kids).  Recommended for kids ten and up, the objective is to be the first player to travel 1000 miles.  Bonus points awarded for safe driving (i.e., making the trip using only low speed cards) and for other strategic game play.  Players can try to hinder opponents’ progress by playing hazard cards (e.g., flat tire, accident, out of gas) which can only be remedied by appropriate fixes (e.g., spare tire, repairs, gasoline).  My tween and I can’t get enough of this game.

Bottom line?  Most people haven’t heard of this game, but when they do, they become instant fans.  It’s worth a try.

Enjoy the rest of your summer!

Written by SoapB