games

Games - board, card or otherwise.

I love them.  Stephanie has the right idea when she called them an Unschooling Tool (albeit with tongue firmly in cheek.)  Truly, round here they are an essential part of daily life.

Our range is vast.  I've just done a quick count of the shelf and stopped at eighty-nine.  There is at least 100 in our house.  I have never counted them before and I didn't realise there was that many!  

 

As the photos show, our games shelf is never tidy.  This is something I used to struggle with, but it gets used on a daily basis, so I've given up worrying about it.  I only start rearranging when I think it could topple onto a passing head.  (The shelf is half way up the stairs.)

We play a game every day.  Most times more than one.

I don't think I have bought many games brand new from a shop, maybe five or six over the years as birthday or Christmas gifts but most are hand-me-downs or from charity shops.  I love charity shops for games - never more than a pound or two and normally an older edition and so generally better, more solid made game pieces.  I've also printed a few out.

Board Game Geek is a mind boggling website that will inspire and (in my case) over whelm you.

Middle of shelf: Includes Labyrinth, Blue Peter Explorer Enchanted Forest and  Carcasonne.

Labyrinth is excellent - it's a maze game that any one can have a go at.  My three year old will happily play alongside his bigger siblings.  We just bend the rules a little bit*.  Blue Peter Explorer is a much more complicated game, and one that is really for the older ones.  Carcasonne is a strategy game that Eb loves.  You can buy expansion packs for it which we're thinking about.  Enchanted Forest is just lovely.

 (My) left hand side of shelf:

Dragonology- an ideal rainy day game as it can last for hours.  Pictionary Junior, Greedy Gorilla,

Quandary and Pictureka!  This one is a good one to take along to a group meet up, as there is no limit on the number of players.  We've taken it to home ed meetings before and had over a dozen kids play at the same time.

I couldn't get a picture of the right hand side as the angle was too awkward, but I've made a list:
 
Scooby-doo Haunted Mansion
Scrabble Trickster
Chicken Out
Spiderman Hide and Seek (couldn't find a link but got it from the pound shop and it's a great little game...basically what it says - you set a scene and then someone changes the scene and you have to work out what they've changed.)
Bananagrams

Diary of a Wimpy Kid : The Cheese Touch.

This is very much the game of the moment.  I like it because it is quick to set up, and is hilarious.  You have to answer some questions throughout the game, and the idea is to guess who said what.  The questions range from "Have you ever been bitten by someone?" to "Have you ever worn your underwear for more than one day at a time?" to "Name a place you would like to travel to."  There is a bit of writing involved which Mb struggled with for a while but playing this has made him more confident to try out new words and not fret if he misspells something.

Games are for every one, any where, any age and that all inclusive factor is probably the thing I love most about them.

*The rule bending bit:  It took me a good couple of years to realise that we don't have to play the games according to the manufacturers rules.  There is no rule police that will come bursting through the door if we decide to change things a little.  Labyrinth is a good example, as Lb is a long way off getting to the end, but he can manage to get to the half way point, so that's his aim, and that's where we all go wild if he reaches it.  We do the same with Bananagrams, just making words whether they fit with the existing ones is fine for the younger ones and so on.

Happy Gaming!  (And let me know if I'm missing a good game.)