With everyone social distancing and taking self-quarantine measures during the COVID-19 Pandemic, a number of friends have asked me for game suggestions. Here are some of the games we’re playing and enjoying in our house:
**I will try to update this post with more details over the next few days. But for now, I’m off to play a game with my kids.**
For Indoor Movement:
Twister: This is great for all ages. It helps young children to learn left from right, as well as to identify colors. And it gets everyone moving (and generally giggling), which is a great thing if you’re stuck at home. We often pull this out on very cold or rainy days. It’s perfect for right now.
COOPERATIVE GAMES for the younger set:
Wildcraft: A cooperative game that teaches some basics about identifying herbal remedies and their uses.
Outfoxed: A cooperative, deductive reasoning game in which you try to figure out who-done-it. This is a great way to work with kids on logic skills, and we love games where we can all work together.
Mole Rats in Space: You can read a full write-up HERE.
Race to the Treasure: A cooperative game. Great for younger kids. While all ages can play together, it’s geared at a younger audience.
Cauldron Quest: A cooperative game full of spell casting. It’s fairly simple, and both of my kids enjoy it. No reading required.
COOPERATIVE GAMES for older kids and adults (younger kids can play along, as all players work together)
Harry Potter Hogwarts Battle Cooperative Deck-Building Card Game: While the recommended age on this is 11+, my 6-year-old loves to play. And because it’s a cooperative game, with all of us working together, we can help him read the cards to complete his turn. We’ve now played through the games for all 7 books (there are essentially 7 games in the box that each build upon the last one). The game gets more complex as your progress through the levels. Great for all Harry Potter fans.
Forbidden Sky: A cooperative game, so everyone can play and work together. A step up from Wildcraft, Outfoxed, and Mole Rats in Space, but everyone can play because players all work together.
Mysterium: A cooperative-ish clue-like game in which you have to figure out who solved a murder. Players don’t fully work together on this game until the end. One of the players is a ghost who gives [silent] clues to the other players in order to help them find the culprit.
GAMES for younger kids:
Slamwich: This is not my favorite game, but my kids love it. It involves taking turns playing cards in rapid succession, looking for patterns in those cards as they’re played, and then declaring what you see when a particular card or pattern is played. It generally gets loud, but in a fun sort of way.
Slips and Ladders: A version of the classic up and down game. Helps to teach counting and basic game-playing skills (like turn taking).
Enchanted Forest: A classic memory game that requires moving around the board and remembering where different pieces are located. I have fun playing this one with my kids, as it challenges everyone.
GAMES for all ages:
Parcheesi: You can find a full write-up HERE.
Sleeping Queens: You can read a full write-up HERE.
Uno: You can read a full write-up HERE.
Skip-Bo: You can read a full write-up HERE.
Carcassonne: This is a great tile game which builds visual and spatial reasoning as you build cities and roads, and earn points along the way. This game requires no reading, and my younger son has been playing (and frequently winning) since he was 5. It’s a simple, fun game. Engaging for young kids as well as adults.
Rat-a-Tat Cat: Teaches number skills. To play you need to be able to recognize numbers, and to know which number is higher or lower from 0 to 9.
Spot It: Can you spot which picture both cards have in common? A fun, fast game for everyone to play together.
Sorry: A classic game I played as a kid. Good for working on counting and basic strategy. Because you don’t need to keep your cards a secret, you can easily help non-readers to play (though there really isn’t much reading involved once you know how each number functions in the game).
Moose in the House: A fun card game about moose taking over your home. No reading is required.
MasterMind: A two-player code making and code breaking game. Good for building logic skills. There’s a MasterMind Jr, if you think the original might be too tough for your younger kids.
Sea of Clouds: Requires keeping track of a number of different things, but doesn’t require reading. My game-savvy 6-year-old can play.
Ticket to Ride, and its 1910 add on: Race to set up your train routes across the USA. This is a simple, fun game. We all enjoy it. Once my 6-year-old figures out where the cities are on his route cards, he can play the rest easily. It helps with some general geography (not to scale!), and requires planning ahead.
Catan: Because it doesn’t require any reading, our whole family can play this game together. In it, you settle and develop land, using the resources to build your cities. Will you build your mini civilization first?
Pina Pirata: Reading helps for this game, though my 6-year-old plays without reading (he just needs help with the add-on rules at the end of each cycle). If he has trouble remembering the details of a rule, he just asks us to read it for him again. It’s a fun and simple game, played in several rounds. How long it takes depends on how close the competition is.
Chess: This classic game is another big hit with my boys. In fact, they’re the ones who taught me how to play.
Checkers: Checkers is another classic that can over and over again. Simple and fun.
Monopoly: This classic board game is still a big hit in our house. My 6-year-old has become skilled at counting change through playing this game. If you need a game that’s going to last a while, this is it.
GAMES for older kids and adults:
Dragonwood: A card and dice game. Simple to learn and play. Reading helps with this one.
Boggle: A fun word-finding game. Look for words among the mixed-up letters. You need to be able to read and spell for this.
Magic: The Gathering: A competitive battling card game. You definitely need to be able to read for this one. The basic game play rules are fairly simple, but the game can change in interesting ways depending on your cards.
A bit more complex GAMES for older kids and adults:
7 Wonders: This game has a lot to keep track of, but it’s lots of fun to play.
Terraforming Mars: Ever wanted to terraform a planet? Here’s a chance as player’s corporations compete to see which can do the most to make Mars habitable. Reading is definitely required for this game. Complex, but fun.
Bunny Kingdom: In spite of it’s cute name, this is not a game for small kids. You need to be able to read to play. My older son and I have lots of fun with this, setting up our own competing kingdoms of bunnies.
Risk: Ever wanted to take over the world? You have your chance with this classic battle game. This can be a long game, but we all have time right now — right?
And two games we haven’t opened yet, but will likely be coming out in the next week or two:
Evolution: A game in which you create and adapt your own species. Which will be the fittest to survival?
Pandemic: A cooperative game that’s definitely appropriate to the times. Can you stop the pandemic from spreading?