Friday Favorites: new games for family game night
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In my opinion, there are only two types of people in this world…those who like board games…and weirdos. Haha. I LOVE GAMES!! And when people tell me they DON’T love to play games, it is basically like they are speaking Latin to me…I DO NOT understand.
Since March (when life as we know it changed and this crazy thing we call social distancing started to rock my mommin’ world), I have pretty much DOUBLED the amount of board games hoarded away in our game closet. Let’s just say…we got bored…the kids missed their friends…I have Amazon Prime…things got out of hand there for a bit…hahah!!! BUT we did manage to find some new games for family game night that we all LOVE!!!
I first got Clumsy Thief Junior to help Ethan get quicker with his math facts…but it has actually been fun for all of us. It is rated for ages 4 and up, so it is pretty simple, but it is still a fun, quick, easy to play card game even for older kiddos. Realistically, players are supposed to be making combinations that add up to ten…BUT only the cards with the same fruits actually add up to 10. For example, the peach cards are ONLY a 7 and a 3. Soooo technically kids can just rely on the pictures and NOT actually do the necessary math. BUT I figure even SEEING the combinations that add to 10 over and over is a LITTLE bit of math practice:)
I actually plan to add more of these games to our collection…Clumsy Thief, Clumsy Thief Candy Shop, Check the Fridge, and Check the Oven are all very similar. Same idea…different numbers. They all follow the same major concept, except the cards add up to 100, 20, 25 and 12 instead of 10. We love to include some GAME SCHOOLING into our home-school day, and these are just quick and simple enough for us to play OVER and OVER again to review quick addition and mental math.
Another one of our favorite Game School games, Exact Change, is VERY similar to Uno. You have to match colors, or types of coins, OR you can make exact change. For example, if I needed to lay something on a 25 cent card, I could use two dime cards and a nickel card…getting rid of 3 cards at once. This was PERFECT for helping Ethan review money and get more familiar with the different coins. This is not the MOST FUN game of all time, but it is a great little learning game and perfect for our home-school afternoons.
Ok…I don’t even know where to start with Sleeping Queens. This is HANDS DOWN my kids new favorite game. We play it CONSTANTLY!! One of the best parts…EVERYBODY has the same chance of winning. Sometimes Ethan gets frustrated playing family games because, as the youngest in our family, he is RARELY the winner. But he is actually able to win Sleeping Queens!! I don’t want to call it a SIMPLE game, because it is complicated enough to be fun. BUT it is also easy enough for EVERYONE to play. We pretty much make EVERY night a family game night because the kiddos ask for Sleeping Queens. If I had to choose ONE game to add to your game cupboard…it is Sleeping Queens!! ASAP!!
I had heard SOOOO many amazing reviews on Dragonwood from home-school groups, friends, and facebook, that I had SUPER high expectation for it. I was pretty much expecting this game to KNOCK my socks off. To be honest, my socks are still on. Not because I don’t like it…because I do. BUT it took A LOT for us to figure out the rules and get our groove going with this one. I love the concept of collecting magical powers to slay dragons and conquer goblins, I think we just need a bit more practice to get the hang of this one.
Just so you know, I saved the best for last. Kingdomino has been THE MOST played game we have EVER had. WE played for DAYS when we first got it. It is easy enough for even Ethan to play and enjoy, but tricky enough for Todd and I to play and not get bored. Speaking of Todd, this is the ONLY game we can get him to join us in continually. He is one of those crazy NON game lovers I was speaking (ill) of earlier. If I had known that before we got married things might have gone VERY differently (mostly kidding).
We adored Kingdomino soooo much that we decided to add Queendomino to our family game night game closet. It is just an add-on to the original game, but it adds a great deal of difficulty to the game. SOOOO for adults, this would be fantastic. However, for MY little people, they want to stick to Kingdomino for now. BUT we have only had a chance to play once, so I will have to update later with a REAL review. I have VERY high hopes for Queendomino and I REALLY want to add the AGE OF GIANTS expansion!!
Soooo…there you have it!! We are officially game-a-holics over here!! You can head to my AMAZON storefront HERE to see what else is on my wishlist for both family game night AND game-school. OHHH and please let me know if you have a favorite game we need to add to our collection…I LOVE getting the inside scoop before I buy!!! Let’s chat soon!! JESS
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