Are You Kidding Me?
As a parent, there is an innate desire to want to connect my kids with board games and have them enjoy my hobbies, but there's also an understanding that what I enjoy might be a bit over their heads. Over the last year or so I've added a few games to my collection that are geared towards kids or have a kid-themed bent to them and I thought I would take the time today to review some of them for those parents out there looking to get a good game for their kiddos that won't also leave them hating their time with the game. There's only so many times that one can play Hungry Hungry Hippos or Cootie before going mad.
I will note that I have two girls, one who just turned 4 and one who's under 1, so my selection with these games is going to warrant some changes as they get older and play more games. However at this time, these are the ones that I have in my collection that are fun to play with them and that (most of the time) my oldest can understand and follow the rules of (when she chooses to).
As a discerning board gamer, I want my girls to experience the joy of board games with good games rather than being subjected to the same games that I was when I was a kid that left me bored after several plays with them. So, without further ado, here are several board games that I've obtained and added to my collection for play with my daughter, with a short review of them from a parent perspective as well as what her experiences have been with them:
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Publisher: HABA
Publish Date: 2014
BGG Rating: 5.9
Children's/Family Game Rank: #325
Times Played: 11
Parental Review: HABA has done an excellent job at putting together a simple game to teach young kids how to play within established rules. While the depth of the game is extremely limited, the game absolutely accomplishes what it seeks to do by providing simple rules for kids to follow and is very brief in it's play, which is very nice for kids with a shorter attention span (like my daughter). The bright colors on the board, easy to understand iconography, fantastic wooden dice and unicorns, and bright pink cloud crystals are all a treat for my daughter whenever she pulls out the game. The board being easy to set up as a giant puzzle makes it so she can set it up without any concerns. Additionally, she loves the feel of the dice and crystals, especially from a tactile standpoint and really enjoys being able to chuck the well designed chunky dice. Scoring is also easy as the scoring track is on the back of the board and it has wonderful to see my daughter learn to count up her cloud crystals that she's gotten during the game. The only caveat that I would note is that the "cloud crystals" are small and could easily be swallowed by a younger kid, so constant supervision while playing will be important. This game is easily an 8/10 for younger kids to play and while I expect it to be short lived as my daughter gets older, it is a great introductory game for her and the quick play helps it to not overstay it's welcome on the table.
What My Daughter Likes: This is my daughter's absolutely favorite game (for now) since she loves unicorns and it's easy enough to play and pull out. The bright colors always bring her happiness and she's in the "unicorn" phase, so this was a perfect addition to our collection. While she does get frustrated if she loses, we are currently working on helping to teach her that enjoying the play of the game is the most important thing. She is completely enamored with the game and will ask for it every time I ask if she would like to play a board game.
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Publisher: Gamewright
Publish Date: 2014
BGG Rating: 7.2
Children's/Family Game Rank: #8
Times Played: 5
Parental Review: If Unicorn Glitterluck: Cloud Crystals is a game that I expect my daughter to grow out of by age 5-6, Outfoxed! is one that I expect to be playing into my daughter's preteen years. The game is excellently designed and the cooperative nature of the game makes it feel like a better version of Clue (especially the Clue Jr version). Because the game is designed around determining who a suspect is and clues are shared, there isn't the secrecy of trying to keep track of your own clues on a pad. The viewfinder that has the "Thief" card placed in it uses a really clever dot system to show what items the thief is wearing and help decipher who should be accused of stealing the pie. Actions are performed using the three dice and require all three icons to be matching in order to take the action (either moving or revealing a suspect card). However, if players fail to match all three icons on the dice faces after three rolls (two re-rolls of dice if needed), the fox mini moves three (up to five if wanting a harder challenge) spaces towards the bolt-hole. If the fox makes it to the bolt-hole, the game is over and players lose. Once players think they know who the thief is, they can guess and check their answer for a simple win/loss mechanic. Overall, the changing setup of clues and thief makes for a very enjoyable game and I find myself wanting to play more often than most other games we got for my daughter. My only complaint is the fox miniature is slightly warped and the plastic legs have him sitting at an angle on his stand. I would easily give this game a 10/10 when my daughter wants to play (correctly) since it's a challenge for me to determine who the thief is too and I love a good mystery.
What My Daughter Likes: My daughter loves to chuck the dice and since they're little plastic dice, it's easy for her not to break them. She also loves moving the pieces around the board, but still has yet to fully understand that she has to move only as many spaces as the dice allow her to. We are still working on helping her understand that she can't pull out the thief card to look at the name, and she's mostly understood the "suspect" and "clues" aspect of the game, but there's still a bit more to it that she hasn't fully comprehended. I'm hopeful that over the next year or so, she should be able to get it a bit better at the game than she has previously.
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Publisher: Brain Games
Publish Date: 2016
BGG Rating: 6.8
Children's/Family Game Rank: Children's #24/Family #330
Times Played: 6
Parental Review: Out of all the games here, I think that I have enjoyed the mechanics of ICECOOL the most. I had been on the hunt for a good dexterity game a few years ago that would also be a good game to play with my kids as they got older and this was the game that I settled on. I love the feel of flicking penguins through the school and the capability of expanding this game for further depth is really fun for me. The simple idea of trying to get through doorways with your penguin to grab the fish is a really fun mechanic and having someone act as the "chaser" has made for some fun nights. While the game doesn't have significant depth to it and is really easy to play, which can result in it getting boring fast for adults, I expect that this will be a fun game to play with my daughter as she gets older. Especially with the flicking mechanic (which is hard to master), I can easily give this a 9/10 to play with my daughter as she grows up. It's one that I'm really looking forward to playing with her soon.
What My Daughter Likes: In the few times that we've pulled this out for her to play, she hasn't really fully mastered the flicking mechanic for the penguins, but she loves to try it. She hasn't fully grasped the concept of the rules, but she loves the penguins and is constantly asking me to pull it out to play (which I sometimes oblige).
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Publisher: Blue Orange Games
Publish Date: 2009
BGG Rating: 6.6
Party Game Rank: #140
Times Played: 4+
Parental Review: Spot It! was actually purchased by my wife and I for one of our first anniversaries together and we enjoy the simple nature of attempting to find what two (or more) cards have in common. It was a big hit for our friend group as it allows quite a few people to gather around to play the game. With similar mechanics to SET, there are multiple ways to play this game and even a simple tournament that could be played with all of the included game rules. It's a nice, easy game to play with my daughter as it promotes pattern recognition for her and although we haven't been able to play it with the actual rules, I still enjoy playing it to help her develop those skills. As a party game it's an easy 7/10 and as a "game" I play with my daughter, I would say the same.
What My Daughter Likes: My daughter loves all of the different items on the cards and has even gotten to a point where she can spot the similar items before I do. We haven't gotten to the actual rules of the game being put in play, but I suspect that she'll enjoy it when we do. She also is a big fan of the metal tin that the game comes in and enjoys being able to place the round cards back in the tin which fits them perfectly.
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Publisher: Briarpatch
Publish Date: 2017
BGG Rating: 6.0
Children's/Family Game Rank: N/A
Times Played: 8
Parental Review: I Spy Dig In is definitely the most tactile of all of the games I've noted here. As someone who loves the books that the game is based off of (as well as any and all "seek and find" books, including Where's Waldo), I had higher hopes for what this game would entail. There are about 10 separate items ranging from birds, frogs, houses, boats, and other everyday objects that are colored in four separate colors that get placed in a large bowl in front of the players. Each player has a card with a colored side or a grey side that requires players to find and place the respective objects on the card before the (short) timer runs out. Once the timer is done, they have to wait for the next player to go, until all players have had a chance to attempt to fill their card. Once all players have completed their turn, it becomes a free-for all and all can attempt to find their items (with one hand) and the first person to do so wins. It's a simple game and I wish that there had been more included cards with different variation as there are only 10 or so cards included with the base game. I haven't been able to play the actual rules with my daughter yet, but I expect to do so this year. It's a decent game, but feels like it lacks the clever theming that the books have in them, which makes it a 6/10 in my book.
What My Daughter Likes: My daughter is extremely tactile and being able to dig through the mass of plastic animals and objects in the bowl is an absolute treat for her. She generally loves to help me find my items first before going after her own, but is slowly working up to doing it at the same time as me. The biggest caveat is that she has not yet tried to find items with the timer active, but I suspect that will happen soon.
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Publisher: Ravensburger
Publish Date: 2013
BGG Rating: 5.5
Children's/Family Game Rank: N/A
Times Played: 1 (Daughter is at 2)
Parental Review: Disney Eye Found It was obtained at a cheap price from a resale shop because my daughter loves Disney and we were hopeful that it would help promote her visual pattern recognition. I appreciate the idea behind the game, but the included pieces are low quality cardboard and the plastic "Mickey Ears" are easily lost. The board itself is huge, measuring over 6 feet long, which makes it difficult to place on the table and it needs to sit on the ground for us to play. I also do not like the spinner mechanic to move pieces as it only has two of 16 spaces that have players look for the items on the cards, which feels significantly lower than it should be. There's not enough "searching" in this game to warrant bringing it out to play as written in the rules. If there were more "search" spaces on the spinner, I think it would have worked better, but as it stands, I'm doing far more spinning than searching. If you want a good "Hidden Picture" mechanic, go pick up a book as that would be far better than this game and it's implementation. 4/10
What My Daughter Likes: My daughter loves the mickey mouse ear markers, but she really doesn't care for the rest of the game. She likes to spin the spinner, but when it comes to searching for items, it's extremely hit or miss. While the box shows two kids being excited about finding things on the board, I have yet to experience my daughter have the same joy with this game. I'm glad we didn't pay full price for this as I'd be very disappointed after playing this "game."
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Publisher: Asmodee
Publish Date: 2007
BGG Rating: 6.0
Children's/Family Game Rank: #268
Times Played: 4
Parental Review: Pengoloo has some amazing components included in it, especially since everything is crafted with wooden components. The player boards, dice, penguins and eggs are all colorfully painted wooden components and it makes the game feel great and durable, especially one that's designed to be played with kids as young as four. While the box says "ages 4-10" as the ideal age range for this game, I played it with my daughter when she was 3 and she picked it up really easily. I personally love the twist on the normal memory game by having it performed with dice. Players take turns rolling the included D6 that have one of six colors on them and then have to find the two penguins with matching eggs under them. If they manage to do so, they can take another turn, but finding only one egg passes the turn to the next person. The first person to find six wins the game. As an added rule, players can also steal penguins from another player, which makes for some very fun "take that" gameplay. It's a simple game that has been really fun to play with my daughter and the well-crafted components make for it to be a favorite game to play, earning it a 9/10 from me.
What My Daughter Likes: As with ICECOOL, my daughter loves the penguins in Pengoloo. She fairly easily picked up the nature of the game and while it sometimes results in her wanting to roll purple all the time, we have been able to play and complete several games in one sitting, which is a testament to how much she's enjoyed the game.
Final Thoughts:
Finding a good (or even several) good games to play with kids is a tough ask sometimes, so I've done the best I could to help display some good (and not so good) games that provide options to play with kiddos. Obviously, your mileage with these games may vary, but I've generally enjoyed my time with most of these games and have even played them without my kid because I enjoyed them so much. I hope that I was able to provide a few options for newer parents who are looking to open up the Pandora's Box of kid's games and help you not be overwhelmed.
Give Me Your Thoughts:What are some of your favorite games to play with your kids (if you have any)? Are there any games that I didn't put on my list that you think should be included? What age did you start introducing games to your kids? What games that are designed for kids have you enjoyed (even without kids present)?
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