8 ms·

I love playing board games with my kids, gets them away from anything digital: nintendo’s, ipads or tv stuff. And hey having a 8 year old thinking about his St

I love playing board games with my kids, gets them away from anything digital: nintendo’s, ipads or tv stuff. And hey having a 8 year old thinking about his Stratego setup, is a good thing!

ideonexus 9y ago
Seconding this. My boys love their tablets and their Xbox, which I play with them and don't discourage (video games have their positives), but our real quality time is playing board games. It's wonderful to watch my four and six-year-old "get it" while interacting with them on a personal level. Earlier this year I discovered thrift stores are a wealth of games and I'll bring home a stack of new ones to try out every couple of weeks for less than $20. We try them out and it's like trying out novel ways of thinking much of the time. I highly recommend this as a way of connecting to your kids.
- adrianN 9y ago
  https://boardgamegeek.com/ https://boardgamegeek.com/ has an active second hand market where you can find less mainstream games. I've personally bought a couple of games on there.
- ido 9y ago
  If you live in a big city you can try finding a "game café/pub" such as Storm Crow Tavern in Vancouver or Spielwiese Berlin.
- cableshaft 9y ago
  > We try them out and it's like trying out novel ways of thinking much of the time. This is why I'm addicting to playing (and designing) board games. You get to learn how to think in a different way for awhile. So much fun.
shitloadofbooks 9y ago
I got started with Stratego around age 7-8 after my dad taught me. I showed my friend group and we got bored of the base game very quickly, so we started modifying it and making custom versions. We had a double-wide version (just a hand drawn grid hanging off the side and custom pieces made out of cardboard and stickytape), rivers, boulders, tanks (2x1 pieces), 1v1v1, custom scenarios, etc. We eventually moved on to HeroQuest and then discovered Warhammer (but couldn't afford it so we used to play our own DIY version with LEGO and dice). Those rapid prototyping and iteration skills I learned at an early age massively helped me in life and they're used daily in my role as an Infra/Ops Engineer. I also have a published board game (and hopefully more to come)!
- frabbit 9y ago
  It would be interesting to hear your experiences in publishing.
- j_s 9y ago
  >I also have a published board game Link that stuff up! (Assuming you don't mind being associated with it here.)
  - shitloadofbooks 9y ago
    https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/186701/burger https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/186701/burger
koonsolo 9y ago
For me, it's always a challenge to play board games with my kids. They are now 8, 6 and 4, and none of them wants to lose. It always ends up with someone crying, sometimes with all of them crying (including the winner). For other parents who have the same issue: I was able to "fix" this situation by declaring the winner as the person who is able to take defeat without crying. After that I mostly can declare all of them winners. Sometimes I'm able to end the game nicely like that. Just saying that playing a board game with small kids is not always as easy as your imagine it to be. EDIT: One more thing: there are some nice co-op games for kids, and with those I never have a problem. A real recommendation!
- quadcore 9y ago
  Thanks for sharing the anecdote. I think you should ask yourself why are they crying. Is it because they are hurt or because they expect something to happen by doing it, like you declaring them winners? I'll bet they still playing the "game"...
  - koonsolo 9y ago
    Kids are always playing the "game" ;). In this case, they won't get anything out of crying, so I guess it is purely out of frustration. A lot of times, the winner also enjoys rubbing it in, and making the others cry. Kids have all the survival emotions, and none of the social skills to hold back on them. But that's probably our job as a parent, to teach them the social skills. Better they learn it now, that when that colleague got that manager job they thought they were entitled to.
- 5_minutes 9y ago
  Hah! Definitely have the same problem, there's always someone crying. Which are some of those co-op games?
  - tialaramex 9y ago
    Pandemic is THE classic of the group. Other things to try, keeping in mind this is for kids (or I'd suggest Legendary Encounters: Alien and Shadowrun: Crossfire) might be: Forbidden Island (or Forbidden Desert, they're similar) The Dresden Files deck building game
Fnoord 9y ago
I've been pondering what the point [nowadays] is of all these board games I played as a child. Risk, Axis & Allies, Colditz, Monopoly, Stratego (I played all these games below the recommended game). As well as PnP RPGs, card games, and collectible card games. My problem is that, at an older age, I don't regularly meet friends anymore in physical space "just because", and on a birthday this doesn't fly either. Things like Friday evening RPG night? No way. Heck, I don't even have the friends anymore who are into that. That's what makes an electronic game much more accessible be it single player or MMO. The answer is that as a teenager, we didn't have mobile phones etc (or well, barely) and we resorted to physical games such as card games. And as a kid, it was part of being friends with schoolmates, or (as you put it) playing with my parents. So we were already enforced, pretty much, being in physical space, overcome out boredom, and bended that to pleasure in such a way that we enjoyed being with each other. The point being, that these games are still solid for youth and parents playing with youth. Heck, its partly even my problem that I don't initialise card games on a birthday. Being autistic and opposite sex of my kid poses challenges though. Its still a long way down the road but while teaching them to become competitive in games and learning to win and lose seems invaluable, with a girl I'm inclined to not bother with violence or war-theme (or WWII) games. There's tons of these available, but it does pose limitations.
- qznc 9y ago
  > I don't regularly meet friends anymore in physical space "just because" We regularly invite some friends for a "game evening" not "just because". Have dinner together, bring the small kids to bed, then have a round of Dominion, Alhambra, whatever. That does not work for long games like Axis & Allies, because you would need a whole day, though. Fortunately, there are plenty of shorter games as well.

I love playing board games with my kids, gets them away from anything digital: nintendo’s, ipads or tv stuff. And hey having a 8 year old thinking about his Stratego setup, is a good thing!

ideonexus 9y ago

Seconding this. My boys love their tablets and their Xbox, which I play with them and don't discourage (video games have their positives), but our real quality time is playing board games. It's wonderful to watch my four and six-year-old "get it" while interacting with them on a personal level. Earlier this year I discovered thrift stores are a wealth of games and I'll bring home a stack of new ones to try out every couple of weeks for less than $20. We try them out and it's like trying out novel ways of thinking much of the time. I highly recommend this as a way of connecting to your kids.

adrianN 9y ago
https://boardgamegeek.com/ https://boardgamegeek.com/ has an active second hand market where you can find less mainstream games. I've personally bought a couple of games on there.
ido 9y ago
If you live in a big city you can try finding a "game café/pub" such as Storm Crow Tavern in Vancouver or Spielwiese Berlin.
cableshaft 9y ago
> We try them out and it's like trying out novel ways of thinking much of the time. This is why I'm addicting to playing (and designing) board games. You get to learn how to think in a different way for awhile. So much fun.

shitloadofbooks 9y ago

I got started with Stratego around age 7-8 after my dad taught me. I showed my friend group and we got bored of the base game very quickly, so we started modifying it and making custom versions. We had a double-wide version (just a hand drawn grid hanging off the side and custom pieces made out of cardboard and stickytape), rivers, boulders, tanks (2x1 pieces), 1v1v1, custom scenarios, etc. We eventually moved on to HeroQuest and then discovered Warhammer (but couldn't afford it so we used to play our own DIY version with LEGO and dice). Those rapid prototyping and iteration skills I learned at an early age massively helped me in life and they're used daily in my role as an Infra/Ops Engineer. I also have a published board game (and hopefully more to come)!

frabbit 9y ago
It would be interesting to hear your experiences in publishing.
j_s 9y ago
>I also have a published board game Link that stuff up! (Assuming you don't mind being associated with it here.)
- shitloadofbooks 9y ago
  https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/186701/burger https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/186701/burger

koonsolo 9y ago

For me, it's always a challenge to play board games with my kids. They are now 8, 6 and 4, and none of them wants to lose. It always ends up with someone crying, sometimes with all of them crying (including the winner). For other parents who have the same issue: I was able to "fix" this situation by declaring the winner as the person who is able to take defeat without crying. After that I mostly can declare all of them winners. Sometimes I'm able to end the game nicely like that. Just saying that playing a board game with small kids is not always as easy as your imagine it to be. EDIT: One more thing: there are some nice co-op games for kids, and with those I never have a problem. A real recommendation!

quadcore 9y ago
Thanks for sharing the anecdote. I think you should ask yourself why are they crying. Is it because they are hurt or because they expect something to happen by doing it, like you declaring them winners? I'll bet they still playing the "game"...
- koonsolo 9y ago
  Kids are always playing the "game" ;). In this case, they won't get anything out of crying, so I guess it is purely out of frustration. A lot of times, the winner also enjoys rubbing it in, and making the others cry. Kids have all the survival emotions, and none of the social skills to hold back on them. But that's probably our job as a parent, to teach them the social skills. Better they learn it now, that when that colleague got that manager job they thought they were entitled to.
5_minutes 9y ago
Hah! Definitely have the same problem, there's always someone crying. Which are some of those co-op games?
- tialaramex 9y ago
  Pandemic is THE classic of the group. Other things to try, keeping in mind this is for kids (or I'd suggest Legendary Encounters: Alien and Shadowrun: Crossfire) might be: Forbidden Island (or Forbidden Desert, they're similar) The Dresden Files deck building game

Fnoord 9y ago

I've been pondering what the point [nowadays] is of all these board games I played as a child. Risk, Axis & Allies, Colditz, Monopoly, Stratego (I played all these games below the recommended game). As well as PnP RPGs, card games, and collectible card games. My problem is that, at an older age, I don't regularly meet friends anymore in physical space "just because", and on a birthday this doesn't fly either. Things like Friday evening RPG night? No way. Heck, I don't even have the friends anymore who are into that. That's what makes an electronic game much more accessible be it single player or MMO. The answer is that as a teenager, we didn't have mobile phones etc (or well, barely) and we resorted to physical games such as card games. And as a kid, it was part of being friends with schoolmates, or (as you put it) playing with my parents. So we were already enforced, pretty much, being in physical space, overcome out boredom, and bended that to pleasure in such a way that we enjoyed being with each other. The point being, that these games are still solid for youth and parents playing with youth. Heck, its partly even my problem that I don't initialise card games on a birthday. Being autistic and opposite sex of my kid poses challenges though. Its still a long way down the road but while teaching them to become competitive in games and learning to win and lose seems invaluable, with a girl I'm inclined to not bother with violence or war-theme (or WWII) games. There's tons of these available, but it does pose limitations.

qznc 9y ago
> I don't regularly meet friends anymore in physical space "just because" We regularly invite some friends for a "game evening" not "just because". Have dinner together, bring the small kids to bed, then have a round of Dominion, Alhambra, whatever. That does not work for long games like Axis & Allies, because you would need a whole day, though. Fortunately, there are plenty of shorter games as well.