Attention: Please take a moment to consider our terms and conditions before posting.

Board/card/dice games

I'm trying to get my niece and nephew (they are 11 and 8) away from as much use of their tablets (fighting a losing battle, I suspect!), and want to encourage social interaction. I'm also keen to do the same with my two (4 and 2 at the minute) when they are that bit older, as at the moment they are happy to play with most toys/games!

Been playing stuff like Uno, Jenga, Draughts with them but does anyone play any other or better games they'd recommend I might not have heard of?
«1

Comments

  • Cards against humanity is a good game for the adults when the kids have gone to bed.
    Especially when drinking!
  • edited August 2017
    Perudo would be my top choice - it's brilliant. Othello is good for thinking, but not as social. Monopoly and Cluedo have the potential to be good, but always seem to result in arguing when played in my house.

    Cribbage is fantastic as a card game, but takes a little learning. I expect youngsters would prefer a game like Cheat which can be really raucous - it's also good for developing social skills because you have to anticipate what others might do.
  • Stig said:

    Perudo would be my top choice - it's brilliant. Othello is good for thinking, but not as social. Monopoly and Cluedo have the potential to be good, but always seem to result in arguing when played in my house.

    Cribbage is fantastic as a card game, but takes a little learning. I expect youngsters would prefer a game like Cheat which can be really raucous - it's also good for developing social skills because you have to anticipate what others might do.

    Cheat tip: You can sneak any card past most people if you combine it with a hilarious one king/wanking joke.
  • Crib

    Proper game and good for mental arithmetic
  • there's always draughts (checkers for our US cousins) as a possible intro to chess .. knock out whist, gin rummy, Connect 4, the Pointless board game is OK and now there is a series of Monopoly boards centred on various towns and cities .. I mean if they can do one for Cleethorpes, they can do one for anywhere ..
    take trip to ToysRus .. you'll be surprised at the variety of games of all sorts that are available .. good luck in weaning the youngsters away from the ElectroGods ((:>)
  • Camel Up - new board game that won awards a couple of years ago. Great for all ages and forces people to consider probability/risk-reward. Very easy to learn with tonnes of replayability.
  • Sevens or Fan Tan.

    Simple game you can play for money or not. Builds concentration which reminds me.

    Concentration. Good for younger children.

    Lay a pack of cards out ( or just some if small children) face down in neat regular pattern, usually a rectangle. Aim is to make pairs. They turn over two cards. If it's a pair they go again. In not, next person's turn. If they are concentrating then they will remember the location of cards for their next turn.
  • there's always draughts (checkers for our US cousins) as a possible intro to chess .. knock out whist, gin rummy, Connect 4, the Pointless board game is OK and now there is a series of Monopoly boards centred on various towns and cities .. I mean if they can do one for Cleethorpes, they can do one for anywhere ..
    take trip to ToysRus .. you'll be surprised at the variety of games of all sorts that are available .. good luck in weaning the youngsters away from the ElectroGods ((:>)

    I know, fat chance! But anything that gets them off it for an hour or two is good!
  • Traditional card games in what I'd say is the order of difficulty.

    Snap.

    Go Fish.

    What we called Strip John Naked as kids but has many names: https://www.pagat.com/war/beggar_my_neighbour.html

    Fan Tan.

    Cheat.

    Rummy - seven card rather than Gin, making a set of three and a set of four.

    Knock-out Whist going from seven cards down to two, you're out when you don't win a trick on a hand, trumps decided on the first hand by a cut before dealing, then called by the winner of the most tricks on the previous hand (cut to decide a draw).

    Crib/cribbage. For two or four players, either five or six card, for three players five card with the sixteenth card put in the box.

    If you get this far and need something more stretching, Nomination Whist (https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2008/nov/22/rules-card-games-oh-hell), Solo Whist or Bridge.

    There's loads more but these are what we played when I was a youngster so I'm happy to recommend them.

    As someone mentioned above, Cards Against Humanity is good for when the little ones aren't playing.

    Board games
    Cluedo, tiddlywinks, Risk, Monopoly, draughts, chess, Ludo have all stood the test of time, Cluedo, Ludo, tiddlywinks and draughts have the benefit of being quite quick and easy to learn. Risk is simple but takes a long time. Chess is the most complex but can be quick if you play 10s or 30s a move (needs a timer of some sort) or five minutes each (needs a chess clock).

    If you want a grown-up version of Ludo, go for backgammon, but it's only for two whereas Ludo can be for up to four.
  • Frustration a slightly more kid friendly version of Ludo is great.
  • Sponsored links:


  • Always liked Boggle, have kept the set and hope to play the grandchildren when they are older.

    My own grandfather taught me and all the kids cribbage. His helpful little sayings remain with me some 50 odd years later.

    E.g. when looking to make 31

    22 9'll do
    23 8's aspree
    24 7's the law
    25 6's alive
    26 5's afix
    27 4's in heaven
    28 3's await
    29 2's in time

    ... and don't forget one for his knob!


  • Cribbage is good if you are entertaining verbally. The counting has a nice sing song rhythm, the words involved are great, 'one for his (K)nob' is a good fnarr fnarr moment, it is pretty nicely time limited.
    I have always preferred it as a two person game, but as a four person game it could almost become an Opera!
  • Newmarket, also known as Michigan
  • sam3110 said:

    Newmarket, also known as Michigan

    We taught our 3 grandchildren Newmarket last week while in a caravan on The IOW. They absolutely loved it.
  • We played shithead (the card game) a lot throughout school. Also cheat and racing demons.

    As for boardgames, Settlers of Catan is good but might be above their age. Abalone is also very good.
  • edited August 2017
    I've used a nice piece of software to create crosswords for kids (and adults!). This allows you to tailor clues/answers to the kids' actual interests. It's much better than a lot of available software and you can print out blanks with the clues as well as the completed master version. I've found it keeps the kids interest well. It's called Qxw. I use it on Linux, but I believe there's a windows version. It's free.
  • sam3110 said:

    Newmarket, also known as Michigan

    We taught our 3 grandchildren Newmarket last week while in a caravan on The IOW. They absolutely loved it.
    Memories of late 70's early 80's playing Newmarket down my Nan's caravan in Herne Bay.

    Two of clubs
    Theee of clubs
    Four five and six of clubs
    No seven.
  • At school we used to play chase the ace at lunchtime with loser downing a pint of water. No toilet breaks allowed so in trouble whole afternoon if you had a bad lunchtime.
  • https://boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame

    And please never inflict Monopoly (or one of the infinite pointless rebranded versions) on anyone, a terrible game that will make them beg for their tablets back.
  • I'll come back to this as my 6 year old is nagging me for more games

    Just taught her beggar my neighbour and 7 card rummy. She also likes junior monopoly.

    I got her a multigame set... It has draughts chess, ludo, goose game (a board game) nine men's Morris (aka mills) and snakes and ladders. All are fun to play with her. Also has instructions for dice and card games.

    I used to play a betting game with my family (using pennies) called Newmarket. Anyone familiar with it?

    Tried playing poker today as well!
  • Sponsored links:


  • sam3110 said:

    Newmarket, also known as Michigan

    Oh yeah, a few on here have heard of it. How do you play it again? Or are there universal rules I can just look up (being lazy)
  • Backgammon. The king of games. Looks complicated but isn't. Great combination of luck and tactics.
  • Me and the missus love the board game "Upwords"
    It's like scrabble but each tile is worth 1 point but you can change words by building upwards to a max of 5 tiles. It goes on holiday with us everywhere and people are always intrigued watching us play
  • Always liked Boggle, have kept the set and hope to play the grandchildren when they are older.

    My own grandfather taught me and all the kids cribbage. His helpful little sayings remain with me some 50 odd years later.

    E.g. when looking to make 31

    22 9'll do
    23 8's aspree
    24 7's the law
    25 6's alive
    26 5's afix
    27 4's in heaven
    28 3's await
    29 2's in time

    ... and don't forget one for his knob!


    I learnt 25 and 26 from my grandparents but they didn't know the others so thanks for putting those up.

    And don't forget "Two for nothing".
  • sam3110 said:

    Newmarket, also known as Michigan

    Couldn't think of the name of that yesterday when I was adding my magnum opus so thanks for reminding me. Played that with the whole family over the years, from grandparents to my son and nieces, and in a few years time I'll have a grand-nephew to introduce it to.
  • https://boardgamegeek.com/browse/boardgame

    And please never inflict Monopoly (or one of the infinite pointless rebranded versions) on anyone, a terrible game that will make them beg for their tablets back.

    You're wrong, Monopoly is brillant.
  • Mancala and backgammon are good, but can get dull if one person in the family is better than everyone else.

    Careem is fabulous fun, but I don't know where you'd get a board nowadays as I don't think the games shop is in Greenwich market anymore (probably online, I guess).
  • edited August 2017
    Yahtzee is good for quick adding skills.
  • MrOneLung said:

    sam3110 said:

    Newmarket, also known as Michigan

    We taught our 3 grandchildren Newmarket last week while in a caravan on The IOW. They absolutely loved it.
    Memories of late 70's early 80's playing Newmarket down my Nan's caravan in Herne Bay.

    Two of clubs
    Theee of clubs
    Four five and six of clubs
    No seven.
    Whose got the seven of clubs, right OK lowest red. Nan perks up "oh I have it and the eight".
  • Set them up for a best out of 5 game of Risk then come back when they've finished to celebrate their 21st / 18th birthdays.
Sign In or Register to comment.

Roland Out Forever!