Modern Board Games

[sarahbhb]

I know from time to time a discussion about board games happens in the forums. If you know me you know that this is one of my very favorite things to talk about. Today on the blog I talked about some of my favorite games growing up and some modern counterparts to these games. I listed a game for Monopoly, Sorry, Yhatzee and Scrabble as well as another game that I recommend to almost every family looking to get into the hobby of modern board gaming.

https://the-lilypad.com/modern-board-games/

I hope you enjoy the post and I really hope you get to try out some of these games if they interest you! Also, what is your favorite board game (classic or modern)? I'd love to know!

 

[ashleywb]

I'm about to go check out the blog. A friend just taught us a new (to us) game this weekend - Ticket To Ride. You build trains in order to complete city to city routes and get points for that and for the length of your trains, etc. pretty fun!

 

[lorryfach]

We are a big gaming family! The girls can't read yet, so our faves don't require reading at this point.
We recently picked up a Mastermind clone called Secret Code.


Another favorite is Myretuen. I don't know if it exists in English. The title means "The Ant Bed" and you sent ants out of your ant bed to "fight" other ants. The pieces have magnets in them, and you "fight" by trying to put your piece on top of another one. If it works, you win, and if it doesn't, then they win. You can stack up a bunch of ants this way, and you aren't safe until you get back to your home ant bed, where the opponents' pieces are used to make your queen. The first one to make a whole queen wins.


We also really love The Amazeing Labyrinth, but I haven't made a LO yet!

 

[Kate W]

I would recommend Carcassonne to anyone, my son could play aged 5 but you can play as adults and be more tactical! It's one of those games that is really easy to pick up, but hard to master!

 

[sm_amber]

Oh yes, you know I love games! We just taught DS Ticket to Ride on Sunday. . Other faves are Catan / Catan Jr, Labyrinth and Qwirkle. It's been a while since we've played with adults but DH really loves Dominion when he gets the chance.

 

[jk703]

We love games.... last time we had a post about games here, I ended up getting Ticket To Ride... it was a big Hit. We have Catan Junior... and we will try to get them to play the regular Catan. I'm excited! We also love Qwirkle!

My kids like Blokus (sp?!) too!

I see a couple that I want to try from your post Sarah - Thanks!

 

[sarahbhb]

I'm about to go check out the blog. A friend just taught us a new (to us) game this weekend - Ticket To Ride. You build trains in order to complete city to city routes and get points for that and for the length of your trains, etc. pretty fun!

Ticket to Ride is one of my daughter's favorite games. My husband's family, along with us, got together to get her the 10th anniversary edition for her birthday this past spring. It's pretty awesome to say the least.

We are a big gaming family! The girls can't read yet, so our faves don't require reading at this point.
We recently picked up a Mastermind clone called Secret Code.

Another favorite is Myretuen. I don't know if it exists in English. The title means "The Ant Bed" and you sent ants out of your ant bed to "fight" other ants.

We also really love The Amazeing Labyrinth, but I haven't made a LO yet!

I grew up playing Mastermind...my daughter has never played but I know she would be really good at it. Myertuen sounds interesting. Definitely haven't heard of that one so I'm not sure that it's available over here.

I would recommend Carcassonne to anyone, my son could play aged 5 but you can play as adults and be more tactical! It's one of those games that is really easy to pick up, but hard to master!

Yes! Carcassone is a great game to play with nonreaders. Actually most of the games I chose could be played with non readers...none of the games have hidden information involved so a parent or older sibling could always help a young child even if it's a competitive game. We were playing King of Tokyo with my nephew when he was 5. We'd have to remind him what his cards said from time to time, but he still managed to stomp us half the time..lol.

Oh yes, you know I love games! We just taught DS Ticket to Ride on Sunday. . Other faves are Catan / Catan Jr, Labyrinth and Qwirkle. It's been a while since we've played with adults but DH really loves Dominion when he gets the chance.

I thought you might pop up in this thread. The Amazeing Labrynth is another favorite of ours. I bought it for my daughter when she was about 4 or 5 and it still gets pulled out and played by us 10 years later. Qwirkle made it into our collection about a year or so ago. That's another fun one to play with kids. You can even just use it as a color matching/ shape matching game for very young children (or let them build with the tiles..they love that as well). I haven't played Dominion but I have played other deckbuilding games (we own Trains which is often described as Dominion with a board) and pull out Thunderstone from time to time as well.

We love games.... last time we had a post about games here, I ended up getting Ticket To Ride... it was a big Hit. We have Catan Junior... and we will try to get them to play the regular Catan. I'm excited! We also love Qwirkle!

My kids like Blokus (sp?!) too!

I see a couple that I want to try from your post Sarah - Thanks!

Blokus is such a fun strategy game...and another that can be played with non readers. My daughter was a late reader (8 or so before she really started reading on her own) but was ready for more challenging games at a younger age. Blokus was one of the first games we bought to fill in the gap between Candy Land and the games that require reading. Catan also worked well for us when she got a little older and just on the cusp of being a reader. Unfortunatly, Catan Junior wasn't out yet at that point.https://the-lilypad.com//www.pinterest.com/pin/create/extension/

 

[Dana]

we love board games at our house (qwirkle is the favorite this week) ... but there are a few in this thread and on the blog that we don't have yet - so now i'm headed to amazon.com LOL

 

[bderby]

We do love to play games and I definitely see some that I want to try.

Our favorite is Settlers of Catan : Cities and Knights expansion, but I also like Puerto Rico and have heard that Ticket to Ride is SO much fun. This isn't a board game, but one we play with our boys called Bohnanza, there are a couple of expansions as well and we really like it. They have recently been loving Carcassonne as well.

 

[jenn mccabe]

since the kids have gotten older, we haven't played as much. but Catan was a fave ... we even have some expansion packs bc we liked it so much. you guys are making me want to try to get the kids to agree to play again one night. i don't think i would invest in any new games bc we just don't do it enough but some of these do sound FUN! is that Ticket to Ride game for older kids (teens) or young kids?

 

[sarahbhb]

since the kids have gotten older, we haven't played as much. but Catan was a fave ... we even have some expansion packs bc we liked it so much. you guys are making me want to try to get the kids to agree to play again one night. i don't think i would invest in any new games bc we just don't do it enough but some of these do sound FUN! is that Ticket to Ride game for older kids (teens) or young kids?

Most of the people that I know that love and play Ticket to Ride are adults. It's a great family game because it appeals to so many different ages.

Would y'all be interested in a blog post at some point about board gaming with teens? I have a 14 yo daughter that loves board games so this would be right in my wheelhouse.

 

[jenn mccabe]

thanks for the info sarah. mine are 13 and 15 so right in line with your daughter.

as for a blog post on teens & gaming ... sure!

 

[bderby]

since the kids have gotten older, we haven't played as much. but Catan was a fave ... we even have some expansion packs bc we liked it so much. you guys are making me want to try to get the kids to agree to play again one night. i don't think i would invest in any new games bc we just don't do it enough but some of these do sound FUN! is that Ticket to Ride game for older kids (teens) or young kids?

We have Cities and Knights and Seafarers expansions--there are so many possibilities with Seafarers, but Cities and Knights is by far my favorite expansion and I don't even like to play just regular Catan anymore LOL

 

[klee73010]

I commented on the blog just now, but thought I'd add to this conversation here, too. I love the idea of board games, and have, in the past, played at adult game nights.... Catan, and another one I can't remember the name of. I have a closet full of board games I'd love to play with the kids, but they are just toddlers, so we haven't yet. My daughter can now sit still long enough to do a puzzle, and I've started to teach her "tic tac toe", so I have hope that she will be able to focus on games soon.

Any game ideas for toddlers? Or do you wait until they are a bit older?

 

[sarahbhb]

We have Cities and Knights and Seafarers expansions--there are so many possibilities with Seafarers, but Cities and Knights is by far my favorite expansion and I don't even like to play just regular Catan anymore LOL

I haven't played any of the Catan expansions. We gave our copy of the game to my sister a couple of years ago because it was on her wishlist and we really weren't bringing it out very often. I'd like to try it with some of the expansions at some point. Seafarers never really seemed that interesting to me but I'm going to keep my eye out for someone in our gaming group that has Cities and Knights.

Any game ideas for toddlers? Or do you wait until they are a bit older?

I started playing Candy Land and Chutes and Ladders with my daughter when she was two. Luckily she wasn't one for putting small items in her mouth, but I realize these might not work for everyone. HABA makes some great kids games. Animal Upon Animal is a favorite here. It's basically a stacking game, with sturdy components and gives you a chance to talk about the different animals and colors with your child. We had Elefun which was I think is still being made (basically an elephant that shoots little plastic butterflies through his trunk which you then catch with a net).

 

[klee73010]

Those sound awesome Sarah, thanks! I'll check these out, and probably put them on the Christmas list.

 

[chigirl]

i played Catan for the first time this week, the dgc brought it all the way from Okinawa, fun!!!

 

[sm_amber]

We picked up a Cat in the Hat game on impulse one year and it's been a favorite of the boys - it's more interactive than just sitting and playing a game, so that helps keep their attention. http://amzn.to/1MKjob7

We also like this Orchard card game.. It's a nice transition to more standard games - waiting turns, rolling die, etc - that goes pretty quickly so they don't have a lot of time to lose interest.. http://amzn.to/1Dy37ka

Then of course matching games, Connect Four, Guess Who, and we even pull out our "grown up" games for the 3 year old to play modified versions of.. Qwirkle = matching colors and shapes, Blokus = shapes and spacial awareness, Ticket to Ride = colors, numbers, etc.. We're not actually playing by the rules, rather playing with the pieces, but it helps him become familiar with them and also feel like he's not being left out.

 

[sm_amber]

Oh, Sarah - Seafarers isn't a big winner in our house, either.. But we'll play Cities & Knights over Catan any day, so long as we're not playing with newbies. It's a bit more advanced and has the potential for more offensive play than regular Catan.

 

[bderby]

Oh, Sarah - Seafarers isn't a big winner in our house, either.. But we'll play Cities & Knights over Catan any day, so long as we're not playing with newbies. It's a bit more advanced and has the potential for more offensive play than regular Catan.

My husband likes Seafarers, but it is definitely not my favorite. Have you guys ever played the Greater Catan variation (I think it is in the Seafarers book)? It is long and has the potential to be very cutthroat. We played one time with some of our dearest friends (and favorite Catan players) and it was like a 4+ hour game and we still laugh about how mad we all got at one point or another toward the end of it!!