Comments on: In search of better board games: saying no to nostalgia

By: My Boaz's Ruth

My Boaz's Ruth — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 17:28:31 +0000

We prefer Apples to Apples Jr in our family.

My son is absolutely ADORING his Christmas present, Haba Orchard. It gets played at least once every day.

By: anjii

anjii — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 08:35:04 +0000

I missed this thread the first time around, but as a board game fanatic, I MUST chime in ;)

Although I’ll admit we own a bunch of mainstream games (kids and adults), I’ve also been searching out “better” games. (Still hoping to find the Busytown game you reviewed here in Canada!) Gotta admit I’m a BIG trivia fan too, lol!

We love Cranium games (for all age groups)! And I have to fully second the votes for Scotland Yard, and Sequence, as well as Apples to Apples (which is not challenging, so much as a wonderful social game). In addition, anything Briarpatch is great (like the Goodnight Moon game), Also some oldies like Breakout, Land Grab and the Green Aliens from Outer Space (or something like that, lol)

By: Mary

Mary — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 05:41:58 +0000

I stumbled upon this from your nostalgia posting. I really enjoyed your review and agree with your opinions regarding many “mainstream” board games. And I was pretty excited to see your links to BoardGameGeek.com.

My husband is part of a weekly board game group. Many of the members have very sizable collections (the friend who hosts it has hundreds of games). They even have a convention a few times a year at one of the player’s ranch where they play board games (and goof around) all weekend.

As for our collection for our children, the HABA games are awesome. A little pricey, but the pieces are generally made of wood and other sturdy materials and the quality of the games is just awesome. One game we have for our four year old is called Pirate Blast. It is an awesome game that involves pirate ships, cannons, and treasure. You move your ship by blowing it with a bulb syringe looking device (I guess they are just meant for sucking out snot). We have classics like Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, and Hi-ho Cherry-Oh. But I really like the out of the ordinary games that you don’t always find at your local Walmart.

As for me, I’d have to say some of my favorite games, older children and up can enjoy, include Small World, Wasabi, MicroMutants, Munchkin Quest, and Ubongo.

By: KG

KG — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 15:57:52 +0000

Other excellent games are San Juan and Puerto Rico from Rio Grande Games. They are too advanced for younger children but I love playing them at our adult game nights.

By: JC

JC — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 20:15:32 +0000

A great strategy/action game for 8+ (i think) is Scotland Yard, if you can find it.

By: Ticia

Ticia — Tue, 27 Feb 2007 20:07:50 +0000

Other good games to get:
Sequence; Five Crowns; Imaginiff; Clue- yes it's a traditional board game, but it has great higher level thinking skills, and there's a new card game version that's fun and good for travel;
Apples to Apples; Once Upon a Time
Several of these are card games or not very competitive games that are great for large groups, and also encourage creative thinking.

By: Cathy

Cathy — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 00:35:38 +0000

I find what you said about Monopoly causing strife in your family interesting. A few years, I read a great article about the company that makes the Cranium line of games. Basically, they made they same observation you did about traditional board games, and instead aim to make games that are fun for everyone and encourage kids to root for rather than destroy each other. We've had Cranium (for adults) for a few years and like it a lot. My son isn't old enough for a Cranium game yet, but we plan to buy all of them as he reaches the appropriate age level for each game.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 15:43:47 +0000

Great list of games that I have never heard of.

I recently figured out that they have a Goonies Movie game. I now need to set aside some money to get it one day off of EBay where it is rarely sold.

My wife and I just got back into playing board games and we cant wait until Rylan can join us. DVD Trivial Pursuit and Scene-It! movies have been played excessively lately but recently we toned it down for a great game of Uno.

By: bish

bish — Thu, 02 Feb 2006 15:41:08 +0000

I hear you! I can’t wait for my 18-month old son to play ‘real’ board games with me. Sadly, I think my copy of Shogun is going to gain a little more dust before it gets broken out.