Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to HATE children's board games?

127 replies

ILoveDrKarl · 08/05/2011 15:31

OK - so I know I probably am - but my heart fills with dread when any of my children receive board games as presents, because I'll have to play the dreadful things!

My 2 eldest children are 6 & 3 so not at the age yet when they can go off and play games against each other, meaning we have to play the games with them.

Don't get me wrong - I love playing with my kids and I also love board games - but these kiddie games are DIRE and I HATE them with a vengence!

Currently trying to avoid playing a no doubt lengthy game of "Frustration"....

OP posts:
Numberfour · 08/05/2011 15:35

I hate them for little ones, too. I don't think that kids are really ready for them til they are about 8 or 9 or so - will not doubt have 397 people telling me that there 2 yr old plays board games perfectly Grin

ZZZenAgain · 08/05/2011 15:37

YANBU

beesimo · 08/05/2011 15:56

What I used to dread hearing from DS2 was 'howay Mam lets have a game of Pokeman cards!'

diddl · 08/05/2011 16:03

I think board games for young children are often boring for adults.

But prefer them to making stuff upBlush

Frustration must definitely have a time limit, thoughGrin

valiumredhead · 08/05/2011 16:28

Every sodding night I have to play Monopoly atm. 'SIGH'

I like Othello, Draughts and Snap.

That is IT!

redexpat · 08/05/2011 16:33

Maybe that's why they're called bored games Grin

ShowMeTheMonet · 08/05/2011 16:39

YANBU but you're brave for saying what so many bored Mums think! :)

Original poster
ILoveDrKarl · 08/05/2011 16:41

The sad thing is I have many happy memories of Saturday night game night at home with my parents - choosing a board game to play once The A Team, You Bet or Gladiators was over - and I bloomin well loved them all!!! I do feel that I am depriving my son every time I make an excuse not to play, but until he's old enough to play a proper game of monopoly or Triv instead of "My First Monopoly" [snore] I just know the excuses will continue.

Frustration has to be one of the worst, along with Coppit and the 20 other versions he has of the same bloody game!

OP posts:
Blatherskite · 08/05/2011 16:43

We've got a load of Orchard board games which are simple enough to not cause quite so much frustration and designed to be very short :)

DS has loads.

EllenJaneisnotmyname · 08/05/2011 16:48

Unfortunately it is really good for children to play board games as it teaches them all sorts of stuff, including lots of social skills like turn taking and being a good loser etc. They are really boring, though. If I have to play one more game of Cluedo.....

My DSs were some of those who really benefited from playing them from about 3yo. Sorry. (But I quite like Blokus)

plainwhitet · 08/05/2011 16:53

Sad to say, I really enjoy them and before you know it you can move on to card games and backgammon or chess, properly challenging stuff. Playing a family game on the kitchen table is still something we often do and the girls are now 13/15. But don't get me started on jigsaws. god how I loathe jigsaws ...

ByThePowerOfGreyskull · 08/05/2011 16:57

we have 3 or 4 games by cranium company, they seem to be interesting enugh to keep us all happy ziggety is great and the boys love balloon lagoon

Original poster
ILoveDrKarl · 08/05/2011 16:59

Ha! I managed to persuade my husband to donate Cluedo to the charity shop a few weeks back - oh how I celebrated!!!

OP posts:
Continuum · 08/05/2011 17:03

We simplify rules of more complicated adult board games for DS who is 7, much less tedious that way! Although I do feel slightly guilty when he plays the simpler games with his "invisible friend" or a teddy!

Shodan · 08/05/2011 17:07

See, now, I will happily do jigsaws till the cows come home. (If I'm actually allowed to put pieces in, instead of being told off all the time).

I used to love board games until ds1 started wanting to play Monopoly every day when he was about 7. There was only me and him so I did it but God, how I hate it now.

We play Scrabble occasionally now, but that's a different kind of torture since DH takes 10 minutes on every turn.

Still not as bad as the horror that is Going To The Park.

LaWeasel · 08/05/2011 17:19

I love board games. I was trying to teach DD (2yo) to play draughts yesterday (waaaay beyond her, it was quite hilarious)

...maybe I should stop now and avoid this horror. HmmGrin

Jude89 · 08/05/2011 17:19

Don't underestimate how damaging not playing games with them can be! I still have vivid memories of my mum refusing to play "Spot's Hide and Seek" and then giving it away.

If you can find Junior Monopoly (rather than My First Monopoly) that's great, much better than real Monopoly. Labyrinth is quite good too www.sircollectalot.co.uk/images/uploads/labyrinthsmall.jpg

Its really good to let them know they can't always win!

On the other hand, I HATE connect 4

Pancakeflipper · 08/05/2011 17:24

I love Ludo. I love UNO. I hate monopoly.

I love a good board game.

PiousPrat · 08/05/2011 17:24

beesimo I see your Pokemon cards and raise you a Yu-Gi-Oh! Game. Most convoluted game ever I swear I still get a migraine just looking at the damn cards, let alone being asked to sit down and play it!

In stark contrast though, we are very much a board game family and that is mostly my doing. I have bought the DC a board game each for birthdays and Xmas for the last few years and they often get them from other people as well. We are in the process of moving and last time DP went back to the house we are moving to, I shoved about half our games into his car to take with him. They filled the boot and the back seats and he had a pile of assorted Monopolys in the passenger footwell. I still have a ceiling height bookcase full left here, but we play them all regularly so I won't shift them until nearer the actual move date.

I love our family board game nights, especially now that the DC are 10 & 11 so growing up and wanting to do more things out of the house without me. It is an excellent chancemfor us to do something as a family and catch up on our day amidst the (mostly) gentle mocking that comes from having 3 or 4 strong, competitive characters playing a game.

That said, when they were younger I used to kick myself for starting off the board game obsession when I was expected to play Hop and Pop (too cheap for proper Frustration Wink ) 7 times a night, every night. This was after them being at after school club and playin it there until the staff lost the will to live and the poppy die thing got tragically 'broken'

geordieminx · 08/05/2011 17:25

Bought ds snakesand ladders for his 4th birthday this eek... Big fucking mistake. I must have explained it 100000000 times.

He still doesn't get it

Original poster
ILoveDrKarl · 08/05/2011 17:26

I realise that Jude - hence my guilt!

But I do agree with you that Connect 4 is "of the devil". Pente is much better - but way beyond a 6 year old - too many tactics needed.

I'm now wondering about the people who give board games as gifts to children - do they buy them because they genuinely enjoy playing them with their own little darlings, or is it just an attempt at "being worthy"?

OP posts:
BoattoBolivia · 08/05/2011 17:26

This sorry
Is the best simple board game. It really teaches children how to lose!!! It's really just jumped up ludo, but there is actually some skill involved.
I also agree with the comment about Junior monopoly over my first.

housemum · 08/05/2011 17:37

Good board games are fine (I actually don't mind snakes and ladders, though only really works when kids fully know their numbers, as it goes forwards and backwards across the board). Frustration is fine, it's just Ludo with funky dice.

The games I hate are the "educational" board games, with really awkward rules and no clear structure. We had orchard Toys "Pop To The Shops", played about twice - thought the money/change skills idea was good, but seemed to run out of money with no obvious way of gaining it, and wasn't clear exactly how you got from one place to the other - a bit woolly. (My memories may be wrong, this was about 3 years ago). Snails Pace Race - triumph of prettiness over function. We just play to win, sod the "no child feels disappointed as we cheer the winning snail whatever colour it is".

DontCallMeBaby · 08/05/2011 17:47

Frustration is okay - at least you can let your attention wander in between turns. DH claims you can play it strategically, but I don't much care. Labyrinth is my favourite from that point of view - because the board changes every turn you can't play strategically, so everyone is free to go for a wee, wander around the house, think about what to have for tea, etc, with no danger of getting caught out.

DD has Harry Potter Top Trumps (Order of the Phoenix ones, I think) and I HATE them. There are about three really weak cards that can never win against anything else, so the game never ever finishes. I may have to set fire to them.

FreudianSlipOnACrown · 08/05/2011 17:50

I love most board games and DD is starting to get into them. Orchard Toys do great ones for preschoolers IMO.

What I HATE with a passion is the plastic tacky shite ones that involve pretty much no skill, like 'shh don't wake dad' UGGGGGGGH