to HATE children's board games?

[ILoveDrKarl]

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"....

Freudian, it is basically about making pairs. You set them tiles up in a pattern (there are loads of different ones, but a basic pyramid so that you can clearly see at least one full tile all the way round the sides is easiest to get started with) then you have to match them up to remove them. If a tile is 'free' you can take it out. That just means that if you can slide it out without disturbing other tiles, then you can use it to try and make a matching pair. You have won if you clear the board. I live mahjong but am far too lazy to set up a proper set all the time, so just play it on the PC.

Oh card games! Best thing ever invented if you do lots of long journeys like I do. Gone are the days of taking endless amounts of tat and toys and snacks, now I just pack a deck of cards, a pack of wine gums for winners prizes and away we go :) even better is that when you travel or stay with friends, everyone knows different games or different rules to the same game, so you can be constantly expanding your gaming knowledge while passing the time :)

Just don't do what I did and take the kids on the train with friends, just after they had learnt to play ShitHead. They of course insisted on calling it by it's 'proper name'. At the top of their voices. On a crowded train platform. It is now called PiousPratHead or whoever lost last times name with Head on the end.

I'd recommend Dominion - its a card based rather than a proper board game, but both DH and I like it, as does dd (just 9), its also not too long, a game lasts about 20-30 minutes. Again the rules look insanely complex, but its actually really straightforward.

PiousPrat - yes that's mahjong tiles like you get on computer games. But I'm sure thats just a modern thing isn't it? I thought there was a proper mahjong game that was a variant of a card or dice game or something? I don't know

I hate board games for young kids, and am overtaken my feelings of dread when ours received them as pressies. We were given a couple of plastic, monstrosities, that once constructed were impossible to fully take apart. Then the wouldn't fit back in the friggin box. It should be law that games manufactures provide a plastic case with a catch.

Lego, if you're listening pleaasssssssssssseeeeeeeee

I used to feel guilty about hardly ever playing games with mine when they were young, but not guilty enough to regularly play. Then I remembered that as a child I used to love board games but my mum didn't sit down with us often at 3 and play. It was when we were older and could read the rules!

I've started playing games with mine as they got older. We have travel Rummikub for camping trips, and the last couple of years my 9 year old has loved to join in. Each round is short enough that my 6 year son can join in for part of an evenings game. It has a good combination of strategy and luck.

Domino Mexican Train is also loved by the whole family, older kids can join in easily with an adult game. I'm going to get the travel version I think. It's like Rummikub, once everyone knows the rules it's addictive.
www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=mexican+train&tag=googhydr-21&index=aps&hvadid=7320405289&ref=pd_sl_7elldn31g7_b

I actually cant stand the Orchard games. Somebody said they are quick - we finish Frustrationf aster in our house. I actually love Frustration as it is one my brother and I played for hours and hours as children so I enjoy playing it with the boys.

I quite like Frustration. The pingy thing is satisfying and, like an earlier poster said, you can play it tactically!

Board games where you plod round a board and go back two spaces, forward three spaces, miss a turn... YAWNSVILLE !!!!!

The dcs (12 and 7) enjoy Scrabble Apple, Bananagrams, Rummikub and just recently... poker and Blackjack

Aaah you see I am sensing a division on this thread between those with younger children (eg 6 and down) and older children. Tbh I don't think playing games with a 3 year old was ever meant to be fun but I am looking forward to the day we can all play Pictionary together as I used to love that when I was young.
As a family we travelled a lot so always played games. I remember spending hours playing poker or three card brag with my brothers when I was about 8. I should have gone professional, I was pretty good! Stakes were low though, usually dried beans or something.

I love family/friend board game nights. My DSCs love them too (19 and 13yo twins) and if they're staying while we have other adult friends over it's a great way for them to get to know them without any pressure to make small talk etc.

We took the DSCs on holiday at Easter and I had a wonderful time buying lots of travel games. Just small/card games though, I don't really like the travel versions of big games as they tend to be a bit tacky IMHO. I am also a total snob WRT Top Trumps - I only buy ones with educational value :o

When we got married, my best friends bought us Settlers of Catan. Not a conventional wedding present but perfect for us :)

While we were having drinks in the hotel bar after, we were discussing the rest of the evening and my DSS, who was 16, really wanted to play the game. We said much as we loved the game, we weren't planning to play it until we got home a few days later. So he said "oh come on, let's play, you can consummate later"

:o

5 year old DD has the following games:

checkers
monopoly
buckaroo
operation
snakes and ladders
pop up pirarte
othello
connect 4
trominoes

and various others. DH and I love playing some of them with her! I was so excited to teach her checkers. DH was really keen to teach her trominoes. We get quite competative playing the games though

I'm glad it wasn't just me that couldn't understand the Hungry Caterpillar one! I really tried.

Love Top Trumps - but we don't stick to educational ones, our favourite has been Toy Story.

Tie in games seem to have a rep for being completely incomprehensible or crap.

I remember a friend getting a board game that went with a tv show when we were teenagers. The rules were just a tiny A5 sheet but we could not work it out. The first way we interpreted it meant we all won on the first turn, and the other meant it was impossible for anyone to win!!

We've got some shite game where you aim a flipper thing at a goat and it flies around the board.
Yes. A goat.
Luckily I hid it forgot we had it & when d found it recently she did a perfect and said we should bin it.

a lot of people mentioing Carcassone so googled it and it looks quite good. Worth getting? DS is 9 but have older teen DCs too.

Yes, Carcassone is definitely good. We used to play a slightly simplified version of the rules when dd was younger, but now she's 9 she can play the 'proper' rules with no problems.

The only bad thing about it is that both dd and dh completely hammer me every time we play . . .

DP and 11 and 9yo like Carcassonne. It's not wordy enough for me, but I agree it's a good one in the 8 - adult range.

Another vote for Carcassonne here - we've played it from about 6, without farms. And Ziggity is good for a short game. DD was bought Forbidden Island last Christmas which has also gone down well - more of a team game, so you either all lose or all win and it takes cooperation to play properly.

My special dread is Monopoly and Cluedo! I hate them with a vengeance.

The only ones I'll play are Frustration, Kerplunk and Connect Four.

Everything else is too complicated and annoying for me to cope with.

I have been known to cry at the thought of playing some of the really complex card based games and what the hell is Dungeons and Dragons all about?

I love carcassonne (very special to me also because the town is my favourite place in france) - same friends who bought us Settlers got it for my birthday. Reminds me of a children's game called rivers roads and rails - anyone remember that? I've got my old version upstairs somewhere.

I really hate monopoly too. BORING!!! my DSDs enjoy it and one of them ALWAYS gets bored and wanders off or falls asleep partway through

I really love monopoly express though - it's a dice game and great for travel.

I heart Carcassone (the medieval city)

What is Carcassone (the game)?

You put tiles down so the Borders match those tiles already placed (so the resulting 'map' is different each time). You also put little playing pieces down on the map and get points when you create complete castles etc. It's a very simple concept but involves lots of strategy to be good at it - the best type of game imo!

The actual place is so beautiful isnt it. First time I ever saw it, it was late at night and we were driving past it and it was all lit up surrounded by darkness. Just gorgeous.

I recycled a lot of DDs board games last week. She seldom plays with them and the school charity sale was too good an opportunity to miss.
She had three mousetrap games, she'd told various people that she wanted it for her 8th birthday and two obliged. She asked for it last year too, another bloody box of it. She has only ever played it twice I think. Tis gone now.
I do play toptrumps with her and she loves poker. She got a proper poker set for christmas last year with little plastic chips too. Must take her to Vegas.

How I wish my two would play a board game sensibly with me, or even agree to play the same one at the same time. The ones we have had rare success with are 'Tummy Ache' (incredibly simple but fun version of bingo with food pictures) and Junior Monopoly. I like Monopoly, Coppit, Cluedo, card games, even jigsaws! Perhaps I am a bit too keen and that puts them off...

Articulate is a great game for older teens and adults - describing as many items on a card as possible within a minute. Desperate drunken shouts of, "its an animal with 4 legs" don't narrow the field much.

Kiddie games so often look much more exciting on the box than in reality -
Buckaroo (possible to get to the end without it bucking),
Puff the Pop Up Dragon (flags just fall out when younger kids try putting them in),
Mousetrap original version (build the trap then spend 6 days going round the circle at the end waiting for a mouse to land on the cheese at the same time as someone lands on the trap spot)
Peppa Pig Tumble & Spin (DD got this for Xmas, great idea but a bit imprecise and so many little cards to lay out that she gets bored)

Stupid cheap games I don't mind:
Fairytale Charms - cheap and tacky looking, but it works. Simple game play and great for 5+ aged girls.
Chilly Silly Penguins - flipping cardboard fish to knock over penguins while a polar bear rotates and scoops the fish. Silly fun (if a bit noisy)

There are sooo many games that are great for 8+

But that is years away!