It’s Game Night!

I haven’t been cooking much this week.  While that’s bad news if you’re here looking for a recipe today, it’s great news because I get to fill in today with a few new recommendations for board games.  Now that our kids are older, we’ve been getting more into trying to play games together as a family.  At least once a week we pull out a game and all play together. Some of our favorites in recent time have been old standbys- Yahtzee, Uno, Sorry, Trouble.  Recently though, two newer games on the market caught our attention, and I cannot recommend them enough.

The first one is The Ladybug Game.  Now this one may be more geared toward the younger crowd, but it is still fun to play as a family.  What I like about it is that you don’t have to be able to read to play- and with a four-year old, that is a huge asset.  You choose a ladybug pawn, and then you need to navigate your way along a path, collecting aphids and pass cards at just the right times in the right amounts.  It’s a really cute game, and Zander really likes playing this one.  It’s definitely not rip-roaring family fun, but it does appeal to both the four and seven year old.

The second game I wanted to mention is the latest installment from those folks over at Cranium.  This game jumped out to me initially because we are a zoo-loving family.  We love to go to the zoo, and do that often when we travel.  At home we all gather around the computer and play Zoo Tycoon together, building virtual zoos.  So it was no small leap for us to decide to bring home Zooreka.  It practically leaped off the shelf into my hands, and I am so glad it did.  This is a great game! It says on the box ages 8 and up, but both my kids grasped the concept in no time, and in just one week we’ve played it together several times.  This one is rip-roaring fun, and the game itself doesn’t last very long (maybe 30 minutes?). You race around the board collecting tokens of various kinds which you need to trade in for a piece of zoo habitat.  Collect 4 habitats, and you win.  One of the best things about this game is that every roll of the die is interactive for every player.  Even on someone else’s turn, you have a chance to collect tokens, and it keeps everyone engaged the whole time.  it’s bright, colorful, and it gets insanely high marks from our entire family.  Here’s a peek at the board opened up:

I love that this game is fun for both kids and adults.  This goes right to the top of the list with Apples To Apples as one of our all-time favorite games.  And I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to spend an evening with the kids at home without the TV going, or without the computers going.  It’s just nice to sit around, spend time together, and expand our minds in a really fun way.  So now it’s your turn.  Have you played any great family games lately?  We’d love to hear what your recommendation is.  That game wall at Toys r Us is really overwhelming to look at!