HAVING FUN WITH GAMES WHILE YOU'RE WINTER HOUSEBOUND
It's
a frigid Sunday afternoon, and my children, aged 7 and 4, are finally
old enough to keep themselves occupied for about an hour. This may
seem like an odd thing to be excited about, but since my husband and
I were first introduced to the board game Carcassonne, this is the
first winter where we've been able to find time during the daylight
hours to peacefully play a game together. This newfound freedom and the onslaught of cold weather have given us time to delve into our modest
board game collection. Here are our favourite games to while away a
cold, winter afternoon:
1.
AGRICOLA (by Uwe Rosenberg)
The object of Agricola is to build a
family and develop a well-balanced farmyard over 14 rounds of game
play. The level of strategy required in this game is quite high –
you must think many rounds in advance to balance achieving goals and
nourish your family – and it probably hits the limit of my
strategic abilities (I was never a chess player). If you can get past
the complicated instruction manual (I recommend searching online for
an instructional video instead), you’ll find a challenging game to
keep your brain stimulated while the snow blows outside.
2.
DOMINION by Donald X. Vaccarino
Dominion is one of our favourite
games to introduce to friends. The game play is simple, and most
people pick it up within a couple of rounds. It is a card-based game,
where each player builds their deck to get the most Victory Points.
The base game comes with 24 action cards, of which ten are used per
game. At the beginning of each game, players can either pick a
recommended set of action cards from the instruction manual, or
randomly choose a set. Expansion games are also available that add
new action cards to the mix. With eight expansion games, adding
anywhere from 12 to 35 new action cards each, no two games are alike,
and strategies constantly change to adapt to the new cards.
3.
CARCASSONE by Klaus-Jurgen Wrede
Carcassonne remains one of our
go-to games to beat the winter blues. If you've ever played dominoes,
you can play Carcassonne! Carcassonne is a tile-based game, where
players add tiles to the board in a way that will extend the features
already present – field can be placed next to field, city can be
placed next to city, and road can be placed next to road. Points are
generally awarded when features are completed. What I like most about
this game is that it can be easily adjusted to remove complexity if
needed. Our 7-year-old daughter has indicated interest in learning
the game, so that will be our next challenge (and a future topic to
write about).
I'd
like to stay and chat, but it's cold outside, my kids are busy, and I
have a game to play!
Sandi
is a 30-something environmental engineer and mother of two from the
metropolis of Stittsville, Ontario. Writing for Capital Geek Girls is
a new adventure for her, with previous writing experience limited to
technical documents, briefing notes and Facebook updates. In her
spare time, Sandi enjoys playing board games and video games, reading
books, watching movies, and crocheting. She looks forward to sharing
her geeky endeavours with you, as well as reporting on the next
generation’s response to those endeavours.
We have Carcasonne for kids as well and also bought a catapult that adds an extra element of interest for our son in particular. Our 10 and 8 year old, play both adult and kid versions, as well as a kid version of Settlers of Catan.
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