Playing games with your family can be the thing that childhood memories are made of. So when it comes time to dish out the dough on gifts for the youngsters this holiday season, don’t be shy to reach for a game that could be fun for the entire family.
In our attempt to find new memory-makers, we noticed that in the frenzy to get on the electronic game/gadget bandwagon, many game companies seemed to neglect the old, reliable board game for the younger crew. Several of the games we looked at were hard to assemble, poorly conceptualized, plagued by cryptic instructions, thinly disguised versions of classic board games like Monopoly or Trivial Pursuit, or just plain lame.
But nevertheless, our kid testers found that overall, there are some pretty exciting games from which to choose.
– Hydro Strike, Milton Bradley, ages 8 and up, $25, available at most toy stores. A fast-action, two-player skill game with a splashy twist. Players manipulate pinball-style flippers to shoot a ball into their opponent’s goal. Scoring a goal, however, activates a switch that sends a pressurized burst of atomized water into the opponent’s face. By the end of the game, both players are likely to be pretty damp–as will be the tabletop–so choose your game site accordingly.
– Bop It, Parker Brothers, ages 8 and up, $20, available at most toy stores. A hand-held, electronic memory game, the Bop It is an oddly shaped stick with a piston to be pulled, a knob to be twisted and a large button to be, well, bopped. Commands follow a musical beat, which increases in tempo as the game progresses; the device emits a blood-curdling scream after errors. There are solo and multiple-player games available. The piston, knob and button are easily manipulated by smaller hands.
– Blurt, Patch Games, ages 7 and up, $25, available at Wal-Mart and Toys “R” Us. This word definition game, based on a Webster’s children’s dictionary, is little known and under-appreciated. In this ingenious game–which includes junior and adult versions–a “reader” is chosen to read word definitions from draw cards. The first player or team to blurt out the right word moves the number rolled by the die. The first player/team to circle the board wins.
– Career Explorers, Career Explorers Unlimited, ages 7 and up, $20, available at Noodle Kadoodle or call 800-563-0665. A fast-paced game that kids find informative, interesting and fun. The objective is to give players, young players in particular, an opportunity to explore career goals. As they move around the board, players get points for acquiring people skills and learning new things.
– Disney’s Wonderful World of Trivia Game, Mattel, ages 6 and up, $34, available at most major retail toy stores. This attractively packaged board game of Trivial Pursuit a la Disney is a lot of fun. There are five question categories, including animation, film, song, personalities and “mousellaneous.” Players collect game pieces by correctly answering questions in each category. Many questions require an in-depth knowledge of Disney-related trivia.
– Dog Dice, Gamewright Inc., ages 6 and up, $16, available at specialty toy stores or call 800-638-7568. A whimsical game of dog bingo that young kids and their parents will love (although older kids will probably find it dull.) Bingo boards are marked with squares portraying one of four dogs–McDuff, Gizmo, Stretch and Gigi–engaged in some doggy activity. One player rolls the dice and calls out the roll– for example, Gizmo sitting in his doghouse. Players with a matching image on their boards mark it with a bone marker. The first player to cover four squares in the corners or in a row and yell “hot dog” wins.
– Go Away Monster!, Gamewright Inc., ages 3 and up, $18, available at specialty toy stores or call 800-638-7568. A fun game for young tykes, with wonderful graphics. The object is for each player to match bedroom puzzle pieces, like lamps and pictures, with the spaces on their bedroom boards. All of the pieces are placed in a bag and kids must reach in the bag and try to distinguish their shapes. The catch: Included in the bag are eight monster pieces. If you pull one out, you can throw it away and yell “Go away Monster!”, but you lose your turn. The first player to fill his/her board is the winner.
– Petworld, KC-Pets Inc., ages 5 and up, $20, call 612-338-3008 for availability. Our kid testers liked this Monopolylike board game invented by a 9-year-old Minnesota girl named Casey. They found it visually appealing, fun and fast-paced. And it’s about animals. Players move around a play board where spaces and draw cards direct them to go to the pet pound or pet store, or to collect money from or pay money to the kitty. The object of the game is to be the first player to collect all 14 pets without going broke.
– Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Parker Brothers, ages 7 and up, $10, sold by most major toy retailers. Our young female testers really loved this game, especially those who are fans of the TV show. Players move around the board collecting points from board spaces, “The Book” cards (Sabrina’s book of magic spells) and by performing Sabrina’s magic. Each player selects a “Real Me” personality profile card that tells them whether they’re more jock than geek, brain than friend. The first player to accumulate the number of personality points on their “Real Me” card wins.
– Who’s at Home? in the Animal Habitats, Aristoplay, ages 8 and up, $25, available at specialty toy stores or call 888-GR8-GAME. Our young testers, who pride themselves on being savvy on environmental issues, loved Who’s at Home?, a game that makes learning about the environment fun and informative. Players pass through a series of habitats–desert, grassland, urban, wetland, woodland, rain forest, mountain and polar–and answer questions about the animals who live in each. Along the way they learn how animals adapt to their environments and why, for example, a polar bear is better suited to the arctic than the desert. The first person to correctly answer questions on each habitat wins.
