This is the beginning of a guest post mini-series on our family’s favorite games by Amy’s husband, Evan Hays–middle school social studies teacher and board game enthusiast.
I am not sure if you are aware of this already or not, but you happen to be living through a board gaming Renaissance. If I already had you at “board gaming,” just skip down to number one below. If not, hear me out.
There are so many excellent board games that have come out since the late 1990’s, but especially in the last two decades, that you should re-consider your pre-conceived notions about board games. In other words, if you have ever found yourself thinking, “eh, board games aren’t really my thing”, you may find you were wrong when you try some of the awesome games that are readily available now (some of which we will be recommending in forthcoming blog posts). This is not to mention the awesome educational benefits of board games for your kids and how it will do wonders to cut down on your family’s overall screen time, which you know you already wanted to do.
If your only reference points for board games are Candy Land, Monopoly, Scrabble, Chess, and Risk and you find yourself secretly (or not so secretly) loathing those games, please read on to find out how board games can become the fun and educational part of your family’s life you didn’t know you needed.
I can’t begin to tell you how much fun our family has playing games and sharing them with others. But before you dive in yourself, I (Evan) came up with 5 essential tips to help make getting into board games smoother and totally worth your time. The hill is not that steep, but we hope that following these five simple tips will make the hill that much easier to climb. So, without further ado, here are our five tips for becoming a family who loves board games!
1. Set up a dedicated space for gaming. Find a way to have a table or even floor space somewhere (if you are willing to play on the floor—the kids love it) that you don’t need to prep beforehand (think clearing off/wiping down the kitchen table) or worry about cleaning up after.
We have a very small house, and we’ve had to be creative, but it’s been worth it. (Obviously for this post we were taking advantage of beautiful Milwaukee July, but for the rest of the year we have a table set up right underneath our laundry shoot in the basement.)
Part of playing games with kids means being willing to take games in smaller chunks (i.e. multiple sessions) until you finish, but this will not be able to happen without a dedicated space. If you can play right up to bedtime and then just leave the game until the next chance you have to play, you will actually get some games played which will allow you to really start enjoying board gaming. And if you have a child (or in our house, a mother) who doesn’t want to sit still to play a game, let them stand (or walk in place), as long as the pieces on the table don’t get bumped too much, they don’t have to sit to play.
2. Adults need to learn the game before trying to teach it to the rest of the family. These days, that can mean watching the many excellent videos available on YouTube to learn games (the best are Watch It Played), using the rulebook by yourself, or already having had someone else teach you the game in person. Some games actually come with a QR code linking you to the official teach of the game, which really makes things easy. The kids will enjoy the game much more if they don’t have to slog through a slow teach of the game.
3. Be flexible. Kids are unpredictable in terms of what they will/will not like at different times. Don’t get crushed if your kids aren’t ready for your favorite game or just flat out don’t like it. The point is to actually get to play games. Always bear that in mind.
4. Find good games. Leave a comment below or even send Evan an email at Evan.L.R.Hays at gmail.com if you need ideas for games (and see our upcoming blog posts recommending games!). There are good classic games, and for many, there is pleasant nostalgia associated with older games, but there are also literally thousands of newer games that have learned from the mistakes of older games to make amazing new games.
For example, most newer games have removed that annoying situation in which some people finish a game sooner than others and are left with nothing to do. There are also more than enough types of games that no one should wind up playing games that really aren’t a good fit for them.
Beyond contacting Evan for advice, there are many, many other excellent sources including podcasts (we recommend the awesome Game Schooler Podcast run by Doug Kotecki and Michael McCabe) and the peerless BoardGameGeek website/app. Once you are on there (you don’t need to make an account), you can browse games filtered by abstract games, children’s games (think littler kids), family games, party games, strategy games, etc.
The sweet spot for most families, especially those with kids either into gaming and younger or over the age of 8, is going to be the family games filter. You can then find games ordered by ranking as well as literally any other minutiae you might care to find about the game on there (including even finding the rulebook if you lost it).
5. Work on teaching good board gaming etiquette (which also happens to be good etiquette for life). The key points here would be sportsmanship/being polite, finishing a game if you said you wanted to play it in the first place, and managing your frustration to avoid bothering other players in any way.
Items featured in images: Sagrada Board Game, Miniature Market: Dice Tray, Score Counter App
Ok, those tips should get you launched. Remember, it’s not going to click immediately (most likely), but the effort put in to get started will very much reward you going forward, and please reach out to us with any questions/frustrations/comments that you have.
What are your top recommendations for family gaming? Do you see any of these tips as carrying over to other aspects of family life?
Love Sagrada! My two cents is start young! There are so many good variations on games you can teach kids so as they get older they can dive into more complex ones. Look for “My first” and “Junior” in titles. I started playing several My Very First Haba games (Orchard, Animal Upon Animal, for example) with my youngest child at age 2, who couldn’t handle the games I played with her older sibling. She managed to learn Uno Junior at age 3, and even My First Castle Panic at 3.5. She’ll also pull games off the shelf that are way too complex, so I’ve made up super simple versions on the fly that let her play with the fun pieces so she keeps developing a love of playing games.
What good suggestions! I didn’t think about junior versions or just creating your own! What lovely ideas Michelle!