Games for your shopping needs

I don't know about you, but I am spending far too much time these days thinking about Christmas gifts. I think I am about 90% done at this point. This is one of those tasks which take far more time than you expect it to, both the thinking of ideas and the acquiring of stuff. Since one of the gifts (a game, which is what most family gifts are around here) I had planned to get for the family is currently sold out and 3rd party sellers are selling new ones are selling new copies at exorbitant prices, I won't be getting it. Maybe some other time. No one will be lacking.

I got home today from my riding lesson to find many children all playing a game together. It was one that I love, but hadn't been out in a while. It made me think, with all of the bizarre supply chain problems (for instance, why can my Aldi not keep frozen corn or peas on the shelf?!), maybe some of you are searching for ideas to finish off your Christmas shopping. Plus, I haven't done a game round up of some of our favorite games in a while. This time, I'm going to focus on games which a variety of ages can play happily together. Some games you may know and love, others you might not have heard of, and still others you might not have thought to play with a wide range of abilities. I'll start with the games that R. can enjoy along with us with little help.

The first is Frechdach (or in English, Cheeky Badger). This game, by Haba, is older and it may be difficult to find a copy as it has been rebranded as a board game with the title Crafty Badger. What I love about the original is that every takes turns putting items of clothing in cute little metal suitcases. It is a simple game, but unlike so many games for the 3 - 5 age set, this one I don't actually mind playing. 

Next up, Uno. I'm sure everyone is familiar with this game and the fact that it is fantastic for multiple ages and abilities, but just in case, here it is. R. can play this pretty much unassisted, making it one of her favorite games. It is also the game we took with us every time we traveled to adopt because it doesn't really require language. It works for a few people, it works for crowds. Sometimes my older people will play it by themselves. If you don't have a copy, you really should get one.

Finally, I'll put Sushi Go, another card game, in this category. Sushi Go is a card passing game that my children love to play. It's pretty simple, it moves fairly quickly, and you can play with some strategy. What we have found, though, is that luck is the moving force of this game so that when R. plays, there is a chance she can actually win even though she pretty randomly chooses which cards to pass. There are very few games that she can play unassisted and having a hope of winning all on her own. 

In another category are cooperative games that R. can join in on if she has help. If you are unfamiliar with cooperative games, they are great because it is all the players playing against the game and not each other. There are still winners and losers (which makes my hyper-competitive spirit happy), but it's an all or none thing. (Pandemic is an example of this. We enjoy playing Pandemic, the older people among us, we just aren't very good at it. The game often wins.) Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert are examples for slightly younger players. These games have both been played a lot around here.

Next we'll move on to games that H. can play along with everyone. I'll start with Q-bitz, which was the game I found everyone playing this afternoon. It can be played by up to four players and each player has a small grid with cubes that fit inside. On each side of each cube are patterns... all white, all the player's color, a white dot on the color or a colored dot on white, or white and the color divided diagonally. A card is flipped over and the challenge is to be the first person to recreate the pattern with your blocks. My children also like to just try to create each pattern because the blocks are fun to play with and make designs.

Azul is next up. I love this game as does Y. (She often beats me at it, actually.) It is beautiful. There are colored tiles which you can pick up from the market on your turn in order to fill in your design. You gain points by completing certain parts of the design on your card and lose points if you get stuck with too many of the wrong tiles. It is not difficult to learn and tactilely is very satisfying to play.

Ticket to Ride. Like Uno, I'm not sure there is a person out there who hasn't heard of this game, but just in case, I'll list it because it is a perennial favorite around here. You take tickets which give you the cities you must connect with your train and earn points by completing those tickets. H. loves to play it and can do so without any help. Each person has their own method for playing as to whether they focus on long trips or short trips. TM is a Ticket to Ride master and I rarely beat him. Like so many Eurogames, this one comes with dozens of expansion sets, of which we own quite a few. The Japan one was our most recent acquisition and I really liked how the bullet trains worked. 

Settlers of Catan. J. and I have played this game for a very long time starting out with friends who had Seidler, the original German version, for which they wrote out translated cheat sheets so we could tell what we were doing. Like Ticket to Ride, this game is played a lot. K. and Y. will go through phases of Settlers marathons where they play game after game. I wasn't sure H. would be able to handle all the different parts to playing this game, but she does. She is thrilled that she can play something that is popular with her siblings. I'll sometimes give her suggestions, but she can play independently. 

Monopoly. We own a ridiculous number of versions of Monopoly, including the original. The original is the least played out of all of them, though. It seems my children never tire of it. (While I would happily play hours long Monopoly games with my father when I was young, I will admit to being happy to not play it as an adult.) This is another game where H. can join in and play right along without any problem. Her siblings are happy to do any math that needs done, but other than that, she requires no accommodations. 

We have literally dozens of games here. Some get played a lot, some not so much after we have figured them out. If people want more game recommendations, the ones I've listed are truly the tip of the iceberg. Hopefully, something here will help someone with their shopping lists.