Hi Rally,RallyMonkey wrote:Web and Dan,
My daughters (12 and 10) love to play games, but a long learning curve may lose them. I'm tired of playing the usual suspects and was looking for suggestions. Any help is appreciated, thanks.
Here's a few that have proved to be popular with my sons, 10 & 8:
Forbidden Island: Race around a sinking island to collect 4 elemental-themed treasures. Plays simply and similarly to the popular Pandemic. Also a co-op game, so there is no direct competition.
Hey, That's my fish!: Slide penguins around ice flows to catch the most fish. You leave melted ice from the hex tiles you leave, though, so you can trap and isolate the other players.
Ghost Blitz: This one is hard to explain, but it's good for agile minds and agile fingers. Flip a card, and from a group of 5 objects you have to either select the one that is pictured in it's correct color, or if none are pictured, select the item whose color and shape are *absent*. (after about 1 min of play, there is a *pop* and your brain gets it )
For Sale: An easy to learn and play bidding game where you buy 'properties' (ranging from a cardboard box and outhouse to skyscrapers and the space station) in a few rounds of bidding action and then turn around and see how much you can get from the market later, by secretly bidding on offers that come out on cards. VERY easy, and the kids always get a kick out of it.
Love Letter: Your girls might like the theme of this one: Suitors attempting to slip a love letter to the princess locked away in her castle. Great art, and a fun and simple card game. Your hand is one card, and on your turn you draw 1 additional card, play one, and keep the other. The goal is to end the round with the highest card, which represents the person in the castle most likely to pass your letter along. The play of the card allows you to force players to take a new card, peek at someone else's hand, guess at another player's card in an attempt to eliminate them, etc. Rounds are fast, and there is a real elegance to its simplistic style.
Snake Oil: I mentioned this as one of my favorite party games, and it works well with kids too. Each round one player draws a customer card. (Cheerleader, rock star, soldier, etc) The other players use 2 of a hand of 6 cards to come up with something wondrous to sell that particular customer, and then proceeds with about a 30 second sales pitch, explaining why the 'giggle grenade' is the best option for a soldier, or why the Witch needs Baby Handcuffs for her evil spells. Allows kids to be creative with the guidance and prompting of what is in their hands, so even the less creatively inclined can enjoy a pair of words that come together in their hands. Highly recommended!
EDIT: G7's choice is a good one, not mentioned on my list because my younger son doesn't like it. But that's another one fun for families and kids as well as traditional gamers.