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Games for a primary school Family Boardgame Night
Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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We're hosting a Family Boardgame Night at Biggie's primary school next Friday night. We've invited families to bring their favourite games, but will take some of our own as well, to 'seed' the night.

(Primary school is ages 6-12, boys and girls. We've required that children have an adult with them - no solo kids).

We're also negotiating a fundraising deal with our FLGS to supply games at a discount (which will be split between the school and the buyer), so if we can interest a few people in buying a new game or two that will be great.

I'd welcome comments on these games and their suitability for teaching in an open gaming environment comprised of adults and children. I haven't made this list open to new additions as the games we take will have to come from our collection.

** List updated 07-May-2006 with the outcomes - what was played, what wasn't, what was popular **

See comments section and Fraser's blog entry at http://boredgamegeeks.blogspot.com/2006/05/school-game-eveni... for reflections on the night as a whole.
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Posted Sun May 7, 2006 8:57 am
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1. Board Game: Alhambra [Average Rating:7.09 Overall Rank:177]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 We like this as a gateway, because theme and mechanics integrate so nicely.

** Did not get played. I think next time, if we get a few games going with groups of kids, this might be popular with spare parents.
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This may work well with the 10-12 year olds. It's best to have a knowledgeable player in the game, or standing by to offer advice for First timers.
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I think this one would work fine with the older children, it is quite easy to play.

CC
2. Board Game: Apples to Apples Kids [Average Rating:6.58 Overall Rank:1272]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 Great word game for groups of kids

** Played this with a few groups, including a teacher of English-as-a-second-language, who thought it was fantastic. Biggie gave it to her best friend today as an 8th birthday present. Next time, we need to get this started earlier as I think it's a good self-sustaining game.
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Our family likes this game - 2 adults, 2 kids. Our youngest (5YO) needed some help, but had fun.
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I love the adult version of A2A. When i have minionschildren(7-10 years from now) i'm definitely getting the junior version.
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Great choice! Like 6 Nimmt, a large number can play. Players can get silly and have a lot of laughs. Apples to Apples at any level is a wonderful ice-breaker for parties and gaming events.
3. Board Game: Around the World in 80 Days [Average Rating:6.60 Overall Rank:607]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 Biggie begged us to take this one. I think it might be a bit long for the 2.5 hour session, though

** Did not take it
4. Board Game: Bang! [Average Rating:6.82 Overall Rank:336]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 Still thinking about this ... I've never played it, but Fraser likes it a lot.
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Bit of a boys game. Also not exactly a teach and leave game. We still refer to the rules when playing it at work.
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Matt brings up an excellent point. Depending on the community/school environment, the theme of this game may be taken too seriously. I recommend you check with teachers and/or school administrators for aprpriateness before you introduce it.

From my perspective, I think it's far less violent than what most of them see on TV. Keep in mind that some players can be eliminated (shot dead), which means you'll need to have another game or activity they can jump right into as they get "killed.".
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I'm going to sound like a square here, but some parents may be upset about having a game about guns at a school gathering. Here in the States, parents are nervous about anything having to do with violence in the schools, ever since the shootings several years ago.
Not at all... this is something I considered. In the end, I decided to leave it up to the individual parents, since the guns are so clearly part of the Wild West theme of this game. (if I am understanding it right).

Now CashNGun$, on the other hand, would not be getting NEAR a school function I was involved with. (Not that I have it, although I'd be interested to try it - but NOT at school).

Verdict is this won't be going anyway, as the locals felt it would be too hard to teach.
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Melissa,

I agree with you, Cash and Guns would be a problem.

It's smart of you asking the "locals" for advice about the games you are thinking about bringing to the gathering. They will have a better idea as to what is acceptable.
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** (Sorry, can't update this through the GeekList manager)

We didn't take this for the reasons given above.
5. Board Game: Bohnanza [Average Rating:7.18 Overall Rank:142]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 Good for bigger groups, although possibly there are a few too many rules to make it easy to teach and leave.

** Did not take this (see comments)
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I've tried to teach this to primary school children-- it works ok, but you just know there's no way their hands are staying in order. And some extra cards may make it to their gold pile. They enjoyed it though.
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Melissa, if you decide to try this one, there are several great teaching aids in the file section of the game page. I really like this player's mat:

http://www.boardgamegeek.com/fileinfo.php?fileid=11967
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Thanks for the tips, folks - I will definitely make copies of that players mat!

Again, I think we need to *play* this a few more times this week as it's been a while.
6. Board Game: Carcassonne [Average Rating:7.48 Overall Rank:65]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 The ultimate gateway. I need to go through and take out the River and the Inns & Cathedrals expansion before we go, though.

** I saw this in play once, and several families recognised it and owned or had played it. We also took Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers, which none had seen before.

Other families who didn't already have this game were interested to know where to get it.
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You probably don't need to remove anything except the river. When we play Carc with newbies we leave in all the expansion tiles but leave out the rules associated with them. The inns can just be extra decorations.
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No need to take the River out. It is isolated in its own little baggy already - never to be mixed with other tiles :meeple:
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Quote:
When we play Carc with newbies we leave in all the expansion tiles but leave out the rules associated with them. The inns can just be extra decorations.


You too? We do that with I&C and T&B. We also leave Bob, the Piggle, and the Mega-meeple out of the game.
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I play this with my kids without the farmers. They just don't like them since it's hard for them to visualize what they will score.
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I play this with my kids without the farmers. They just don't like them since it's hard for them to visualize what they will score.


I second James' suggestion. The scoring of the farmers can be confusing enough for adults; it's bound to baffle many of the children. Leave the farmer scoring out, and they should grasp the rest of the game quite readily.
7. Board Game: Catch The Match [Average Rating:6.19 Overall Rank:2934]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 We just bought this recently to boost our "kids games" choice. Another that should be suitable for the very youngest ones as well.

** Played a couple of times. Probably this is one that we should just leave set up somewhere to encourage quick plays. Another good one for families who are a bit light on English.
8. Board Game: Category 5 [Average Rating:6.89 Overall Rank:281]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 Soon to be available in Australia, we hope. Good for up to 10 players, and simple counting is all that's required.

** Did not get played - probably if there had been more older kids there this would have been out. I would definitely take it again.
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I don't think it's good for 2-10 players. With 2-3 players there is too little tension - it's quite rare to be in real danger of taking large amount of cards. With more than 6 players it gets way too chaotic and random. Best with 4-6 players IMO.
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Chaotic and random, though, is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to kid games.
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This is an excellent choice. The rules are fairly easy to grasp, and with as many as 10 players involved, you can get a lot of people sharing the epxerience.

While there are elements of chaos in 6 Nimmt (as in most card games), strategy and tactics that can reduce risk. Our group has recently discovered this classic, and continue to enjoy it.
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For less that 4 players, I normally play it "5 nimmt" - i.e., the fifth card takes the row. Makes it a bit more tense :)
9. Board Game: Circus Flohcati [Average Rating:6.64 Overall Rank:626]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 We've given this to a couple of Biggie's friends and it went down very well
Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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** UPDATE: Didn't take this because I couldn't find it when I was packing the car - oops!
10. Board Game: Dawn Under [Average Rating:6.42 Overall Rank:1133]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 The ultimate in memory games. Well themed, with beautiful board and tiles.

** This was played by one family of dad, son (6) and daughter (9?) - they loved it. For teaching, I really themed it up - and kept 'checking' that the son wasn't too scared. He loved every minute of it, and they were keen to buy a copy.
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Do you/they know about the bat expansion? Haven't played it yet, but the bits look very cute.
Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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I know it exists - haven't bought it yet (not sure if it is available locally or whether we need to wait for someone to do a big overseas order)
11. Board Game: Fearsome Floors [Average Rating:6.76 Overall Rank:376]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 Not a difficult game at all, but again the theme should appeal to lots of the kids (and hopefully the parents too)

** Did not get played. Too many games?
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I'd be more cautious with this game. The theme is a bit creepy, and it includes "blood pools" and similarly gruesome things. Might not be fun for sensitive kids.
12. Board Game: Flix Mix [Average Rating:6.38 Overall Rank:1742]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 Simple pattern matching. Not currently available in Australia.

** Very popular, this was in play virtually all night. It was also good for families who weren't from an English-speaking background.
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I really like this game, but we prowl when we play it, so I'd want to be able to set it up at a table with no chairs and some space around it. Don't know if your space will permit that, but if it does, it might be a good idea because some primary kids seem to concentrate better when they have more freedom of movement.
Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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Thanks, Sue - that's a great tip, and it will be good to have a couple of games that use a different setup than sitting around a table.
13. Board Game: Formula Dé [Average Rating:7.07 Overall Rank:204]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 This is Fraser's and Biggie's current favourite. Scalable to ten players, it has great visual appeal, and should be a hit with some of the boys too.

** One of the hits of the evening. At least one family (with 4 boys!) came specifically to play this. It was in play all night, with our trusty helper running the table, and several families asked where they could get a copy.**
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This could be a big hit for the older students. I've found that most 6-7 year olds I've introduced it to, don't grasp gear-shifting and corner play. But older kids should be fine, as long as they're willing to devote the time to complete a race.

14. Board Game: Frank's Zoo [Average Rating:6.65 Overall Rank:523]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 We've had a lot of fun playing this with Biggie. It's small, relatively cheap, and quick to learn.

** Did not get played
15. Board Game: Frog Juice [Average Rating:5.57 Overall Rank:4411]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 Another new one for us, we tried this last night with Biggie. It took a couple of games to get it right, but that was probably more because we weren't familiar with it ourselves. There's a lesson there!
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IME, it's been easy to teach once you know how to play. This is a game that seems to appeal equally to boys and girls, which I think is a big plus for this kind of even. I don't know if Sleeping Queens is available in your neck of the woods, but if it is, anyone who has played that game will "get" Frog Juice right away -- they're very similar.
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** Did not get played
16. Board Game: Gopher It! [Average Rating:6.14 Overall Rank:3152]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 Bought, but not opened yet. Considering rushing it through the To-be-played queue as it sounds like it would be suitable.
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Open it! Looks like you might be short on little kid games and this is a decent preschool/K push-your-luck game which might be useful if little sibs come.
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** Biggie taught this to a group including kids and parents. She tells me it was well received, I didn't get over there to check how it went.
17. Board Game: Guillotine [Average Rating:6.53 Overall Rank:598]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 Thanks for the rec ... I think this will be a good addition.
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(See Bang! comments)
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** Fraser taught this game once - it seemed to go down well.
18. Board Game: Halli Galli [Average Rating:5.87 Overall Rank:2523]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 Our top pick for a kids' game. Great for the younger kids.

** Bizarre. This one didn't get played. I think that was a biggish oversight and we will have to make sure we get this one out next time.
19. Board Game: Igloo Pop [Average Rating:6.39 Overall Rank:1045]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 The very different mechanics make this a great one to take along, if only for novelty value.
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I had this one at the church's game night, too. It was a success, the one gripe I had was that two players really dominated and one player who couldn't get any right maybe felt bad.
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** Did not get played, although I did demonstrate it to one family. I'll definitely take it next time.
20. Board Game: King's Breakfast [Average Rating:6.25 Overall Rank:1172]
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 Set collection - no words, which makes it easy for the younger children

** Did not get played
21. Board Game: Make 'n' Break [Average Rating:6.38 Overall Rank:1417]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 About the only dexterity game we own. I particularly like the two levels of cards, which allows children to compete with adults

** This was a big hit, and was in play constantly once I got it out. It was also a great TYPE of game for the games night, as it was essentially self-sustaining -- as new people came to watch the game, they were invited to join in and others moved on. It also looks great - I suspect there will be photos in the school newsletter this week.
22. Board Game: Perpetual Commotion [Average Rating:6.17 Overall Rank:3162]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 If Fraser never has to play this again it will be too soon - but this should be popular with the kids from about year 3 up. And if the cards get destroyed, it will be no great loss.

** Did not get played. It will be taken again, though.
23. Board Game: Pick Picknic [Average Rating:6.63 Overall Rank:587]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 A great game to play with kids, again it's quick and easy to learn.

** Played once, by a group of first and second graders (6-8 year olds) (and a mum). Biggie taught this - I didn't see how it went, but she tells me they enjoyed it.
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I brought this to our church's game night and it was a big hit. It was all adults playing, too. Whenever I see one of the gentlemen who played he says, "I know, I know--Foxes don't eat corn!!"
24. Board Game: Pirate's Cove [Average Rating:6.67 Overall Rank:460]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 For the theme. And the pretty components.

** Did not get played
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Fun game, but, perhaps too involved and long for a game night? Don't forget you're competing with other games where people will be shouting and laughing.
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That's a good point. Maybe we just take it to show the theme & the pretty components, because I think it is a game that lots of families would enjoy playing.
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davebo's observations are spot on. You might want to demo it folks as an intro to more sophisticated games.
25. Board Game: Right Turn, Left Turn [Average Rating:5.50 Overall Rank:4631]
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Melissa - Back home in Sunny Melbourne
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 A newer game for us, but one that Biggie is really enjoying. Suitable for the very young, as well as the 9 and 10 year olds (years 3 and 4).

** Was played briefly. This game looks like it is for younger kids than it is - I think the third and fourth graders were put off by the graphics, and it really was a bit complicated for the younger kids.
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Tricky for some grown-ups, too :D
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Michelle Z
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Does the game store have any demo copies they might be persuaded to bring? Blokus and Hey! That's My Fish! (if available in Australia) would be great additions. They're both interesting-looking, really quick to explain, and fun to play. Even better, they both center around spatial thinking, so kids are competitive early on and stand a realistic chance of beating their parents (especially in Blokus).

It sounds like you're going to have a fun, if exhausting, evening. Good luck!
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Quote:
Coloretto tends to fall off our radar since we :blush: lost the rules. I should dig it and Mu out, shouldn't I!


The rules are here on the geek, if you want them. Coloretto was my favourite teaser to get people to try more games. Now I use For Sale! -- but both play quickly, are fun, and very easy to teach.

If you need any helpers...
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Well the evening has been and gone, and it was a big hit. We had lots of positive feedback from families, and one of the kids told me today that it should be a regular monthly event.

Fraser has blogged about it at Gone Gaming, so I will try not to repeat his comments there, but here are some notes I made for next time:

* Try to have some games set up before families arrive - especially the self-sustaining games that one group can teach the next. (Make & Break, Flix Mix, Halli Galli, Gopher it, Apples to Apples, ...)

* Have a couple of 'showpiece' games for larger groups - Formula De, Ticket to Ride - ideally with someone to run any more complicated games (FD)

* Talk to Biggie about which games she can explain - she just doesn't have the conceptual/descriptive skills to teach a game like Carcassonne yet, and got quite upset when Fraser had to take over

* Line up some of the older kids to teach some of the kids' games - even something like Apples to Apples

* Mix families up a bit - maybe with a later starting time - we found that we had lots of families playing a game together, and very few families joining up to play with others

* Ban food & drink at tables - there were no accidents, but there could have been ...

* More game 'splainers - there were 3 of us. 1 was permanently at Formula De, I was on constant rotation, Fraser settled in to one or two games and commented that he needs to rotate more next time as well. That was (barely) enough for the 40 or so people that came along, although I think there were one or two families that snuck through and we didn't get a chance to speak with. Collaring some of the 10-12 year olds should help with that.
Stefanie Kethers
Australia
Melbourne
VIC
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I think my suggestions would be:

* More helpers - yes, that would be good, although (for me) things worked quite well (but then I was the Formula De person -
though I hadn't played Formula De for years, so I probably simplified the rules a bit :surprise:

* More dexterity games - say, Bausack, Hamsterrolle, Carabande / Pitch car. However, someone would actually have to have those. Not sure if the FLGS would lend any...

* No food / drink at the table (I was sitting next to a very enthusiastic kid with a fluo red drink, and I watched him like a hawk for the whole race).

* Maybe have a bunch of print-outs of the list of games (plus maybe a short description) for people to take away

* More help from the FLGS, if possible - quite a few people asked where they could buy these games.

But I think just about everybody enjoyed the evening a lot!
Sue Hemberger

Washington
Dist of Columbia
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Great update -- sounds like it was a fun event and a real learning experience!

A couple of game ideas for some future time. I loved your concept of the self-sustaining game. I think Piranha (by Ravensburger) would fall into that category and it's visually attractive, so would draw people in. It's in print and reasonably priced here, but don't know if that's true in your neck o'the woods.

This one is DIY. Make a copy of Code 777 from the PDFs here on the Geek and get 4 scrabble-like card trays. It's easy enough to assemble and IME it's a great game for the kind of 2nd grader (on up) who likes analytic puzzles. It's quicker and much lighter feeling than Sleuth or Black Vienna. Teach Biggie and, if she likes it, she can teach/coach others. Everybody I've played it with has wanted an instant replay.

Thanks again for the list/update/blog entry. I love hearing about these kinds of events! If only I could convince my kid's school to move beyond Bingo Night. (They're receptive to better games during the school day, but not in a social context -- weird.)
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