OK, so there really isn't any such thing as the definitive kids game geek list, but I sure wish there were. I spent the last weeks looking over all the games with at least 30 ratings (plus a few more) that were listed as "children's games" here at BGG.

Now, I fully realize that the data is sketchy. Many games that are surely kids games (e.g. Don't Break the Ice) aren't listed as such. Many others that are not kids games (Avalon Hill's tactical hunting game Yellowstone, Montgolfiere, Smart Mouth, some Pirate game from Hilary's Toy Box, plus many more) are listed as such. And then there are the Monopoly editions that are hit and miss (Simpsons is kids, but LotR isn't--neither should be). Some people even think Bang! is a kids game. But I'm not looking for opinions, just hoping to look for games where the manufacturer was targeting, specifically, youngsters. Not adult games that make good games for kids.

So, I tried to whittle down the list to remove games that seemed not to be purely directed at children. I also eliminated any games listed in the databases as for children but also listed as either "war" or "trivia," so I could eliminate wargames that grognards might relegate to status of childish along with ditching "educational" games of trivia.

I discovered that the world of childrens' games here on BGG is woefully lacking. There really needs to be a couple of different categories for kids' games: Pre-school (roughly under age 6) and School Age (that'd be 6-14 or so). And games that are good for kids, but not directed to kids, shouldn't be in either grouping (like, apparently, Razzia).

Anyway, awhile back, Dale Stephenson came up with a nifty geek list to discover which party games have the most fans ( http://www.boardgamegeek.com/geeklist.php3?action=view&listi...). He pointed out that party games, like childrens' games, are ill-suited for the one-rating-fits-all system here at BGG. See, for wargames or sports games or blind bidding games, people who really dislike those genres simply don't play them and don't rate most of the games of that ilk. Not true for party games--everyone plays party games, whether they like to or not. His theory was that those who rate such games with a 7 or above are the true fans of "party games," so his geek list calculated the raw data amongst fans of only that type of game. To him, a rating of 7+ is equivalent to a “thumbs-up” in the new BGG parlance.

Well, I took a similar approach with Childrens' Games. I removed all votes below 7 and checked to see which games had the highest averages amongst fans of the game--presumably, those who either like to play kids games or rate them from the point of view of a child. This geek list is the result of that tedious process.

So, I recalculated over hundred games based only on the ratings of 7 or more. Games with too few ratings of at least 7 were smoothed (yep, that Bayesian thing at work), so that Monkey Madness, Jack Straws, and Railroader didn't look like the best kid games ever. For those with inquiring minds, "too few" is defined as 14 for pre-school games and 21 for school-age games.

In this list, I'll present the games for school-age children. Like with the other list, I don't care if your 3rd grader just loooooves Die Macher. Bully for him or her. But that game isn't designed to be a kids game, so it doesn't belong on this list. I'm trying to keep this to the targeted audience--kids who aren't spawned from game geeks. You know, average, normal kids.

If you know of other great candidates that are really, really designed specifically for kids, please add a general comment so that I can calculate their numbers and add them to the list. But remember, don't include adult games that work well with kids--I want only games designed for children as the primary audience. Those I don't feel fit in will be deleted.

And to make a long intro even longer, each header line includes a note at the end called “FORM.” This is Tim Benjamin’s statistically accurate method of calculating a game’s total worth along three attributes: popularity (lots of votes), quality (ratings), and consensus (standard deviation). I have included the “kiddie FORM” rating for each game (with the rank in parentheses) just to show which games are foremost in the minds of kiddie gamers. Not necessarily the best, but the best of the ones you’ll hear about on the streets. Take if for what it’s worth—another data point.