By all accounts, you could label us a “board-game family”. Since the kids were old enough to understand Sorry, we’ve played board games. Every time we’re together, we have to clear some table space to set up a game or deal some cards or roll some dice. It’s a fun way to be together, chatting and laughing and (naturally) talking smack. So it came as no surprise that during our Christmas week together, plenty of games hit the table.
Alex and Kaitlyn received Mysterium and Flamecraft from their wish list. The former is an interesting take on the classic game of Clue (although considerably more complex), while the latter is a game of card collection using dragons. Look how excited Alex and Kaitlyn are while we play their new game!
Zack and Kyra, on the other side of the table, are demonstrating a great faux pas of board gaming: eating Cheetos and drinking soda while playing.
The kids and I played a bunch of Sheepshead, carrying on our Wisconsin-based family tradition.
Zack gave me a hundred colored dice, which were pretty cool.
With them, we played Liar’s Dice many times. It’s quick, easy, and strangely addictive. You just have to make sure no one can see your dice.
Of course King of Tokyo made an appearance. It’s an old family favorite, and I gave Zack an expansion for it.
The kids agreed to test my latest game, Utu, which was hot off the press. Kyra helped me come up with some add-ons for the game, which she insisted I call the “Dark Expansion”. I’ll be working with her ideas over the next few weeks.
Not all of the games were on the table. Zack, Kyra, and I played a few rounds of Mario Kart (in which I was absolutely demolished). Alex brought his gaming computer from home, and enjoyed a few hours on the big screen. Ollie joined him. Yes, Ollie was actually driving a race car here… not very well, but driving nonetheless.
Alex and Zack had some more rowdy video games going for a while…
We played Skull King and Endeavor and Architects of the West Kingdom and a half-dozen others. I really enjoy spending time with my kids over a gaming table, although sometimes I find that I need to hold back a little because they don’t always want to play that many games.
Yesterday Zack and I were playing Liar’s Dice (again) and he wondered aloud how we might design a game involving dice that have “powers”. This isn’t really a new concept, but he and I started trading ideas. We rapidly came up with a framework for a game, and went to work creating the rules and cards. Here’s our testing ground:
Pepper commented that normally I design games alone, so it was nice to see me collaborating. She asked Zack if he was going to continue working on it with me beyond the first ideas, and he quickly replied, “Yeah, because otherwise it’ll become a resource-management game.” We all laughed, because of course he’s right. Most of the games I design tend to lean in the direction of resource management… probably because those are the sorts of games I enjoy most. So it was a ton of fun to brainstorm with him as we refined the rules, played a few turns, identified problems, came up with solutions and new directions, and continued scribbling ideas and rules on cards.
After three or four hours, Zack and I felt pretty good about our new game, which we jokingly called Dicee (we can’t call it Dicey because that name’s already taken). We introduced it to Kyra and Pepper.
To my great surprise, Pepper actually said she enjoyed the game. It’s rare for her to enjoy any board game, especially the ones I make (they’re just not her style).
Our final game of the year was Skull King, which we played right up to the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. Poor Kyra had planned to go to bed around nine, but we talked her into staying up to ring in the new year. Pepper was also well past her bedtime but agreed to be a good sport. This picture reminds me of a joke my parents used to tell: (kid’s voice) “But Mommy, I’m tired” … (parent’s voice) “Shut up and deal!”
I’m grateful I can have fun doing a favorite activity with my kids. And this week I was especially grateful to spend some time with Zack envisioning a new game– one unlike anything I’ve designed before. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes.