Six months ago, I ordered a couple of games from Amazon and had them sent to my mother so she could include them in her lift. My ds5 came home from a visit to her home today with one of them (they still have boxes that are getting unpacked).
I had never played this game and bought it based on the description. When they saw it, a few of the kids said they had played it at friends and really enjoyed it. It’s a card game called Blink, and I got it because I wanted something that kids of different ages could play together, that was easy to learn, fun, and didn’t take too long. (I don’t have the patience for long detailed instructions to learn new games – my kids know, either explain it to me fast if you want me to play with you, or I won’t play – too many other things demand my attention.)
This was so great – it takes about thirty seconds to learn to play, and each game lasts maybe a minute or two. My kind of game! I played with ds6, then ds5, then with both of them, then with dd12, then ds10 – and we all had fun! The basic idea is that you put down cards that have a feature that matches the card on the table – color, number, or shape – it kind of reminds me of SET (another fantastic family card game) but it moves super fast. So I consider it educational in addition to being fun!
I bought this with the intention for it to be a family Chanukah present, but since my mother didn’t know that was my plan, she gave it to ds5 to give to me, and ds6 opened it before it got to me. But we’re all enjoying having it now!
What games does your family enjoy?
Avivah
rummikub. old-fashioned, but you don’t need to read to play it, so everyone can play.
Thanks for the tip. We’ve been so into games lately now that my kids at home are 6-11. We play monopoly, life, UNO, stratego, chess, checkers, backgammon, set, garden game, search and rescue, monopoly deal, othello, and more. They seem to get into a game and play it regularly for awhile then move on. But you know, I think they enjoy themselves more with games they invent, such as a trading game they made up in which they draw little pictures of wares (candy, produce, and more) and of money then open up stores and trade with each other. They also love trading all the little trinkets they acquire ( beads, pencils, stickers, etc).
LOL — I just wrote about it around a month ago on Ronit’s blog 🙂
I got it Sukkos time for my kids when they were bored at my parents’ home on long Y”T days with few age appropriate toys and rainy weather.
It is so much fun, doesn’t drag on, and we can play with a variety of ages.
Oh, and it was much cheaper than SET!
I paid $6 for Blink, and $10 for SET (good thing I bought it in the US since in Israel this is over 80 shekels), so to me they were both good buys!
Circles!
Sherlock
MonopolDeal
Bigger kids–Risk, Settlers of Catan
Hi, Sora Deetza – welcome, it’s so nice to know you’re reading here!
I’m chiming in late here, I’m behind on my reading 🙂 My kids love UNO and they play other games with the UNO cards (War, Spit etc) they also love Phase 10 which is a cross between UNO and Rummy. Even my 5 year old can play. Also, I just flew across the country with my 5 year old and on the recommendation of two different people bought “Kanoodle” – it is a great little puzzle game. Barnes and Noble sells its for $12.50 …it kept him busy for a long time on the airplane, both ways!!