little humans, BIG GAMES

GenCon 2019 begins today for educators and retailers.  We'll be heading up to Indiana tomorrow afternoon to join in the fun, and it will be the kids' first time at a massive convention.  If you'll be in Indy for the big show, we'd like to meet you.  We haven't signed up for any events as yet, as we hope to meet some of our favorite companies and game designers on Friday.  While we're onsite, doing lots of window shopping, souvenir purchasing, and probably participating in game demos, we'll also be playing convention bingo with Kris Giere (follow him on Twitter: @krisgiere ).  You can join in on the fun and have a shot at some great prizes, including gift certificates for dice sets and a extremely limited edition dice tray made by Kris, himself!  To get your personalized GenCon Bingo card, click here .  Bookmark the generated card in your phone's browser to save your progress.  https://twitter.com/KrisGiere/status/1154556065264152576 https:/...

The GenCon website has kindly informed me that The Best Four Days in Gaming™ begins in seven days.  Here we go.... This will be the kids' first major convention of any sort, and they are REALLY excited for it.  Our plan is to drive from North Alabama to Indiana next Thursday afternoon.  We'll be staying about 30 minutes outside of Indy, as I prefer to save money on hotels in order to spend more on experiences.  The 6+ hour car ride should go by rather quickly, as I've got several books on tape and podcasts that I need to listen to, and the kids are basically professional roadtrippers now.  Genevieve tends to snack, nap, and watch movies, in that order.  The boys have handheld gaming devices, activity books, travel games, and each other to pass the time.  I've been to a few large gaming conventions, and this will be my second trip to GenCon.  As such, I've learned a few things that should make the trip a bit easier.  1. Bring snack...

We're back!  In truth, we never left, and we never stopped playing games.  The past month has been full of activity.  Between gymnastics, soccer, a surprise birthday party on the other side of the country, and a long bout with illnesses, it has proven difficult to keep up with blogging.  This post is long overdue, as we played this game for the first time over a month ago. Isaiah, ever the eager scorekeeper Qwirkle is many things.  It involves matching, strategy, color and shape recognition, and a whole lot of fun.  It is suggested for ages 6 and up, but Genevieve (3 1/2) had no trouble learning the basics.  She knows colors and shapes, so it didn't take long before she was able to play without assistance.  I must admit, however, that I didn't read the rules as well as I should have.  During our first playthrough we setup the game wrong, and ended up having to start over after realizing my mistake.  Its not...

Although I haven't posted anything for a week, it's not for lack of gaming at our house.  In fact, we've played so much that it has become difficult to keep up with blogging. The kids, tired from a week of school and play, insisted that we play Kingdomino again before bedtime. Kingdomino  is an award-winning game that has been popular with reviewers and consumers alike.  At the time of this writing, it is listed as one of the top 200 games on BoardGameGeek , and inside the top 25 in the family games category.  Although it is quite easy to play, I have hard time explaining the rules with clarity.  I've typed them out and deleted them several times.  Instead, I offer this excellent video from Watch It Played .  Rodney Smith has become one of my best virtual friends when introducing games to the kids. I've had my eye on Kingdomino for a while, and finally purchased it while shopping for Benjamin's birthday presents.  It is r...

We're a little early with this post, but... HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!   This morning we chose to play Hanzi , a game originally released by EmperorS4, and re-released in English by Deep Water Games .  Hanzi is a matching game in which players must find Chinese characters, or hanzi.  Each player is initially given three 'task cards' which show the hanzi that they must try to find.  On their turn, the player chooses one of their three task card, and tries to locate that character by finding two matching hanzi among the tiles.  If they do not find a match, the player receives a 'creation token' and their turn is over. A player can choose to use one creation token at the start of their turn to reveal three tiles, instead of two.  They may also use two creation tokens to swap task cards; I chose to omit this rule so that the kiddos would have to use the tasks they were given. If a match is found, the player takes the tiles, draws a new task card, and ...

We're overdue for a post, so here's a quickie on one of our favorites. No Stress Chess is the perfect way to introduce your young ones to one of the world's oldest board games.  We received ours as a Christmas present from my parents in 2017, and we play it quite often.  Genevieve (3) beat me twice in a row during this session. The game board is two-sided: one has the positions and names of the various pieces, while the other is a standard chessboard.  For beginners, there is a deck of cards that shows each piece's name and its movement rules.  Each player draws a card on their turn and MUST move that piece.  If the piece on the card has been removed from the game, or if its movement is blocked, the player loses their turn.  Gameplay continues until checkmate.  Genevieve knows all of the pieces' names, except the bishop, which she calls the monster. The kids came to work with me on a weekend last month, and Isaiah challenged our program di...

I've got another game review to post, but have decided to start a thread to share some general tips on how to grow better gamers.  Please feel free to comment with your suggestions, and I'll add them to the list.   Isaiah was obviously having a great time. Play for fun, not to win!  If there is a cooperative option for your game, play it often.  This helps younger players learn game mechanics and strategies.  If you're playing a competitive game, be a gracious winner and a grateful loser.  Be humble! Take turns.  One of the most important things playing games can teach is how to wait for your turn.  Let your gaming group (especially children) take turns when choosing which game to play.  Try to express the importance of everyone getting to play the game they want to play, and be sure to get excited when its their turn to choose. Help kids make decisions.  Sometimes children don't see all of the options that are availa...

I've always loved tabletop games. My dad and I played a lot of checkers when I was a child, and I joined the chess club at school in 4th grade. My grandparents had a excellent selection of games that were generally above my level of comprehension, but they would always help me learn the rules. My interest in gaming was renewed when I found out about Tabletop on Geek & Sundry. I'd been playing some Settlers of Catan with a group of friends, but not as often as I'd have liked. The boys were probably about 3 and 5 years old, and not quite ready to play advanced games, but we got started with Memory, Candyland, and Go Fish. In the meantime, I started building my collection of tabletop games that mostly collected dust on the shelves of my home office. Steve Jackson Games' Munchkin was the first game that I purchased after seeing it played on Tabletop. Although it sat on the shelf for a couple of years, it has become one of the boys' favorite games in our c...

It has finally happened!  Gaming has returned to the Paduganan household.  In between dental appointments, dinner, and taking new passport photos, we managed to squeeze in a little family tabletop time yesterday evening.  We chose to continue our Dice Throne mini-tournament, as it is a fairly quick game that doesn't require much setup.  Way back on Monday (TGIF, by the way), Benjamin and I broke out Dice Throne: Season Two to try our some of the new heroes.  Benji chose the Samurai, while I played the Seraph (because my name is Gabriel).  If you haven't checked out Roxley Games' Dice Throne...what are you doing with your life?  Players choose one of the heroes (six from each season), and battle for supremacy through rolling dice to activate abilities.  Essentially, it is Yahtzee/Farkle meets Magic: The Gathering/Pokémon CCG.  Each hero has a "complexity level" ranging from 1 to 6, which helps the young'uns choose which charact...

Greetings, dear readers!  My New Year's resolution was to play a game each day this year.  So far, I've fallen quite short of that goal.  The good news is that there are plenty of days left on the calendar to make improvements.  This week has been full of schedule-clogging activities: gymnastics, applying for passports, being told we need better passport photos, reapplying for passports, dental cleanings....  Benjamin and I started a mini-tournament of Dice Throne: Season Two, but we haven't been able to complete round one, due to homework and other responsibilities.  I'm hopeful that we can get back to gaming soon.  I almost started playing solo boardgames last night out of desperation! 

At long last (about a week later than expected), we have played The Grimm Forest ! If you've kept up with us on Twitter , you already know that this week has been a whirlwind of sorts.  The kids are back in school, Benji is in gymnastics, we went to a birthday party for a sibling group of quadruplets, and more. Tonight, we game. The Grimm Forest was one of the first tabletop games I backed on Kickstarter.  I was immediately drawn in by the production value invested in it, both by the amazing artwork and the detailed tokens and miniatures.  Plus, it didn't hurt that Druid City Games' James Hudson is a fellow Alabama-ian.  James has since joined Skybound as their Senior Director of Tabletop Games, and continues to release games under the Druid City label. ***Note: Druid City/Skybound recently completed another Kickstarter with The Grimm Forest's creator Tim Eisner... Tidal Blades - Heroes of the Reef .  There's still time to join the project and get all of...

This week has been quite the whirlwind.  Now that the boys are back in school, they've returned to daily homework and AR books, which hasn't allowed for as much game time before dinner and being dropped off at their mom's house.  Last night, we attempted to play The Grimm Forest, which began quite well.  Genevieve decided that she'd join us, and then decided that she wanted to play on her own with the game pieces.  As it was close to bedtime, the boys and I decided that we'd let her go ahead and build a small village, and postponed the game for Saturday morning.  Unfortunately, that seems to have set a precedent for Genevieve playing civil engineer whenever The Grimm Forest box is opened.  I need to figure out how to monetize these skills, somehow. This morning, we attempted to play The Grimm Forest once again, but our plans were thwarted by Genevieve's pig city planning.  I don't always give in to her whims, but I know better than to argue wi...

This morning, I put up a Twitter poll asking which game we should play this evening.  Benjamin and Isaiah are going back to school tomorrow morning from Winter break, and I wanted to make sure we got some solid game time in before they have to hit the books.  The options I gave were Settlers of Catan, Grimm Forest, and Dice Throne.  We don't have very many followers on Twitter yet (follow us!), so there weren't very many votes, but Settlers was chosen by democratic process.  Many thanks to those who voted; we'll be playing the other two games tomorrow night. Early in the game...when I still had a chance. Settlers of Catan really doesn't need an introduction.  It is probably one of the best known games among tabletop hobbyists.  The general population are aware of Monopoly, Life, and Sorry, but we gamers look to Catan as one of the foundational games of our pastime.  BoardGameGeek.com  lists more than 80 thousand reviews at an average of 7...

Guten Morgen, The kiddos are with their mom today, so we won't be playing any games.  I suppose our New Year's resolution to play everyday was doomed from the start due to our parenting schedule, but the kids and I have a plan to remedy the situation.  We're going to do our best to play multiple games on weekends and spread the posts out so that there will be (almost) daily updates on the blog.  Isaiah, being the writer of the bunch, is very excited about sharing his experiences.  Don't be surprised if he gets his own "Isaiah-thoughts" page in the near future.  In absence of a game review post, we've updated our Meet the Gamers page so that we can share a bit about ourselves.  Keep in mind that it is a living document, as children's likes and dislikes change like the tides.  Also, please be aware that I do NOT feed my children Mac and Cheese EVERY day. 

It's New Year's Day, and we're getting the year started right with Ravine by Mathew Sisson and Stellar Factory. I backed Ravine on Kickstarter because of our love for cooperative games, and it has become one of our favorites over the past couple of months.  It is a quick and satisfying game for 3-6 players, or more with the 6-9 player expansion.  The suggested age is 10+, although Benjamin (6) and Isaiah (7, but likes to say that he's 8) have no problems playing without assistance. The directions are relatively easy to understand, but if you don't like to read or are a visual learner, there are how-to-play videos available online through the publisher and various websites. Layout - the boys were both pretty with their heart "rolls" You and your compatriots were passengers on a commercial airliner that has crash-landed on an island.  In order to survive, you will have to work together to gather food and resources, build tools and shelter, ...