A Level Playing Field

I’m going to admit it. I really hate Candyland. And Hungry Hungry Hippos. And Chutes and Ladders. To me, they are totally boring. Both Candyland and Chutes and Ladders take way too long. But I love playing games with my children.  I’ve got three (if you haven’t figured that out by now), and they are 10 ½, 7 ½, and 3 ½. (The halves being extremely important.)

I like to search out games that put us on a level playing field. Now, that doesn’t mean that I don’t play sophisticated strategy games with the older two. I do. But sometimes I really just want something we can all play together, without me having to give the youngest a huge handicap, or tell her which cards to place every turn.

At our house, there are two games that we particularly love. The first one is by Gamewright (awesome game company!), and is called “Feed the Kitty”. The box says it is for 4+, but Natalie has been playing it since she turned three. She needed help understanding the symbols the first few times, but then she caught on from there.

It’s not a strategy game, which means you never know how it will turn out. It takes 10 minutes or less to play (though the box says 15), and can sometimes be really hilarious. There are 20 little purple wooden mice, two die, and a green “kitty food” bowl. Everyone starts off with a particular number of mice, and when you roll the dice, the symbols on the dice tell you what to do: feed the kitty, rescue a mouse from the bowl, pass a mouse to your left, or nothing – if your kitties are sleeping.

One really great thing is that when you run out of mice, you aren’t out of the game. If someone ends up passing you a mouse (that frequently happens), then you are right back in the thick of things. Of course, the last person left with mice wins!

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who will tell you her very favorite game of all in this category in a blog tomorrow, cause it’s time for her to feed the real kitty, Jack.