Project 154: More Board Games

 Like a lot of people we've ended up with far more board games than we generally have time to play, so we decided to have a week of playing board games. We last had a board game project back in Solomon's first year of home education (see Project 32: Board games), so it was a good opportunity to introduce some games to Sam, and hopefully clear the cupboards of some of the most childish games. In the end, however, the project stretched over two weeks, we still didn't have time to play all the games we wanted, and only managed to persuade the children to give one game to the local charity shop. 

Week 1

We set off at at good pace in the first week, and managed to play 41 different games, from simple snap card games suitable for everyone to more complicated strategy suitable only for the big two. 

1. Mousetrap
2. Tummy Ache
3. Mr Men Card Game
4. Guess Who
5. Snap (animals)
6. Snap (numbers)
7. Dominoes
8. Hare & Tortoise
9. Operation
10. Pass the Word
11. Frozen Memory Game
12. Paddington
13. Rummikub
14. Pass the Pigs
15. Memoir '44
16. Rockin' Robot
17. Wall Game
18. Junior Scrabble
19. Upwords
20. Destination Norwich
21. Mastermind
22. Pop Up Pirate
23. Connect 4 Flip
24. Monkey Business 
25. Picture Tri-onimoes
26. Don't Rock the Boat
27. Countdown
28. Where is Moldova?
29. Frozen Labyrinth
30. London Underground Game
31. Top Trumps (Marvel)
32. Monopoly (Despicable Me)
33. Ants in the Pants
34. Spinergy
35. Around the World in 80 Days
36. Timeline
37. Hungry Hippos
38. Dobble
39. Ticket to Ride First Journey
40. Catan
41. Mario Match

Week 2

We found we couldn't quite keep up the pace in the second week, and only managed to play another 28 different games, partly due to playing pandemic three times. 

1. Shopping List
2. Mario Monopoly
3. Carcassonne
4. Snakes & Ladders
5. Pandemic
6. Kerplunk
7. Picture Lotto
8. Scotland Yard Jnr.
9. Tell the Time
10. Backgammon
11. Loopin' Chewie
12. Stratego
13. Fortnite Monopoly
14. Ramses Pyramid
15. Downfall
16. Staying Alive
17. Scrabble
18. Ticket to Ride
19. Robochamp
20. 3 in a Row
21. Flag Dominoes
22. Cubeword
23. Boss Monster
24. Bugs in the Kitchen
25. Othello
26. The Peterborough Game
27. Risk
28. Subma-Fight

Pandemic was the only game we bought specifically for the project, and everyone enjoyed it. We think Monica was particularly attracted to the collaborative nature of the game, rather than having to face the competitive nature of her older brother, so we'll definitely look out for more collaborative games in the future. 

The children were asked to pick their favourite top 3 games out of the 69 played over the two weeks.

Monica's top 3:

1. Frozen Labyrinth
2. Mastermind
3. Monkey Business*

(* mostly picked because this one was designated for donating to the charity shop)

Sam's top 3: 

1. Risk*
2. Subma-Fight 
3. Marvel Top Trumps

(* also Solomon's favourite pick during the first board game project)

Solomon's top 3: 

1. Pandemic
2. Subma-Fight
3. Memoir '44

Subma-Fight, picked by both of the boys, is a 2-player submarine strategy game that Solomon designed for his mum's birthday; it was high praise for Pandemic to knock Subma-Fight off the top spot. The Peterborough Game is another game you won't find in the shops, a game from 1992 that we picked up in the local charity shop; it actually turned out to be an interesting game with some novel elements, although it's a bit tricky to win, so now mostly being kept for historical reasons. 

Next week: Light and Space