Great Big Table podcast - Episode 002 - Good Games with Kids

It's been a heck of a week filled with three kids with strep throat, but Great Big Table hosts Jim and Adrienne have persevered and were able to carve out enough time to record our longest episode yet.

Sorry about that.

Really.

It shouldn't happen again.

This week we cover games that work well with kids and some tips for raising gamers. We still have listeners (I know, right) and they were kind enough to join in the conversation.

Also, Jim details all his victories over the last couple of weeks.

It's a short list.

And we talk about why scary movies are best to view with Jim, point out that Elmo is the best fantasy artist in the world, and hack a Fisher Price game to make it truly awesome.

Like we said. It's been a heck of a week.

Here is the Kickstarter link to Tsuro of the Seas. It is funded and has a couple days left, so get in on those stretch goals.


Also, we were mistaken that Story Realms currently has a Kickstarter campaign. They are in the development phase of their design and hope to have a campaign before the end of the summer. They are looking for playtesters, so check out Escapade Games' project page.

Finally. here's a link to the post "The Positive Benefits of Gaming with Kids" from the Growing Up Gamers blog that we mentioned in the episode.

So, now it's your turn.

What do you think? What makes a good game for kids?

What games would you cross off our list?

What games would you add?

What are your tips for raising gamers?

What do you see as benefits? What are your drawbacks?

Let's continue the conversation here.

Some of the games mentioned in this episode include:

Barnum Crackers
Blokus
Bug Out
Button Men - Available for download from Cheap Ass Games' site.
Carcassonne
Carcassonne: Hunters and Gatherers
Catan: Junior
Catch the Match
Chore Wars - Get loot drops for taking out the garbage!
Doggie Doo 
En Garde
Eleminis
Fealty
Flash Duel
Flash Point Fire Rescue
Forbidden Island
Froggie Boogie
Go Away Monster
Lego Heroica
Hopp Gallopp - Out of Print, link goes to Board Game Geek page.
Hula Hippos
Incan Gold
Kids of Carcassonne
Kill Doctor Lucky
Liar's Dice
Los Mampfos - Hard to find in the US, link goes to the Board Game Geek page.
Lords of Waterdeep
Mad Magazine Game
Magic Labyrinth
Mille Bornes
Minotaurus
Monopoly
Monopoly Deal 
Oh Gnome You Don't!
Pitchcar
Roll Through the Ages: The Bronze Age
Save Doctor Lucky
Scrabble
S’getti Scatter - Out of Print, link goes to Board Game Geek page.

Seven Dragons
Ship Ahoy! - Hard to find in the US, link goes to the Board Game Geek page.
Sorry! Sliders
Ticket To Ride
Tsuro
Uno
Uno: Roboto
Wallamoppi
Werewolf - A cheap basic set, Ultimate Werewolf - All the bells and whistles
Wise and Otherwise


Download the episode: GBT-EP002-Good-Games-with-Kids-final.mp3

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This episode of the Great Big Table is released under a Creative Commons Attribution, Non-Commercial, No Derivatives 3.0 license.

The My favorite game console is a table and chairs image is released under a Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike license by Daniel Solis. If you like the image, head over to Daniel's blog, danielsolis.com, and buy the t-shirt. If you buy a t-shirt, tell Daniel that the Great Big Table podcast sent you. Daniel has an amazing blog with many interesting thoughts about gaming. Check it out.

The music for this episode is "Vox vs. Uke" by unreal_dm (featuring Mind Map That!) and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. You can hear more of unreal_dm's wonderful music creations at ccmixter.org/people/unreal_dm.


***Great Big Table is a late-night conversation between two Midwestern geeks with dreams of world domination through board games. It's not a great plan, but it's our plan and we're sticking to it. Join as we plot to put a meeple in every pot- or at least on every table. We slipped the bonds of our robot masters, so the only opinions represented here are our own. We are however in league with Amazon, so a percentage of every purchase made through our links goes into our onshore accounts (thanks!). Some games have been provided by publishers for review while we picked up others for a buck or two at a thrift store or yard sale. Both are disclosed as such in the podcast. Give yourself a pat on the back if you've made it this far. You should be proud of yourself for reading all this small print- we are! Again. Sorry about the length on this one. It shouldn't happen again.