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Board Games Aren’t So Boring After All.
By Amy | August 14, 2007
We took the kids with us to Walmart last weekend to pick up a few things and as we were browsing the aisles we came across the board games. We ended up buying Uno and Rummikub to add to our collection.
Big Mel (dad) remembers playing Rummikub as a child with his family and thought it may be fun to try with our boys, and since I have never even heard of the game we decided to bring it home with us.
After reading the instructions (which were pretty easy to follow) we mixed up all the tiles and started to play. If you’re not familiar the game I’ll give you a brief rundown:
Each player starts with 14 “tiles” which are little pieces with a colored number on it. The object is to make “groups” of 3 or more tiles. They can be the same number but different colors (there are 4 different colors) or a sequence of numbers in the same color.
As the game goes on you can move the tiles around to suit your own purposes as long as each tile on the “board” (we played on our coffee table) is used in a proper set. There are two “jokers” thrown in just to spice it up.
The object of the game is to clear your “rack” (similar to Scrabble) before any other player. You then get points for all the tiles they still had on their rack and they have to subtract the number points they had on their rack from their total score.
We played all day Saturday and for a couple of hours on Sunday. Lil Mel and Lamont both got the hang of it and could actually successfully go “rummikub” without our help by the end of Saturday!
Needless to say Big Mel had the highest overall score by the end of the weekend but we all won a couple of rounds once we understood the game.
You need to be able to plan out what you want to do…kind of like a strategy game then you have to use math to add up your score.
So, not only did we have an entire weekend of fun together that did not consist of tv, video games, the telephone or anything else…but the kids actually had to use their brains too! (Ok, so did the grown ups…hehe…their a lot smarter than they used to be!)
Another plus to all of this (as if it there needed to be any more goodness!) was that we had all of this fun-and will have even more next weekend-for about $10.
You don’t hear too many people talk about playing board games with their kids or families that much anymore…but it’s a great way to spend quality family time together for a very small initial investment. Over and over again.
Some of my fondest memories are when I was little and we’d go camping. That’s when Dad, Mom, my brother and I would pull out Yahtzee and Uno and other board games and play for hours each day.
Give your kids something to remember when they are sharing with their kids…board games are good old-fashioned inexpensive family fun that lasts forever.
Until next time,
Amy
Topics: Toys and Games | 1 Comment »
August 21st, 2007 at 3:51 pm
Board games are a great way to spend some quality time as a family. We have a few favorites like Uno, Phase 10(a card game that is aimed at older kids), Sorry and a few other inexpensive games that you can pick up just about anywhere. Scene It is also a game we are finding that the kids all enjoy. There are many different versions suitable for all ages.
There is nothing better than sitting around the table playing a game and really getting to talk and have fun with the kids without all the distractions of everyday life.