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Joined:  Jun 2010 Posts: 1,457 Member |  
| OP   Member Joined:  Jun 2010 Posts: 1,457 | 
The point of this thread is to gather some games that are fun and not too dumbed-down.  Here's a list so far, of games recommended by users here.  I have bolded the names of games that seem especially loved, generally going by how many people here recommend it.Multiplayer board/card/dice games: AbaloneApples to Apples  / Apples to Apples Jr. Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Artifact Axis and Allies Backgammon BalderdashBananagrams Bandu / Bausack Battleship Bazaar BlinkBlokus  / Blokus Duo / Blokus TrigonBoggleCarcassonneChess Chicken Cha-Cha-Cha Chinese Checkers CirkusClue , inc. Harry Potter versionConnect Four Depot Diner EquateFluxxGo Go FishGobblet Granny's House Growlies in the Garden Harvest Time Hearts Izzi KnetLabyrinth , by Ravensburger Made for TradeMancalaMastermindMonopolyNo Stress Chess Operation Othello Pandemic Parcheesi Pass the Pigs Professor Noggin Quarto Quiddler QuixoQuoridorQwirkle Rat a Tat Cat Rhyme TimeRisk RummikubScrabbleScrambled States of America Scotland Yard Secret DoorSequenceSetSettlers of Catan Shogi Shut the Box Skeletons in the Closet Sorry SpellboundStratego Sum Swamp Tableland Texas Hold 'Em Ticket to Ride Topitop Toss Up Triominoes Trivial Pursuit Trouble Uno UpwordsThe Way Things Work Washington's War WordigoYahtzee  / Yahtzee Turbo Zeus on the LooseSingle-player board/card/dice games: Amaze Block by Block Brick by Brick Chocolate Fix Clever Castle Cover Your Tracks Hedgehog Escape Hoppers Hot Spot KanoodlePerplexus River Crossing / River Crossing Jr. Rush Hour / Rush Hour Jr. Shape by Shape Solitaire ChessComputer games: Age of Empires Age of MythologyApples to ApplesBlokus Bloons Tower Defense: 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 4+ Boggle Boom Blox (Wii) Bubble Blast (Android OS) Chess (Android OS, by Aart J.C. Bik)CivilizationCogs  (PC, iPad, iPhone) Crazy Machines (PC, Mac, iPad) Flood-It (Android OS) Fritz and Chesster Learn Chess GalCon (iPad) Glow Puzzle (Android OS)Isaac Newton's Gravity  (iPad, iPod Touch, iPhone) Jumpstart World Online Lego Chess Lego Universe Lemmings Lure of the Labyrinth Master of Orion 2Meeblings ,   Meeblings 2 Nethack Phit (Android OS)Quoridor Rome Total War Rush Hour (Android OS) ScrabbleSet Spore StarcraftSudoku TinkerWarcraft 3World of Goo Wrath of the Gods Yahtzee, YahtC (Android OS) Zoo Tycoon, Zoo Tycoon 2Zoombinis Logical Journey , Zoombinis Mountain RescueUnknown quantities-- please post if you have direct experience with these:Air Traffic Control TowerAnti-VirusArchitecto - Equilibrio - Tangramino - Cliko[/b]  (link is to the easiest / first one, Architecto)[b]Camelot Legends EMERGENCY REQUEST  Crazy CampersFire Escape HooDoo LoopMeta-Forms  Maze Ways Cat and MouseNorth Pole Camouflage Pentago Pirates UndercoverPolice BlockadeSink or SwimSixZoologic 
Striving to increase my rate of flow, and fight forum gloopiness.
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Joined:  Jun 2009 Posts: 367 Member |  
|   Member Joined:  Jun 2009 Posts: 367 | 
My kids like this game alot...  The Way things work.http://www.amazon.com/INTERNATIONAL-PLAYTHINGS-LLC-THINGS-WORK/dp/B001EY5PRE My 6 year old plays too (when he was 5 even).  He still finds it fun even though the questions are kind of hard for him.  The questions are all multiple choice, so he takes his best guess but it's a great, fun, educational game about... well... the way things work! |  |  |  
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Joined:  Jul 2009 Posts: 1,743 Member |  
|   Member Joined:  Jul 2009 Posts: 1,743 | 
I am appreciating the more simple games that still challenge.
 Blink is a favorite. It's a card game where you match as quickly as you can to get rid of all your cards.
 
 Flux is another card game that DS10 loves but I don't. It has ever changing rules which is too much for me.
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Joined:  Jun 2010 Posts: 1,457 Member |  
| OP   Member Joined:  Jun 2010 Posts: 1,457 | 
Carcassonne is a game that I can't recommend enough for young kids, and adults love to play it too.  On each turn you draw a tile and add it to the growing map, getting points for features you build and claim such as roads, farms, cities, churches, etc.  Kids can typically learn to play it well quite early, and it has a good dose of strategy to keep them thinking.  Out of the many expansion packs available, our favorite is the smallest: "Cult, Siege and Creativity". 
Striving to increase my rate of flow, and fight forum gloopiness.
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Joined:  Jul 2010 Posts: 1,777 Member |  
|   Member Joined:  Jul 2010 Posts: 1,777 | 
We're so mainstream.  We currently like go fish, connect four, operation without batteries, and partial monopoly (his favorite, but we've yet to finish a game), two player clue modified that I let him lay down his room cards in the rooms so he can see which one's are guessable, the weapons and people he puts the figurines from his cards to one side so he knows which one's he can't accuse.  To keep myself from cheating I make my accusations systematically since I know which cards he has.  He has enough attention span to finish a clue game, but not monopoly.  I want to start him on assisted battleship and no stress chess after Christmas.    Ds likes jumpstart world online, a 3-d subscription virtual world for kids.  I'm looking for more video games like jumpstart that are more advanced than point and click.  I'm considering mega man or donkey kong for the pc.
 
 Glad you started this thread.  I wanted to ask about Zoombinis logical journey pc video game.  Anyone played it? (even though it's point an click)
 
 Youth lives by personality, age lives by calculation. -- Aristotle on a calendar
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Joined:  Jun 2010 Posts: 1,457 Member |  
| OP   Member Joined:  Jun 2010 Posts: 1,457 | 
Ooh, Clue!  That and "The Way Things Work" are added to my list to buy.  DS5 likes Connect Four too.  I have changed my mind about No Stress Chess and may get it for the little(r) one, but DS5's playing chess all right already.  
 We did play the new Solitaire Chess by ThinkFun last night, and DS loves it to death-- you might want to check that out too.  It's a bit like peg solitaire, in that you remove one piece every turn until you have one left, but it uses the chess pieces and moves.  I think it's a great little logic puzzle game, and could be used to learn or reinforce the chess moves too.
 
 For computer games, DS's recent favorites include:
 
 Zoo Tycoon.  More of a simulation than a game.  Well worth the money, especially for the first version.  Fun expansion packs include marine exhibits and animals, and dinosaur exhibits and animals.  He likes this better than Zoo Tycoon 2, since he didn't like the interface of that one as much.
 
 Master of Orion 2.  A turn-based galaxy conquest game.  You take over star systems, terraform planets, develop tech, build ships, battle, conduct diplomacy, etc.  Sort of like Civilization, but in space.
 
 Warcraft 3.  He loves this, but we haven't played in a while (just too busy, and games take a while).  Plenty of opportunities for strategic play.  The characters are like little army people, but animated and more fun.
 
 The Bloons Tower Defense series, which can be found at ninjakiwi.com and some other places.  Balloons advance along one or more paths, and you have to pop them, by placing dart-throwing monkeys, Jedi monkeys, bomb and missile towers, mortars, pirate ships, glue-splattering monkeys, etc.  A lot of fun, although once we killed it through infinite levels on the hardest difficulty level together, he lost interest.
 
 Meeblings and Meeblings 2.  Another ninjakiwi.com game, hosted at other sites as well.  It's sort of like Lemmings, except you have to save bouncing, floating jellybeans (sorta).  It's good fun, and takes good problem-solving skills to solve the tougher levels.
 
 ... plus some old, small stuff I take from machine to machine (Hex, Lemmings etc.).
 
Striving to increase my rate of flow, and fight forum gloopiness.
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Joined:  Oct 2009 Posts: 247 Member |  
|   Member Joined:  Oct 2009 Posts: 247 | 
My kids like this game alotOoh - added to my Amazon order - thanks     Love this thread - when I asked ds7 what he wanted for Christmas - he said GAMES !!  His faves right now are Blokus, Sequence, No Stress Chess, Stratego and Monopoly. I am eagerly looking forward to hearing about more recommendations !! |  |  |  
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Joined:  Aug 2008 Posts: 748 Member |  
|   Member Joined:  Aug 2008 Posts: 748 | 
My DS who is 7 1/2, loved Zoombinis! He played two different games, the logical journey and the mountain rescue. He never finished them all the way because they are a bit repetitive. However, the logic puzzles in both games are very advanced by the 2nd or 3rd level through. It was awesome to watch him reason it out.
 Other games we play all the time:
 
 Clue (Harry Potter Version)
 No Stress Chess
 Cirkus
 Zeus on the Loose
 Trouble
 Sorry
 Parchessi
 Stratego
 Bananagrams
 
 Computer games- it's all about Lego Universe right now. DH is playing Civilizations IV while DS plays Lego Universe. I read a good book quietly in the other room :-)
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Joined:  Feb 2010 Posts: 462 Member |  
|   Member Joined:  Feb 2010 Posts: 462 | 
DS7s favorites are the strategy computer games Warcraft 3 and Starcraft.  He and my husband play and argue.  My husband has been playing for years and my little guy comes up with unique strategies to win...I love it! As a family, we sometimes play World of Warcraft roleplaying online....but not so much since it is time consuming.   We also have board or card based roleplaying games (sort of like dungeons and dragons lite)  where you can do some roleplaying/character acting, but according to what your card says your abilities are. My husband is a game fanatic, and I am just along for the ride.  It seems like my son has caught the bug     Nan |  |  |  
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Joined:  Jun 2009 Posts: 367 Member |  
|   Member Joined:  Jun 2009 Posts: 367 | 
Oh, here's a second vote for Blokus.  We love that one too! |  |  |  
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