family game night – Page 3

How to Play – Candy Land

Part of the fun in raising Zoey is finding things that delight and educate her; I want to find fun, creative board games to play with her during our family game nights! This week we played Candy Land by Hasbro for up to 4 players!

This is one of my childhood favorites that I hope will also be one of Zoey’s childhood favorites. Gameplay is relatively easy with movement based on drawing cards and associating colors, but the board is very busy to navigate. Zoey is currently more interested in playing independently with the gingerbread characters than progressing the game, but we’re hoping her attention will change over time!

Let’s play!

IN THE BOX

A game-board
4 gingerbread character pawns
64 cards

INSTRUCTIONS

Open up the game board and place it on a flat surface.
Shuffle the cards and place them facedown in a pile with easy reach of all the players.
The youngest player takes the first turn. Play then passes to the left of that player and onward.
Each player picks a gingerbread character pawn and places it as the start of the path near the four children.
The youngest player goes first, play then passes to the left.
On your turn, draw one card from the deck and then move the gingerbread pawn as directed. Always move towards the castle, unless a picture directs you to move backwards on the path.
- When you draw a picture card, move your pawn forward or backward on the path of to the pink picture space on the board that matches the pink pictures pace on your card. For example if you draw a lollypop card, move your pawn to the pink space on the board that shows the lollipop.
- Two or more gingerbread pawns can be on the same space at the same time.
- When you draw a card with one color block, move your pawn forward toward the castle to the first matching color space on the path.
- When you draw card that has two color blocks, move your pawn forward toward the castle to the second matching color space on the path.
- There are two shortcuts on the path, Gummy Pass and Peppermint Pass. If your gingerbread lands by exact count on the yellow space below Gummy pass, or the blue space below Peppermint Pass you can take the shortcut immediately to yellow space above Gummy Pass or the yellow space above Peppermint Pass.
- There are two licorice spaces on the path. If you land on one of these sticky spaces by exact count, your gingerbread pawn is stuck there for one turn.
Your turn is over. Place the used card in a discard pile.
If you are the first person to reach the multi-colored rainbow space, you’ve reached King Kandy’s Castle. You win!

ENJOY!

The First 30 Minutes of LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Have you ever been undecided on what to play next?

Should you buy that game? Should you install that game?

I’ve been there, and sometimes you just need to take a look at the graphics, hear the music, and learn a little about the plot to see if it resonates with you before taking the next step. I’m here to help! I am creating the first 30 to the first 60 minute videos of games; indie and mainstream, new and old!

This week let’s take a look at the first 30 minutes of LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga…

Do you want to play the rest?

The First 30 Minutes of the LEGO Harry Potter Collection

Have you ever been undecided on what to play next?

Should you buy that game? Should you install that game?

This week let’s take a look at the first 30 minutes of the LEGO Harry Potter Collection…

Do you want to play the rest?

How to Play – Yeti in My Spaghetti

This is a fun one with lots of laughs! Zoey does not “carefully or strategically” remove the noodles yet, she’s our wild card, and more often than not, she causes the yeti to fall to the bottom of the bowl! Set up is very easy, so if this happens too quickly it’s easy to reset and play another round!

Let’s play!

IN THE BOX

A bowl
A yeti
30 noodles

INSTRUCTIONS

Place the bowl on a flat, level surface.
Arrange the noodles over the top of the bowl, criss-crossing in a random way.
Gently set the yeti on top of the noodles (in the middle is best).
The oldest player goes first, carefully and strategically removing a noodle by sliding, slipping, pushing, lifting, etc! Be careful not to disturb the Yeti enough to let him fall into the bowl.
If you touch a noodle, then that is the one you must remove, no touching and testing the placement of the noodles!
You may use both hands to remove a noodle, but you can only use one hand at a time.
If you successfully remove a noodle and the yeti does not fall to the bottom of the bowl, the player to your left goes next, and so on.
If the Yeti falls to the bottom of the bowl during your turn (or immediately after your turn before the next player goes), the game is over! If the Yeti shifts or ends hanging by a noodle, keep playing. The game stops only when he falls completely to the bottom of the bowl!
The player who last successfully removed a noodle before the player who made the yeti fall is the winner!

ENJOY!

How to Play – Monster Mash

If you can’t tell from the packaging, this is a game from my childhood that my mom saved because we loved it so much! There are newer versions being sold now (like this one by Cra-Z-Art), but the premise is the same; press the button on the monster-maker, then find the matching monster and claim it before the other players do!

Let’s play!

IN THE BOX

A monster-maker machine
27 monster cards
4 thwacker hands with suction cups

INSTRUCTIONS

Remove everything from the game box, and set the monster-maker machine on the playing surface so that everyone can see the monster that appears on it.
Spread the monster cards face-up in the middle of the playing area so that no cards overlap and everyone can easily reach them.
Each player takes a thwacker hand and the player closest to the monster-maker machine will press the button to start each new round.
The monster-maker machine randomly selects and shows one monster for all the monster hunters to mash and capture. Look closely at the monster on the machine when the button pops up!
Quickly all the players try to find the face-up monster card that matches the monster on the machine and mash it with their thwacker hand so that the suction cup picks up the card (if two players slap the monster card at the same time, the player whose thwacker hand is at the bottom of all the thwacker hands captures the card).
If a player picks up the wrong monster card, he or she simply returns it face-up to the middle of playing area and everyone keeps hunting.
The player who picks up and captures the correct monster card places it face-up in front of him or her. This ends the round everyone stops hunting.
To start a new round, press the button on the monster-maker machine.
If the monster-maker machine shows a monster that has already been shown and captured, players can try to capture it from the player that has it in front of him or her, unless that player mashes it first with his or her thwacker.
Game play continues until one player captures 5 monsters, the first player to do this is the monster mash winner!

ENJOY!

How to Play – The Sneaky, Snacky Squirrel

Zoey has loved this game since before she even knew how to play! She would pull everything out and play with the Squirrel and the acorns, honestly it’s surprising that there are no missing pieces! Then we learned how to play the game together, and she loves it even more! She loves picking up the acorns with the squirrel squeezer; we find it super fun and easy collecting and replacing the acorns to the tree stumps and back.

Let’s play!

IN THE BOX

A game-board (part of the box)
A squirrel squeezer
A spinner
20 acorns in five colors
4 tree stumps

INSTRUCTIONS

Remove everything from the game box, then scatter the acorns onto the tree on the inside bottom of the box.
Give each player a tree stump.
The youngest player takes the first turn. Play then passes to the left of that player and onward.
On your turn, hold the squirrel squeezer, spin the spinner, then follow the directions below according to your spin. Then it’s the next player’s turn.
- Color: If the wheel stops on a color, use the squirrel squeezer to grab a matching acorn and place it in a matching hole in your tree stump. If that hole is already full, skip your turn.
- One acorn: Pick any one acorn from the tree and use the squirrel squeezer to pick it up and place it on your tree stump.
- Two acorns: Pick any two acorns from the tree and use the squirrel squeezer to pick them up and place them on your tree stump.
- The Sneaky Squirrel: Use the squirrel squeezer to steal any colored acorn you need in your tree stump from another player’s tree stump.
- Sad Squirrel: Pass the squirrel squeezer to the player on your left and skip your turn.
- Squirrel Storm: Oh no! A furious storm blew all of your acorns back into the tree! Put them back and skip your turn.
If you’re the first player to collect all of the acorns to match the ones on your tree stump, you win!

ENJOY!