Board game suggestions?

[Middlesexmum]

I've been thinking about Ticket to Ride for a while, just not sure my 8 year old would take to it. She's bright but often doesn't get game tactics. How long does it take to play?

[Stroller]

Depends on how many play and how quick the board fills up! It tends to take us maybe 90 - 120 minutes? But you're really engrossed, so the time flies. DD first played it when she was 5 and she loved it from the beginning. The train route cards are quite visual. If complex reading was needed, we helped.

We play Settlers of Catan as traders: "Offering <let's say 2> wool for <let's say 1> ore" with ratios dependant on business need. That's also great fun.

[Middlesexmum]

That's quite a long game. We tend to play games after dinner so need something a bit shorter.

[Stroller]

That's quite a long game. We tend to play games after dinner so need something a bit shorter.

Perfect for dreary winter weekends and holiday periods... We're bad-weather board-gamers.

[Yamin151]

I've been thinking about Ticket to Ride for a while, just not sure my 8 year old would take to it. She's bright but often doesn't get game tactics. How long does it take to play?

Some taken infer than others. Ours were playing it at age 8. If it's not of interest for the whole time then the younger child could team up with an adult........

Carcassonne is another one good for eight year olds. The game play is so simple, it's the tactics that can be harder the older you get. Bit like learning chess, only much easier to learn the moves, and one can play with no skill at all, but the adults can play to kill, lol!

[Yamin151]

And then these are all quickies (5 to 15 mins)

Some quickie ones that you could do in an airport, car etc
Bang - Wild west based, dice roll - sheriff needs to survive, others try to kill him off
Zombie Dice - great fun, dice roll, risk more dice throws to get more brains to eat but might get killed by a grenade instead
River Crossing - more cerebral, cute little game testing your powers of problem solving to move planks around in restricted ways to get across a river.
Story Dice - box of 9 dice, throw each one and build a story based on what you get.
Dobble - Fast and furious, find which picture of 8 on a round card matches with one of 8 on opponents card, shout it out and offload the card, winner first to have no cards. Frustrating, so so easy and you would swear sometimes there is NO match (but there always is!)

[ConfusedFather]

The king of board games, no dice needed. Just a brain and a silver tongue Diplomacy!

The only risk of playing it in family is that you may create everlasting feud between yourselves.
I still blame some of my friends for 30 year old betrayals!

[Kata girl]

Try sequence - very strategic lots of blocking and stopping and sneaky moves to get ahead. It seems to be on sale in a tin and in a cardboard box - latter version is fine.

[Fatnorville]

Another vote for the Settlers of Catan from this household.

For something quicker we would chose Labyrinth.

DS also got Axis and Allies for Christmas last year. We are still ploughing through the instructions trying to make sense of that game!

[Yamin151]

Another vote for the Settlers of Catan from this household.

For something quicker we would chose Labyrinth.

DS also got Axis and Allies for Christmas last year. We are still ploughing through the instructions trying to make sense of that game!

The boys in this house (i.e. incl dh) have that - try youtubing it for method of play - I've found that of great benefit when you are finding ploughng through rule books a little hard going!