Melissa Rogerson: Beach Games

Hello from our annual beach holiday! Every year, we hire an old beach house for a two-week family holiday. Every year, I promise myself that I will pack light and that the kids won’t travel with beach things packed around them on the back seat—and every year I fail. This year we did pretty well, until it came time to pack the games.

You see, the house that we hire has no TV. All the entertainment has to be brought ourselves. We like to invite friends down, too, so we take a range of activities. Biggie has brought all her dad’s Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators books, Otto has brought her Fifi and the Flowertots magnetic play scenes and a pile of Charlie and Lola books. I have brought my “neue deutsche Rechtschreibung” reference book and my brand new French textbooks; Fraser brought a mysterious bag o’stuff.

And then there are the games.

We brought only the essentials, you understand:

Agricola
Like the old American Express ads say, “Don’t leave home without it!”
I have some playtesting and proofing to do on this, but so far it’s all been regular games. Tomorrow I’ll pick up some cards to make up some to test.

Puerto Rico
This is our traditional beach house game. Over the years, Fraser and I have explored the nuances of the two-player game, even at times leaving it packed away in baggies ready for the next play. Last year, Biggie demanded to join in too, and she’s been pestering to play this or Agricola since we got down here.

Diamant
Quick, fun and light. Also good for non-gaming friends that may be down here this week.

Spooky Stairs (Geistertreppe)
For Otto, and/or any of her friends who we happen to meet up with. This is a nice quiet game for her.

“The Make ‘n’ Break Double Treat” – Make ’n’ Break and Make ‘n’ Break Extreme (squished into one box)
Make ‘n’ Break has been a favourite of both our kids’ for a couple of years now.  We’ve not yet tried Make ‘n’ Break Extreme, but we’re confident that it will be a popular choice.

Drakon (3rd edition)
Fraser’s gift from his Secret Santa. I think this is one that Biggie will enjoy as well.

Ingenious Travel Edition
Otto’s very favourite game ever—for a long time, we had to play this every night as one of her bedtime stories. We’re down one purple scoring marker, but all the tiles are there (although there was some scrabbling around under the sofa before we came down here). Otto particularly likes “reading” the rules to her sister: “You have a to play your piece, and then you score, and then you can take another one. You must never, NEVER lose the rules and you always have to put them back in the box.”

Blink
Another holiday favourite of our girls’. I’ve not played this yet, but I’ve seen it out so I know it’s been getting some table time. They like playing it alone as well as competitively.

Cluedo Travel Edition
Much easier to carry than regular Cluedo, although I do wonder why they changed the shape of the pawns. Otto loves to play this with us and even gets to suspect people—I’m tempted to give her a couple of person and/or weapon cards next time we play, to see how she does. It’s always interesting to see how much we learn from her suspicions.

Mystery Rummy 1: Jack the Ripper
This is one of Biggie’s favourites, to the point that we are thinking of trying to track down the other ones as well. She and Fraser have been playing it a lot—as I noticed when I was invited to play a game with them yesterday.

Frank’s Zoo (another traditional beach house game)
We play the simple rules, not the if-you-have-two-lions-and-no-hedgehogs-and-an-odd-number-of-mosquitos-and-there-is-an-"a"-in-the-name-of-the-day advanced rules. Fraser made mincemeat of me and Biggie.

Guillotine
This is one we want to try with Biggie but haven’t yet. (We used to play this a lot.) This seemed a good opportunity. Another that is good for gamers and non-gamers alike.

Die Drachenbändiger von Zavandor
This arrived with Agricola in the big box from Germany. Sadly, nothing from that big box has been tried yet. Well, except the obvious. Not much more from the other big boxes has been tried, either.

Schotten Totten
It plays with two, it’s quick and fun, and there was room in the box we’d brought for card games. A no-brainer.

Wizard
Having played Oh Hell with Biggie a couple of years ago, we’re now moving on to this variant. She still has trouble remembering to follow suit, which is something we need to beat out of her (metaphorically speaking, of course).

Pick Picknic
Another traditional beach house game. In fact, the last time I remember playing this is in January 2006. Otto should be ready to give this a try, although I’m not sure whether she has the concentration span to last a full game. Then again, every time I’ve said that in the past she’s proved me wrong ...

Pickomino
Quick, fast and a dice game. Otto likes the worms, Biggie likes the worms, I like making silly clucking noises like you hear on BSW. Fraser just sits there with a martyred look on his face (the clucking) and enjoys the game. It’s all fun.

Marrakesh
It has camels and is smaller than Through the Desert. It’s also a favourite of both of our kids’, and is one they can play together or with adults.

Barnyard Critters
Otto’s favourite. More silly animal noises from BSW, I’m afraid—this was also a popular bedtime story for a while. Her best time online is 12 minutes, so she’s hardly setting the world on fire, but she enjoys it. Also good to play solo.

Die, Steven Seagal! – errm, I mean Die Sieben Siegel
The next step from Wizard? Another nice trick-taking game, in this one I think the opportunity to play the Saboteur will appeal to Biggie. I find I prefer this to Wizard, given the choice.

No Thanks!
Another card game that snuck in to fill the empty space. Biggie is a terror at this game.

Dora the Explorer My First Uno
This one’s Otto’s and sees only sporadic play.

We also brought a few games that we need to play and form an opinion on—Fraser’s chairing the Boardgames Australia Best Australian Game panel, and I’m on the Best Children’s Game panel. So far, I’ve been pretty favourably impressed.

I almost don’t care if the weather stays mild.

Almost.

© 2008 Melissa Rogerson

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Comments:

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Melissa, I highly recommend all of the Mystery Rummy games.  Jekyll & Hyde is strictly two-player and is the simplest of the series, but Biggie might still enjoy it and it would be the ideal choice as a My First Mystery Rummy Game for Otto.  Al Capone might be my favorite and it plays great with both two and four (as partners); once Otto gets a little older, it should be an terrific game for the whole family.  And Bonnie and Clyde, which hopefully Jay will be releasing in the next few months, is also excellent and the first game of the series that works well with three players (it’s equally good with two and three).  The only game I haven’t played is Rue Morgue, but that’s supposed to be a very good partnership game. By the way, have you tried Wyatt Earp?  It’s not my favorite, because the bullet hole mechanic bugs me, but it really is a Mystery Rummy game in all but name and is very popular, particularly with three.  Fitzgerald has also designed some simpler Rummy-like games, including Histories Mysteries and 20th Century Time Travel which are well regarded and could work well with non-gamers.  I’ve yet to try a Mike Fitzgerald card game that I haven’t liked. Posted by Larry Levy on Jan 15, 2008 at 11:36 AM | #

Melissa, c’mon… get cracking on the Agricola testing!  Too bad you don’t have a printer there, else I could send you some ideas! Dale Posted by Dale Yu on Jan 15, 2008 at 02:52 PM | #

Larry, I’ve not tried Wyatt Earp but I’ll keep an eye out (guessing it may be OOP?) Dale - OMG! The things I could tell you ... but then I would have to silence you ... lol! Posted by Melissa Rogerson on Jan 16, 2008 at 11:55 PM | #

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