Family Games

The Settlers of Catan boardgame is an excellent example of a tabletop game that allows players to use a deceptively straightforward rule set to enjoy a great variety of gameplay. Players may start the game with relatively few resources but those who think...

Keeping children occupied without sending them off on their own doesn't need to be hard work. Our suggestions for kids of 7+ can fit in the living room and be as entertaining for adults as for kids. They also present plenty of opportunities to help children...

This is the first of a series of posts about possible Christmas gifts which encourage imaginative and/ or family play. We've sets for the 3+, 7+, 11+ and 16+ ranges. The exact age for each kid can vary quite a lot, so the age ranges are just a guide....

There's often a thin line between boardgames and 'bored games'. Too competitive, too long and too slow are some of the fairly frequent difficulties that can ruin gameplay. The rules also tend to be read like they're set in stone, and it's tricky to apply...

Time to round up our Christmas list with a few suggestions suited to older teenagers or adults. We're opting for entertainment over anything else and why not! Batman: The Killing Joke Batman: The Killing Joke The Killing Joke builds on the...

There are plenty of top quality Christmas present options spread around the site, including last year's suggestions. However, we thought we'd put up a Christmas post after seeing this week's colour supplements brimming with gift ideas. Never before have...

With forums, blogs and mailboxes full of 1001 AD&D 5e demands it already seems like a good time to give the topic a break. With that in mind here's a couple of short, sharp card games based, respectively, on Games Workshop's Space Hulk and the supernatural...

Time to hand over most of the solutions and back away from the picture puzzles . We didn't manage to find all of the answers for any of the puzzles entirely by ourselves. That said it wasn't for want of trying. There may be a few variants around, but...

Lego has helped to entertain and challenge millions of young kids between the ages of about 3 and 7. Many kids will make little use of Lego thereafter, as a vast range of quick and easy alternatives take up most of their time. However, for some kids...

Kids' favourite Lego is often best bought by the kilo or pound on e-Bay. The essentials are a large flat base and plenty of basic bricks. Even if you're buying everything new it makes sense to purchase bulk packs in standard sizes, because much of...

We've a couple of quick suggestions for Halloween. Our 9-year-old Free Realms playtester has continued to enjoy Sony's online RPG and some extra content has arrived. There's a new football/ soccer minigame, which is good fun. There's also a Halloween...

With three weeks to go it's time for a Halloween post. This year we're going to suggest a few games well worth trying out on Halloween. First up is boardgame Arkham Horror, which takes 4 or 5 players on an investigation of the strange events in the...

It may be supposed to be summer, but there's not been a lot of sunshine over the West Coast of Scotland in recent weeks. Not to worry, it's an opportunity to catch-up on indoor pastimes while we wait for the water gun season. The purchase of a few second-hand...

Still waiting for image permissions on a couple of other posts, so here's a few visual treats for now. Rob Gonsalves The Canadian artist's fantasy images are ideal for sparking just about anyone's imagination. The 'magical realism' artwork even looks...

Anyone who's tried earlier picture puzzles like the 72 Bands picture search is going to want to take a look at ZippyCart's new 70 Websites puzzle. (There's entry to a prize draw for a bunch of e-commerce services for anyone naming 50 of the 70 sites...

Parkour, free running and tricking are urban sports involving treating our city landscapes as open-ended obstacle courses. These intensely athletic, skillful and, at times, extreme sports have gained publicity as a result of their use in numerous movies...

We're about to suggest setting aside Mirror's Edge and Tomb Raider while you give parkour a try for real. Before starting we must state that: PARKOUR, FREE RUNNING AND TRICKING ARE EXTREME SPORTS WHICH REQUIRE PROPER TRAINING AND TUITION TO PERFORM SAFELY....

Dino's Laminated Children's Maps offer hours of play and learning for kids aged about 4 and over. They are beautifully drawn maps/ wall charts, with clear colour illustrations that show realistic images. They are also quite large, at sizes of 136 x 96cm...

It's difficult to write with any certainty about The Prince of Persia movie, which is presumably going to be a 'by the numbers' adventure. It's also hard to predict whether or not Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands is going to eclipse Zelda: Twilight...

It's been a long time since anyone around here took a look at a World War 2 tabletop game. Boardgames, videogames and RPGs are our standard fare and anything along the lines of a wargame doesn't usually get so much as a mention. The kind of WW2 tabletop...

Well-produced boardgames have become quite expensive in recent years. The costs aren't too bad if a game gets played time and again, but it's not so good if a $50+ box just sits on a shelf. With that in mind we've picked out a couple of family games that...