2013 Holiday Gift Guide—Family Games

Family Games is kind of a hard category. I mean, if you're playing a kids game, is that a family game, too? What about families with young kids, or older kids, or no kids? Basically, these are games that we play with our families, but that aren't designed specifically as kids games. And our kids are between the ages of 5 and 9, so the games will skew that way.

DC Comics Deck-Building Game—So deck-building games are a little bit...ya know...SUPER POPULAR!! But what kid wants to play Dominion and build Markets and Cellars? None that I know. The DC Comics Deckbuilding Game is the PERFECT game to teach kids about the basics of deck-building.

Cost: $40

(Find it online)

Ages: Probably 8 and up, as there’s definitely some reading involved.

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-Gn

Relic Expedition—In this game you'll be exploring the jungle, looking for relics, managing the tools in your backpack, and trying to stay one step ahead of the dangers—which include snakes, panthers, boars, and monkeys. This is Foxtrot Games' first game, and they thoroughly impressed us with their out-of-the-gate offering.

MSRP: $49 (Find it online)

Review: Coming soon!

Forbidden Desert—If you’ve played Pandemic or Forbidden Island, then you’ll know just what to expect from Matt Leacock’s latest co-op game. But that’s not to say this is just like those. This has new and interesting gameplay mechanics—including deadly sand that will cover important tiles until you can dig them out. Look for our full review soon!

MSRP: $24.99 (Find it online)

Ages: The box says 10 and up, but an 8-year-old who's played Forbidden Island should have no problem here.

Walk The Plank—This is a fun little take-that game, designed by some friends of mine! (Firestone) You’re playing cards that will let you push, pull, and drag your opponents off the plank and into the briny sea. Lot of fun!

MSRP: $20 (Find it online)

Ages: 8 and up, as there's some reading on the cards.

King Of Tokyo: Power Up!—This expansion for the terrific game King Of Tokyo adds one more character (the Pandakai!), but more importantly it adds Evolution cards, which are monster-specific special powers that increase the complexity a bit, but also increase the fun!

MSRP: $19.99 (Find it online)

Ages: 8 and up.

Riff Raff—This dexterity game has you putting pieces onto a swaying ship. It's ridiculously clever, and kids are naturally good at dexterity games, as they seem immune to the laws of physics—plus they're fearless in their placement! This one is a little tricky to track down—and expensive—but worth the effort.

MSRP: $69.99 (Find it online)

Ages: Box says 8 and up, but we've played with my 5-year-old.

Review: http://wp.me/p2hTk7-14s

So what did we forget? What are some of your family's favorite games? Let us know in the comments!

Iello Announces a New Richard Garfield Game!

Iello Games announced on their Facebook page that we'll see a new Richard Garfield game next month! It's called Ghooost! (yes...three o's). According to the BGG page, it's a card game where the goal is to get rid of all of your cards. It's got cartoonishly gruesome artwork. Iello and Richard Garfield is the same team that brought us the fun game King Of Tokyo, so our hopes are up!

2012 Holiday Board Game Gift Guide—Family Games

The next category in our Gift Guide is Family Games. This is kind of a tough one to land on, because the notion of "family" will vary depending on the makeup of your family, whether or not you have kids, how old your kids are, or if you even like playing game with your kids... (Kidding.) And some games from our Kids Games list could have gone here, too (like Sorry Sliders, for instance). But it's our list and our blog so we'll be coming at it from the viewpoint of people with two boys under the age of 10. Castle Panic—All of our kids love this game. It's a cooperative game where you're trying to fight off hordes of baddies trying to attack your castle. You can adjust the difficulty up or down depending on how old your kids are; and there's an expansion that adds some more difficulty, options, and monsters. You can check out our review of the base game right here.

Cost: ~$27

Available From: Amazon, and your friendly local game store

Ages: 6 and up

Forbidden Island—A great game of adventure, treasure hunting and team work! Players in this co-op are a group of treasure hunters searching for 4 different treasures on an island that's sinking into the sea! A great bonding experience as players have to work together to accomplish the task of defeating the game—all of the players win or lose together! If you have kids who are a little older, check out Pandemic. It's very similar to Forbidden Island, but you're trying to stop diseases from spreading across the planet. It's more complicated, has some more things going on, and is harder to win.

Cost: ~$14

Available From: Amazon, and your friendly local game store

Ages: 8 and up (10 and up for Pandemic)

Hike—A fun card game that simulates a hike in the woods. Players take turns playing cards representing a segment of the hike. It's great for young kids because all cards (except the special cards) are icon/art-driven, but fun for the family because of the special ability cards, which add another layer of strategy. It plays like a thematic Uno game, with less luck involved.

Cost: ~12

Available From: Amazon , and your friendly local game store

Ages: 6 and up

Zooloretto—You're a zookeeper, trying to create the best zoo by buying truckloads of animals and putting them in your pens in the most efficient way possible. It's bright and colorful, and kids love animals. There's also a slightly more complicated sequel called Aquaretto that has you running an animal water park.

Cost: ~$30

Available From: Amazon, Target, and your friendly local game store

Ages: 7 and up

Snow Tails—Race games make for good family games. They're usually not too complicated, they usually have some randomness, and races are just fun! (And parents, it'll force your kids to do some simple arithmetic, but they won't even realize they're doing it!)

Cost: ~$35

Available From: Amazon , and your friendly local game store

Ages: 8 and up

King of Tokyo—In this game, you're one of a group of monsters who are trying to become the King of Tokyo by beating up on your opponents. There lots of randomness and crazy special powers, so it's just the sort of game that works well for families. Check out our review right here!

Cost: ~$35

Available From: Amazon, and your friendly local game store.

Ages: 8 and up

Memoir '44—This is a 2-player very, very light wargame that my (Firestone) 8-year-old LOVES. You'll be able to re-create battles from World War II, with each person playing a side of the conflict. There are LOTS of expansions, so you can play in Normandy, Russia, and the Pacific. If you have a kid who loves WWII history, consider this gem.

Cost: ~$40

Available From: Amazon, and your friendly local game store

Ages: 7 and up

Pirate's Cove—In this game, each player is a pirate, who travels to different island to grab some treasure. But if you end up at the same island as another pirate, you fight! And there are some Legendary Pirates floating around, looking to challenge you for your treasure. The production values on this one are fantastic.

Cost: ~$45

Available From: Amazon, and your friendly local game store

Ages: 8 and up

When We Last Left Our Heroes...

Well, we said it at the beginning of the week... This will be a very light week, and in terms of posts this week has been fairly light. We did give you a heads up about the new expansion of King of Tokyo called Power Up! We unfortunately did not have opportunity to shoot any video during the week, but it doesn't mean we haven't been working hard behind the scenes! Stay tuned in the weeks to come as we are currently working on no less than 4 great interviews with game designers, of some games that we are pretty excited about!

Thanks as always for reading, and of course you can expect more gaming news, reviews and general mayhem, here at Theology of Games!

Power Up! King of Tokyo Expands!

The hit dice roller King of Tokyo, created by Magic the Gathering designer Richard Garfield is slated for an expansion titled Power Up! There aren't a lot of details about the expansion except the contents. It looks like they are adding another monster Pandakai, and over 50 evolution cards to give your monsters more options to power up and become King of Tokyo! See our review of King of Tokyo by Firestone - Right here!