Games for the Whole Family!

Tired of playing endless games of Monopoly and Uno? Looking for activities to bring family and friends together for great conversation, lots of laughs, and maybe a bit of friendly competition? Here are a couple of great board games that will bring you hours of fun.

Kingdomino quickly became one of our families favorite games, mainly for its cute artwork, simple, quick play, and ease to teach. At its core, Kingdomino is a matching and spatial recognition game. Players build their own kingdom by picking domino-style tiles and placing them in a 5 x 5 grid. Each tile is made up of two squares that each depict a landscape (wheat, grass, water, swamp, forest, or mine). 

When placing a tile, one of the squares must connect to another square with the same landscape. The more tiles you already have placed, the harder it is to find a spot your newly selected tile will fit. Many tiles have little crown icons printed on them. Those will score you points at the end of the game. To determine your score, you simply count up the number of connected tiles of the same landscape and multiply it by the number of crowns printed on those tiles. So if you have 4 water tiles all connected and there are 2 crown icons printed on them, you score 8 points for that section. You do this for all of your landscapes and the player with the most points wins.

As I stated above the tiles are filled with beautiful art, with bright colors and adorable little details like birds, sheep, lumberjacks, and even a Loch Ness Monster. Once your 5 x 5 kingdom is complete you feel like you created a piece of art. While there are many tough decisions to make, learning the rules and playing the game is very easy. The game plays between 2 to 4 players (very well at all player counts) and once you know how to play, you can finish a game in about 15 minutes. We often end up playing 2 or 3 times whenever we break it out. I would recommend this for kids as young as 6 or 7, all the way up to adults. To purchase Kingdomino, click here and check out our other great family games while you're there.

I admit, salad is not my favorite meal option. But, games about salad!!! No, that really doesn’t sound all that much fun either. But, you would be surprised at how much fun making a salad really can be. Point salad is a game term that refers to a game in which you can earn victory points many different ways. Point Salad the game, is a simple card game in which you are actually making a salad. 

The game is made up of a deck of cards that depict one of six veggies on one side, and a way to score on the other. This could be something like, you get 2 points for each carrot you have, but lose one point for each onion. There are tons of different ways to score points (it's a Point Salad game...get it!!) The game can be played by 2 players, all the way up to 6 players The more players the more cards you use. The gameplay is extremely easy. You start by shuffling the cards and place 2 rows of 3 veggie cards in the middle of the table. Then above them place the rest of the cards in three piles, score side up. On your turn you either take one of the score cards or two of the veggie cards and place them in front of you. If you take veggies you simply replace them from the score card piles. Once all of the cards have been drafted, you simply add up your points and whoever has the most points wins. 

Point Salad is the kind of game I love playing. It is so quick and easy you can actually have casual conversations while playing and never feel distracted. The cards are bright and colorful, and very easy to understand. Like Kingdomino, Point Salad can be played over and over and over in an evening, in between longer games on a Game Night, or you can pull it out and play while you are waiting for your food at a restaurant. 

While the box says it is made for ages 14 and up, I see no reason why kids as young as 8 can’t play this game. It may take them a game or two to figure out how to use strategy instead of just selecting cards randomly, the scoring round is a perfect way to practice those math skills. And deciding when to take a score card, when to flip certain score cards over to prevent an opponent from getting them, and learning taking turns and good sportsmanship are all huge positives for playing with younger kids. Click here to purchase your own copy of Point Salad and start your own Family Game Night.