Summary: We are all about teaching our kids (and others) to play games. But how do you teach skills that are integral to good game-playing: concepts like logical deduction, planning ahead, and making strategic choices? With games, of course! We highlight our top 5 games to teach game-playing skills.<br> <br> Games we’ve been playing:<br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2v84RUu">Purrrlock Holmes: Furriarty’s Trail</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2vsKvos">Kingdomino</a> (update: Kingdomino did win Spiel des Jahres this year!)<br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2t69jSe">Macroscope</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2upDKa1">Sushi Go Party!</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2uyTkAx">Bärenpark</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2tZPPzX">Catan Junior</a><br> Mall Madness Littlest Pet Shop Edition (ugh)<br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2v8652l">Cube Quest</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2u0iDZk">Rummikub</a><br> <a href="http://amzn.to/2upGZhL">Rack-O</a><br> More from the Klutz book – 3D tic-tac-toe, Mancala, an asymmetric game called Dalmatian Pirates and the Volga Bulgars (variation on the ancient Fox and Geese)<br> Lots of <a href="http://amzn.to/2vsLbdx">Dance Central 3</a> – we’ve created a dancing monster! Gangam Style, in particular, has been played so many times, we feel like we’ve gone back in time to 2012.<br> Andrew bought the DLC for Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Awesome: Hero’s Path Mode (highlights the map for where you’ve played) Less awesome: Trial of the Sword. 45 levels, with only your wits and whatever equipment you can find within the trial. So hard!<br> We introduce a new segment: Backtalk. We don’t want backtalk from our kids, but we do want it from you! Don’t forget you can contact us on <a href="http://twitter.com/familygamersAA">Twitter</a>, <a href="http://facebook.com/familygamersAA">Facebook</a>, or <a href="http://thefamilygamers.com/">on our website</a>.<br> Don’t forget to enter our <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/giveaway-original-card-caddy/">giveaway</a>! We are giving away the original Card Caddy to SIX lucky winners.<br> Games To Teach Game Skills<br> Common elements in our favorite teaching games: Hidden information or poorly-hidden information. Little math. Simple strategy.<br> <br> * <a href="http://amzn.to/2v84RUu">Purrrlock Holmes Furriarty’s Trail</a>: Semi-cooperative; give clues to each other’s secret information. Use this to teach logical/deductive reasoning.<br> * <a href="http://amzn.to/2upDQhM">Castle Panic</a>: Cooperative gameplay to defeat the monsters. Use this to model how to plan ahead.<br> * <a href="http://amzn.to/2uprCpw">Battle Sheep</a>: competitive, but with no hidden information. Can still talk through how to plan ahead.<br> * <a href="http://amzn.to/2upBgZa">Press Here, The Game</a>: semi-competitive pattern game. Teach pattern-recognition as well as planning ahead. A small element of strategy since there are usually several “good” spots to place your colored dot.<br> * <a href="http://amzn.to/2uyTkAx">Bärenpark</a> (or <a href="http://amzn.to/2uqcNTA">Patchwork</a>): competitive, but no direct interaction between players, and no hidden information. Teach planning ahead, both to fit pieces and to possibly block out other player(s) from resources.<br> <br> <br> Do you have a game that you prefer for teaching game skills? Tell us in the comments!<br> Don’t forget to rate and review us on <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-family-gamers-podcast/id1031290391">iTunes</a> or your podcast app of choice.<br>
