I was playing Seven Dragons by Looney Labs a couple days ago when I realized that my six-year-old daughter did not understand the meaning of the word diagonal. Her frustration was obvious, but I knew just the answer: Triplica by Fun Q Games.

Triplica is a simple get-three-in-a-row card game that is easy for me to pick up and play with my little girl. She enjoys it a lot because the rules allow her to beat ol’ Pops frequently enough to hold her interest; I enjoy it more than her because it’s a delight hearing her giggling and yelling TRIPLICA when she lines up three cards that match her current goal card.

But I loved the game this particular time because lining up three cards diagonally is one of the ways to score…and winning is a great incentive for my daughter to learn. She is a competetive lil’ thing.

AND, she DID win, but that’s fine with me.  I won as well. Take a look as she demonstrates a diagonal TRIPLICA in the picture below. I believe the motivational speakers call this situation a win-win.

"TRIPLICA, Daddy!"

Murderland by Two Scooters Press

Cutthroat Caverns by Smirk and Dagger Games

There are those games that you always feel you “should” play, and there are those games that always seem to find their way to the table, almost as if by their own will.  At the school gaming club this week, a particularly backstabby mood amongst the teens–a friendly backstabby mood, of course–brought Cutthroat Caverns by Smirk and Dagger games back to the table once again.  This game is becoming one of the group’s regulars.

Cutthroat Caverns is a dungeon crawl card game in which the player characters are all part of the same dungeoneering party.  Over the course of a game, the adventurers must defeat several monsters, each with its own particular power and damage and targets.  The unique thing about this romp through the dark depths is that characters are competing for prestige points which can only be gained by being THE delver who delivers THE killing blow on the current monster.  It doesn’t matter if you did the most or the least damage to the monster during the encounter.  If you want to win the game, you must be the one who sends the monster to its doom by getting in that last, deadly blow.  This manner of scoring and the nature of the cards openly invites much betrayal…and fun.

Murderland by Two Scooters Press is another game we played that involves fatal betrayal.  It’s a set of rules which redefine how to use the board and bits of the classic game Clue. Characters in the game find themselves in a nasty game of survival as they race around the Clue mansion trying to find millions of dollars while also attempting to be one of only two people alive at the end of thirty minutes.  Tension builds palpably in this game.  The last roll of the game usually finding all players leaning in closely to get a first glimpse of the roller’s fate.

The kids played two games back to back, each with equal gusto.  I think Murderland will be one of those games that will be played frequently at the club meetings.

Dungeon Squad is a free fantasy rpg created by Jason Morningstar that is aimed at kids.  I had a ton of fun playing it today with my little ones.  We used a Chessex battle mat, Descent figs for monsters, and D and D minis for characters.  Needless to say, the dragon was slain.  Plenty of counting and teamwork was necessary for success.

It has taken me years to get lucky enough to teach the cool literature, but now I am finally enjoying the good fortune of basking in literary geekgoodness.  Yes, geekgoodness is a word.

One of the great pieces that I have the pleasure of teaching in the future is Mary Shelley’s beautiful Frankenstein. I must have done something right along the line to be able to share this fantastic piece of fiction.  I am really thankful.

As a gamer, it is so fun to supplement literary readings with great games.  My goal is to use the following games to enrich the reading of Shelley’s classic novel:

Engle Matrix Games can be found at Hamster Press and are really great for the English classroom. I have used them before in class and have been pleased with the results.

I am very interested in trying this Polish game that is distributed  by Cubicle 7.  De Profundis is  intended  to be played through letters,  and due to the multiple letters found  in Frankenstein, I think  some  very cool connections can be made.  It is intended to be played within  the Cthulu mythos, but  that is  nothing a little hacking could not  solve.

This indie classic by Paul Czege is a natural fit if I can pull it off.

Please check back for updates and to give suggestions.  I appreciate all of them.

I have been playing The Princes’ Kingdom by Clinton R. Nixon with my eight-year-old boy and my six-year-old girl.  It is a great game based on D. Vincent Baker’s award winning Dogs in the Vineyard.  This series of actual play reports started here and here.  I suggest you take a look at these posts first if you are interested in the game.  And, YOU SHOULD BE.  It is an enlightening way to see into the values of your children and to discuss morals and ethics.  It is also a fantastic way to interact and HAVE FUN.

So…

After proving themselves, both Prince Katan and Princess Breanna headed off to Bluefish Island to solve their first problem.  The only produce merchant there would not sell fruits and vegetables to the Redfish People.  These were immigrants to the island who traditionally eat Redfish.  The problem was that the people on Bluefish Island only eat Bluefish even though there is an abundance of both kinds of fish.  Merchant Royal Blu, the produce seller, would have none of it.  These people were not going to come to his island and eat the wrong kind of fish.  The Bluefish People were largely on his side, and the Redfish People were becoming unhealthy due to malnutrition, and hints of unrest among the Redfish population were in the air.  The king’s kids already had their hands full.

Visit One: Mayor Azure Sky

In an attempt to start at the top, the Prince and Princess ask the mayor of Bluefish Island to make this man sell to the Redfish People.  He refused; he didn’t like the immigrants either.

Unexpected Visit Two: Bella Bluego

On their way to the produce merchant, the kids were accosted by an older lady who had heard of and detested their mission.  She tried to be an Arthur Dent to their bulldozers, figuratively speaking, but the kids were able to get by her without any violence.

Visit Three: Merchant Royal Blue

This was quite a struggle.  Before reluctantly agreeing to sell to the Redfish People, the seller threatened to burn down his entire business.  Fortunately, a threat of taking over the business in the name of the king convinced him to acquiesce.  Redfish people standing outside of the building heard him give in and began cheering loudly.  However, I couldn’t help but feel that although he agreed to obey the royal wishes there would still be trouble here in the future.  He was just so reluctant to sell to the Redfish People.

CHARACTER GROWTH:

After each island, the players get to grow their characters a bit. Both the Prince and Princess decided to have a birthday, which means that they add a year and a die to their characters’ ages and struggle rolls.  My daughter also decided to add “convinces adults” as a strong quality, and my son changed “food fights” from a troublesome to a strong quality.  We will have to see how that works out.

THROUGH PARENTS’ EYES:

I was surprised at how quickly my son wanted to buy off the merchant, to pay him to sell to these people.  The game allowed us to have a good discussion about whether it was appropriate or not to pay this guy to do the right thing.  I am not sure we shouldn’t revisit this discussion.  My wife and I discouraged it, but should we have said it is wrong?

I am playing Clinton R. Nixon’s The Princes’ Kingdom, a wonderful game inspired by the highly praised Dogs in the Vineyard by D. Vincent Baker.  I first posted about it here.  I’m playing with my second grader and my kindergartner, and though we haven’t had a full session yet, the kids have created their characters and have “proven” them. 

Before characters head out to do the King’s bidding, players decide what they would like to prove they can do before they go.  This process serves as a nice in-game way to learn the dice mechanic, which is really fun.  If characters succeed, they get to add a strong quality to their character sheets; if they fail, they add a troublesome quality.  Both of my kiddos succeeded.  The boy was able to add that he can make swords to his sheet, and my daughter penciled in that she was a good fighter.

Below are pictures of both kids’ TOTALLY UNEDITED character sheets.