Just road tested three new games. In one night. With tired little vonerables. My ears are still ringing. And it was F.U.N.!
First up: Ruckus. It gets a big thumbs up from all the rugrats. It's noisy, it involves stealing, and there's no waiting for turns! If you want a game that takes a minute to learn, just a couple of minutes to play each hand, and gives you a break from Snap and Go Fish...this is IT.

Then there was Scopa, supposedly a traditional Italian card game. Not really designed for the littlest ones. I'm sure they could get the hang of it, but as there's no yelling or stealing, why would they bother? If you're looking for a new and very different game for the holidays for upper primary children, I think this is it.

Lastly, we had a try at Risk. Hmmm. The 10+ guide is definitely overkill, but it was out of Geronimo's (5) grasp. He pretty much cried the whole way through it: part tired, part "if I'm not winning, it's because you're all mean". I found the tiny, fally-overy pieces very irritating (I'm sure there'll be several in the vacuum cleaner bag by the end of the week) and it's not something you can play expertly from the outset. I guess that makes for a more interesting game in the long run? Disturbingly, there's something about it that unleashed my competitiveness, even more than Monopoly, though I think I did a sterling job of appearing disinterested. Since Killer hates Monopoly, I think we've found our new 'whole family-whole afternoon' board game.

And you? What are your school holiday/rainy weekend card or board games?