Family Board Games For The Whole Family

I’m so excited to be bringing you my Gift Guide of Fun Games For The Whole Family! This gift guide series has been a labour of love and in the works for a while now.  I have been searching high and low and across the continents to bring you these superb gift ideas – use them all year round!  Don’t miss our gift guides on family movies, educational gifts, cultural gifts, gifts for new moms, and gifts for creative moms!

Board games are the perfect thing to do on a rainy or wintry day.  They have real staying-power and indeed, are coming back into style – excellent news – for once I’m not ‘old fashioned’!  I still have some of my favourite board games up in the attic waiting to be brought down as the kids grow.  I’m finally on-trend – who’d ever have guessed?!  A great board game never goes out of style – I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again!

Gather the family around and enjoy each other’s company and have a barrel of laughs playing fun games together while making memories to last a lifetime.  Board games bring real people together in one place without staring at screens or messing with mobiles.  Just having fun, laughing, and making memories.  These things never go out of fashion!

Under our tree this year will be…

LOGO Game

I’ve had my eye on LOGO for a couple of years already, so I am really happy to have the chance to play it.  I may be at a slight disadvantage not having grown up in the UK, but I passed my citizenship tests six years ago and I’m confident I’m up for the challenge!  Well, perhaps I’ll be on the same level as my children, but logos prior to 2003 may be a little more difficult.

LOGO is aimed for players 12 years and up, and the aim of the game is to guess the LOGO – what else would it be?  Brand logos are such a huge part of life these days; when I’m in Belfast and someone asks for directions, I tell them to walk down this street until you come to the KFC, then turn right, go two blocks and turn left just past the Dominoes Pizza – it’s so much easier than using street names!

Pick up one of the 400 cards in one of the 3 categories and ask the player to your left for the answer, it’s as simple as that (and if that player doesn’t know the answer, the next player in line has a try).  The categories are Pictorial, Themed, and Pot Luck.  Picture cards will give you a full or partial logo to identify. Theme cards are related to their title, and Pot Luck could be anything!  When you answer a question correctly, move your game piece around the board.

Just for fun, here are a couple of sample questions to get you going:

• Which animal adorns the clothing of the French sportswear company Lacoste?
  • What else could it be – but a crocodile?
• You’ve enjoyed Smarties for as long as you can remember, but which of the colours tastes different?
  • The orange-coloured one – it’s orange-flavoured.
• What do you know about Bird’s Custard Powder? You may instantly identify the chirpy yellow and blue birds of the logo, but could you say why the product was first developed?
  • Alfred Bird’s wife was allergic to eggs, prompting him to invent a delicious alternative made from milk and cornflour.

I’m thinking the questions from LOGO would be fantastic to use as an ice breaker at team meetings; who would fare better, the younger members or the more mature members?

I wonder if it would be considered cheating if I studied the cards late at night?  How would you do?

LOGO is available through Amazon.co.uk, Tesco, Argos, Toys R Us, and other retailers.

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Stoopido, the Game of 1000 Silly Faces

Drumond Park’s Stoopido is set to take the nation by storm this year as households are overtaken with laughter while surveying their opponents at the table with stupid-looking game pieces adorning their faces.

What better reason to have fun than to make fun of your own family and friends?  Gather ’round the table, put on a pair of goofy red glasses, roll the dice and scramble to pick up the silliest pieces you can to place on someone else’s face!

The ultimate aim of this silly game is to have the fewest stupid game pieces on your own face.

Of course, if you have children like me, they will love to wander around the house for hours with different ‘looks.’ My daughter (6) has so far found her favourite look to be one similar to “Candice the Candy Witch,” a character she saw in a panto production earlier this month.  One of the signs of a great game in our home is when it can be used in more than one way…and I already have ideas of ways to incorporate Stoopido into some of our homeschool lessons.

Stoopido is available through Amazon.co.uk, Tesco, Argos, Toys R Us, and other retailers.

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Og On The Bog

If you want to be a fun mom, get Og On The Bog for your kids, it’s not your bog-standard board game!  Aimed at children from five to eleven and upwards, the aim of the game is sneak up on Og and steal a loo roll from him – but be careful, if your hand is shaky you’ll tip off Og and he’ll pass wind/let one rip/fart (can we still say that here in the UK as I know it’s not appropriate talk according to the Canadian parliament).

Kids love a little potty humour when they can get away with it…and in this game it’s encouraged.

Og is on the bog in the outhouse with the doors closed.  Each player already has one loo roll, and when it’s your turn, you spin the nifty tree-stump spinner.

• If you get a red cross, beware of the danger, it’ s not safe to sneak up on Og, so you miss your turn.
• If you get a hand holding a loo roll then you can take a roll from any other player.
• If you get a green check mark, then the coast is clear and you can sneak up to the outhouse and try to steal some loo roll from Og.
  • You need nerves of steel, for first you need to press the step of the outhouse to see if Og knows you’re near.  If Og talks to you, you run away without any loo roll.  If he’s silent, continue on.
  • If Og grunts or farts while you’re trying to steal a loo roll, then he doesn’t know you’re near and you can continue.
  • But if you’re too shaky and Og yells out, then he’s heard you and your turn is over.
  • However, if Og does an enormous explosive fart and explodes the outhouse (!) then you must put two of your loo rolls back onto the post, fix up the outhouse, and your turn is over.
• The winner is the first player to have 3 loo rolls in their possession.

What a funny game!  Children will love the sounds coming from Og, and the disgust of their parents will be a bonus factor.

I haven’t seen a kids game that needs a steady hand and good fine motor control for some time, I’m liking the combination of these motor skills, sound, and the element of surprise that’s all included in this game.  I’m thinking this will be a good motivator; when the kids are finished their school work or homework for the day, they can be rewarded by playing….or perhaps more appropriately – once they’ve helped to refill the loo rolls in the house and tidy up the bathrooms, then they can play?  Why can’t us adults have such fun motivators?

Og On The Bog is available through Amazon.co.uk, Tesco, Argos, Toys R Us, and other retailers.

Follow Drumond Park through their website, Facebook, and Twitter.