Beginner Games

In Progress!

Have littles that you’d like to get into tabletop gaming? Since our games can take most of the day, we start off each monthly game day morning with a kid-chosen game. Each kiddo makes their selection. Then, we duke it out or cooperate: their choice!

One great intro is a large, soft dice that can be rolled and color coded cards are chosen. Next, the player completes the action on the cards before the player’s turn ends and moves to the next player. Any age can play since it’s geared towards toddlers. We found this version on Amazon super engaging.

If your toddler is just getting into their shapes and colors, check out Qwirkle. It’s essentially Scrabble with shapes and colors. By either completing a line of all different colors or all the different shapes, you can achieve a Qwirkle! A fun way to get the tiniest players involved.

Next up are the HABA games to work on our hand-eye coordination and basic sportsmanship of waiting your turn.

All HABA games are battery-free and are meant for beginning players and small children. We enjoyed the joyful Honeybee game where the player moves like a bee to pollinate the flowers. Then, tokens are converted from flowers to honey!

HABA also makes a low-fi fishing game: Here, Fishy, Fishy! This option is great if you’d like a break from the battery-powered option.

Speaking of fishing games, these are great for hand-eye coordination and an intro to timed games. A relative gifted us a fishing game complete with the “Baby Shark” song which played the entire duration of the game. “Baby Shark” fishing was a hit in our household similar to this one found on Amazon.

You can’t go wrong with the classic Chutes and Ladders. According to the book Around the World in 80 Games, this child’s favorite dates back to early India and relates to karma and reincarnation. If you make poor decisions, there are negative consequences. Hence sliding down the ladder. Hopefully, you make better decisions and are able to move up the ladder in life.

Around this same time is a great time to introduce cards and matching. Working their brains, players attempt to remember matches for anything from Disney Characters to Marvel Heroes. We even found a Cthulhu kids themed matching game for our creepy clan. Find whatever interests your group and find your match! We’ve also enjoyed versions of matching games from Ravensberger such as these.

This age is prime for some silly games including Ants in the Pants and Pop the Pig. Our kiddos would choose these along with the classic “Hungry Hungry Hippos” endlessly. We kept having to hide these every once in a while since they were so popular. The only problem is making sure all the ants or grasshoppers (depending on the iteration of your gaming) make their way into the actual vessel

Some education games can also be fun! Scrabble Junior is an excellent example of this beginner strategy game. One side of the board has pre-set words and a points track with moveable miniatures for players to complete spelling as many words as possible on the board. The cute miniatures correspond to your color.

Our youngest reader, who started playing this game at 2.5, became an ace. So much so that we had to flip to the other side of the board for free play. After a few plays, we upgraded to this version of Scrabble for all ages to participate. This game is perfect for building confidence in early readers.

One game that gets chosen again and again in our house is Pretty Pretty Princess. Once you collect all of your color’s jewels plus the crown, you win! Our favorite part is passing around the Black Ring which makes it impossible to win if you possess it. Gameplay moves quickly. So, sometimes we’ll play this one twice in one sitting.

A thrilling game that hits the table from time to time is Labryrinth. Ravensberger has a plethora of options. Ours is a Super Mario version where players race around the board to land on  various classic video game characters’ spaces. Players move pieces of the board’s pathway creating obstacles and challenges making for great replay!

Another favorite is the game of Life with the balanced spinning wheel great for practicing delicate spins. One note: we found the newer version of Life is generous with adding pegs through pets, friends and various people you meet and influence you throughout life… as with any healthy social life. You’ll find it easy to fill one wagon with enough friends to add another to start your caravan.  Letting the kids see how their choices work out is what makes this game great for repeat play.

We’re not huge fans of Monopoly in our house. Besides being created by a woman and the design essentially stolen and sold to Parker Brothers, we’ve found economy games such as Dominion and Allowance to be better representations of how money works and more fun to play in general. Our kids were gifted his really cute Unicorn Junior version of Monopoly that has been great in case they get the itch to be landlords.

Allowance does seem to run long for the intended age range. The winner is supposed to save up $20. However, we find setting a timer and ending the game by whomever has the most money on-hand at that time as the winner works well, too.

Dominion has great replay with different cards for purchase and grows your deck which can vary every time you play! This game can get really cutthroat. One of our first board games as a couple, this gem didn’t debut for the littles until recently. Knowledge of gaming with economies is a plus. Also has minor deck building. A great starter for those more intricate games, such as Scythe or Dune Imperium. Rio Grande Games produces some really great board games.

Rio Grande has another great all ages card game in Bohnanza. This silly game has players planting beans to gain as many coins as possible by the end of the game. Must remember your hand order for your cards which can be a challenge for young players. It’s sure to be good practice for organization and patience as you vie for resources to sew.

The adults in the household enjoy board games along the lines of Arkham Horror and Scythe. Luckily there are beginner versions for a few of our favorites. One that translates well is My Little Scythe. With similar mechanics as the elder version, this one just has cuter characters and has a shorter running time. There’s even pie fights to resolve confrontations while maintaining a Friendship track.

Currently, our eldest recommends “Ticket To Ride: The First Journey” as their favorite. It’s the beginner version of the popular locomotive board game series. Though it may be marketed for a younger demographic, it’s better to think of this game as an “Express” version of the classic: trains.

Living in the San Francisco Bay area, we found that we enjoyed the San Francisco version emblazoned with our local landmarks of Ticket to Ride as much fun as the OG version.

As strategy experience grows, try out Carcassonne with fun expansions such as Princess and the Dragon. Laying out tiles chosen each turn to build out the kingdom acquiring points for your various castles and victories along the way. All ages enjoy this one.

Mancala was introduced after we were given this gorgeous set. Quickly after, matches were breaking out often. So not long after that, we introduced Azul. A new favorite where the players work to create gorgeous tile patterns. This mini version would be great for travel.

Chess and checkers are always options in the house. My partner enjoys it when the kids challenge him to different games, especially these to keep him on his toes! Currently, we’re enjoying this set when someone needs to drop a checkmate.

Guess Who has arrived in the household. This adorable edition involves various Sanrio characters to describe.

As the kiddos get more into deck building, they have their own intro to  Pokemon TCG through Pokemon: Battle Academy   decks for a quick stop at a training center when time commands.

Lately, their interest has grown. So, we’ve gifted them their own decks of cards as they work on upping their card game knowledge with Solitaire. Bicycle has some really great options for all ages of card players from beginner to advanced.

Guides can be helpful with new gamers who are also new readers. These two books have been helpful additions to our library for not only pointing out the actual rules for games. They also have variations of everything from poker to Crazy Eights.

Bookshop is our online go to for books if we aren’t shopping local IRL soon for anything from fiction to RPG guides.

When your crew is ready to level up, roll on into our recommended General Audience section for more!

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