In electronic age, board games still have a timeless appeal | SILive ...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. - Now that the children are fully acclimated to being back in school and the cooler weather is settling upon us, why not instill a regular board game night at home, a wholesome tradition that fosters familial bonds and challenges young minds in a fun, stress-free environment?

Sure, you may get some resistance from 21st-century kids who would rather be playing video games or texting their friends. And maybe you aren?t so jazzed about the idea either. But that?s because you haven?t seen just how many board games are out there.

Families don?t have to be stuck playing a never-ending game of Monopoly ? though if you dig the Parker Brothers classic, you might check out Statenopoly. Fair warning: The satirical board game isn?t recommended for those easily offended by Staten Island jokes, as it does poke fun at the borough. Visit statenopoly.com for full details.

Not quite up your alley? There literally are hundreds of games from which to choose.

Just ask the Howell family. Father Trent, mother Michelle and kids Trevor, 16, Jaden, 14, Brooke, 12 and Caleb, 9, have played nearly 150 games since they started doing board game reviews for their website, theboardgamefamily.com, three years ago. (Game night, however, has been a weekly institution in their household for the last seven years.)

The family is fortunate to have a unique store near their Leigh, Utah, home where they can rent board games for 10 days at a fraction of the retail price. Islanders have a similar option with BoardGameExchange.com, an online subscription service that rents out games for two months at a time.

?TOP PICKS

One of the Howell family?s favorites is Ticket To Ride, a train adventure in which players have to build railroad tracks across the United States, trying to connect routes, city to city. Because players can block each other, stopping them in their tracks with their own tracks, the game involves strategy.

Additional points come to those who fulfill ?Destination Tickets? by connecting two distant cities, and to the player who builds the longest continuous railway.

Another one the clan loves likely will appeal to firefighter families, too. In Flash Point: Fire Rescue, players are called upon to rescue seven victims trapped in a burning building.

Trent Howell explained that Flash Point is what?s known as a ?cooperative game? in which all the players act as a team. The team has only seconds to assess the situation and devise a plan of attack and, in order to win, they need to think strategically, problem solve and work together.

Small World, a territorial game filled with fantasy elements, is the game du jour for the Howell teens, Trevor and Jaden. It features a zany cast of characters ?dwarves, wizards, amazons, giants and humans ? and the goal is to use troops to occupy territory and conquer adjacent lands in order to push the other races off the face of the earth.

Word games also are a popular choice among families. Words With Friends transforms the popular mobile app into a face-to-face experience. Played much like Scrabble, the board game offers a few digital features, such as the Word-O-Meter, The Count and Tile Pile, that can enhance the online/mobile version.

Reverse Charades is hands-down a more entertaining twist on the classic. Instead of one person acting out a word or phrase, an entire team performs for one member to guess.

It elicits ?lots of laughs,? said Howell, who favors the junior version for family play.

He and his family also give Catch Phrase, which is similar to Charades but has more restrictions (you can?t give the first letter of a word, say the number of syllables, etc.) ? rave reviews, though Howell warns it may be too challenging for younger children.

Still nothing catching your eye? Check out the Howells? review board at theboardgamefamily.com/all-game-reviews, where you can browse dozens of options ? kiddie games and detective games and press-your-luck games and numbers games on and on.

?QUALITY TIME

Howell raves about the benefits of game night, noting it helps younger children sharpen their thinking skills and older ones to plan strategically.

Best of all, ?It?s face-to-face time when you get around the table, a time where you interact and converse with one another,? he said.

Howell said a secret to making game night a regular affair in your household is sticking to a set time each week (or month, or whatever works for your family), especially as the children get older and there?s school, sports and other activities with which to contend.

A regular night also helps to establish expectations and eliminate distractions, as kids will come to realize this is family time and not a time to be thinking about friends or school work.

While Fridays and Saturdays are popular for family nights, Howell finds they only work when the kids are young, and that Sunday afternoons or Monday nights have proven to be a better fit for them.

Source: http://www.silive.com/relationships/index.ssf/2012/10/game_on_staten_island.html

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