That time of year is once again upon us! The time when families gather to see each other. This year, Central Gaming Corps wants to help make your family gathering a little more fun! I want to walk you through a few games that you can play with every member of your family.
King of Tokyo
King of Tokyo is a 2 to 6-player competitive game for ages 8+ that takes about 30 minutes to play.
In King of Tokyo, you play as a giant monster around the city of Tokyo. You try to get into Tokyo and score points while beating up other monsters. Through all of this, you are competing with other monsters to see who will be crowned king of Tokyo!
On your turn, you roll six dice that you are allowed roll up to three times each. On these custom dice, you can attack, refill life, gain energy, and/or get victory points. When you roll an attack, you can attack the monster in Tokyo. If you are in Tokyo you can attack everyone else. Roll any number of life and you can gain that much life, unless you are in Tokyo. With energy, you can buy power-ups to help propel you to victory.
King of Tokyo is a fun game that can be enjoyed by the entire family. With Cartoony graphics and an easy to learn system, kids will enjoy learning some of the basics of board gaming. Adults will find that with different results every time, the replayability is monstrous.
Tokyo Highway
Tokyo Highway is a 2 to 4-player competitive game for ages 8+ that takes a little more than 30 minutes to play.
In Tokyo Highway, you are building a metropolitan expressway around obstacles and other players’ highways. Following simples steps, players are racing to be the first to place all 10 of their cars on their highway without knocking the entire expressway down!
During your turn, you are placing the pillar blocks to continue your highway. You earn a car on that stretch of highway for each other players’ highway you cross over and under. Cross three stretches, get three cars. You will have to find a balance when building your highway. Run out of pillar blocks and you’re out of the game. Play continues until one player places all of their cars and wins!
This is a game that a family can sit down and play over and over again. It doesn’t require any reading or writing, just a basic concept of the rules. This makes it an easy game for kids to learn and play. Meanwhile, adults will have fun trying to outsmart each other in a different way every game.
Choose Your Own Adventure
Choose Your Own Adventure games are 1 or more-player cooperative games for ages 10+ that takes at least an hour to play, but can be broken up into multiple play sessions.
There are multiple version of Choose Your Own Adventure. In House of Danger, you are a detective with a sixth sense sent to investigate criminal activity and dark history in your town, centered around the missing owner of the Marsden Mansion. Explore the house, gather clues, and conquer challenges on your way to victory!
In War With the Evil Power Master, up to 8 people play the leader of the Rapid Force Crew. You travel around galaxy that has seen centuries of peace and stop the Evil Power Master from enacting his sinister plan!
Those that have read Choose Your Own Adventure books will be familiar with the mechanics of this game, however, instead of using a book, you now use numbered cards to dictate the outcomes of your actions. War With the Evil Power Master also introduces a race mechanic. Can you stop the Evil Power Master before it’s too late?
I used to love the Choose Your Own Adventure books when I was a kid. Something about having control of the story was so satisfying to me. Kids will quickly latch onto the idea of being able to tell the story in their own way and adults will be able to come back to this game multiple times to see what different paths you can take to your final outcome.
Project L
Project L is a 2 to 4-player competitive game for ages 8+ that takes about 30 minutes to play.
Project L is a tile-matching game that I can only compare to Tetris, but it’s not quite Tetris. In Project L you are competing for the most points by filling in shapes to complete puzzles. It’s a fun and addicting game that feels like it goes by too quick.
When playing Project L, you take three actions per turn. That is picking a puzzle card, placing a piece, or taking a master action to place a piece on each of your puzzles. Each completed puzzle earns you points and/or a new piece to use on the next puzzle. You start the game with two simple pieces, but you quickly grow and develop an efficient way to quickly complete puzzles.
Project L is easy to pick up for anyone, making it enticing for kids and adult alike. It’s an addicting game with limitless replayability.
Tacocat Spelled Backwards
Tacocat Spelled Backwards is a 2-player competitive game for ages 7+ that plays in about 15 minutes.
Tacocat Spelled Backwards is a tug-of-war style game powered by palindromes! Very similar to the classic card game, War, players will play competing cards. Play the card with the higher or matching value to protect your hand or sacrifice your lowest number. Once you’re down to your last card, the lowest card wins the round and moves the marker closer to your victory.
With some luck, strategy, and instinct, you can beat your opponent. Kids will enjoy this game because they can easily grasp the concept. Parents will love the compact design that allows them to take, and play, this game anywhere!
Dungeon Scrawlers
Dungeon Scrawlers is a 2 to 4-player competitive game for ages 10+ that takes about 15 minutes to play.
In Dungeon Scrawlers, you are an adventurer racing through dungeons created by the Mad Mage, collecting treasure, fighting monsters, casting spells, and connecting artifact fragments.
Players use markers to draw their way through one of ten mazes, collecting points along the way, To begin the game, each player picks one of the five available characters. Each character has a unique ability to help gather certain points. For example, the Barbarian only needs to fill in the head to kill a monster. The rogue only needs to touch a treasure chest to gain all of its treasure. The round ends when one of the players defeats the dungeon’s boss. The player with the most points at the end of three rounds wins the game!
Kids love to play with markers. Now, we’re talking about 10+, so that might not be much of a factor, but the nature of the game being a race with markers seems fun, even to me. The adult crowd might find this game a little childish at first, but after playing, I think that this game will bring out the competitive nature in everyone.
Kids’ Chronicles: Quest for the Moon Stones
Quest for the Moon Stones is a 1 to 4-player cooperative game for ages 7+ that takes between 30 and 45 minutes to play.
In Quest for the Moon Stones, you play a magicians’ apprentice, diving into the fairy tale lands of the Kingdom of Summer and the Winter Empire. Along with your Cat familiar, you embark on a quest to find the Moon Stones. Magicians have to solve mysteries and assist citizens of both Kingdoms overcome their problems.
This game is a mix of a board game and companion app. As you can see, the board has several QR codes. With the app, you scan each QR code and watch the world come alive in front of you. You will go from location to location, gather items, and complete quests to help the people of the two Kingdoms.
This is a brand new game developed with testing and feedback from children. Parents can be confident that their young children will enjoy this interactive game, and while the parents may not enjoy this game themselves, the time spent their children will be exciting and rewarding all on its own.
Make sure you check out all of these games. You can find them all here, at Central Gaming Corps, and at shop.centralgamingcorps.com. Game on!