68 – The Family Gamers Podcast – Four Frightfully Fun Finds For Halloween

We’ve been looking for games that capture some of the spooky feeling of the Halloween season, without being too scary or too difficult for younger children. We cover four of our favorites, recommendations from our listeners, and give the run-down of what we’ve been playing.

What we’ve been playing:

Scythe – a beautiful, elegant game. We spent the first 12 minutes talking about Scythe because we enjoyed it so much.
Magic Maze – this might be our new favorite game. Timed co-operative play for 2-8 players. Not being allowed to talk to each other makes the game more challenging but also more interesting. And the artwork is fantastically funny.
Brew Dice
Super Hack Override (here’s our review)
Downforce (here’s our review)
NMBR 9
Bob Ross: Art of Chill
Illuminati – 35th anniversary this year! We’ve probably been playing it for 20 years. You play as an “illuminati” (secret society) aiming to take over the world by developing a network of other groups that you control. The money makes it a little bit fiddly, but the fun is worth it.

Super Smash Brothers WiiU – our three year old actually won a round!
Rummikub – another classic. Andrew’s sister enjoyed it so much she turned around and ordered her own copy.
Robo Diner – a game coming soon to The Game Crafter.

Counting Kingdom – a great game that drills arithmetic skills (mostly addition & subtraction)

For Science!

Andrew repeated his “Spicy Sweet Chili Dorito”-breaded chicken experiment. Baking did improve the flavor and texture, but most of the special flavor was lost in cooking.

Backtalk!

Chad Gray’s story about playing games together becomes creating a game together, and eventually launching it via Kickstarter. (The game is Goatfish; the Kickstarter is already doubly funded.)

Four Halloween Games for Kids

We want something a little spooky, but not too scary (or too difficult!) for the kids. Our community was helpful in this regard, and you should check out their recommendations.

Potion Explosion – Spencer and Lara (Married with Board Games) first introduced us to Potion Explosion when we had them on the podcast in March. Since then, we’ve grown to love this game, and it fits well with a Halloween theme.

Voodoo – from Mayday Games. “Curse” your friends and make it increasingly difficult for them to keep playing.

BOO – Cute (and tiny!) two-player puzzle game. Use ghosts to scare each other and flip cards. At the end of the game, the player with the most ghosts of their color showing, wins! Only $5, and you could pick it up at a Barnes & Noble today. (Ask for help though; it’s so small it will be hard to find!)

Zombie Dice – Our most frequently played Steve Jackson Game. Press your luck by rolling 3 dice at a time to collect brains and avoid shotgun blasts. About $10 and available at most game retailers.

Halloween Honorable Mentions

Werewords – 20 questions-style game play, but with a twist. There is a werewolf in your midst! He/she does not want the “villagers” team to guess the word in the time limit and will slow you down. But the villagers can still win by guessing the identity of the werewolf. Best for large groups / older kids.

Ghost Fighting Treasure Hunters – comes highly recommended by several of our listeners.

Dead Panic – Castle Panic against zombies

Other recommendations on our Facebook community, including Nick Martinelli’s jumbo list.

Final Notes

We are super excited for our PAX Unplugged panel, scheduled for 11:30am Sunday November 19. Will we see you there?

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 44:45 — 30.7MB)

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