We’ve been playing so many games together as a family recently and we’re not tired of it yet. We cycle through our 10 favorites and Gus and Elliot are getting pretty good at some of them! Our newest favorites are Wackee Golf, a simple but super fun card game, and Zipit, another great word game.
7. Wackee Golf
This is a great family game – it’s simple enough for my 5 and 7 year olds but the older the player the more potential strategy. It’s great for math practice too, something we’re always working on!
Wackee Golf is similar to outdoor golf – each player tries to get the fewest points each hand and cards are dealt either 9 or 18 times depending on how long you want the game to last.
Each player receives four cards – players can look at only two of their cards. Each turn players draw a new card which they can either keep or discard. The point is to get the lowest number of points by replacing the cards you can see and taking a chance and replacing the ones you can’t see. Sometimes the risk pays off, sometimes it doesn’t!
When a player thinks he has the lowest number of points he’s going to get he passes. Each player gets one more turn and then the points are counted.
It’s a great strategy and math game for kids and adults – it’s portable and inexpensive, perfect for playing anywhere!
8. Zipit
This one is from the makers of Bananagrams and it’s got some different elements but it’s just as fun! It’s a fast and furious game, a round can take as little as 20 seconds from start to finish so you’ve got to be fast!
It’s for 2 players which works out well after so many multi-player games. It’s nice to have games with different player requirements, etc., to change things up a bit.
The scoring to this game is kind of different and fun – the pouch has an orange and green zipper that players move up to keep track of their scores. That’s one of our favorite fun things about this game!
Each game starts by players taking 12 cubes. One player says GO and the players begin making a crossword grid using any side of his cubes. Words can be any length, read top to bottom or left to right. The first player to complete a grid with no extra cubes calls ZIP! and moves his zipper up one point.
It requires some quick, word-smart thinking that has been so fun to play with my second grader. His grids are usually made up of smaller words, but sometimes he surprises me with a really good one. I’ve watched him get better as we play and it’s a great way to accomplish some of our Language Arts goals at home.
This is another great at-home or travel game and it’s very affordable at $8.85 on Amazon.
Only two more games left in our series, and they’re good ones so stick around!
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