the blue blog archives: games to pass the time

We're off to the airport soon to make the long trip home. Flying west from Europe to America is tougher with the kiddos because it's all daytime and they don't feel like sleeping. We tried to send the boys to bed a little early last night telling them that they really needed their energy for the flight home and they said, "yeah, cause it's boring." Yes, indeed.

We've packed lots of books and activity books for them as well as a few dvd's that they can watch on the computer. As a general antidote to the boredom around here, I give you a list of some of our favorite German games. I've mentioned the German games that we play a few times here and some of you have asked for some recommendations. Here ya go!

Blokus - abstract tetris-style game for those whose brains work like that - the boys love this one

Hey, that's my fish! - we presented this game to S's class in show and tell and they thought the little penguin pieces were so cool

Chicken Cha Cha - awesome memory-style game for kids! - S's classmates liked this game the most because the German title translates to Zig Zag Chicken Poop!

Highly Suspect - a clever little dexterity and logic game with nice wooden pieces

posted by alison at 2:23 am | in games we play , just blogging 08 , vacation 2007

Comments

Ooh! We love Settlers of Catan! Good luck on the flight home!

Posted by: Catherine at January 3, 2008 8:32 AM

oooh! Werewolf sounds so great! Thanks for the tip! We loves Settlers, but it loses that you can't play with more than six people!

Posted by: Lindsey at January 3, 2008 8:36 AM

Some friends just introduced us to Settlers of Catan. We neglected the kids for hours while we played back to back games on New Years day. Will check out the others on your list.

Posted by: Amy at January 3, 2008 9:08 AM

Boy, howdy, do we love those German games! Settlers, Carcassone and Ticket to Ride are 3 of our favorites. We're thinking of getting KinderCatan for our little one. Start 'em young, right? Our new favorite game, though not German, is so fantastic, we got the entire family hooked this Christmas: Puerto Rico!

Posted by: Jenni at January 3, 2008 9:16 AM

What about Mille Bornes and Bohnanza (we call Bohnanza "the bean game")? Hope you guys have a good trip home!

Posted by: jess at January 3, 2008 9:29 AM

Thanks so much!

Posted by: Adrienne at January 3, 2008 9:39 AM

More Settlers fans here!
I should have asked you before - I found a complete game (I think) of Deutchlandreise at a thrift store, only it's missing the instructions! Have you ever played it or know anyone who has? I posted on boardgamegeek but haven't found a spare copy of the instructions yet...
Have a fun (or at least safe) trip home!

Posted by: Sarah at January 3, 2008 9:56 AM

Well, I hope the flight is uneventful. Take care!

Posted by: Jennifer at January 3, 2008 10:50 AM

We love Settlers and Blokus too!

They have a 2 player travel edition of Blokus that might be perfect for the boys - http://www.boardgames.com/bltred.html.

Posted by: Carrie at January 3, 2008 11:35 AM

Great game recommendations! We love the Siedler game.
I wish you a good trip back home. I also prefer the night flight with the children.

Posted by: Elisabeth at January 3, 2008 11:36 AM

Oooh! We have "Settlers of Catan" with both the event cards and 5-6 player expansion, and we also have "Gimme the Brain" - for which I highly recommend the associated Cheapass game "Lord of the Fries".

My parents have "Blokus: Trigon" which is even more fun and challenging, and also "Wizard".

We are fanatical about games, so here's a few of my suggestions for you! :D "Phase 10" - a rummy-like card game, "Dutch Blitz" - a VERY face paced card game, and "Sequence" - a place-and-remove board game.

Posted by: Karlie at January 3, 2008 12:30 PM

Most of those games are definitely on our list at home, though I don't enjoy two player games quite as much (so they don't get as much play time).

I love Frank's Zoo (trick taking card game) and Ursuppe (though I'm sure I've misspelled that one).

Posted by: Seanna Lea at January 3, 2008 12:43 PM

My friends and I have been playing Settlers for nearly 10 years. It's fantastic game. We also play Carcassonne. Funagain Games is located in Ashland, OR where I used to live, so we got all the expansions and the Catan Card Game (for 2 people or on a plane). Too much awesome. But our favorite game for hilarity factor is Munchkin by Steve Jackson.

Posted by: Tikabelle at January 3, 2008 1:20 PM

hi all. i'd suggest dalmuti, this great german card game. it's like a**hole, but in german (see, so you're learning german at the same time).

cheers.

Posted by: kate at January 3, 2008 1:35 PM

We love Settlers of Catan and have all the expansions and other variations! Love Blokus as well. For the boys, they may like this new game that we got this year called Gambit and also there are some individual maze games like Rush Hour that are great fun.
Hope the flight goes well.

Posted by: Elise H at January 3, 2008 3:03 PM

Thanks for these game suggestions. I've been thinking of different ways to entertain myself and these look like fun. Have a safe flight home!

Posted by: Bee at January 3, 2008 4:31 PM

This is a nice translation - chicken cha cha instead of Zicke Zacke Hühnerkacke ;-) Maybe you know the German Comedian Loriot? There was a sketch in the earlie Seventies about a family (Hoppenstedt) at Christmas. Among other VERY funny things, the son shall say a poem and he says "Zicke Zacke Hühnerkacke" which is really NOT that you would say in this situation. Sorry, it is in German: http://www.cartoonland.de/archiv/weihnachten-bei-hoppenstedts/

Posted by: Nicole at January 3, 2008 4:57 PM

sorry, the link above is not available:

http://de.youtube.com/watch?v=bqwU22iLNNg

Posted by: Nicole at January 3, 2008 4:58 PM

Jenni, Puerto Rico is a great game - and of course it's also from Germany!

Sarah, we have an old copy of Deutschlandreise. Let me see if I can copy the rules for you.

Thanks for the info, Nicole, I always wondered where that Hühnerkake phrase came from!

Posted by: ALISON at January 4, 2008 6:30 AM

Boyfriend got Settlers for Christmas and has been asking people to play ever since. I can only play so many times before I get burned out on it!

Posted by: Leigh at January 5, 2008 10:24 PM

We just got introduced to settlers over christmas too! We should have an online knitters game....http://host1.jsettlers.org/

Posted by: Erin B at January 9, 2008 8:56 PM

Carcassonne arrived in the post yesterday. I think I'm going to be hooked.

Posted by: Amy at January 11, 2008 10:12 AM

I love Settlers of Catan. You didn't mention Bohnanza, which is a great card game for kids and adults (I play this with grownups and you can do some serious strategy, but kids will have fun too because the beans on the cards are so funny).

Posted by: Rebecca at January 14, 2008 9:28 AM