As the kids get older, family game nights get fewer and far between. Busy schedules mean less time when we are all home together. However, when we do get the occasional opportunity when we are all home together, the kids love a fun family game night! I’ve already posted about some of our game night favorites, but wanted to share three more new-to-us games that we’ve been enjoying recently.
Cat Chaos – Cat Chaos is a fast-paced, card swapping game from Ginger Fox Games. The game consists of 100 cards (4 cards of each of 25 different Cat Celebrities) like David Meowie, Hairy Potter, Pawdrey Hepburn and more. Four cards are placed face up in the center of the table. The rest of the cards are dealt face down to the players in six piles. When the youngest player says, “meow” the game begins.
Picking up only one pile of cards at a time, players must swap their cards with the cards in the center to create a group of four of the same card. When a complete matching set is made, the player yells out the name of the completed set, i.e. “Luke Skywhisker” Although the game can be played with two players, we have found that it is more fun with all four of us playing. It is a quick game and is easy to learn. When we want to play a quick family game, this has been our go-to. Plus, it’s small and easily transportable to take with us when we travel.
Details:
Ages: 8+
Time: 5 – 20 minutes
Players: 2-8
Picwits! (c/o MindWare) – Picwits! is another fun card game consisting of picture cards and captions.
Players are given six picture cards. The judge turns over a caption card and each player needs to choose one of their picture cards that they think best matches the caption. The judge chooses their favorite and the player who submitted that picture card wins the caption.
The game ends when one player collects 4-7 caption cards, depending on the number of players. This game is similar in format to games like Apples to Apples and Cards Against Humanity (for adults). I never realized how long this game has been around, as it won the 2013/Spring Parents’ Choice Fun Stuff Award Winner for board games! This is always a fun game for us to play. There are a variety of picture cards ranging from the cute to funny. It’s interesting to see the different picture cards we choose to match the caption and which card the judge picks as their favorite.
Details:
Ages: 10+
Time:- approximately 30 minutes a game
Players: 4+
Q*bitz (c/o MindWare) – On the total opposite end of the game spectrum is Q*bitz. This is a visual dexterity game. The game consists of four wooden trays with a set of sixteen colored cubes in each tray. The game is played in three rounds.
In the first round, one of the 100 picture cards is turned over. Using the colored cubes in their tray, players race to recreate the same pattern that is on the card. The first player to accurately do so, wins the round. The second round involves cube rolling. A new card is turned over and players roll all sixteen of their cubes, selecting the cubes that match the pattern. They continue to roll the unused cubes until they have recreated the pattern on the card. The first person to do this wins the round. In the last round, a card is turned over, and players have ten seconds to memorize it. Then the card is turned face down and the first player to recreate the pattern or comes closest to recreating it wins the round.
This is a quieter, more individual, but still fast paced game. We’ve played this game with just two of us as well as the whole family. It really tests players’ visual skills and dexterity. Our least favorite round is the memory round and sometimes we just skip that round and replay one of the other rounds. This game has won multiple awards, including the Parent’s Choice Gold Award.
The Details:
Ages: 8+
Time: 15-25 minutes
Players: 4
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