Posted by darthlaurie on June 24 2011 09:12 PM
#9
I wasn't a huge fan of games until my partner introduced me to Eurogames. These games are often cooperative games (involves some teamwork to get what you want) with nice game pieces or wood or nice tiles. There are some games I love even if I mostly lose and other games I lose and hate. There's even one game I dislike but more often than not I end up winning.
I know that with at least some of the games that I dislike it's because they deal with that form of mathematical logic that I really don't have; Robo Rally is a fine example. You're supposed to move your robot (no it's not battery powered or exciting) around the board. Certain spaces on the board have areas that move your robot forward or backward or do something else. Oh, and there's a timer so you have to figure this all out in under a minute. Let's just say my robot continually got zapped by lasers and moved in a circle the whole game. Yeah, pretty much sucked. Naturally it's a game my partner LOVES....he plays it with co-workers at lunch. Maybe I'm still disappointed that there aren't real little robots and cool lasers and moving parts on the board as well.
There are other games I love: Ticket to Ride, Power Grid, Alahambra, Bohnanza, Carcassonne, Mystery of the Abbey, and Dominion. Even if some of them are a bit challenging (Mystery of the Abbey is like Clue on steroids), they have something about them that makes them enjoyable.
I suspect a lot of these Eurogames could be useful in developing some of those skills we have a hard time with. I need to learn more about dyscalculia and digest some information to figure out some of the games that might be most useful for people like us. I've seen first hand how they can help kids learn all sorts of skills. Boardgamegeek.com is a terrific resource if you're curious about this type of game (and if you like chess a lot of these games will be enjoyable-- and if you don't like chess, you'll still find games you can enjoy).
One game that is particularly intriguing is Dominion and its expansions. Basically you select ten categories of cards that you can use to gain prestige points and gold. I'm usually not very good at this game, but if we use certain decks I'll crush the competition...but some parts of the game-- how to make the most out of a turn usually takes me a long time to grasp.