Stuck inside? Play more family board games!
Being stuck inside for long periods of time can really stink!
Since most of the world is now practicing this new hot term, “social distancing”, it can really get you down.
It’s definitely impacted our lives. And we’re sure it has yours too.
The company I work for (my day job) has shifted to everyone working from home. Our college and high school kids are now in remote-schooling mode.
On one hand we absolutely love the technology that allows us to be so flexible and keep on rolling. But on the other hand, it means our kids aren’t hanging out with their friends.
We figure the big winners these weeks have been online streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hulu and such. Stuck at home, people are turning to binge-watching galore. If watching a ton of TV shows and movies wasn’t already the norm, it seems to sure be the case now.
But that doesn’t have to be the case for your family!
Play more family board games!
More time at home can mean a lot more family time to do things together. And that means things of every sort.
For example, when we started our family, my wife and I discussed our vision for our family. And one of the things we saw as important was eating dinners together.
That was pretty easy when our kids were young. It got a bit harder once they were teenagers and schedules were packed with extracurricular activities, jobs, and dates.
But it’s really easy now we’re all stuck at home!
Not only that, since I’m working from home now, we can even each lunch together!
And we’re also playing a bunch of board games.
With so many things closed and mandates to not congregate, our evening schedules have also been freed up. Our family calendar shows evening after evening open.
It’s been awesome to pull out a bunch of board games and sit around the table playing and laughing.
It times of stress and uncertainty, its so nice to laugh.
Here’s what we’ve been playing over the last two weeks:
- Decrypto
- That’s Pretty Clever
- The Quacks of Quedlinburg
- Patchwork Express
- Between Two Cities
- Antiquity Quest
- Unstable Unicorns
- Roll For Adventure
- Stone Age
- Rack-O
- Azul: Stained Glass of Sintra
- Code 777
- The Crew: The Quest for Planet Nine
And tonight we’re set to dive in again to Betrayal Legacy!
Of course the obvious game to play with the current state of affairs is Pandemic.
We’ve talked about doing so, but we have yet to pull one of the Pandemic games out to play. After all, there are plenty of Pandemic board games to play:
- Pandemic
- Pandemic Legacy (Seasons 1 and 2)
- Pandemic: The Cure
- Pandemic: Iberia
- Pandemic: Fall of Rome
- Pandemic: Rising Tide
- Pandemic: Contagion
- Pandemic: Reign of Cthulhu
No one really knows how long being stuck inside will last. And no one can predict what the new “normal” will be when we start rolling again. But we sure hope that the bonding and positive habit-building we’re doing as a family now will continue to pay big dividends in the future.
What are you doing to fight boredom in your family while stuck inside?
Curious about Unstable Unicorns-how would you rate replay ability and age range?
Mike – Unstable Unicorns is a pretty light card game. It’s silly fun. And it’s very luck-driven. If you don’t draw any cards that let you block attacks, you’ll have a hard time keeping up. On the flip side, if you draw cool abilities and unicorns, you’ll get to add plenty to your stable to win. As far as age goes, every card has text that needs to be read and understood. So you’ll have to judge for your kids based on their reading level. All the artwork is very attractive, cartoony, and fun.
Sounds fun. Thanks for the reply. By the way, I’ve enjoyed your reviews I think for about 8-9 years now. I always look forward to the next review. I’m not sure how many, but my wife and I have gotten several games based on your recommendations over the years. We love seeing our young kids (7,5 and 2) start to pick up and love games we can play together. Thanks for the great site to help encourage the hobby and quality family time.
Mike – Thanks for letting us know our recommendation have helped! It’s great to hear that what we’re doing is valuable for families. With kids those ages, you’ve got a lot of fun time ahead!