The creativity of toddlers with board games

Slowly but surely, I am continuing to expose our son to board games. At this point, it's concentration level still pretty much keeps us in the category of dexterity games, matching games and simple versions of Slap Jack. Ah, to be one of those parents whose children have mastered Carcassonne with the farmer scoring at six months and out trade their parents in Catan at a year and a half :D

Still, at this point, when I introduce him to a lot of games, the pieces are just toys to him. Games are just a category of toys to him. (Wait a second! Games really are just a category of toys! He's further along than I thought!)

With that in mind, the way that he plays with them as toys can be close to how they are played as games. Katamino, which is basically a set of three-dimensional pentaminos, has long been something I've let him play with. However, in the last couple months, he has started to try and fit them on the wooden board like a puzzle, which is literally one of the ways to play Katamino. (Seriously, it's a great game if you like puzzling things out)

Also, with a heavy heart full of fear, I let him at Blokus Trigon, which is my favorite version of the game (I've gotten rid of the original version awhile ago) After he realized that the pieces will fit into the slots on the board, he began trying to fill the board with the pieces, which is the solitaire variant of the game. I'm now thinking of getting him a used copy of the original game to mess around with. 

It is interesting watching him play with different kinds of games. Quite frankly, with all the different games that you can play with Looney Pyramids, I wouldn't be surprised if he's actually played some by accident. And watching him play with Piece Pack has made me wonder if I could make a version of That's Life with the pieces. Of course, I don't need to since I own it but it was an interesting thought exercise.

If you want to play with Pentominos, you need to look at Katamino

At its heart, Katamino is a set of Pentominos. 

A Pentomino is a geometric shape that is made of of combining five squares. There are twelve possible shapes you can make this way. They even have a naming convention after the letters each one resembles the most closely.

To be honest, I actually learned a lot of what I know about Pentominos from the kid mystery book Chasing Vermeer. One of the two kids carries a set around and uses them as a thinking aid. I had seen them in games like Blokus before that but that book got me thinking of them as their own idea.

For all intents and purposes, Katamino is a tool box of activities you can do with the Pentominos. It comes with a tray with a spacer so you can make different sized areas to work with. There's a book of puzzles that you can solve with the Pentominos, as well as some smaller blocks to fill in spaces for certain games.

The games include a speed puzzler, like Ubongo, and a tile-laying game kind of like Blokus. But, so far for us, where it really shines is just as a puzzle. Neither Carrie or I are that into puzzles but we've definitely enjoyed the Katamino puzzles and there's a ton we haven't done yet.

On the one hand, I have to admit that I don't think that Katamino does anything in particular special. The actual games cover ground I've seen before (and, at least in the case of Blokus, done better) The puzzles are fun but Katamino didn't invent Pentomino puzzles.

BUT, where Katamino shines is in the quality of the components. This is not the first set of Pentominos I've owned but it is by far the best made. I've had ones made put of cardboard or plastic. Katamino's are made out of chunky, thick wood. These are solid blocks.

They are easily the most durable Pentominos I've ever used by far. And, since they are so thick, you can make three-dimensional structures out of them, which is actually one of the kinds of puzzles. Our two-year-old is still too young to do the puzzles or play the games but he loves building with them.

Katamino would not be my first choice of abstract games to buy. However, as a casual solitaire puzzle and as a family activity, it really sings. It's not something I'd pull out for hardcore gamers but it's something I can see us as a family enjoying for years to come.

DISCLOSURE: I was sent a review copy of Katamino (Thanks!) but I don't have any official connections with Gigamic.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/6931/katamino