13 Sheep keeps working in the classroom

 Using board games in the classroom is one of my dreams but it’s one that rarely pans out. In part because I want to use gamer games but also because time is never in your side. Often, ten to twenty minutes is what you have to teach AND play a game.

Despite that, I have been able to bring games occasionally into the classroom this last year. I’ve stuck to Roll and Writes since it’s easier to make them for a group and multi-player solitaire works well in a classroom environment. When time is limited, everyone playing at the same time is a big deal.

I figured Blankout would work well, particularly for younger children. It’s incredibly simple, possibly one of the most basic Roll and Writes I have seen. While I feel it’s too easy to have ties, I felt that I’m going for critical thinking in the classroom, not competition. 

However, kids didn’t take to Blankout. Maybe it was too simple or possibly the fact that is 100% abstract. There wasn’t an in for them.

So I went back to my old standard 13 Sheep. I know I write about 13 Sheep all the time but I haven’t found a game in its niche that does a better job. And believe me; I’ve looked and I’m still looking. Just because I love a game doesn’t mean I don’t look for the next step.

13 Sheep is a very simple game that only takes five minutes to play and only uses one die. Normally, a roll and write that only uses one die is a red flag but it works for 13 Sheep. (Waypoints from Post Mark games is another exception to that rule)

More than that, the theme of fencing in sheep makes the game make sense. Kids latched into that and the game clicked. I dig abstract strategy games but theme is not just making a game look pretty. Theme helps games make sense and that’s a big deal in the classroom.

I think, if I really to get heavy games in the school setting, I’d need to get run or support an afterschool game club. However, I am glad that 13 Sheep has given me a tool that is fun but still encourages critical thinking.

Doomed to Sequence

As I’m looking at games the next stages for our son’s gaming interests, I found myself looking again at Sequence.

Sequence is a cross between Go Moku and a deck of cards. You are trying to make two lines of five tokens on a board where every space is marked by a specific card from the deck. Yup, play a card and place a token on that spot. Two-eyed jacks are wild and one-eyed jacks let you remove an opponent’s token.

I’m going to be honest. I’m pretty meh about Sequence. Luck can play a big role. I think one of my issues is that individual cards can have very different values. Compare Sequence to Just 4 Fun Colours, a very similar game. Any given card in Just 4 Fun Colours can cover six spaces on a six by six board. In Sequence, any given card can cover two spaces on a ten by ten board.

Even by the standard of luck in games, Sequence feels swingy. And I like Cosmic Wimpout so I’m no stranger to random chance! And if someone draws more jacks, they have a huge advantage.

Buuut.... it is really easy to teach. And the swingy luck might serve as a leveler when playing with a small child. The bug might be a feature in that case. And, as weird as it seems to me, the theme playing cards might work well for some folks.

In theory, I could easily make a copy. Heck, I could laminate the board and use dry erase markers instead of tokens. However, I know that to convince most people (like small children) to play, having a ‘real’ copy will be a big deal. Of course, that shouldn’t be hard to thrift.

And maybe Sequence can lead to Go Moku.

Echidna Shuffle - too cute for words

Echidna Shuffle. It’s a kids game where the most adorable plastic echidnas ever haul bugs around a traffic roundabout.

At its heart, the game is a pick-up-and-deliver game. Each player has to pick up three insects in their own color from a pick-up spot they place on the board and deliver them to three different tree stumps (also in their color) that their opponents place.

None of the twelve echidnas belong to anyone. Anyone can move any of them on their turn, even if their carrying someone else’s insect. The clever bit with movement is that, every odd round, you roll a die that’s numbered two to seven. On the even turns, you move the flip side of what you rolled the previous turn so everyone gets nine moves over the course of two turns. And you can split up the movement points over any number of echidnas.

Anyway, whoever delivers their three insects first wins.

There is no way to talk about Echidna Shuffle without talking about the components. They are fabulous. The chunky plastic echidnas are the size of a child’s fist and as cute as 3/4 of a Winnie the Pooh. (That silly old bear sets a really high bar) As someone who is colorblind, I like that the insects aren’t just different colors but different distinct species. I can see someone buying the game just for the toys and not to play.

The game reminds me a lot of Bruno Faduiti’s China Moon, the game where frogs make a bouquet for a duck. (Honestly, one of the weirder themes that didn’t come from James Ernst.) While players have their own pawns, anyone can move any pawn. 

Now, I think that China Moon is the deeper game and one I’d rather play with adults, I think Echidna Shuffle is the better game for kids. In fact, I think it will prove a very good game for kids. It is very simple but it offers real choices and decisions. It’s not an activity but a genuine game.

That said, I think it will only work for adults as a very casual game. I know adult players who would focus on blocking other players rather than making deliveries. And I think that would work as far as frustrating folks plans. Not sure it would let them win unless everyone else rage quits but it wouldn’t be fun.

But we do have a small child so Echidna Shuffle is a game I am very seriously picking up. The toy factor is a huge part of its appeal but there is a decent kids game underneath all those toys.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/236272/echidna-shuffle

Discovery Beach Birthday Cake

My birthday was over the weekend and, pretty much since the start of our courtship, Carrie has baked me a boardgame-themed cake. In the last year, we haven’t played too many boardgames together, other than some card games. However, we have played a lot of games with our son.

So Carrie made the cake inspired by our favorite game to play with him Curious George: Discovery Beach Game.

(Okay, it may not be his favorite game. That might be Connect 4 or MasterMind for Kids. But the Discovery Beach games really are good kids games. Fun moving parts that play into the decisions)

The board has removable panels that you lift up to see blue sand and various colored tchotchkes. Carrie duplicated that by cutting out panels in a sugar sheet and using candy shapes. It came out really nicely and was a yummy cake to boot.

I also taught myself the solitaire game Shooting Party (Haven’t decided if I want to go so far as to make the Edwardian deck but I have had fun with the game) as a way of fitting a new game into my birthday.

After the doodle went to bed, we got in some games to Six and wrapped up with a game of Jaipur. It’s been quite a while since we’ve played Jaipur and it’s even better then I remembered. That little game really is an evergreen.

Parent breaks or Fidget Box part two

The rules for Down, a tiny little nine-card game designed to be played in your hand (and one I know I’ll review sooner than later), includes the term ‘parent break’ which is when you hide from your kids for a few minutes in the bathroom. I love it.

While I have yet to hide in the bathroom to get a game in, I definitely understand that idea. A lot of my gaming is done while keeping one eye on our four-year-old snacking or drawing or playing with play dough. Unfortunately, any game involving dice or pawns is more interesting than whatever he’s doing so it’s cards only. (And this is why I have played Pocket Landship so little :’( )

Heck, I have a tiny fidget box of solitaire games that basically exists for parent breaks. 

It’s an interesting niche. A game has to be a solitaire game, take up minimal playing space and playing time and be playable while being largely distracted. It’s something I didn’t look for a few years ago and now I’m accumulating them. (It doesn’t hurt that you can find a number of games like this in PnP)

I also wonder how long I’ll be needing games that are suitable for these kind of parent breaks. At some point, either our son won’t need as much supervision or HE WILL WANT TO PLAY GAMES WITH ME BY THE RULES!!! 

Still, I can state that parent breaks are a real thing and a perfect time for a quick game. Sometimes, they are all the gaming I’m able to do and they do provide a helpful mental break. A coffee break for my mind and they only take a few minutes.

We all need a break now and then, clear the cobwebs from our brains and de-stress. Parent breaks, of one kind of another, are how keep it together. And sometimes, they can be tiny solitaire games.

I can’t escape Cheeky Monkey

Cheeky Monkey is not one of Reiner Knizia’s games. In fact, it wouldn’t make my top fifty Knizia games and might very well not make my top one hundred of his games. (Yes, I’ve played a lot of his games over the years.) But the cute factor has saved it time and time again from getting culled.

It’s a very simple push-your-luck game, drawing chips out of a bag and busting if you draw a matching chips. There’s a mechanic for stealing other people’s chips and bonus points for getting the most of the different types of chips. The most interesting touch is that each type of chip comes in different amounts, making the decision to keep pulling a little more learned.

Honestly, Cheeky Monkey doesn’t stand out from a mechanical standpoint. I can point to at least a dozen push-your-luck games that are better, including some by Knizia. It’s the theme that makes it memorable in any way. Jungle animal chips and you pull them out of a plush monkey who doubles as the bag.

Seriously, the plush monkey is what everyone remembers. 

I’ve actually come very close to purging Cheeky Monkey, even going so far as including it in a lot I took in to get store credit. They didn’t take it, although they were fascinated by the plush monkey.

However, now our son has started asking for it by name. Well, by monkey bag. And while he gets bored playing by the rules, at least he’s interested and knows there are rules. So I’m not getting rid of Cheeky Monkey any time in the near future.

Village Run, the gamer version of a Denny’s placemat

Village Run is a simple little print-and-play game, a children’s race game that adds just a touch more depth than rolling and moving your pawn.

Not counting the pawns, the whole thing is on one sheet of paper. An 19-space circular race track, the rules, the circular speed meter and the power-up chart. So, this is a super easy, no construction build.

Village Run is a race. Choose how many laps you want the race to be and whoever comes in first wins. Every player gets two pawns. One goes on the track and the other goes on speed meter. On your turn, you can keep the same speed or try and move up the speed meter, which is 0-1-1-1-2-2-3, by rolling a die. 

The two restrictions are you can only stay on three for two turns in a row and you have to roll if you’re on zero.

The twist in the game is the power-up boxes. There are five of them spread out on the track. If you land on one, roll the die and consult the chart. Do nothing, move one space, move one space, reset an opponent to zero, switch places with the leader and take another turn.

Clearly, the basic strategy is to hit as many power-up boxes as you can. There’s an odd dichotomy between the speed meter, which flattens out the randomness, and the power-up chart, which ramps it up.

Okay, let’s be honest. Village Run isn’t very interesting. The game is pretty random and the effects of the power-up chart can get repetitive. I’m not even sure how well it works as a children’s game.

You know what Village Race really reminds me of? The gamer interpretation of one of those roll-and-move games that you used to find on children’s placemats at restaurants. (They seem to have been replaced by coloring pages in my experience) So that’s actually what I’ve done. Using the laminator, I made the game into a place mat. Don’t know if it will actually see use but it seemed like a fun idea.

I don’t think Village Run is a good game but I do think the speed meter and power-ups are interesting ideas. Being a free file with no construction is also nice.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/86817/village-run

Rat-a-Tat Cat - the little card game that just keeps going

Rat-a-Tat Cat has been my mind as of late. Part of that is because I saw some kids playing it at a recent gaming event. Part of it is because I looked through the rules of Play Nine to see if it's a game I'd be interested in and the rules reminded me of it. 

That's because both Rat-a-Tat Cat and Play Nine harken back to the traditional card game Golf. (In fact, Play Nine is basically Golf with golf themed cards) In all three games, you have a tableau of cards face down and you swap out cards from either the draw pile or the discard pile, trying to get the lowest total value

Rat-a-Tat Cat actually breaks from the mold more. It's simpler with only four cards and a simpler (and kind of more brutal) scoring system since you don't cancel out pairs. Plus, it has action cards. 

Has it really been twelve years since I wrote a review of Rat-a-Tat Cat? Sweet Garfield and Heathcliff, it has. https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/75341/flexible-filler-2-6 My word, my sense of short games has changed since I wrote that.

The game has been in my collection for quite a while and I have played it a fair bit over the years. And, as much as I dislike the term filler, I have really Rat-a-Tat Cat to fill time. The vast majority of my games have been played waiting for people to show up or waiting for food to show up or squeezing in one last game in the night.

As I talk about in the review I wrote so long ago with thicker and darker hair, one of the keys is that you can end the game whenever you want. You can play as many rounds as you feel like and a round ends when someone knocks. Which could be the kiss of death in a game of any weight but is actually a virtue in this light, little game.

Compared to Golf, Rat-a-Tat Cat is both lighter and more random. You have a tableau of four cards compared to eight. You have those action cards. Heck, you have extra nine-value cards which messes with the odds.

But I'm pretty sure it's been close to twenty years since I've played Golf. And Rat-a-Tat Cat, I've been a fair number of plays of it over the last twelve years. It's a simple card game with silly art but it has kept on delivering. 

I don't go looking for games with the goal of filling time. I do like short games but I want them to have depth and interesting decisions. Rat-a-Tat Cat isn't the kind of game that I look for. But it has kept delivering.

Of course, you also have to take into account that it is a children's game. As a game for grown ups, it works. But Rat-a-Tat Cat is pretty brilliant for the under ten set. Simple rules that still makes them think. Push your luck with a decent amount of control.

I don't need another game like Rat-a-Tat Cat. It has kept on doing what I need it to do.

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/3837/rat-tat-cat

A hungry, hungry caterpillar game for all ages

GenCan't Roll and Write Library - Canterpillar Feast 

Okay. Let me get this out of the way. Canterpillar Feast uses the strategic bingo mechanic of Take It Easy. Everyone has their own player board and everyone gets the same options.

That's not a bad thing. It's a family of games that I really like and one that I have been able to use with a wide variety of groups.

In Canterpillar Feast, you are hungry, hungry caterpillars munching on leaves. Every one has a branch with ten leaves on it, numbered two to six and eight to twelve. Each leaf has nine empty boxes on it and a ladybug. The tree that the branch is on has nine knot holes.

You'll take turns being the active player. The active player rolls four dice and then chooses one to discard. Everyone then chooses two of the dice to add together. That's the leaf that you'll be eating this turn and the number on the last die is the number of boxes you'll be filling in.

Here's the kicker. You have to fill in that number of boxes. If you'd go over, you can't use that combination of dice. And if you can't fill in any boxes (and, as the game goes on, that will happen), you fill in a knot hole. When someone fills in their last knot hole, the game's over.

In addition, if you're the first person to complete a particular leaf, you get to circle the ladybug on that leaf. The farther on the edge of the bell curve, the more spots they have. The two and the twelve have six spots and six and eight have two.

When the game's over, you get ten points for every completed leaf, points equal to the number of spots on your circled ladybugs, and negative points equal to the number of empty boxes on your leaves. Whoever has the most points, wins.

I played Canterpillar Feast as a solitaire game, which is how I'll probably test drive all the games I try in the GenCan't library. And I think that is probably the weakest way to play the game.

Playing by myself, I was able to optimize every roll. Someone else choosing which die to discard would definitely add tension. Same thing about actually having to compete for ladybugs. On top of that, the game ending when anyone fills in all their knot holes also keeps things tense.

In general, having played a lot of games like Canterpillar Feast, I would call it a solid game, not brilliant but not disappointing. One thing that gives it an edge is that it's free and easy PnP. 

However, the biggest takeaway for me is actually the theme. The theme takes an abstract number and odds cruncher and turns into a cute game with a kid-engaging theme. It's gone on the large stack of potential games when our toddler gets a little older and I've already shared with friends with older kids.

Why is 10 Days important?

RI have never played Racko and, thanks to the 10 Days series, I probably never will. The 10 Days games takes the sorting mechanic of Racko and marries it to geography. This change makes a game that is more visually interesting, educational and engaging.

In every game in the series, you are trying to create a sequence of contiguous countries/states/provinces while different vehicles like planes or cars  can help make connections. There have been seven games in the series, although some of them weren't in English. I think. And, actually, it doesn't matter since place names are the only words in the games :D

About twelve years ago, I wrote a review of 10 Days in Africa: https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/89054/light-enjoyable-game-geography Rereading it, I'll still stand by that review.

The 10 Days series is not Alan Moon's best game design. (Or Aaron Weisbaum's, for that matter) BUT I do think it's one of their more important designs.

Rule wise, the 10 Days series is very, very simple. They are games that you can teach to just about anyone, children and teens and adults. They are accessible enough that non-gamers can be competitive while tense enough that seasoned gamers can enjoy them.

If that's all the 10 Days series had to offer, that'd still be pretty good. However, in addition to teaching cognitive reasoning skills (which hopefully most games will teach), the 10 Days series also legitimately teaches geography. Pulling that off while being fun is a pretty impressive feat.

While Edutainment has come a long ways in the last few decades (What can I say? Bubble Guppies impressed me when our son went through a Bubble Guppies phase) but a game that really works as a game that is very educational is still no mean thing. The 10 Days series can work as a standby in most game libraries and classrooms.

At the moment, it looks like the US map is the only one available in the US. Which is a shame and I hope that changes. I am glad, though, the series is still out there.

Can't outrun the hippos

We knew that Hungry Hungry Hippos was inevitable. We knew that there was no way for it to not end up in our house. Every time we saw in a store, the doodle wanted it and we couldn't tear him away the time he got to play a demo copy. So, when we saw a copy at Goodwill, we gritted our teeth and bought it, telling ourselves that at least we weren't buying it at brand new prices.

Hungry Hungry Hippos, for that one guy in the back who has come out of the cave they've spent the last few decades in, is a toy or game where you use lever activated hippo heads to scoop in marbles from a shallow bowl. Whoever gets the most marbles wins. There's a variant where getting the one yellow marble wins the game.

In all honesty, I have problems thinking of Hungry Hungry Hippos as a dexterity game or even a game. The only decision in it is timing and even that might not make a difference in your gameplay. 

And, of course, the toddler loves the silly thing. He will literally bang out game after game with it. And he does play it by the rules, although there's really only one and it's a simple one. Hit them levers.  Mind you, he could follow that one rule when he was exposed to the game back when he was two.

What really drives my 'meh' factor with Hungry Hungry Hippos is that there is no learning factor in it. With games like Don't Spill the Beans or Animal Upon Animal, kids get to practice hand eye coordination. Matching games teach memory and deduction. Heck, even Tic Tac Toe teachers analytical thinking and Candyland teaches counting in colors. Hungry Hungry Hippos really gives a kid nothing to think about.

Still, the doodle does have fun with it, it is something to occupy him when he gets manic, and it teaches the all important lesson that games are fun and a great activity :P

P. S. We both had Hungry Hungry Hippos when we were tiny kids and we both agree that the newer version with the thicker but softer plastic is both more durable and quieter. So that's a real plus with this version.

Okay, you can play with Daddy's Looney Pyramids

Our son has often wanted to play with Daddy's games, even though it makes Daddy turn pale and shake. At first, I just let him play with some of my dice games, although I may never find all the dice from Zombie Dice :'(

But I have been trying to expand what games I'm exposing him to as he grows older, not counting the actual games that we bought specifically for him and he can actually kind of play by the rules. (The snails only moving one space at a time in Snail's Pace Race still alludes him. Those are some rocket snails)

And I finally took the scary (for me) plunge of letting him play with some Looney Pyramids. He's never been one to put thing other than food in his mouth and, at three, I can trust him to play with the moderately pointy bits under supervision.

Of course, I am not going to let him play with my Zendo set or Ice Towers for that matter. I have too many extra pieces in those, along with the fact that I want to make sure that I keep all those pyramids together.

Ice Dice proved to be a good compromise. Soft cloth bag, five different colors of pyramids. (I forgot I also added a Treehouse set in matching colors so the bag lets me play a wide variety of light games. I can see this little bag coming in even more handy with our son in a few years), as long as you can count on the toddler not to try to swallow a pyramid or throw them behind furniture, they are very interactive. You can discuss colors. You can discuss sizes. You can stack them in a variety of ways.

The pyramids have long been my favorite product from Loony Labs. Right now, with our three-year-old, they are really just toys. But we will be able to work up to simple games like Thin Ice or Tic Tac Doh, with Treehouse or Ice Dice waiting in the wings. And, farther down, I can see deeper games like Zendo or Volcano waiting for us.

The Looney Pyramids can make a toddler think but they have the potential to burn the brains of 40-year-olds.

Fluxx goes to school

While I appreciate Fluxx and I continue to play Fluxx, I haven't been inclined to buy a new version in quite a few years. It is interesting when they throw in some new mechanics but lets be honest. The structure and the system of Fluxx pretty much remains the same.

In fact, the two versions I've played the most, other than the original deck which I bought and played until it practically fell apart are Family Fluxx and Zombie Fluxx. Family Fluxx is the simplest version with the smallest deck so it's the easiest way to make sure you get in a quick game. Zombie Fluxx, which introduced Creepers, was the first one that really felt thematic for me.

But two of the upcoming versions of Fluxx really interest me. Math Fluxx and Chemistry Fluxx. Versions of Fluxx that are specifically designed to be educational.

(Looney Labs is also reprinting Stoner Fluxx and coming out with Drinking Fluxx under their new imprint that is specifically for older players. While neither of those topics offend me, I do like that they are under this new Fully Baked line. That seems very responsible to me and respectful of their audience)

I am very curious to see how this plays out and how well it does teaching either of these topics. Chemistry in particular. Any time you look at a game that's supposed to be educational, the two questions that you have to ask are "Is this a game I would ever want to play?" and "Does it really teach anything?"

And, yes, I'm going to wait and read reviews before I get either of those games. Although I was planning on buying no new games in 2017 so I'd be waiting until 2018 anyway.

I really am curious. While it had a reputation about being random, Fluxx really isn't a random game per se. It's not a game where you are making up rules. It is definitely not Nomic, which is _the_ game of creating rules. Instead, Fluxx has a very distinct framework and playing the game is using that framework. So it definitely has the potential to be educational.

Mind you, Nature Fluxx already tackled being educational back in 2005. I found it interesting but it didn't challenge Family or Zombie Fluxx for plays. But I think Math or Chemistry might be more suitable for Fluxx's framework.

Of course, I'm a dad now. My son is still a toddler, which means he's not ready for Fluxx. After all, you have to be able to read :P But will games like Math Fluxx or Chemistry Fluxx be educational and fun to him in the future?

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgamefamily/8/fluxx

The return of family friendly games

I am a big fan of Bundle of Holding. For the last few years, I have bought quite a few different bundles. It has been a great source of Indy style games for me. But, one of the rewarding bundles was the family friendly bundle.

While some of the games were simply suitable for younger audiences, some of them were firmly aimed at the under ten crowd. While I am sure our son will grow up to have no interest in tabletop role playing games, it's fun to look at what might work with him in a couple years.

I still think Hero Kids, which is designed for kids as young as four, may be the best RPG I've seen for toddlers. Very simple but very mechanically grounded. Kids don't need to learn how to use their imagination but they do need to learn on rules work. I also really liked Mermaid Adventures, having a wide open but non-violent setting.

So, when Bundle of Holding ended the year with their second Family Friendly Bundle, I was super excited.

Two of the games are ones I've been very interested in. I've been wanting to read Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple for a while. I'm interested in games that include collaborative writing, like Microscope. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple.

I'm also very curious about No Thank You Evil, that has Monte Cook as one of the designers. It was recommended to me when I first started writing about RPGs aimed at the younger set but it hadn't even come out yet. Now, at long last, I'll get to read it.

But I'm going to read every last book that comes in the bundle. I'm sure 2017 will have plenty of surprises and unexpected events but I'm going to do my best to read and review everything in this bundle. 

Our son discovers Don't Spill the Beans

Years ago, I picked up a keychain version of Don't Spill the Beans on a road trip. Technically, it was fully playable but the tiny size made that impossible. (Connect 4 is the only game I've found that still works when shrunk down that small, unless you count playing Yahtzee with teeny dice) So it just became a curio in my junk drawer.

But when our toddler found that keychain, he became obsessed with getting the real game. Since I didn't grow up with Don't Spill the Beans, I wasn't that interested until my wife pointed out that this was a game that a two-year-old would be able handle playing by the rules.

So we picked it up.

For those of you who were like me and had a deprived childhood without any idea that this game existed (I've never played Hi Ho Cherrio either but I'm sure that will change), Don't Spill the Beans consists of a plastic kettle on two pivot arms. Players take turns dropping a bean on the top heavy kettle. When it inevitably tips over, whoever caused the spill gets all the beans. Whoever gets rid of all their beans first wins.

In other words, we're talking about a very simple game. Being a dexterity game, there isn't any reading or math that you have to worry about. And, for a dexterity game, the physical skill requirements are very low.

Which makes it perfect for a two-year-old, who still working on his hand eye coordination. It is a game that he can handle the playing requirements and understand what's going on.

The lesson that I was really hoping that he would take out of Don't Spill the Beans was taking turns. Personally, I've come to the conclusion that that is one of the first important things that the child needs to learn about gaming and one of the first valuable life lessons that gaming can teach a child. Good sportsmanship is a close second, of course. Other rules like this pawn belongs to you, counting spaces, don't over bid in auctions and never start a land war is Asia will follow.

And, much to my delight, our son does understand both how the game works and that Mommy and Daddy get a turn before he gets to put another bean on the kettle. While he has played with stacking Animal Upon Animal pieces and made matches with Spot It and Memory, Don't Spill the Beans is the first game he has actually played by the rules. 

Yes, sometimes he gets too excited about the beans spilling and forgets that not spilling them is the goal. And eventually, the toy factor wins over and the game ends. We do occasionally get through an entire game before that happens, though.

Still, I think that being able to follow the rules and being able to let other people take turns are really big steps.

Father Geek has recommended weighting for the kettle with coins when kids get older and the balancing becomes more of a legitimate skill activity. The number of coins can even let you create different difficult levels. We've already discussed using real dried beans in different sizes.

Don't Spill the Beans is clearly not one of the greatest games ever made. There will be no mistaking it for Agricola, even though they both have agricultural themes. However, the bean game is going to mean Don't Spill the Beans in our household for a while instead of Bohnanza.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don%27t_Spill_the_Beans

https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/5015/dont-spill-beans