We are a family that loves playing boardgames. And these boardgames that we play are not your traditional Monopoly, Snakes and Ladder or Pictionary. We (and when I say “we” in this case, I’m really pertaining to my husband… haha!) have close to 50 table top games. 

We have Deck-Building games, Cooperative Games, more confrontational games, etc. For this summer, I thought about creating a list of boardgames for kids that we love! These are games that you can purchase and play with your kids, because the rules are simpler and game time is not that long.

We love them all so here is our list in no particular order!

AZUL

In the Philippines, we love playing BINGO! The objective of the game is almost similar to playing BINGO! Basically, the objective of Azul is to gather the most number of points by filling up their “colorful” tiled wall. The colors have to be laid out in a manner where a players can score the most points. There are specific patterns that score more points. Completing a colored set will also earn extra points.

Azul is an abstract board game. Abstract in the gaming world means that moves made are based on pure strategy. This game was designed by Michael Kiesling (Wikipedia). This boardgame was released by Plan B Games in 2017.

This game’s theme is inspired by the Moors (Moroccan), a Muslim population that resided in Spain and Portugal in the Middle Ages. They had azulejos (originally white and blue ceramic tiles). Azulejos are painted tiles that form beautiful artwork and are normally found inside and outside places of worship, palaces, schools, houses, etc.

What we like about the game:

The game is very aesthetically appealing. Kids will love how beautiful the game is. This game is best played by 7+ year olds. Here is how you play it!

BARENPARK

Zeeka loves this game, because there are a lot of cute little animal drawings. The objective of the game is to create 4 completed and fully filled out blocks of land and to earn the most number of points. You “complete” it by building a park and putting tiles of lands with bears on it. Some tiles have corresponding points. Completing objectives also such us being the first to have 3 tiles with the same types of bears will give you extra points.

I love that the game is based purely on strategy, too. All tiles are visible, so getting points are all based on the decisions that you make.

What we like about the game:

It’s very simple to play. It even tests and helps builds the spatial intelligence of kids. It’s also a nice game to play with adults if you want to introduce them to the world of tabletop games! 🙂 This is how you play it.

DICE FORGE

Dice Forge is designed by Régis Bonnessée and is published by Libellud / Asmodee. Asmodee is one of my favorite game publishers. They are the publishers of our first game that got us addicted to boardgames — Splendor! They also released Catan, Carcassonne, Splendor, Pandemic, Ticket to Ride, etc.

For Dice Forge, the objective is to get the most points. What makes this game standout is that you can change the faces of the dice that you have. To get point, you either get to roll a die with a face that gives you points, or get cards that that are equivalent to points but you have use up the other resources that you have.

What we like about the game:

Changing the die faces is appealing to kids. They get to choose the face that they want to place and then change it themselves. To play this game on your own, you need to be at least (I would say) 9-10 years old. The younger ones (5 to 8 year olds) can help an adult play by throwing the dice, moving the pieces and changing the faces of the die.

This is how you play Dice Forge:

MEEPLE CIRCUS

The objective of the game is to get the most points. In this game, we are circus performers going through rounds of practice. We will then present what we practiced on the third round.

We base our circus acts on the cards that we drafted. Players will then score points for completing acts. There are three types of acrobat performers that score points in specific ways. In the second round, each player will also draft a Star Performer, a unique meeple.

BTW, meeples, are those small pieces in boardgames that represent “people”. It is now more broadly used to refer to nearly any pawn or figure in a game. It is believed that the term was first used by Alison Hansel as an ad-hoc abbreviation for “my people”, as noted in this 2001 session report and described in detail in this history. (https://boardgamegeek.com/wiki/page/Glossary#toc130)

The third and final round is where player draft their final performances.

What we like about this game:

We love the game pieces of Meeple Circus. The little horses, elephants, etc. are so cute! Kids will love them! The mechanics is also very simple. Kids can also practice their tactile and motor skills when they try to follow their drafted cards using the little pieces.

This is how to play Meeple Circus:

These are the four boardgames that you and your kids can play this summer.

Do you have other suggestions? Please let me know by replying in the comments section below. If you also have a video of a review or play through, please share it with me, too!