Wii for seniors

April 7, 2010 12:46 PM

Any great Wii games for senior types?

My dad's looking for games to bust out at his retirement community. He's already got the requisite Sports Resort. He's not looking for Wii Fit style games--more along the lines of bowling and shuffleboard stuff--low-key, multiplayer, easy to relate to for the older folks, forgiving gameplay, intuitive controls. We've tested and rejected Carnival Games, which looked ideal but the execution was terrible, as well as Wario Ware: Smooth Moves (which I loved, but baffled my dad). The Beach Sports game sounds ideal but sounds kludgy in practice like the Carnival Games title. Anything else out there?

posted by Camofrog to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (8 answers total)

Pinball Hall of Fame. It doesn't require you to move much, but the controls and game play are easy and it's very well done. It's one of the few games my mom will play. They have both a Gottleib and Williams version. I think the games in the Williams version are a little bit better. They're both under $20 new.
posted by iscavenger at 12:58 PM on April 7, 2010

I didn't enjoy it but they might like Toy Story Midway Mania for the very reasons I didn't like it.
posted by mmascolino at 1:00 PM on April 7, 2010

We Ski and Snowboard was pretty cute and fun. It's pretty easy to get the basics down, but my mom did have problems picking up some of the motions for more complicated moves.

But one thing that is fun in a group is that you can have pictures taken of your miis posing on the slopes.
posted by Caravantea at 2:31 PM on April 7, 2010

Don't forget to consider some of the Wii Ware games that you can download. Some are really great, low-key, and simple. And it would keep them from having to swap discs out.

Reviews of them:
http://wiiware.nintendolife.com/games?sort=rating

They might like Big Brain Academy too:

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/wii/bigbrainacademywiidegree

That game has some flaws and isn't filled with a ton of content, but in general it has simple controls and some decent multiplayer options.
posted by 1001 questions at 4:50 PM on April 7, 2010

Endless Ocean is pretty neat. Its low stress and the graphics are wonderful.

Basically, you dive around in the ocean looking for fish, finding treasure, discovering caves and giving guided tours. It's pretty neat.
posted by shesaysgo at 4:57 PM on April 7, 2010

Wii Music might work. It's fairly straight forward and low key.

They might also like Boom Blox Bash Party, which is mostly easy paced. It's several differnt games, but most of them are variations on Jenga, either cooperatively or competitively. Sometimes the rules are very similar to Jenga (ie, remove pieces without causing others to fall), other times it's like inverse Jenga (throw bowling balls at a tower to make it fall the fastest).
posted by plinth at 6:41 PM on April 7, 2010

I forgot about WiiWare and I suppose there are some seniors that are young enough to remember Tetris. In which case, Tetris Party offers four player competitive Tetris as well as a two player co-op mode. It is fantastic.
posted by mmascolino at 7:07 PM on April 7, 2010

Well, after a few weeks my dad at least loves the Williams pinball. I also got them We Ski and Boom Blox but I don't think those have quite caught on as much yet--probably because they are just a little harder for them to wrap their heads around.

Thanks for the suggestions!
posted by Camofrog at 4:46 PM on May 8, 2010