Boardgames for a group of 10 year olds
October 4, 2016 11:35 AM Subscribe
Looking for suggestions for board games for our 10 year old to play with her friends. Preferably something easy to pick up but with a fair degree of depth, and she's also interested in something with a bit of a fantasy roleplaying vibe - I'm thinking something like GW's Heroquest from back in the day might work, but nothing more complicated than that. Any suggestions?
Kill the Overlord has a community rating of 8yrs+, despite the box rating of 13yrs, and it got good reviews from a family with fantasy-loving nerdlings.
Story-telling card games are super fun and this is a good age for them. Once Upon a Time, Gloom & variants, Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple - and these are just the three best known! The Great Dalmuti isn't actually a storytelling card game, but the others might not have gone to press without it.
Ticket to Ride, Carcassone, Catan, and Forbidden Island are all popular with young board game enthusiasts of my acquaintance.
posted by batmonkey at 11:54 AM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
Story-telling card games are super fun and this is a good age for them. Once Upon a Time, Gloom & variants, Do: Pilgrims of the Flying Temple - and these are just the three best known! The Great Dalmuti isn't actually a storytelling card game, but the others might not have gone to press without it.
Ticket to Ride, Carcassone, Catan, and Forbidden Island are all popular with young board game enthusiasts of my acquaintance.
posted by batmonkey at 11:54 AM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
King of Tokyo, and the sliiiightly more complex but still very straightforward King of New York, let your players become giant monster-movie monsters slugging it out Rampage-meets-Yahtzee style. Fun for everyone, great for children and adults.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:07 PM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by FatherDagon at 12:07 PM on October 4, 2016 [4 favorites]
If they're down for a more complicated Talisman-esque-with-much-better-balance fantasy adventure with different characters and gaining experience and gear and such, I'd recommend Runebound. (currently on sale for twenty bucks off!)
posted by FatherDagon at 12:09 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by FatherDagon at 12:09 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Mice and Mystics
That link is to a youtube from the web series "Tabletop" where Wil Wheaton with a group of guest play various games, and in that one it's "Mice and Mystics" with his wife and their two grown sons.
It's an example of what Wil calls an "RPG in a box". Everything you need to play is included. It's not so much like a traditional RPG because there's no game master; everyone plays. That youtube should give you a good idea of what the game is like.
(You might be confused by the family relationships, so here's the story. Wil married Anne in 1999. She had two young sons named Ryan and Nolan. Eventually Ryan asked Wil to adopt him, and Will happily did so. So Ryan Wheaton is Wil's son, and Ryan's brother Nolan Kopp is Wil's stepson. But they were both young when Wil and Anne got married so in practice Wil is Dad to both of them, except that they call him "Wil" and not "Dad".)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:02 PM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
That link is to a youtube from the web series "Tabletop" where Wil Wheaton with a group of guest play various games, and in that one it's "Mice and Mystics" with his wife and their two grown sons.
It's an example of what Wil calls an "RPG in a box". Everything you need to play is included. It's not so much like a traditional RPG because there's no game master; everyone plays. That youtube should give you a good idea of what the game is like.
(You might be confused by the family relationships, so here's the story. Wil married Anne in 1999. She had two young sons named Ryan and Nolan. Eventually Ryan asked Wil to adopt him, and Will happily did so. So Ryan Wheaton is Wil's son, and Ryan's brother Nolan Kopp is Wil's stepson. But they were both young when Wil and Anne got married so in practice Wil is Dad to both of them, except that they call him "Wil" and not "Dad".)
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 1:02 PM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Talisman?
Also, that's peak age for D&D. Just sayin...
posted by Sebmojo at 1:17 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Also, that's peak age for D&D. Just sayin...
posted by Sebmojo at 1:17 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
If you want fantasy-ish, somewhat deep but not too heavy, and appropriate for 10 year olds, I would recommend:
Small World, a wargame about as heavy as Risk, featuring the rise and fall of fantasy empires, and guaranteed to end after a set number of turns.
Sheriff of Nottingham, a medieval-flavored party game about negotiation and bluffing.
Welcome to the Dungeon, a press-your-luck card game about daring your opponents to venture in to a harder and harder dungeon.
Adventurers: the Pyramid of Horus, a press-your-luck board game about exploring a cursed, trap-laden Egyptian ruin. Great production values here.
If you specifically want an explore-and-fight style game in the same vein as Heroquest, the previously mentioned Mice and Mystics is excellent.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 1:40 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Small World, a wargame about as heavy as Risk, featuring the rise and fall of fantasy empires, and guaranteed to end after a set number of turns.
Sheriff of Nottingham, a medieval-flavored party game about negotiation and bluffing.
Welcome to the Dungeon, a press-your-luck card game about daring your opponents to venture in to a harder and harder dungeon.
Adventurers: the Pyramid of Horus, a press-your-luck board game about exploring a cursed, trap-laden Egyptian ruin. Great production values here.
If you specifically want an explore-and-fight style game in the same vein as Heroquest, the previously mentioned Mice and Mystics is excellent.
posted by CrunchyFrog at 1:40 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Forbidden Island/Desert are both very popular with my friends' children of that age and have the benefit of being collaborative.
Splendor is one of the hot casual-but-good games right now and should be age appropriate.
Lords of Waterdeep has great fantasy theme but might be a little advanced for them. It's recommended for 12+ but I think advanced 10 year olds might be able to handle it.
Settlers and Ticket To Ride (preferably the European map edition) are classic Eurogames that should be fine for that age.
If they're into CCGs (e.g. Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh), they might like Dominion and Ascension.
The Werewolf/Mafia games were popular when I was that age - One Night Ultimate Werewolf and The Resistance
I would not recommend Betrayal at House on the Hill for that age, even thought the Boardgame Geek community rating has it as 10+ - it has different scenarios that make the game play out very differently, some of which would be fine for that age but some of which would be miserable.
posted by Candleman at 2:08 PM on October 4, 2016
Splendor is one of the hot casual-but-good games right now and should be age appropriate.
Lords of Waterdeep has great fantasy theme but might be a little advanced for them. It's recommended for 12+ but I think advanced 10 year olds might be able to handle it.
Settlers and Ticket To Ride (preferably the European map edition) are classic Eurogames that should be fine for that age.
If they're into CCGs (e.g. Magic, Yu-Gi-Oh), they might like Dominion and Ascension.
The Werewolf/Mafia games were popular when I was that age - One Night Ultimate Werewolf and The Resistance
I would not recommend Betrayal at House on the Hill for that age, even thought the Boardgame Geek community rating has it as 10+ - it has different scenarios that make the game play out very differently, some of which would be fine for that age but some of which would be miserable.
posted by Candleman at 2:08 PM on October 4, 2016
My kids loved Munchkin for years. They also liked one night ultimate werewolf, too.
posted by ReluctantViking at 2:18 PM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
posted by ReluctantViking at 2:18 PM on October 4, 2016 [3 favorites]
Oops, that was supposed to conclude, "One Night Ultimate Werewolf and The Resistance are good revisions of the basic mechanics to make it into a better game."
posted by Candleman at 2:25 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Candleman at 2:25 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Love Letter is a simple to learn but addictive card game. It would be perfect for a bunch of 10 year olds. Also seconding or thirding Settlers of Catan.
posted by codex99 at 2:44 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by codex99 at 2:44 PM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Munchkin related question - the kid loves Adventure Time, is the Munchkin set for that going to work as a standalone?
posted by Artw at 2:48 PM on October 4, 2016
posted by Artw at 2:48 PM on October 4, 2016
My 10 year old is pretty obsessive about Dominion (strategy card game).
Red Dragon Inn also works well (if parents involved don't mind an alcohol themed game with occasional mild innuendo) and Fluxx and Munchkin also work well (although innuendo warning on that last one as well).
posted by feckless at 2:51 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Red Dragon Inn also works well (if parents involved don't mind an alcohol themed game with occasional mild innuendo) and Fluxx and Munchkin also work well (although innuendo warning on that last one as well).
posted by feckless at 2:51 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
is the Munchkin set for that going to work as a standalone?
"Play Munchkin Adventure Time on its own, or jam-mash it with other Munchkin games."
posted by Candleman at 3:21 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
"Play Munchkin Adventure Time on its own, or jam-mash it with other Munchkin games."
posted by Candleman at 3:21 PM on October 4, 2016 [1 favorite]
Seconding Dominion. so much replay value.
posted by ApathyGirl at 3:45 PM on October 4, 2016
posted by ApathyGirl at 3:45 PM on October 4, 2016
I don't want to be a one-note but a lot of the games mentioned above were played by Wheaton in Tabletop, so you can watch them being played.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:00 PM on October 4, 2016
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 6:00 PM on October 4, 2016
Also, 100 Swords is a cute deck builder that's dungeon crawl themed and age appropriate. It's two player max though.
posted by Candleman at 6:35 PM on October 4, 2016
posted by Candleman at 6:35 PM on October 4, 2016
I'd suggest checking out Boss Monster - a card game where you play as a video game boss, building as deadly a dungeon as you can to lure heroes to their doom. Fairly lightweight, community age rating 8+.
posted by NMcCoy at 12:18 AM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by NMcCoy at 12:18 AM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
King of New York/King of Tokyo is fun.
posted by ian1977 at 4:26 AM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by ian1977 at 4:26 AM on October 5, 2016 [1 favorite]
No Thank You, Evil! is new ish and people seem to really like it
posted by J0 at 1:49 PM on October 5, 2016
posted by J0 at 1:49 PM on October 5, 2016
I haven't played it yet, but Harry Potter: Hogwarts Battle looks promising. It's a cooperative deck-building game, with a sequence of sub-games that progress from simple to complex. Reviews so far suggest it's suitable for kids around that age. MetaFilter's own Matthew Baldwin mentioned it as a candidate for the next edition of his Good Gift Game Guide.
posted by mbrubeck at 11:12 AM on October 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by mbrubeck at 11:12 AM on October 6, 2016 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by jillithd at 11:52 AM on October 4, 2016 [2 favorites]