games for grandma?
November 11, 2020 8:00 AM Subscribe
My grandma is 87 and has been hunkered down, alone, since March. I want to get her a Christmas gift to help her connect. Details within...
She's got plenty of puzzles, latchhook, Netflix, etc. We love her and we miss her and we want to give her something to continue to feel connected to all of us, including the tween nephews, etc.
One thing I've noticed she's really liked is playing the Trivia 360 app on her tablet. She can challenge family members to matches, they can respond when they have time (so we don't have to schedule anything) and it's like a 5 minute thing. Plus everyone (even the tweens) will play with her.
Looking for other similar ideas with the following caveats:
--If it's an app, there must be a subscription or premium version. She gets confused by the ads and needs help getting out of them, which won't do since she's totally alone.
--If it's an app, ideally it would be something that can be multi-player so she can interact with family, but wouldn't need to be played in real time.
--If it's an app, ideally it would be something she could do on a tablet or desktop. While I think she could come to love Animal Crossing, I can't afford to buy her a Switch and the game at this time.
--She's 87, so not looking for any first-person shooters or anything like that. More gentle games, not a lot of rules to learn, not too challenging, etc. She has poor eyesight so probably not something like a color spectrum or pattern matching game.
I would also be open to physical things that might be gently challenging, or that could be played virtually in some way. I would love to find something like a gentle escape room subscription or something where she could maybe work on it, ask others for help, etc. But so far I've only managed to find murder-y ones? Also considered an Echo Show or Google Home camera thingy but so far the only functions I'm convinced she'd use are the video calling, which she already has access to. If I'm wrong, let me know!
Can you help a grandma out, AskMe?
She's got plenty of puzzles, latchhook, Netflix, etc. We love her and we miss her and we want to give her something to continue to feel connected to all of us, including the tween nephews, etc.
One thing I've noticed she's really liked is playing the Trivia 360 app on her tablet. She can challenge family members to matches, they can respond when they have time (so we don't have to schedule anything) and it's like a 5 minute thing. Plus everyone (even the tweens) will play with her.
Looking for other similar ideas with the following caveats:
--If it's an app, there must be a subscription or premium version. She gets confused by the ads and needs help getting out of them, which won't do since she's totally alone.
--If it's an app, ideally it would be something that can be multi-player so she can interact with family, but wouldn't need to be played in real time.
--If it's an app, ideally it would be something she could do on a tablet or desktop. While I think she could come to love Animal Crossing, I can't afford to buy her a Switch and the game at this time.
--She's 87, so not looking for any first-person shooters or anything like that. More gentle games, not a lot of rules to learn, not too challenging, etc. She has poor eyesight so probably not something like a color spectrum or pattern matching game.
I would also be open to physical things that might be gently challenging, or that could be played virtually in some way. I would love to find something like a gentle escape room subscription or something where she could maybe work on it, ask others for help, etc. But so far I've only managed to find murder-y ones? Also considered an Echo Show or Google Home camera thingy but so far the only functions I'm convinced she'd use are the video calling, which she already has access to. If I'm wrong, let me know!
Can you help a grandma out, AskMe?
She might enjoy a farming game like Hay Day. You can form a family neighborhood, everyone has their own farm, and if you don't want to participate in the weekly timed events, you don't need to.
posted by Mchelly at 8:41 AM on November 11, 2020
posted by Mchelly at 8:41 AM on November 11, 2020
There is a mobile version of animal crossing that she could probably use on a tablet , it does have some paid components so I don’t know if that would be an issue. I enjoyed playing it though and people can visit your campsite and you can visit theirs. It’s called Animal Crossing Pocket Camp.
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 9:04 AM on November 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by SpaceWarp13 at 9:04 AM on November 11, 2020 [1 favorite]
We got grandparents an Amazon Echo device which is nice, because it's voice activated and we can do easy video calls. Might be worth a look!
posted by aoleary at 9:24 AM on November 11, 2020
posted by aoleary at 9:24 AM on November 11, 2020
Draw Something is sort of like the trivia game you describe, in the way you take turns to play.
posted by tinymegalo at 9:29 AM on November 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by tinymegalo at 9:29 AM on November 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
This doesn't answer your questions really but my parents passed within the last few years but I had thought of something I wish I did for my mum when she was in rehab at Christmas. A manilla envelope advent calendar. I was thinking I'd hit barnes and noble and get about a dozen puzzle books and magazines. Have the kids write letters, favorite memories, jokes, drawings, questionnaires (what was your favorite game when you were little, how did you meet grampie), printed pictures of the kids, etc. Distribute them in 25 manilla envelopes, decorate envelopes and number them, and put in a basket with maybe a few gifts for the last few days of Christmas.
posted by ReluctantViking at 10:01 AM on November 11, 2020 [7 favorites]
posted by ReluctantViking at 10:01 AM on November 11, 2020 [7 favorites]
Does she like Scrabble? Words With Friends is a classic, I believe there's a paid version, it's asynchronous, and if she's played Scrabble before she already knows how to play.
posted by zeusianfog at 3:38 PM on November 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
posted by zeusianfog at 3:38 PM on November 11, 2020 [2 favorites]
Codeword Unlimited. Available as an app or website, easy to find with a search.
It's like a crossword puzzle, but without clues! Rather, your clues are letter-frequency (which squares have the same, but not yet known, letter) and the patterns that build up as you guess more letters. We showed it to my MIL, in her 90s, and she got addicted to it.
posted by TruncatedTiller at 5:21 AM on November 12, 2020
It's like a crossword puzzle, but without clues! Rather, your clues are letter-frequency (which squares have the same, but not yet known, letter) and the patterns that build up as you guess more letters. We showed it to my MIL, in her 90s, and she got addicted to it.
posted by TruncatedTiller at 5:21 AM on November 12, 2020
All of the "...with friends" games are asynchronous and pretty well-executed. There's Words with Friends (which is basically Scrabble, although Scrabble has now made their own competitor with Scrabble Go), but there's also Boggle with Friends, Hanging with Friends (hangman), Chess with Friends, etc.
posted by mosst at 10:50 AM on November 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mosst at 10:50 AM on November 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
Also, not exactly a game, but I've also heard great things about Marco Polo for asynchronous video chats.
posted by mosst at 10:51 AM on November 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mosst at 10:51 AM on November 12, 2020 [1 favorite]
There's a cooperative card game I've played online with friends.... Hanabi
This is a brief game if you wanted to play in real time. I usually am on my laptop for the game and on the phone with them to chat at the same time. Each player can't see their hand of cards, but they can see their partner's. So you have to give clues (either a color or number) to your partner to help them figure out which cards help or hurt to play. After a practice game or two, it begins to make more sense.
posted by pdxhiker at 1:39 AM on November 14, 2020
This is a brief game if you wanted to play in real time. I usually am on my laptop for the game and on the phone with them to chat at the same time. Each player can't see their hand of cards, but they can see their partner's. So you have to give clues (either a color or number) to your partner to help them figure out which cards help or hurt to play. After a practice game or two, it begins to make more sense.
posted by pdxhiker at 1:39 AM on November 14, 2020
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How is she with writing, physically? Maybe a bunch of postcards or envelopes/stationery ready-stamped and addressed to members of y'all's family?
Another possibility is a storytelling/recording app, something like the StoryCorps app. A straight-up voice recording app could work, if it's easy enough -- I use VoiceRecord for research interviews, but its interface is not as intuitive as I think you'd want. Seems like there must be something, though!
posted by humbug at 8:11 AM on November 11, 2020