After School Game Club
This school year, I am planning to sponsor an after school game club for DD1 and her classmates, Allah SWT willing.
Last school year, when I was the first grade assistant teacher, I observed that students were so focused on getting their classwork done during the school hours that they had no time to socialize in a positive way. I thought that having a game club would be a fun and positive way for students to interact with one another. This would also be an opportunity to introduce kids to classic board games that are both fun and educational.
Here is a list of board games that are suitable for middle schoolers:
Board Games for Middle school
Source: http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/2137/middle-school-game-club
Apples to ApplesApples to Apples has won numerous awards including "Party Game of the Year" by Games magazine and "Mensa Select" by Mensa International. And for good reason: it involves quick thinking, humor, and strategy. For teens, the game teaches them to think about how different things can be compared to one another and how analogies are formed. One of our criticisms is that although the game states that it is designed for ages 12 and older, many of the subjects are clearly for older teens.
The Settlers of CatanThe Settlers of Catan from Mayfair Games is an award-winning strategy game where players collect resources and use them to build roads, settlements and cities on their way to victory. The board itself is variable, making each game a little different from the next. Each round of The Settlers of Catan is intended to keep three or four players ages 10 and above engaged for up to 90 minutes.
ChrononautsWhat would YOU do with a Time Machine? Would you stop the sinking of the Titanic? Prevent the assassination of JFK? Kill Hitler before WWII? These are just a few of the possibilities in Chrononauts, the award-winning card game of time travel. To win, you must change history at key points called Linchpins, so that history transforms into the Alternate Reality your character calls home. You can also win by collecting a specific set of Artifacts, such as a live dinosaur, the Mona Lisa, and an unpublished Shakespearean play. But be careful - if you create too many paradoxes, you could destroy the entire universe.
Carcassonne: Hunters and GatherersThis is a Klaus-Jurgen Wrede game in the Carcassonne line. It has new graphics, a new set of components, a theme set in the Stone Age, and new rules to match the theme. As in Carcassonne, players place tiles and put game figures on them, but with different strategies and results. Players have figures that can represent hunters, gatherers, or fishermen and place them in meadows, forests, or on rivers. They also have huts, which can be placed on rivers or lakes and are scored at the end of the game as are the hunters. Gatherers and fishermen are scored when forests or rivers are completed. There are special forest tiles that give the player who plays a tile completing a forest an extra tile laid of special tiles with special features. Players will like this game that features the tile-laying and token placements of Carcassonne with many new twists. The game is for 3-5 players ages 8 and up and takes about 60 minutes to play.
PitchCarPitchCar is at the same time a game of dexterity and a game of racecars. Superbly manufactured this wooden game -- made up of 16 portions of circuit: 10 curves and 6 straight lines -- lets you to construct ten different circuits over 12 feet long. Choose one of the 8 cars build your circuit and flick your finger to propel your racing car. Follow the best trajectories by using the guardrails but watch out because your opponents are gunning for you. Entertaining and family oriented PitchCar will enchant players of all ages.
ClansThe game is set in late pre-history, a time of transition -- when our distant ancestors, who had struggled and barely survived for ages in very small nomadic groups, began to feel their lives would be more secure and less arduous if they formed larger groups. This led to the formation of the first villages. Clans has easy rules, but is very challenging. the players try to distribute their huts so they score often and large numbers. But they must keep their color secret from their opponents... Players: 2-4 Ages: 10 and up Playing Time: 30 minutes
RoborallyA frenzied race filled with computer driven chaos! At the far end of the galaxy lies a fully automated grid-widget factory. As one of the factory's eight redundant super computers, you have a lot of responsibility and even more free time. When boredom creeps into your circuits, you and the other computers have a little fun at the factory's expense. Pulling defective robots out of the maintenance bay, you pit them against one another in a destructive race across the dangerously cluttered and ever-changing factory floor. One robot will wind up in the winner's circle the rest go on the scrap heap. The game is for 2 to 8 players. It takes about an hour to play.
Pirate's CoveShiver me timbers! Join pirates on a treacherous treasure island for a Pirate's life adventure. Players match keys to get compass, parrot, jolly roger and treasure chest cards - which help you in your treasure hunt for gold coins. The first pirate to reach the ship with six gold coins wins! For 2-4 players.
BohnanzaBohnanza, a card game from Rio Grande Games is about planting, trading and selling 11 different kinds of beans. Players try to collect and plant various types of beans to sell for gold. There are always new beans to plant and each player has limited growing space. To avoid planting unwanted beans, players trade amongst themselves in an effort to plant the bean of highest value and collect the most coins. Comes with 154 Bean Cards, 7 Third Bean Field Cards and a rule booklet. Imported from Germany. For 2 to 7 players.
Chess
Checkers
MancalaThe goal of each player is to collect the glass beads in his or her mancala (the big cups at each end of the game board). Begin your game by filling each cup (except mancalas) with 4 beads. A player then picks up beads from a cup and redistributes them, one at a time, into other cups around the board. A few simple rules govern which cups a player can drop a bead into and when a player's turn is over. Collect the most beads in your mancala to win the game! Then, fold the glass beads inside the game board and slip the board into a convenient storage box. Beads won't get lost! Oak-finish, hinged game board unfolds to 5-1/4x17-3/4. Includes 48 clear glass beads and instructions for basic game. For 2 players.
SequencePlay a card from your hand, place a chip on a corresponding space on the game board when you have five in a row, it's a Sequence. Learn to block your opponents - remove their chips. Watch out for the Jacks, they are wild. With a little strategy and luck, you'll be a winner. Contents: Folding Game Board, 2 Decks of Sequence Cards, 135 Playing Chips and Instructions. For 2 or more players, ages 7 and up.
A Game of ThronesKing Robert Baratheon is dead, and the seven kingdoms brace for war. House Lannister, whose daughter Cersei was Robert's queen, claims the throne for her young son Joffery. From the Dragonstone Isle, Stannis Baratheon knows that Robert was not the true father of Joffrey, and rightfully demands the throne for himself. One the Oron Isles, House Greyjoy is about to embark on a second rebellion, but this time with a much grander goal. In the north, House Stark gathers its strength to defend what is right, and in the south the wealthy House Tyrell harbors an old ambition to sit on the Iron Throne. As armies gather and ravens fly, a clash of kings is inevitable. Based on the best-selling novel series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, the A Game of Thrones board games by Fantasy Flight Games lets players take control of one of the great Houses of Westeros and embark on a epic struggle to claim the Iron Throne. Immerse yourself in a game of clever planning, careful allocation of power, diplomacy, and the exciting flavor of a Song of Ice and Fire. Along with the games board and rulebook, there are over 370 game pieces included.
Puerto RicoEach player utilizes different roles -mayor, captain, settler, trader, prospector, craftsman, or builder to score the most victory points with their colony. Players can act on every turn of the game, allowing them to choose between shipping goods for points or building an impressive city. Players must manage their colonists, erect a variety of buildings, build up their plantation, and sell or ship goods. With dozens of options, Puerto Rico is a streamlined game that can be played in about an hour and handles up to five players.
EvoCreated by Philippe Keyaerts, Evo is a game of conquest in a hostile environment. To win, you will have to acquire gene that will allow you dinosaurs to improve (survive enemy attacks, face various climates or even lay more eggs, for example) in fast-paced auctions. But be careful: don't spend too many mutation points in the auctions, because the winner of the game will be the player with the most of them at the end!
Tongiaki300 AD: The Polynesians embarked on daring sailing trips and explored thousands of Pacific Islands. Driven by overpopulation and a desire for adventure, they set forth into the unknown on simple catamarans called Tongiakis.
YinshThe players each start with 5 rings on the board. Every time a ring is moved, it leaves a marker behind. Markers are white on one side and black on the other. When markers are jumped over by a ring, they must be flipped, so their color is constantly changing. The players must try to form a row of 5 markers with their own color face up. If a player succeeds in doing so, he removes one of his rings as an indication that he has formed such a row. The first player to remove 3 of his rings wins the game. In other words, each row you make brings you closer to victory -- but also makes you weaker, because you have one less ring to play with.
Castle RiskEach player starts out with one castle on the game board. Your objective is to capture all your opponents' castles, so that you are the last player remaining in the game. This Risk variant is played on a map of Europe and introduces cards such as the Spy, General, Marshall, Diplomat and Admiral. Besides recruitment cards, your reinforcements are a function of occupied territory and captured enemy castles. Created by Philippe Keyaerts, Evo is a game of conquest in a hostile environment. To win, you will have to acquire gene that will allow you dinosaurs to improve (survive enemy attacks, face various climates or even lay more eggs, for example) in fast-paced auctions. But be careful: don't spend too many mutation points in the auctions, because the winner of the game will be the player with the most of them at the end!
Tongiaki300 AD: The Polynesians embarked on daring sailing trips and explored thousands of Pacific Islands. Driven by overpopulation and a desire for adventure, they set forth into the unknown on simple catamarans called Tongiakis.
YinshThe players each start with 5 rings on the board. Every time a ring is moved, it leaves a marker behind. Markers are white on one side and black on the other. When markers are jumped over by a ring, they must be flipped, so their color is constantly changing. The players must try to form a row of 5 markers with their own color face up. If a player succeeds in doing so, he removes one of his rings as an indication that he has formed such a row. The first player to remove 3 of his rings wins the game. In other words, each row you make brings you closer to victory -- but also makes you weaker, because you have one less ring to play with.
Castle RiskEach player starts out with one castle on the game board. Your objective is to capture all your opponents' castles, so that you are the last player remaining in the game. This Risk variant is played on a map of Europe and introduces cards such as the Spy, General, Marshall, Diplomat and Admiral. Besides recruitment cards, your reinforcements are a function of occupied territory and captured enemy castles.
Last school year, when I was the first grade assistant teacher, I observed that students were so focused on getting their classwork done during the school hours that they had no time to socialize in a positive way. I thought that having a game club would be a fun and positive way for students to interact with one another. This would also be an opportunity to introduce kids to classic board games that are both fun and educational.
Here is a list of board games that are suitable for middle schoolers:
Board Games for Middle school
Source: http://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/2137/middle-school-game-club
Apples to ApplesApples to Apples has won numerous awards including "Party Game of the Year" by Games magazine and "Mensa Select" by Mensa International. And for good reason: it involves quick thinking, humor, and strategy. For teens, the game teaches them to think about how different things can be compared to one another and how analogies are formed. One of our criticisms is that although the game states that it is designed for ages 12 and older, many of the subjects are clearly for older teens.
The Settlers of CatanThe Settlers of Catan from Mayfair Games is an award-winning strategy game where players collect resources and use them to build roads, settlements and cities on their way to victory. The board itself is variable, making each game a little different from the next. Each round of The Settlers of Catan is intended to keep three or four players ages 10 and above engaged for up to 90 minutes.
ChrononautsWhat would YOU do with a Time Machine? Would you stop the sinking of the Titanic? Prevent the assassination of JFK? Kill Hitler before WWII? These are just a few of the possibilities in Chrononauts, the award-winning card game of time travel. To win, you must change history at key points called Linchpins, so that history transforms into the Alternate Reality your character calls home. You can also win by collecting a specific set of Artifacts, such as a live dinosaur, the Mona Lisa, and an unpublished Shakespearean play. But be careful - if you create too many paradoxes, you could destroy the entire universe.
Carcassonne: Hunters and GatherersThis is a Klaus-Jurgen Wrede game in the Carcassonne line. It has new graphics, a new set of components, a theme set in the Stone Age, and new rules to match the theme. As in Carcassonne, players place tiles and put game figures on them, but with different strategies and results. Players have figures that can represent hunters, gatherers, or fishermen and place them in meadows, forests, or on rivers. They also have huts, which can be placed on rivers or lakes and are scored at the end of the game as are the hunters. Gatherers and fishermen are scored when forests or rivers are completed. There are special forest tiles that give the player who plays a tile completing a forest an extra tile laid of special tiles with special features. Players will like this game that features the tile-laying and token placements of Carcassonne with many new twists. The game is for 3-5 players ages 8 and up and takes about 60 minutes to play.
PitchCarPitchCar is at the same time a game of dexterity and a game of racecars. Superbly manufactured this wooden game -- made up of 16 portions of circuit: 10 curves and 6 straight lines -- lets you to construct ten different circuits over 12 feet long. Choose one of the 8 cars build your circuit and flick your finger to propel your racing car. Follow the best trajectories by using the guardrails but watch out because your opponents are gunning for you. Entertaining and family oriented PitchCar will enchant players of all ages.
ClansThe game is set in late pre-history, a time of transition -- when our distant ancestors, who had struggled and barely survived for ages in very small nomadic groups, began to feel their lives would be more secure and less arduous if they formed larger groups. This led to the formation of the first villages. Clans has easy rules, but is very challenging. the players try to distribute their huts so they score often and large numbers. But they must keep their color secret from their opponents... Players: 2-4 Ages: 10 and up Playing Time: 30 minutes
RoborallyA frenzied race filled with computer driven chaos! At the far end of the galaxy lies a fully automated grid-widget factory. As one of the factory's eight redundant super computers, you have a lot of responsibility and even more free time. When boredom creeps into your circuits, you and the other computers have a little fun at the factory's expense. Pulling defective robots out of the maintenance bay, you pit them against one another in a destructive race across the dangerously cluttered and ever-changing factory floor. One robot will wind up in the winner's circle the rest go on the scrap heap. The game is for 2 to 8 players. It takes about an hour to play.
Pirate's CoveShiver me timbers! Join pirates on a treacherous treasure island for a Pirate's life adventure. Players match keys to get compass, parrot, jolly roger and treasure chest cards - which help you in your treasure hunt for gold coins. The first pirate to reach the ship with six gold coins wins! For 2-4 players.
BohnanzaBohnanza, a card game from Rio Grande Games is about planting, trading and selling 11 different kinds of beans. Players try to collect and plant various types of beans to sell for gold. There are always new beans to plant and each player has limited growing space. To avoid planting unwanted beans, players trade amongst themselves in an effort to plant the bean of highest value and collect the most coins. Comes with 154 Bean Cards, 7 Third Bean Field Cards and a rule booklet. Imported from Germany. For 2 to 7 players.
Chess
Checkers
MancalaThe goal of each player is to collect the glass beads in his or her mancala (the big cups at each end of the game board). Begin your game by filling each cup (except mancalas) with 4 beads. A player then picks up beads from a cup and redistributes them, one at a time, into other cups around the board. A few simple rules govern which cups a player can drop a bead into and when a player's turn is over. Collect the most beads in your mancala to win the game! Then, fold the glass beads inside the game board and slip the board into a convenient storage box. Beads won't get lost! Oak-finish, hinged game board unfolds to 5-1/4x17-3/4. Includes 48 clear glass beads and instructions for basic game. For 2 players.
SequencePlay a card from your hand, place a chip on a corresponding space on the game board when you have five in a row, it's a Sequence. Learn to block your opponents - remove their chips. Watch out for the Jacks, they are wild. With a little strategy and luck, you'll be a winner. Contents: Folding Game Board, 2 Decks of Sequence Cards, 135 Playing Chips and Instructions. For 2 or more players, ages 7 and up.
A Game of ThronesKing Robert Baratheon is dead, and the seven kingdoms brace for war. House Lannister, whose daughter Cersei was Robert's queen, claims the throne for her young son Joffery. From the Dragonstone Isle, Stannis Baratheon knows that Robert was not the true father of Joffrey, and rightfully demands the throne for himself. One the Oron Isles, House Greyjoy is about to embark on a second rebellion, but this time with a much grander goal. In the north, House Stark gathers its strength to defend what is right, and in the south the wealthy House Tyrell harbors an old ambition to sit on the Iron Throne. As armies gather and ravens fly, a clash of kings is inevitable. Based on the best-selling novel series A Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin, the A Game of Thrones board games by Fantasy Flight Games lets players take control of one of the great Houses of Westeros and embark on a epic struggle to claim the Iron Throne. Immerse yourself in a game of clever planning, careful allocation of power, diplomacy, and the exciting flavor of a Song of Ice and Fire. Along with the games board and rulebook, there are over 370 game pieces included.
Puerto RicoEach player utilizes different roles -mayor, captain, settler, trader, prospector, craftsman, or builder to score the most victory points with their colony. Players can act on every turn of the game, allowing them to choose between shipping goods for points or building an impressive city. Players must manage their colonists, erect a variety of buildings, build up their plantation, and sell or ship goods. With dozens of options, Puerto Rico is a streamlined game that can be played in about an hour and handles up to five players.
EvoCreated by Philippe Keyaerts, Evo is a game of conquest in a hostile environment. To win, you will have to acquire gene that will allow you dinosaurs to improve (survive enemy attacks, face various climates or even lay more eggs, for example) in fast-paced auctions. But be careful: don't spend too many mutation points in the auctions, because the winner of the game will be the player with the most of them at the end!
Tongiaki300 AD: The Polynesians embarked on daring sailing trips and explored thousands of Pacific Islands. Driven by overpopulation and a desire for adventure, they set forth into the unknown on simple catamarans called Tongiakis.
YinshThe players each start with 5 rings on the board. Every time a ring is moved, it leaves a marker behind. Markers are white on one side and black on the other. When markers are jumped over by a ring, they must be flipped, so their color is constantly changing. The players must try to form a row of 5 markers with their own color face up. If a player succeeds in doing so, he removes one of his rings as an indication that he has formed such a row. The first player to remove 3 of his rings wins the game. In other words, each row you make brings you closer to victory -- but also makes you weaker, because you have one less ring to play with.
Castle RiskEach player starts out with one castle on the game board. Your objective is to capture all your opponents' castles, so that you are the last player remaining in the game. This Risk variant is played on a map of Europe and introduces cards such as the Spy, General, Marshall, Diplomat and Admiral. Besides recruitment cards, your reinforcements are a function of occupied territory and captured enemy castles. Created by Philippe Keyaerts, Evo is a game of conquest in a hostile environment. To win, you will have to acquire gene that will allow you dinosaurs to improve (survive enemy attacks, face various climates or even lay more eggs, for example) in fast-paced auctions. But be careful: don't spend too many mutation points in the auctions, because the winner of the game will be the player with the most of them at the end!
Tongiaki300 AD: The Polynesians embarked on daring sailing trips and explored thousands of Pacific Islands. Driven by overpopulation and a desire for adventure, they set forth into the unknown on simple catamarans called Tongiakis.
YinshThe players each start with 5 rings on the board. Every time a ring is moved, it leaves a marker behind. Markers are white on one side and black on the other. When markers are jumped over by a ring, they must be flipped, so their color is constantly changing. The players must try to form a row of 5 markers with their own color face up. If a player succeeds in doing so, he removes one of his rings as an indication that he has formed such a row. The first player to remove 3 of his rings wins the game. In other words, each row you make brings you closer to victory -- but also makes you weaker, because you have one less ring to play with.
Castle RiskEach player starts out with one castle on the game board. Your objective is to capture all your opponents' castles, so that you are the last player remaining in the game. This Risk variant is played on a map of Europe and introduces cards such as the Spy, General, Marshall, Diplomat and Admiral. Besides recruitment cards, your reinforcements are a function of occupied territory and captured enemy castles.
Labels: teaching
posted by Jiru at
8:48 AM
