Remember when I said that this year my gift guide picks will be intentional? I’m so serious about that. Board games have always been huge in our home. This year, it seems that they are becoming just as important in other people’s homes as well. You can go through my family game night and game schooling posts and find so many that we still play regularly.
I didn’t want to reshare any of those. I wanted to find new games that you might not have seen yet. I wanted to find games that will bring hours of fun to your home but still do even more. I wanted to find games that could create memories. Games that could entertain the entire family. Games that could fill a bit of the void that this year has given us. These all are also games that can be used in gameschooling!
Pizza Party Throwdown – I was waiting for this game to be released! I remember getting to try it out during Toy Fair wayyyyy back in February before the world shut down. It was so much fun and I know it would bring plenty of laughs into our home. JustaBXgirl loves it too. She likes to be the pepperoni while I am normally the peppers. It is quick played, which I always appreciate. And I think having different ways to play keeps it fresh and makes it possible that the entire family can get in on the fun.
The #UpsideDownChallenge Game – JustaBXgirl is obsessed with this game. She loves it so much that she wears the upside down goggles around the house at times, just because. The game comes with 25 challenges and let me share something, don’t think because you succeed at one that if you repeat the challenge that you will do as well the second time! Messing up at this challenge will be some of your favorite failures ever.
The Haunted Mansion Call of The Spirits – The Haunted Mansion is one of our favorite rides when we visit Disney. Being able to bring a bit of it home this year was such a blessing since we have had to cancel two trips this year. Normally, we go to Disney once a year but we were blessed to be planning a trip in June and then another either in October or December. None of those could happen due to 2020 being 2020 so we had to find ways to bring the Disney magic home. This game is great. We get stalked by the hitchhiking ghosts as we make our way through the mansion. The game is easy to pick up and one of my favorite things about it is the reference cards each player gets at the beginning of the game. No need to refer back to the instruction manual to see what options you have because you have them right in front of you! JustaBXgirl loves this so much she was trying to teach her teacher and classmates how to play virtually during school office hours!
Last Defense – Can you save the city in 20 minutes? You can and you will, thanks to this cooperative game. I have a weakness for cooperative games. I love it when it isn’t about the competition but how we can be our best together. This game reminds us that we can do anything if we work together, including triumphing over spider robots! I love that there is no choice but to get it done thanks to the companion app that keeps things moving. This is definitely one that would work for problem-solving lessons in game schooling!
Pan Am – I really planned to keep this game to include on a Game School post BUT I knew I had to list it here. I’m a HUGE fan of strategy games. This one is awesome! It spans forty years of historic and technological developments. That in itself makes it a great educational game. Add in that it is about entrepreneurship and building your business. I can’t wait for the world to be safe enough for me to invite friends over for a game night and to crush them while playing this! For now, it will be me and JustaBXgrandpa scheming and strategizing against one another!
