Card Games

Two teams, the red and the blue team, try to guess the identity of their own spies.  Twenty five cards are laid out on the table.  Each card has the codename for an agent. Some of these will be red spies, some blue, some will be innocent bystanders and one will be the assassin. Each team's spymaster gives the team a single word clue.  They then have to choose which spy or spies' codename this clue relates to.  However should they choose the wrong one, they help the opponents.  Should they accidentally choose the assassin, it's game over for them.

Each game takes 15 -30 minutes.

Number one party game on Boardgame Geek, the website for avid games players.  Over 5 million copies sold.

2 - 8 players ( ideally at least 4)

Age suitability: 10+

Jungle Speed is a fast and furious, somewhat chaotic, game of observation and then of lightning reflexes, so that rules me out.

It is a matching game, a bit like snap, but, instead of calling out snap when two cards match, you have to be the first to grab the Totem (the yellow rubber cylinder thing) that sits in the middle of the table.

The cards are divided equally amongst the players (the more, the merrier).  On each card is a symbol in a variety of colours.  Some symbols are quite different, others are deceptively alike. Players place their cards in a pile face down in front of them.  One by one, each player flips over the top card and, as they accumulate, gradually makes a discard pile in front of him.  When one player flips over a card whose symbol matches the shape of the symbol on the top card of another player's discard pile, both players make a lunge for the Totem.  The winner then smugly hands over his discard cards to the loser who puts both these and his own discard cards face down under his cards.  Grabbing the Totem mistakenly results in you getting everybody's discard cards. The winner of the game is the first to get rid of all their cards.  Each game takes about 20 minutes.

To complicate the game further, there are several special cards.  One of these special cards for example changes the rules so that you have to match the colour of symbols rather than the shape. A different special card requires every player to lunge simultaneously for the Totem.  A third one requires everybody to flip over a card at he same time on the count of three.

2 - 8 players

Age suitability: 6 +

Here's an excellent Youtube video from Skip the Rules (NB the Totem has since been changed from wood to rubber):

 

7 Wonders has won a huge number of awards since it was released in 2010.

It can be played by 2-7 players but probably best avoided if there are only two of you.  Games take about half an hour. 

Like most board games, the rules are a little complicated to explain in a few sentences. It's only by playing the game do you really get to understand it.

At the start of the game, you get one of the Seven Wonders of the World and seven cards. You then pass six of the cards to your neighbour.  The one you choose to keep back could be used for several purposes: for resources, to build your Wonder and to strengthen your military might. Of the six cards you receive from your neighbour, you choose one and pass the remaining ones on. It goes on like that until the initial cards are all used and that's the end of the first round or Age 1.  There are two further Ages each a little more complex.à At the end of Age 3, you tot up the points you will have received for your efforts to decide the winner.

Here is a short explanatory video:

Play nine fun card games with this pack of cards and learn more about Endangered Animals.

 

This is one of the 16 different packs of Diversity Decks that the maker, 'Maintenant - Sustaining now', has put together to teach children about Science and the Environment.

The cards all have an science/sustainability theme, so most feature the seven Earth's Spheres whereas others are about animals, bacteria and inspirational people, the aim being to educate children as they play the games.  Players and their parents can go onto the website and learn more about the subject on each card (highly recommended).

Each Diversity Deck has seven themes: in the this one, there are cards are about the Axolotyl, the Northern Bald Ibis, Red Ruffed Lemur, Vaquita, Sunda Pangolin, Spotted Handfish, Golden Eyed Stick  insect.  There are six cards in each theme, each with the same illustration, plus two 'Parry' cards(entitled 'Citizen Engagement' and 'Protected Areas') and one 'Calamity' card Habitat Loss), good and bad chance cards to spice up the games), so 45 cards in the handy tin.

The cards are cleverly designed so that you can play a wide range of games with them.  These games vary in complexity from Rock, Paper, Scissors (suitable for 4 year olds) through to 17 Goals (a form of Black Jack suitable for 8 year olds).

The games are :

Rock Paper Scissors (4+),

Calamity Game (4+) - like Old Maid,

Be an Elephant (5+), a memory matching game,

Free from (5+), be the first to get rid of your cards by matching pictures or numbers,

Snaffle It (6+), win the most points by playing cards with the same picture but with different points,

Happy Diversity (6+) - like Happy Families,

Double Snap (7+),

17 Goals (8+) - like Black Jack

Pyramid Solitaire (8+)

The games are the same for each tin.

Please note that although the games are designed to be played by children 4 years old and upwards, the pictures and the messages behind them may be way too heavy to be appreciated by four or five year-olds.  So for younger children it might be sensible to choose one of the animal-themed sets like this one.

Play nine fun card games with this pack of cards and learn more about the Lithosphere, one of the Earth's seven spheres.  The Lithosphere is about the Magnetosphere, the magnetic field around the Earth that protects us from cosmic rays. So we cover topics such as electricity, geomagnetism and magnetoreception.

 

This is one of the 16 different packs of Diversity Decks that the maker, 'Maintenant - Sustaining now', has put together to teach children about Science and the Environment.

The cards all have an science/sustainability theme, so most  feature the seven Earth's Spheres whereas others are about animals, bacteria and inspirational people, the aim being to educate children as they play the games.  Players and their parents can go onto the website and learn more about the subject on each card (highly recommended).  

Each Diversity Deck has seven themes: in this, the Magnetosphere, one, there are cards entitled Electricity, Light Bulbs, Power Stations, Magnetism, Electromagnets, Geomagnetism, Pole Reversal.  There are six cards in each theme, each with the same illustration, plus two 'Parry' (' Magnetoreception' and 'Geomagnetic Shield') and one 'Calamity' (Rare Earths Extraction) cards (good and bad chance cards to spice up the games), so 45 cards in the handy tin.

The cards are cleverly designed so that you can play a wide range of games with them.  These games vary in complexity from Rock, Paper, Scissors (suitable for 4 year olds) through to 17 Goals (a form of Black Jack suitable for 8 year olds).

The games are :

Rock Paper Scissors (4+),

Calamity Game (4+) - like Old Maid,

Be an Elephant (5+), a memory matching game,

Free from (5+), be the first to get rid of your cards by matching pictures or numbers,

Snaffle It (6+), win the most points by playing cards with the same picture but with different points,

Happy Diversity (6+) - like Happy Families,

Double Snap (7+),

17 Goals (8+) - like Black Jack

Pyramid Solitaire (8+)

The games are the same for each tin.

Please note that although the games are designed to be played by children 4 years old and upwards, the pictures and the messages behind them may be way too heavy and not  appreciated by four or five year-olds.  So for younger children it might be sensible to choose one of the animal-themed sets.

 

Play nine fun card games with this pack of cards and learn more about the Biosphere, one of the Earth's seven spheres.  The Biosphere is about all living things on Earth.

 

This is one of the 16 different packs of Diversity Decks that the maker, 'Maintenant - Sustaining now', has put together to teach children about Science and the Environment.

The cards all have an science/sustainability theme, so most  feature the seven Earth's Spheres whereas others are about animals, bacteria and inspirational people, the aim being to educate children as they play the games.  Players and their parents can go onto the website and learn more about the subject on each card (highly recommended).

 

Each Diversity Deck has seven themes: in the Biosphere one, there are cards entitled ' First Life, Genetics and Inheritance, Adaptation and Evolution, Ecosystems, Food Web, Seed Dispersal, Nutrient Cycle.  There are six cards in each theme, each with the same illustration, plus two 'Parry' ('Trees' and 'Insects') and one 'Calamity' (6th Mass Extinction) cards (good and bad chance cards to spice up the games), so 45 cards in the handy tin.

The cards are cleverly designed so that you can play a wide range of games with them.  These games vary in complexity from Rock, Paper, Scissors (suitable for 4 year olds) through to 17 Goals (a form of Black Jack suitable for 8 year olds).

The games are :

Rock Paper Scissors (4+),

Calamity Game (4+) - like Old Maid,

Be an Elephant (5+), a memory matching game,

Free from (5+), be the first to get rid of your cards by matching pictures or numbers,

Snaffle It (6+), win the most points by playing cards with the same picture but with different points,

Happy Diversity (6+) - like Happy Families,

Double Snap (7+),

17 Goals (8+) - like Black Jack

Pyramid Solitaire (8+)

The games are the same for each tin.

Please note that although the games are designed to be played by children 4 years old and upwards, the pictures and the messages behind them may be way too heavy and not  appreciated by four or five year-olds.  So for younger children it might be sensible to choose one of the animal-themed sets.

 

 

 

Play nine fun card games with this pack of cards and learn more about Earth's Spheres:

The Magnetosphere - the magnetic field around the Earth.

The Hydrosphere - the water, the ice on the earth and the water vapour in the atmosphere.

The Cryosphere - all the ice on Earth.

The Lithosphere - the habitat of all living things on Earth.

The Biosphere - all living things on Earth.

The Atmosphere - the layer of gases around Earth.

The Technosphere - human impact on Earth

 

This is one of the 16 different packs of Diversity Decks that the maker, 'Maintenant - Sustaining now', has put together to teach children about Science and the Environment,  the aim being to educate children as they play the games.  Players and their parents can go onto the website and learn more about the subject on each card (highly recommended).    There are six cards in each theme, each with the same illustration, plus two 'Parry' ('Renewable energies' and 'Decarbonisation') and one 'Calamity' (Climate Disruption) cards (good and bad chance cards to spice up the games), so 45 cards in the handy tin.

The cards are cleverly designed so that you can play a wide range of games with them.  These games vary in complexity from Rock, Paper, Scissors (suitable for 4 year olds) through to 17 Goals (a form of Black Jack suitable for 8 year olds).

The games are :

Rock Paper Scissors (4+),

Calamity Game (4+) - like Old Maid,

Be an Elephant (5+), a memory matching game,

Free from (5+), be the first to get rid of your cards by matching pictures or numbers,

Snaffle It (6+), win the most points by playing cards with the same picture but with different points,

Happy Diversity (6+) - like Happy Families,

Double Snap (7+),

17 Goals (8+) - like Black Jack

Pyramid Solitaire (8+)

The games are the same for each tin.

Please note that although the games are designed to be played by children 4 years old and upwards, the pictures and the messages behind them may be way too heavy and not  appreciated by four or five year-olds.  So for younger children it might be sensible to choose one of the animal-themed sets.