Hi everyone! When we started discussing Gary Con's association with a charity this year, I suggested and the group agreed to choose Lad Lake, a Wisconsin non-profit with over a hundred years' experience helping troubled youth through education, socialization and mentoring programs. The charity auction at Gary Con this year raised over $8,000 to support this mission. Thanks to all those who donated and purchased items which helped us help Lad Lake. Another idea which came up during discussion was the idea of contributing games for the Dousman Lad Lake campus. Last month I met with Lad Lakers Bo Schleis (recreation therapist) and David Borash (director of development) to discuss how Gary Con attendees could contribute to create a Gary Con games library at Lad Lake Dousman. The collection would be intended to entertain and train kids from pre-K all the way up to high school ages. Because we want to be certain we don't interfere or distract from their mission, we decided we should start by making a list of games we think could help develop skills inside and outside of game environments. In making a list, I think we can safely skip past games likely already in their library (cards, checkers, chess, Monopoly) and move towards games we love and make Gary Con attendees better gamers. Games which are vintage and collectable would probably be poor choices for this setting, since they'd not be sustainable if pieces are lost. Newer games with pieces easily lost or hard to replace would also not be the best choices. While I'd eventually like to include RPGs, David, Bo and I agreed we should start with discussing board and card games. When we decide on a list of, say, ten, we should create a description for each game which describes the skills and techniques which the game helps to develop. I'll begin by listing three games I definitely think we could recommend for most ages. I'll do this in separate entries to assist threaded discussion.
I'm not sure if Risk would be on my list. It can be a hostile, aggressive game of ganging up on people.
iello's "Tales & Games" series is great; in particular The Hare & The Tortoise and The Pied Piper are fantastic. Very easy for kids to learn & fun for adults, too. Both of those teach basic strategic planning. Click Clack Lumberjack/Bling Bling Gemstone and Coconuts, all from Mayday, are excellent dexterity games. Wok Star is a fun, fast paced cooperative game. Pixel Glory is an excellent mini-deck builder.
