February 8, 2024 • 29 mins
Don't be bored this February break! Join us in this episode of Adventures in Parenting as Jessi and Erin talk with Brian Schwartz, the head of the Teen Department at the Patchogue- Medford Library and an experienced board gamer. Brian talks about the benefits of family gaming, shares top game picks, and talks about integrating board games and gaming into libraries. Learn how playing board games can stimulate the brain, promote learning, and strengthen bonds for kids and adults.
Episode #10, February 2024
For more resources on this topic, check out our topic guide: Adventures in Parenting Episode #10 Resource Guide.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey, listeners, welcome to another episode of Adventures in Parenting.
I'm Jessi. And I'm Erin. We're librarians.
We're busy moms. And we love podcasts.
Today, we're in Studio E at the Patrick Medford Library with our guest,
Brian Schwartz, head of the Patrick Medford Library's Teen Department and avid gamer.
Welcome, Brian. Welcome. Thank you for having me. Brian is our resident gaming
(00:23):
expert, and he's joining us on the podcast today to discuss the social and cognitive
benefits of board gaming and family gaming.
And he's got some really great game recommendations too.
Before we get started about talking family gaming, can you maybe tell us a little
bit about your background with gaming and what you like to do?
Sure. So I started playing games when I was, video games when I was about five.
(00:43):
My parents got me a Nintendo and I really wanted to marry a brother.
So it kind of snowballed from there.
But as far as board games, I started playing party games, played Monopoly,
Careers, Life. Life. Careers.
Life. Oh my goodness. My kids know it never.
The basic careers I think is
very hard to find these days. I don't even know if they make it anymore.
I don't think it's being made. But I started to host game nights when I moved
(01:05):
out of my parents' house. And I played a lot of party games.
Apples to Apples was my jam. I played some trivia games.
And then after a while, I started to run out of question cards.
And then I started to buy more obscure trivia games, which also ran out of question
cards. cards and gradually I started to realize that these games have limited
play, especially if you have people over on a regular basis.
You can go through the question cards. You're playing a game for an hour and
(01:27):
it has 50 question cards, 100 question cards. You can go through them in a couple of weeks.
So then I started to play strategy games and strategy games are really cool
because they have almost unlimited replayability and they cause you to think
a lot more than party games.
And they're definitely, it's nice to learn something new that you've never done before.
And I feel like with strategy games, you're using different parts of your brain.
Party games are more fun, but I like the strategy games because they make me think more.
(01:49):
What would Uno be? Uno is strategy, actually, a little bit, right? What do you think?
Uno is more like, I guess it has some strategy, but I don't really think Uno
is very strategic. I disagree.
That's a whole other conversation which we could possibly get into, but...
Not a fan of Uno. I actually played a lot of Phase 10. Have you played Phase 10?
Phase 10 is like a Rummy-style game where you have to make runs of certain types
(02:11):
of cards. You have to get a certain amount of pairs. And then it's very competitive.
Phase 10 is a good next level if you're done with Uno and you want to move on
to something a little more complex.
But I still don't think it's a great
game. I love that Erin and I were scandalized that you don't like Uno.
That just shows how basic gamers we are. I'm like, Uno? Yeah.
Maybe I can help open your eyes a little bit after our chat today.
(02:32):
You know what my biggest problem with a lot of these games? I'll buy something
and the instructions are horrible.
We just bought a game for my daughter for the holidays. And she can like write
the rules of the game as you're going.
You use cards and you create the rules. Daughter does that for every game anyway. Exactly.
But I can't understand the instructions. We can't play it.
Yes, I agree with you. So I'm going to help you both out. I have a pro tip that I recommend.
(02:55):
And what I would suggest, very simple. Go on YouTube, type in how to play blank
name of game. And they have videos on every game you could imagine.
And someone's created a video on how to play it. Instead of having to read the
instructions, they have a visual interpretation of it. So you can watch someone
playing it. And that's how I learn my games.
It helps a lot. Do you have any game people that you recommend?
Any reviewers or any channels or anything?
(03:17):
Or just kind of view and see what you like? Learning a game,
for me, especially a complicated game, is a project.
But the first thing I do is, besides reading the rulebook, I like to go on YouTube.
I like the Dice Tower, but there's a lot of other resources out there that are
helpful in learning how to play these.
I've never found a game where there was at least not one video on it,
no matter how obscure it is.
I should have done that. We bought a Jumanji game from a yard sale,
(03:41):
literally from the 90s, and it was so complicated. Was it cursed?
I know. It felt cursed, I'll tell you what. I don't even think we finished playing
it because it was just so convoluted. It was cursed.
You could also, if you don't understand. The rhino runs through the wall.
If you don't understand the rules, there's also the videos of people actually playing the games.
You could watch people playing it and see how they play it. Depends on the game,
(04:03):
though, based on the complexity.
I mean, Uno, I think people can figure out. But some of the games that are out
there, even the family games that are geared toward family, some of them have
a little bit complexity in the rules.
So how long can some of these strategy games go on? Like, can you continue them every week?
I personally prefer one-off games. There's games that have campaigns,
which is a series of games that you play over time. Okay.
But I like games that you could play within most of the games that I personally
(04:26):
own. I own about 230 games right now. My collection's constantly evolving.
And because I'm a librarian, we like to weed. So I weed my collection.
I get rid of games that I don't really have interest in anymore.
And I often give them away. I usually buy a game and I try to get rid of a game.
So that way I have a medium size.
It's a big collection. But I know people who have thousands of games.
I met someone who had 3,000 games in their collection.
(04:47):
But my limit's like 230, 240.
So I try to pare it down. That's awesome. Amazing. yeah that's
a really incredible resource just for here in terms of purchasing
the games that you can borrow from the library because you've
owned them you know them you've played them you can recommend them
to answer your question though my sweet spot for playing games is like two hours
max otherwise it also depends largely on who you're playing with how old are
(05:09):
the people you're playing with how experienced are they and how much time are
they going to take on their turns are they engaged in the game because if someone's
not paying attention it's going to to make the game draw out a lot longer.
This is every problem with every parent's game night.
Exactly. It has to be immediately engaging. Or I have to immediately be losing
and then the kids are so engaged.
They love just laughing that i'm losing so how did
(05:32):
you start incorporating gaming into the library is that
a common thing that libraries have gaming collections or so
i don't think it's super common i started because when i
got hired to work in teen i was into games and i started to bring my games to
work like we have a video game tournament we're having at the library the kids
were playing the video game tournament playing but the ones who aren't playing
whether they're waiting for their turn if they're eliminated have nothing to
(05:53):
do so i'd bring one of my personal games and i would play with the kids and
they used to actually fight with with me over who got to play.
As far as the collection goes, I decided to start a collection about three years ago.
I went to a big gaming convention called Gen Con, which is held every year in Indianapolis.
And I went to a seminar about starting your own board game collection for the
library. So that kind of gave me some tips and tricks.
I would say there's maybe four or five other libraries in the county that have board games.
(06:17):
And it's a collection that's constantly evolving. And I'm always looking for
suggestions. And didn't you present recently?
Yes, I did present. I'm going to be presenting again this year,
too. I did a presentation about about trivia, because I'm into trivia.
And I also did one called Raising Staff Morale Through Gaming.
Yeah. And listeners, he sure does that. We are very focused on maintaining a
(06:37):
healthy culture and collaborative efforts and all those good things.
And Brian is fantastic with helping us do that by putting together these staff games.
We just did Staff Survivor. It was 15 minutes every week. It did a quick little
challenge and it was so much fun. And it was only 15 minutes.
You take take a break and you have the best time. Yeah, I really enjoy doing
that stuff and incorporating my gaming into the workplace, especially when it
(06:59):
involves like stuff I enjoy, such as the TV show Survivor. Why is gaming good for you?
I think gaming is good for you for a number of different reasons.
The biggest thing for me, and this goes back into my family and gaming in general.
So I visit my parents once a week and I find it important to see them.
I see them every Sunday and I bring a board game and we play two games every week.
Before I played board games, I noticed everyone was just on their phones.
(07:22):
Or they would watch TV and they were just playing on their phones and I'm like, let's play a game.
We can at least sit around the table, look at each other and do an activity
that involves everybody.
So that's kind of how it transformed. It gets you away from your screens,
which I think is the number one reason why I think gaming is great for families.
I also think as adults, it's important for adults to learn new games because
we don't learn stuff as much as we do as we're in school.
(07:44):
You know, kids learn a lot more because they're in school and they're exposed
to new challenges and new things they have to learn every day.
But adults don't really have that as much.
So learning a new game is using a part of your brain that you normally want
to use because you're learning new rules. You're learning a new set.
And plus the games use different types of different parts of your brain,
depending on the type of game. And I know just from, you know,
couple advice is you should be doing new things together because it helps to
(08:07):
bond you. So it's the same thing with your family.
If you're all learning a new game together, you're bonding in that way.
You're figuring it out. You're working as a team.
Oh, it sounds lovely. I'm actually trying to create a family of gamers.
So I know we just touched on some of the benefits of family gaming,
but are there any others that maybe would help push me in the right direction?
(08:28):
And dedicate the time. Listeners know I'm always complaining that there's not enough time.
So how do you make the time and what is the why? Give me some reasons that I
should really make this a focus in my life. I think the main thing is the fact
that it's getting away from the screen.
I mean, I think families sit down, they watch TV together. Why not sit down
and play a game together instead of watching a movie together?
And it's also a very low cost activity.
(08:49):
Going to a movie as a family, how much does that cost? Oh my gosh,
like $100 for a family of four. You buy a board game.
Let's say the game is $30.
You play it 10 times. Look at the return versus seeing one movie,
which is an hour and a half, two hour experience versus a game,
which could be an hour and a half per play.
Do the math and you're coming out much better by playing a game.
(09:11):
And the replay value on most of these games is very high.
Where do you buy a lot of your games? Currently, I use Amazon,
but if you go to Target, I'm very happy every time I go there.
If you look at their board game section, they have the kind of games I like.
Complicated games like Everdell, which you probably haven't heard of.
And they have other games that I have in my collection.
The prices are comparable to Amazon, but the selection is just,
(09:35):
it's amazing what they have.
And if you went there five years ago, you wouldn't find the same kind of games.
That's probably a great activity for a family to do together,
to go to Target, look at the games, pick them out.
Barnes and noble also has them as well but you know any
kind of big box store has you know those kind of games
now and it's just it's it's impressive how much they've gotten out there i
(09:55):
don't think they're completely out there like if i like they you haven't heard
of the game i mentioned everdell right no yeah most of these games have not
become household names i think that have you heard of wingspan yeah okay and
i think it was only because it was mentioned in an article that i was reading
in preparation for this episode that was actually and i think it It was in Better Homes and Gardens,
and that was a game that's about birds, and it's like a very cool game that
(10:18):
has a lot of different mechanisms. It has dice rolling.
It has card collecting. You're collecting different kinds of cards.
It's pretty simple to play.
It's very family-friendly. Beautiful, beautiful artwork.
But one of the most significant things, and this is possibly slightly off-topic,
is that it's designed by a woman, and in the board game industry,
unfortunately, it's very male-dominated.
So this is a woman who was a breakout designer, which I think is pretty cool.
(10:39):
I mean, I have a lot of games. I think maybe I have one or two that are designed
by women or co-designed by women. Most of them are men. And most of them aren't
American either. They're usually from Europe.
So in addition to getting the most bang for your buck, that playability in those
aspects of the game also help things.
This article was on PBS.org called Bringing Back Family Game Night.
It'll be on the resource guide. Don't worry.
Game nights also help children develop their motor skills. So they're holding
(11:02):
their cards. They're rolling dice.
Those kinds of things. They can also help some self-problems.
And also, like we mentioned before, it fosters family bonding.
We also talk a lot about it on this podcast how, you know, we're worried that
kids are getting their social lives on screens.
So creating this love of in-real-life gaming can help them with their social
life outside of the family.
(11:22):
So that's another aspect. So that article is fantastic. So everybody should check that out.
Do you want to talk about maybe the different types of family gaming?
Or maybe in your opinion, like what are some of the best games for families
like with little ones or school age or like different age groups?
So there's so many different types of games out there.
I'm going to highlight probably the most family-friendly games are cooperative games.
(11:43):
And those are games that you're not competing with each other.
You're competing together against a common goal, which is usually the game itself.
And some of the most well-known ones are Pandemic, which came out before the pandemic.
I was going to say, I'm like, that doesn't sound fun. It's actually pretty fun.
Forbidden Island, Forbidden Desert. That sounds like a terrible three months.
(12:05):
I kind of don't love cooperative games personally because I'm a little competitive,
but I think I see the value in them and I think that they're good for family.
I will not play them, but I think that I prefer more score.
Yeah, you have to know your kids. You have to know what their level of competition
and when they start to get grumpy for games.
You know, the competition aspect. But healthy competition is good.
(12:27):
True. Because not everybody can be a winner. Forbidden Desert,
that's a game where you're playing as explorers in the desert,
and there's a shifting sandstorm, and the goal is to find an airship to get you out of the desert.
And you move around on the board, and each person has a special power,
and you're trying to uncover parts of this airship, and they're scattered around.
(12:47):
It's almost like a treasure hunt.
And then once you get all the parts, you have to get out of the desert before you get buried in sand.
Oh, wow. Wow. And what age is that most appropriate for? I would say probably like nine and up. Okay.
I think you could play it with like a middle grade, middle grade kid.
It's not very complicated. It's fun.
You can also, if you don't drink enough, you can die of thirst,
which is very sad. But there's a bunch of ways. Like Gun Trails. A little bit.
(13:10):
There's a bunch of ways you can lose. There's a whole series of Forbidden games.
Forbidden Island is another one. But Forbidden Desert was my favorite. I do like that one.
Or Gun Trails. Oh, yeah. I'm having like library flashbacks to like third grade.
There are several games based on the Oregon Trail. I do not recommend them.
Too depressing. They're not very good. They're just not very well produced.
(13:32):
I'll put it that way. Brian died of dysentery.
What about for littler ones? For littler ones, cooperative, I have to think about that.
But I can recommend a game called Rhino Hero.
Have you heard of Rhino Hero or Super Rhino? You know, it's a dexterity game
and it works just as well with adults as it does kids.
But you're basically building a tower of cards. And there's,
(13:56):
you get a handful of cards and each one have a symbol power.
And it's made by this company called Habba. It's H-A-B-A. And they make very,
very good family friendly games. And I think it's a German company.
But anyway, in this game, you start with a card on the table.
And then you have a set of building, they're building cards and they're folded in half.
And you fold the building card, you put the building card down.
(14:16):
And then you have to put one of your cards on top of it.
And then you have to put another building card and then another card on top
of it. And if a player knocks it over, they lose.
But there's also a couple twists. There's a rhino that's a little wooden figurine.
And if you play a card that has the rhino on it, the player who's turning his
necks has to pick up the rhino from inside the house of cards very carefully
and move him to the next floor. It's very, very tricky.
(14:37):
Oh, that sounds awesome. But it's fun.
That one you could play with probably age five and up because it's very,
very easy to understand. And it's fun. And it has a very... It's like card Jenga.
Pretty much. It has a cool... Rhino Jenga.
It has a very cool visual presence on the table when you play that one.
So like I said, I'm trying to get our family to be a gaming family to get us off the screens.
(15:00):
And I had bought before really knowing much about gaming, I bought a couple
games from Peaceable Kingdom.
And they were really good for like three to five year olds. So it's one called
Counting Chickens, which I believe we have here in the library.
And another one called Feed the Woozle.
So they're both like cooperative games. So there's not really any competition.
Competition but feed the woozle is so cute you get a spoon and you
(15:22):
get this like card that has a disgusting food on
it and you have to put the little round card on the spoon and you have to
spin this little spinner that tells you how
you have to walk so you either have to walk backwards or you have to I think
do a silly dance and you have to get the spoon into the woozle's mouth so it's
like really cute it's like helping your little toddler with balance and all
those things and then I know I also just bought recently from a company called
(15:46):
game right I've bought a couple of them. I know a game, right? Yeah. A game.
I bought two. So one is called Outfoxed. So this is another collaborative game.
It's, there's a fox trying to eat pies and you have to work,
you get all these suspect cards
and you have to work as a family to like collect clues and figure out.
It's kind of like Clue, I guess, but a little more basic than that.
(16:09):
And then I also bought for my older one, I bought a game called Sleeping Queens
and this is like a strategic game.
So So this is like you flip over a card, and it's like you have a magic power.
You have to wake up the queens. I can't really describe it because it's a little
complex, but that was super fun.
So I like their games so far, those two.
So for what that's worth, listeners.
(16:29):
They come in like the Mettleton's, right? I don't think any of these I have
are from Mettleton's, but they've been great.
And they come with a little brochure with all their other games.
Yeah, they're very family-friendly. I definitely recommend GameRite Games.
Yeah. Yeah. Ooh, look at me.
I'm sitting here thinking like, oh, I should have prepared a list of games that
we, I don't know the names of any of them. I just know that we played them and had a good time.
(16:53):
Right. We had a lot of, we like a lot of trivia games and we seem around the
holidays to always kind of either pull out something like a Boulder Dash.
Boulder Dash is fun. Or like Apples to Apples we really like.
There's one about like worst case scenario or like, it's like a survival type game.
Like what would you do in these like survival type situations? Yeah.
The other one it was kind of almost like a getting
(17:15):
to know you it was something that her grandparents had bought
for her and it was kind of like a card game where you're like telling
stories and asking questions and it was kind of like like an interview kind
of story like conversational yeah it was cool interesting yeah my oldest made
a game at school like she came home with a little plastic jar and had all these
(17:36):
slips of paper on it and they had questions on them and it's like a a dinner game.
So you like put the jar on the table and everybody asks a question and it's
like, what could you have done better today?
We're like, what was your, if you could meet anybody in the world.
The psychoanalysis game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some of them are not that deep.
But I guess that just goes to show that games can be. It can be anything.
(17:56):
Anything, right. Yeah, there's thousands and thousands of games out there that
you may have heard of, may not have heard of.
And it's like, it's amazing that then there's thousands that are being produced
every year too that are new.
So there's always, there's something out there for everyone.
And I think that when you're choosing a game for your family,
you need to be considerate about who's the audience, how old are the kids,
and how much do they care about winning or losing.
(18:18):
And a cooperative game might be the right thing if your kids are very competitive.
But it's also good to teach them about being, not being a sore winner or a sore loser. True.
Because I think that's important. I've seen that a lot with teens.
I play with teens who are both sore winners and And so are losers.
Sometimes the same person. It's a delicate balance. Yes, truly.
Are there any games that you could recommend for parents of teens that are listening?
(18:41):
Yeah, we have. If you come to the Carnegie Teen Center, we actually have a nice
game collection, which I helped curate. Those are not circulating games.
They're games you can play in the building.
There's a game called Horrified, which is a cooperative game about the classic
horror movie monsters from like the, you know, the...
1940s and 50s. There's Dracula, there's Frankenstein. You're trying to battle
them and help these villagers escape.
(19:03):
And each monster has their own special power. Another game, which I think is
very fun, if you like a little mean games, if your families can handle a little
nastiness, Survive Escape from Atlantis is a very mean competitive game. What makes it mean?
You're all on an island and the goal is to escape the island.
And the island is sinking. Every turn you turn over a tile and
(19:25):
when you sink it if if another player's piece is on like
their play their little people they're trying to get off is on the tile they get
put into the water and in the water there are sharks and there
are whales and there are also sea monsters and you're
trying to escape on boats but the sea monsters can devour
an entire boat and you're trying to get your people to safety and if
they get eaten then they're taken out of the game you get points based on
(19:45):
how many people you save so it's a mean game in that you can just target people
for no reason i like playing it with
friends and family it's a good way to like get aggression as
long as you don't take it too seriously and you take it too personally yeah don't
take it personally don't take it seriously but it's a fun game fun and
mean at the same time yeah i think that your family has to
have the right vibe for their game they might kind of sense a humor
(20:07):
yeah exactly i love that though
what about do you have any games that are not as mean or horror
so ticket to ride
is a good family game it's for teens it's for families that
was one of the first games i ever played it's a game where you have to build
train routes across the u.s and they also have other countries as
well there's also little mini versions of the game we have i
(20:27):
think several in the library's collection but it's you're collecting
cards and you're trying to collect certain color cards and
you put your trains across the country and you're trying you get points based
on how many trains are in the route and you have secret routes like you're trying
to collect connect from new york to st louis for example it's a cool game and
it's a very good starting point if you're trying to get into strategy games
(20:47):
because it's not too hard to understand and it's a family-friendly game for sure.
So for my family, it's so funny. Now I'm thinking about it, I'm like,
oh, I'm trying to start a family of gamers. I'm like, we have this game,
we play this game, so maybe we already are gamers.
But we like to, when we travel, I like to bring card games with us.
We have a little dice game that's like a little pizza pie and you have to roll the dice.
I don't know, I'm terrible explaining the games. But so are there any card games
(21:11):
or dice games you would recommend that families could take with them on the go?
Taking with them on the go, let's see. I mean, we could it's a Yahtzee.
I do like Yahtzee, even though that's like an old school game that is a small.
The thing about travel games is that you want something that's going to have
a small footprint. You don't want something that's going to take up a lot of space.
I've played games that I played in the airplane on the way to like a trip to
(21:31):
like Florida, for example.
But as far as dice games go and card games, I'm trying to think of one that
I can think of off the top of my head.
I played a game last night actually with a friend and he thought he was going to buy it for,
he has a lot lot of kids he has i think five kids so it's it's called dead man's
drawer oh and it's a pirate themed game and you're playing cards you're trying
(21:52):
to it's a pressure lock game which means that you you're trying to not bust.
So you turn over cards, and they have different suits. There's nine different
suits, and they're very piratey. There's a hawk, there's a sword, there's a mermaid.
And if you turn over two of the same suit, you bust, and your turn is over.
So you have to decide how many cards you're going to turn over.
Are you going to keep going with the risk of getting a double?
(22:14):
And each card has a special power, but the powers are very easy to understand.
And it's definitely interactive. There's a cannon, which allows you to destroy
other people's cards that they've collected.
But that's an excellent game that you could play. on a
vacation on like in a hotel on the table because it's not
very big and it's most card games you can just throw in a bag right
yeah exactly but if you're looking for something that's not
(22:35):
a typical game that most people have heard of there's another game that my parents
and i play this with teens as well called for sale which is an auction game
and you're bidding on different properties and then you're trying to sell them
but it sounds complicated but it's very simple and that's a card game as well
it has very minimal pieces in it too so those are a couple for games I could recommend.
Cool. Yeah, I mean, it seems like there's just something out there for every
(22:57):
interest. I would never even have thought like an auction game.
Right? I love auction games. That's one of my favorite genres. That's a genre of games.
There's a lot of games with auction
elements. Wow. And you said something before. What's Press Your Luck?
Oh, it's Press Your Luck. Oh, Press Your Luck. I'm sorry. I may have said it
weird. No, no, you're good.
(23:17):
That's a whole other series of games too with Press Your Luck where you're trying
to you're kind of like like fighting against yourself, whether should you keep
going with the risk of losing completely.
No whammy, no whammy, no whammy. That's what I was thinking.
Like I just saw that little like cartoon, that devil guy. There's another game
actually I could talk about briefly called Ink and Gold.
And that one's very popular with families as well. You're going through a temple
(23:37):
and you're trying to get these hidden, these gems and there's also artifacts.
And you pull out cards and there's different dangers. Like there's a,
like a mummy and there's also a fire.
And if you get one fire or one mummy, you're safe. But if you get a second mummy,
the entire run is busted and you basically have to go back to the beginning.
So you decide if you want to stay or go. If you keep going, you can get more
(23:59):
and more treasure. But if you leave, you're safe, but you may miss out on treasure.
But you don't know if that card's going to come out that's going to make you
lose. That's what pressure lock is when you decide whether you want to keep
going or you pressure lock and you possibly lose.
Can you set the mummy on fire? No.
But it has very cool little tents that you can You can put the gems in,
and you're supposed to keep your points a secret. Very beautifully produced. Oh, I like that.
(24:22):
Yeah, I like that game a lot. Very cool. We play a very simple card game.
It's called Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese Pizza.
Have either of you ever played this? You have? I have not. Yeah.
So you start at the table. So if there's four people, you go around,
and you say the words in order.
So I would say taco, and the next person would say cat, and the next person
would say goat and cheese.
And you keep going around and around. And every time you say one of the words,
(24:44):
you put a card down, and the cards have pictures of these things on it.
So if the picture matches the word you said, you have to slap the pile.
And then if you slap the pile first, you get the pile. Whoever has the most cards wins.
So it's very simple. A child who doesn't know how to read can definitely play that game.
And it's, you know, we played it on trips and stuff like that.
We've brought it to family gatherings and everybody loves slapping that pile.
(25:08):
That sounds like fun. That one's a fun one. Yeah, it's just very simple and basic.
I actually write a column for the New York Library Association.
It's on gaming. So I kind of go into detail about the different genres of games.
Where can people find that?
I'd have to find out if it's available to the public.
Oh, I was just wondering if it would be available. Yeah, it's in the Nyla voice. Sorry.
I don't think it is. But Brian is here and you could always ask Brian.
(25:31):
Yes. I would definitely encourage anybody who is listening that has an interest
in this topic or is just wondering how to get into gaming or get their family
into gaming, stop by the library.
Talk to Brian at the Carnegie Library or if he's over at the main building or
you can email him if you want to give your email. My email is bschwartz,
B-S-C-H-W-A-R-T-Z, at pmlib.org.
(25:53):
And I do love getting emails, so feel free to email me.
I never met anybody who loves getting emails. I do like emails.
I do like it, I have to say.
How could you say that when at the end of every episode? Oh,
I'm sorry, except from you, listeners.
I would love to get an email from you.
Brian, how can patrons learn more? Are there any resources you recommend for them to check out?
Besides going on YouTube and looking at the Dice Tower, which I mentioned earlier,
(26:17):
there's also boardgamegeek.com which is
a very very comprehensive database of every
board game ever made possibly you type in
the name of the game there's forums that you can ask questions on
the rules because sometimes the rule books as you mentioned earlier are not
made very clear there's video reviews there's the instructions for all the games
which you could find on this website too it's a if you're into games this is
(26:39):
the website you want to be on it actually lets you keep track of your collection
of games so if you want to have a catalog of all your games i I use it to keep
track of what games I have in my collection.
Very, very in-depth. You can rate the games. You can actually log plays of it
to see how many times you've played a certain game. Very detailed information.
I will also add, for those of you that have been listening to us month by month,
you'll have known already about the Toy Association and the Toy Awards.
(27:02):
So there's annual toy awards at toyawards.org. They have a game category that
features top-notch games for all ages and interests.
So they come out with it, like I said, every year. And it's a really helpful
starting point. They had party games and also more involved, like strategic stuff.
If you would like to recommend a game to me, please email me.
(27:23):
And we had a patron actually contact us. They wanted a science game called Cytosis.
We bought it for the collection and they checked it out. So that's available.
There's a lot of educational games out there. And there's games on literally
any topic you could think of, from a game about fashion design to games about
different European countries.
And different thematic things. There's actually a game that was an educational
(27:45):
game called Freedom the Underground Railroad, which was about slavery.
And you're trying to rescue the slaves and bring them to their freedom.
So lots of different games on different themes.
And we're open to buying whatever you'd like for the collection.
So come and suggest it. What a good way to reinforce what your kid is learning in school.
So, you know, if they're learning about slavery in our country,
like what a great way to have that conversation at home. That was our cooperative
(28:07):
game too. It was cooperative.
And you're trying to work together to free the slaves. It was a pretty cool
game. I actually met the designer at my convention, and he did a presentation on the game.
And the company makes educational games in general that are based on certain
topics. They even include lesson plans, which is cool.
Oh, wow. Thank you again, Brian, for joining us today. Thank you so much.
I hope this was helpful to all the families out there that want to learn about gaming.
(28:29):
And if you liked our podcast today, please let your friends and families know. And us.
We would love to hear from you. Despite Jesse's earlier comment about not liking email.
We want to hear from you with your thoughts. We want to know what kind of upcoming
topics you'd like us to cover or just general feedback. How are you doing?
You can email us at podcast at pmlib.org. Please visit our website,
(28:52):
adventuresinparentingpml.podbean.com.
Music.
It's super long, but you can also link to it from the Patrick Winford Library's website.
Just click on the picture of the podcast and you can find resource guides for
today's episodes and all of our previous episodes. if you'd like to dig a little
deeper into any of these topics.
We also can be found on most major podcasting platforms.
So if you listen to us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or any of the other ones,
(29:16):
please subscribe to us and rate us.
Yeah. Five stars. Let us know. You like it, you don't. We want to know.
Exactly. All right. Thanks again, Brian. Thank you for having me.
Music.
Hey, listeners, welcome to another episode of Adventures in Parenting.
I'm Jessi. And I'm Erin. We're librarians.
We're busy moms. And we love podcasts.
Today, we're in Studio E at the Patrick Medford Library with our guest,
Brian Schwartz, head of the Patrick Medford Library's Teen Department and avid gamer.
Welcome, Brian. Welcome. Thank you for having me. Brian is our resident gaming
(00:23):
expert, and he's joining us on the podcast today to discuss the social and cognitive
benefits of board gaming and family gaming.
And he's got some really great game recommendations too.
Before we get started about talking family gaming, can you maybe tell us a little
bit about your background with gaming and what you like to do?
Sure. So I started playing games when I was, video games when I was about five.
(00:43):
My parents got me a Nintendo and I really wanted to marry a brother.
So it kind of snowballed from there.
But as far as board games, I started playing party games, played Monopoly,
Careers, Life. Life. Careers.
Life. Oh my goodness. My kids know it never.
The basic careers I think is
very hard to find these days. I don't even know if they make it anymore.
I don't think it's being made. But I started to host game nights when I moved
(01:05):
out of my parents' house. And I played a lot of party games.
Apples to Apples was my jam. I played some trivia games.
And then after a while, I started to run out of question cards.
And then I started to buy more obscure trivia games, which also ran out of question
cards. cards and gradually I started to realize that these games have limited
play, especially if you have people over on a regular basis.
You can go through the question cards. You're playing a game for an hour and
(01:27):
it has 50 question cards, 100 question cards. You can go through them in a couple of weeks.
So then I started to play strategy games and strategy games are really cool
because they have almost unlimited replayability and they cause you to think
a lot more than party games.
And they're definitely, it's nice to learn something new that you've never done before.
And I feel like with strategy games, you're using different parts of your brain.
Party games are more fun, but I like the strategy games because they make me think more.
(01:49):
What would Uno be? Uno is strategy, actually, a little bit, right? What do you think?
Uno is more like, I guess it has some strategy, but I don't really think Uno
is very strategic. I disagree.
That's a whole other conversation which we could possibly get into, but...
Not a fan of Uno. I actually played a lot of Phase 10. Have you played Phase 10?
Phase 10 is like a Rummy-style game where you have to make runs of certain types
(02:11):
of cards. You have to get a certain amount of pairs. And then it's very competitive.
Phase 10 is a good next level if you're done with Uno and you want to move on
to something a little more complex.
But I still don't think it's a great
game. I love that Erin and I were scandalized that you don't like Uno.
That just shows how basic gamers we are. I'm like, Uno? Yeah.
Maybe I can help open your eyes a little bit after our chat today.
(02:32):
You know what my biggest problem with a lot of these games? I'll buy something
and the instructions are horrible.
We just bought a game for my daughter for the holidays. And she can like write
the rules of the game as you're going.
You use cards and you create the rules. Daughter does that for every game anyway. Exactly.
But I can't understand the instructions. We can't play it.
Yes, I agree with you. So I'm going to help you both out. I have a pro tip that I recommend.
(02:55):
And what I would suggest, very simple. Go on YouTube, type in how to play blank
name of game. And they have videos on every game you could imagine.
And someone's created a video on how to play it. Instead of having to read the
instructions, they have a visual interpretation of it. So you can watch someone
playing it. And that's how I learn my games.
It helps a lot. Do you have any game people that you recommend?
Any reviewers or any channels or anything?
(03:17):
Or just kind of view and see what you like? Learning a game,
for me, especially a complicated game, is a project.
But the first thing I do is, besides reading the rulebook, I like to go on YouTube.
I like the Dice Tower, but there's a lot of other resources out there that are
helpful in learning how to play these.
I've never found a game where there was at least not one video on it,
no matter how obscure it is.
I should have done that. We bought a Jumanji game from a yard sale,
(03:41):
literally from the 90s, and it was so complicated. Was it cursed?
I know. It felt cursed, I'll tell you what. I don't even think we finished playing
it because it was just so convoluted. It was cursed.
You could also, if you don't understand. The rhino runs through the wall.
If you don't understand the rules, there's also the videos of people actually playing the games.
You could watch people playing it and see how they play it. Depends on the game,
(04:03):
though, based on the complexity.
I mean, Uno, I think people can figure out. But some of the games that are out
there, even the family games that are geared toward family, some of them have
a little bit complexity in the rules.
So how long can some of these strategy games go on? Like, can you continue them every week?
I personally prefer one-off games. There's games that have campaigns,
which is a series of games that you play over time. Okay.
But I like games that you could play within most of the games that I personally
(04:26):
own. I own about 230 games right now. My collection's constantly evolving.
And because I'm a librarian, we like to weed. So I weed my collection.
I get rid of games that I don't really have interest in anymore.
And I often give them away. I usually buy a game and I try to get rid of a game.
So that way I have a medium size.
It's a big collection. But I know people who have thousands of games.
I met someone who had 3,000 games in their collection.
(04:47):
But my limit's like 230, 240.
So I try to pare it down. That's awesome. Amazing. yeah that's
a really incredible resource just for here in terms of purchasing
the games that you can borrow from the library because you've
owned them you know them you've played them you can recommend them
to answer your question though my sweet spot for playing games is like two hours
max otherwise it also depends largely on who you're playing with how old are
(05:09):
the people you're playing with how experienced are they and how much time are
they going to take on their turns are they engaged in the game because if someone's
not paying attention it's going to to make the game draw out a lot longer.
This is every problem with every parent's game night.
Exactly. It has to be immediately engaging. Or I have to immediately be losing
and then the kids are so engaged.
They love just laughing that i'm losing so how did
(05:32):
you start incorporating gaming into the library is that
a common thing that libraries have gaming collections or so
i don't think it's super common i started because when i
got hired to work in teen i was into games and i started to bring my games to
work like we have a video game tournament we're having at the library the kids
were playing the video game tournament playing but the ones who aren't playing
whether they're waiting for their turn if they're eliminated have nothing to
(05:53):
do so i'd bring one of my personal games and i would play with the kids and
they used to actually fight with with me over who got to play.
As far as the collection goes, I decided to start a collection about three years ago.
I went to a big gaming convention called Gen Con, which is held every year in Indianapolis.
And I went to a seminar about starting your own board game collection for the
library. So that kind of gave me some tips and tricks.
I would say there's maybe four or five other libraries in the county that have board games.
(06:17):
And it's a collection that's constantly evolving. And I'm always looking for
suggestions. And didn't you present recently?
Yes, I did present. I'm going to be presenting again this year,
too. I did a presentation about about trivia, because I'm into trivia.
And I also did one called Raising Staff Morale Through Gaming.
Yeah. And listeners, he sure does that. We are very focused on maintaining a
(06:37):
healthy culture and collaborative efforts and all those good things.
And Brian is fantastic with helping us do that by putting together these staff games.
We just did Staff Survivor. It was 15 minutes every week. It did a quick little
challenge and it was so much fun. And it was only 15 minutes.
You take take a break and you have the best time. Yeah, I really enjoy doing
that stuff and incorporating my gaming into the workplace, especially when it
(06:59):
involves like stuff I enjoy, such as the TV show Survivor. Why is gaming good for you?
I think gaming is good for you for a number of different reasons.
The biggest thing for me, and this goes back into my family and gaming in general.
So I visit my parents once a week and I find it important to see them.
I see them every Sunday and I bring a board game and we play two games every week.
Before I played board games, I noticed everyone was just on their phones.
(07:22):
Or they would watch TV and they were just playing on their phones and I'm like, let's play a game.
We can at least sit around the table, look at each other and do an activity
that involves everybody.
So that's kind of how it transformed. It gets you away from your screens,
which I think is the number one reason why I think gaming is great for families.
I also think as adults, it's important for adults to learn new games because
we don't learn stuff as much as we do as we're in school.
(07:44):
You know, kids learn a lot more because they're in school and they're exposed
to new challenges and new things they have to learn every day.
But adults don't really have that as much.
So learning a new game is using a part of your brain that you normally want
to use because you're learning new rules. You're learning a new set.
And plus the games use different types of different parts of your brain,
depending on the type of game. And I know just from, you know,
couple advice is you should be doing new things together because it helps to
(08:07):
bond you. So it's the same thing with your family.
If you're all learning a new game together, you're bonding in that way.
You're figuring it out. You're working as a team.
Oh, it sounds lovely. I'm actually trying to create a family of gamers.
So I know we just touched on some of the benefits of family gaming,
but are there any others that maybe would help push me in the right direction?
(08:28):
And dedicate the time. Listeners know I'm always complaining that there's not enough time.
So how do you make the time and what is the why? Give me some reasons that I
should really make this a focus in my life. I think the main thing is the fact
that it's getting away from the screen.
I mean, I think families sit down, they watch TV together. Why not sit down
and play a game together instead of watching a movie together?
And it's also a very low cost activity.
(08:49):
Going to a movie as a family, how much does that cost? Oh my gosh,
like $100 for a family of four. You buy a board game.
Let's say the game is $30.
You play it 10 times. Look at the return versus seeing one movie,
which is an hour and a half, two hour experience versus a game,
which could be an hour and a half per play.
Do the math and you're coming out much better by playing a game.
(09:11):
And the replay value on most of these games is very high.
Where do you buy a lot of your games? Currently, I use Amazon,
but if you go to Target, I'm very happy every time I go there.
If you look at their board game section, they have the kind of games I like.
Complicated games like Everdell, which you probably haven't heard of.
And they have other games that I have in my collection.
The prices are comparable to Amazon, but the selection is just,
(09:35):
it's amazing what they have.
And if you went there five years ago, you wouldn't find the same kind of games.
That's probably a great activity for a family to do together,
to go to Target, look at the games, pick them out.
Barnes and noble also has them as well but you know any
kind of big box store has you know those kind of games
now and it's just it's it's impressive how much they've gotten out there i
(09:55):
don't think they're completely out there like if i like they you haven't heard
of the game i mentioned everdell right no yeah most of these games have not
become household names i think that have you heard of wingspan yeah okay and
i think it was only because it was mentioned in an article that i was reading
in preparation for this episode that was actually and i think it It was in Better Homes and Gardens,
and that was a game that's about birds, and it's like a very cool game that
(10:18):
has a lot of different mechanisms. It has dice rolling.
It has card collecting. You're collecting different kinds of cards.
It's pretty simple to play.
It's very family-friendly. Beautiful, beautiful artwork.
But one of the most significant things, and this is possibly slightly off-topic,
is that it's designed by a woman, and in the board game industry,
unfortunately, it's very male-dominated.
So this is a woman who was a breakout designer, which I think is pretty cool.
(10:39):
I mean, I have a lot of games. I think maybe I have one or two that are designed
by women or co-designed by women. Most of them are men. And most of them aren't
American either. They're usually from Europe.
So in addition to getting the most bang for your buck, that playability in those
aspects of the game also help things.
This article was on PBS.org called Bringing Back Family Game Night.
It'll be on the resource guide. Don't worry.
Game nights also help children develop their motor skills. So they're holding
(11:02):
their cards. They're rolling dice.
Those kinds of things. They can also help some self-problems.
And also, like we mentioned before, it fosters family bonding.
We also talk a lot about it on this podcast how, you know, we're worried that
kids are getting their social lives on screens.
So creating this love of in-real-life gaming can help them with their social
life outside of the family.
(11:22):
So that's another aspect. So that article is fantastic. So everybody should check that out.
Do you want to talk about maybe the different types of family gaming?
Or maybe in your opinion, like what are some of the best games for families
like with little ones or school age or like different age groups?
So there's so many different types of games out there.
I'm going to highlight probably the most family-friendly games are cooperative games.
(11:43):
And those are games that you're not competing with each other.
You're competing together against a common goal, which is usually the game itself.
And some of the most well-known ones are Pandemic, which came out before the pandemic.
I was going to say, I'm like, that doesn't sound fun. It's actually pretty fun.
Forbidden Island, Forbidden Desert. That sounds like a terrible three months.
(12:05):
I kind of don't love cooperative games personally because I'm a little competitive,
but I think I see the value in them and I think that they're good for family.
I will not play them, but I think that I prefer more score.
Yeah, you have to know your kids. You have to know what their level of competition
and when they start to get grumpy for games.
You know, the competition aspect. But healthy competition is good.
(12:27):
True. Because not everybody can be a winner. Forbidden Desert,
that's a game where you're playing as explorers in the desert,
and there's a shifting sandstorm, and the goal is to find an airship to get you out of the desert.
And you move around on the board, and each person has a special power,
and you're trying to uncover parts of this airship, and they're scattered around.
(12:47):
It's almost like a treasure hunt.
And then once you get all the parts, you have to get out of the desert before you get buried in sand.
Oh, wow. Wow. And what age is that most appropriate for? I would say probably like nine and up. Okay.
I think you could play it with like a middle grade, middle grade kid.
It's not very complicated. It's fun.
You can also, if you don't drink enough, you can die of thirst,
which is very sad. But there's a bunch of ways. Like Gun Trails. A little bit.
(13:10):
There's a bunch of ways you can lose. There's a whole series of Forbidden games.
Forbidden Island is another one. But Forbidden Desert was my favorite. I do like that one.
Or Gun Trails. Oh, yeah. I'm having like library flashbacks to like third grade.
There are several games based on the Oregon Trail. I do not recommend them.
Too depressing. They're not very good. They're just not very well produced.
(13:32):
I'll put it that way. Brian died of dysentery.
What about for littler ones? For littler ones, cooperative, I have to think about that.
But I can recommend a game called Rhino Hero.
Have you heard of Rhino Hero or Super Rhino? You know, it's a dexterity game
and it works just as well with adults as it does kids.
But you're basically building a tower of cards. And there's,
(13:56):
you get a handful of cards and each one have a symbol power.
And it's made by this company called Habba. It's H-A-B-A. And they make very,
very good family friendly games. And I think it's a German company.
But anyway, in this game, you start with a card on the table.
And then you have a set of building, they're building cards and they're folded in half.
And you fold the building card, you put the building card down.
(14:16):
And then you have to put one of your cards on top of it.
And then you have to put another building card and then another card on top
of it. And if a player knocks it over, they lose.
But there's also a couple twists. There's a rhino that's a little wooden figurine.
And if you play a card that has the rhino on it, the player who's turning his
necks has to pick up the rhino from inside the house of cards very carefully
and move him to the next floor. It's very, very tricky.
(14:37):
Oh, that sounds awesome. But it's fun.
That one you could play with probably age five and up because it's very,
very easy to understand. And it's fun. And it has a very... It's like card Jenga.
Pretty much. It has a cool... Rhino Jenga.
It has a very cool visual presence on the table when you play that one.
So like I said, I'm trying to get our family to be a gaming family to get us off the screens.
(15:00):
And I had bought before really knowing much about gaming, I bought a couple
games from Peaceable Kingdom.
And they were really good for like three to five year olds. So it's one called
Counting Chickens, which I believe we have here in the library.
And another one called Feed the Woozle.
So they're both like cooperative games. So there's not really any competition.
Competition but feed the woozle is so cute you get a spoon and you
(15:22):
get this like card that has a disgusting food on
it and you have to put the little round card on the spoon and you have to
spin this little spinner that tells you how
you have to walk so you either have to walk backwards or you have to I think
do a silly dance and you have to get the spoon into the woozle's mouth so it's
like really cute it's like helping your little toddler with balance and all
those things and then I know I also just bought recently from a company called
(15:46):
game right I've bought a couple of them. I know a game, right? Yeah. A game.
I bought two. So one is called Outfoxed. So this is another collaborative game.
It's, there's a fox trying to eat pies and you have to work,
you get all these suspect cards
and you have to work as a family to like collect clues and figure out.
It's kind of like Clue, I guess, but a little more basic than that.
(16:09):
And then I also bought for my older one, I bought a game called Sleeping Queens
and this is like a strategic game.
So So this is like you flip over a card, and it's like you have a magic power.
You have to wake up the queens. I can't really describe it because it's a little
complex, but that was super fun.
So I like their games so far, those two.
So for what that's worth, listeners.
(16:29):
They come in like the Mettleton's, right? I don't think any of these I have
are from Mettleton's, but they've been great.
And they come with a little brochure with all their other games.
Yeah, they're very family-friendly. I definitely recommend GameRite Games.
Yeah. Yeah. Ooh, look at me.
I'm sitting here thinking like, oh, I should have prepared a list of games that
we, I don't know the names of any of them. I just know that we played them and had a good time.
(16:53):
Right. We had a lot of, we like a lot of trivia games and we seem around the
holidays to always kind of either pull out something like a Boulder Dash.
Boulder Dash is fun. Or like Apples to Apples we really like.
There's one about like worst case scenario or like, it's like a survival type game.
Like what would you do in these like survival type situations? Yeah.
The other one it was kind of almost like a getting
(17:15):
to know you it was something that her grandparents had bought
for her and it was kind of like a card game where you're like telling
stories and asking questions and it was kind of like like an interview kind
of story like conversational yeah it was cool interesting yeah my oldest made
a game at school like she came home with a little plastic jar and had all these
(17:36):
slips of paper on it and they had questions on them and it's like a a dinner game.
So you like put the jar on the table and everybody asks a question and it's
like, what could you have done better today?
We're like, what was your, if you could meet anybody in the world.
The psychoanalysis game. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Some of them are not that deep.
But I guess that just goes to show that games can be. It can be anything.
(17:56):
Anything, right. Yeah, there's thousands and thousands of games out there that
you may have heard of, may not have heard of.
And it's like, it's amazing that then there's thousands that are being produced
every year too that are new.
So there's always, there's something out there for everyone.
And I think that when you're choosing a game for your family,
you need to be considerate about who's the audience, how old are the kids,
and how much do they care about winning or losing.
(18:18):
And a cooperative game might be the right thing if your kids are very competitive.
But it's also good to teach them about being, not being a sore winner or a sore loser. True.
Because I think that's important. I've seen that a lot with teens.
I play with teens who are both sore winners and And so are losers.
Sometimes the same person. It's a delicate balance. Yes, truly.
Are there any games that you could recommend for parents of teens that are listening?
(18:41):
Yeah, we have. If you come to the Carnegie Teen Center, we actually have a nice
game collection, which I helped curate. Those are not circulating games.
They're games you can play in the building.
There's a game called Horrified, which is a cooperative game about the classic
horror movie monsters from like the, you know, the...
1940s and 50s. There's Dracula, there's Frankenstein. You're trying to battle
them and help these villagers escape.
(19:03):
And each monster has their own special power. Another game, which I think is
very fun, if you like a little mean games, if your families can handle a little
nastiness, Survive Escape from Atlantis is a very mean competitive game. What makes it mean?
You're all on an island and the goal is to escape the island.
And the island is sinking. Every turn you turn over a tile and
(19:25):
when you sink it if if another player's piece is on like
their play their little people they're trying to get off is on the tile they get
put into the water and in the water there are sharks and there
are whales and there are also sea monsters and you're
trying to escape on boats but the sea monsters can devour
an entire boat and you're trying to get your people to safety and if
they get eaten then they're taken out of the game you get points based on
(19:45):
how many people you save so it's a mean game in that you can just target people
for no reason i like playing it with
friends and family it's a good way to like get aggression as
long as you don't take it too seriously and you take it too personally yeah don't
take it personally don't take it seriously but it's a fun game fun and
mean at the same time yeah i think that your family has to
have the right vibe for their game they might kind of sense a humor
(20:07):
yeah exactly i love that though
what about do you have any games that are not as mean or horror
so ticket to ride
is a good family game it's for teens it's for families that
was one of the first games i ever played it's a game where you have to build
train routes across the u.s and they also have other countries as
well there's also little mini versions of the game we have i
(20:27):
think several in the library's collection but it's you're collecting
cards and you're trying to collect certain color cards and
you put your trains across the country and you're trying you get points based
on how many trains are in the route and you have secret routes like you're trying
to collect connect from new york to st louis for example it's a cool game and
it's a very good starting point if you're trying to get into strategy games
(20:47):
because it's not too hard to understand and it's a family-friendly game for sure.
So for my family, it's so funny. Now I'm thinking about it, I'm like,
oh, I'm trying to start a family of gamers. I'm like, we have this game,
we play this game, so maybe we already are gamers.
But we like to, when we travel, I like to bring card games with us.
We have a little dice game that's like a little pizza pie and you have to roll the dice.
I don't know, I'm terrible explaining the games. But so are there any card games
(21:11):
or dice games you would recommend that families could take with them on the go?
Taking with them on the go, let's see. I mean, we could it's a Yahtzee.
I do like Yahtzee, even though that's like an old school game that is a small.
The thing about travel games is that you want something that's going to have
a small footprint. You don't want something that's going to take up a lot of space.
I've played games that I played in the airplane on the way to like a trip to
(21:31):
like Florida, for example.
But as far as dice games go and card games, I'm trying to think of one that
I can think of off the top of my head.
I played a game last night actually with a friend and he thought he was going to buy it for,
he has a lot lot of kids he has i think five kids so it's it's called dead man's
drawer oh and it's a pirate themed game and you're playing cards you're trying
(21:52):
to it's a pressure lock game which means that you you're trying to not bust.
So you turn over cards, and they have different suits. There's nine different
suits, and they're very piratey. There's a hawk, there's a sword, there's a mermaid.
And if you turn over two of the same suit, you bust, and your turn is over.
So you have to decide how many cards you're going to turn over.
Are you going to keep going with the risk of getting a double?
(22:14):
And each card has a special power, but the powers are very easy to understand.
And it's definitely interactive. There's a cannon, which allows you to destroy
other people's cards that they've collected.
But that's an excellent game that you could play. on a
vacation on like in a hotel on the table because it's not
very big and it's most card games you can just throw in a bag right
yeah exactly but if you're looking for something that's not
(22:35):
a typical game that most people have heard of there's another game that my parents
and i play this with teens as well called for sale which is an auction game
and you're bidding on different properties and then you're trying to sell them
but it sounds complicated but it's very simple and that's a card game as well
it has very minimal pieces in it too so those are a couple for games I could recommend.
Cool. Yeah, I mean, it seems like there's just something out there for every
(22:57):
interest. I would never even have thought like an auction game.
Right? I love auction games. That's one of my favorite genres. That's a genre of games.
There's a lot of games with auction
elements. Wow. And you said something before. What's Press Your Luck?
Oh, it's Press Your Luck. Oh, Press Your Luck. I'm sorry. I may have said it
weird. No, no, you're good.
(23:17):
That's a whole other series of games too with Press Your Luck where you're trying
to you're kind of like like fighting against yourself, whether should you keep
going with the risk of losing completely.
No whammy, no whammy, no whammy. That's what I was thinking.
Like I just saw that little like cartoon, that devil guy. There's another game
actually I could talk about briefly called Ink and Gold.
And that one's very popular with families as well. You're going through a temple
(23:37):
and you're trying to get these hidden, these gems and there's also artifacts.
And you pull out cards and there's different dangers. Like there's a,
like a mummy and there's also a fire.
And if you get one fire or one mummy, you're safe. But if you get a second mummy,
the entire run is busted and you basically have to go back to the beginning.
So you decide if you want to stay or go. If you keep going, you can get more
(23:59):
and more treasure. But if you leave, you're safe, but you may miss out on treasure.
But you don't know if that card's going to come out that's going to make you
lose. That's what pressure lock is when you decide whether you want to keep
going or you pressure lock and you possibly lose.
Can you set the mummy on fire? No.
But it has very cool little tents that you can You can put the gems in,
and you're supposed to keep your points a secret. Very beautifully produced. Oh, I like that.
(24:22):
Yeah, I like that game a lot. Very cool. We play a very simple card game.
It's called Taco, Cat, Goat, Cheese Pizza.
Have either of you ever played this? You have? I have not. Yeah.
So you start at the table. So if there's four people, you go around,
and you say the words in order.
So I would say taco, and the next person would say cat, and the next person
would say goat and cheese.
And you keep going around and around. And every time you say one of the words,
(24:44):
you put a card down, and the cards have pictures of these things on it.
So if the picture matches the word you said, you have to slap the pile.
And then if you slap the pile first, you get the pile. Whoever has the most cards wins.
So it's very simple. A child who doesn't know how to read can definitely play that game.
And it's, you know, we played it on trips and stuff like that.
We've brought it to family gatherings and everybody loves slapping that pile.
(25:08):
That sounds like fun. That one's a fun one. Yeah, it's just very simple and basic.
I actually write a column for the New York Library Association.
It's on gaming. So I kind of go into detail about the different genres of games.
Where can people find that?
I'd have to find out if it's available to the public.
Oh, I was just wondering if it would be available. Yeah, it's in the Nyla voice. Sorry.
I don't think it is. But Brian is here and you could always ask Brian.
(25:31):
Yes. I would definitely encourage anybody who is listening that has an interest
in this topic or is just wondering how to get into gaming or get their family
into gaming, stop by the library.
Talk to Brian at the Carnegie Library or if he's over at the main building or
you can email him if you want to give your email. My email is bschwartz,
B-S-C-H-W-A-R-T-Z, at pmlib.org.
(25:53):
And I do love getting emails, so feel free to email me.
I never met anybody who loves getting emails. I do like emails.
I do like it, I have to say.
How could you say that when at the end of every episode? Oh,
I'm sorry, except from you, listeners.
I would love to get an email from you.
Brian, how can patrons learn more? Are there any resources you recommend for them to check out?
Besides going on YouTube and looking at the Dice Tower, which I mentioned earlier,
(26:17):
there's also boardgamegeek.com which is
a very very comprehensive database of every
board game ever made possibly you type in
the name of the game there's forums that you can ask questions on
the rules because sometimes the rule books as you mentioned earlier are not
made very clear there's video reviews there's the instructions for all the games
which you could find on this website too it's a if you're into games this is
(26:39):
the website you want to be on it actually lets you keep track of your collection
of games so if you want to have a catalog of all your games i I use it to keep
track of what games I have in my collection.
Very, very in-depth. You can rate the games. You can actually log plays of it
to see how many times you've played a certain game. Very detailed information.
I will also add, for those of you that have been listening to us month by month,
you'll have known already about the Toy Association and the Toy Awards.
(27:02):
So there's annual toy awards at toyawards.org. They have a game category that
features top-notch games for all ages and interests.
So they come out with it, like I said, every year. And it's a really helpful
starting point. They had party games and also more involved, like strategic stuff.
If you would like to recommend a game to me, please email me.
(27:23):
And we had a patron actually contact us. They wanted a science game called Cytosis.
We bought it for the collection and they checked it out. So that's available.
There's a lot of educational games out there. And there's games on literally
any topic you could think of, from a game about fashion design to games about
different European countries.
And different thematic things. There's actually a game that was an educational
(27:45):
game called Freedom the Underground Railroad, which was about slavery.
And you're trying to rescue the slaves and bring them to their freedom.
So lots of different games on different themes.
And we're open to buying whatever you'd like for the collection.
So come and suggest it. What a good way to reinforce what your kid is learning in school.
So, you know, if they're learning about slavery in our country,
like what a great way to have that conversation at home. That was our cooperative
(28:07):
game too. It was cooperative.
And you're trying to work together to free the slaves. It was a pretty cool
game. I actually met the designer at my convention, and he did a presentation on the game.
And the company makes educational games in general that are based on certain
topics. They even include lesson plans, which is cool.
Oh, wow. Thank you again, Brian, for joining us today. Thank you so much.
I hope this was helpful to all the families out there that want to learn about gaming.
(28:29):
And if you liked our podcast today, please let your friends and families know. And us.
We would love to hear from you. Despite Jesse's earlier comment about not liking email.
We want to hear from you with your thoughts. We want to know what kind of upcoming
topics you'd like us to cover or just general feedback. How are you doing?
You can email us at podcast at pmlib.org. Please visit our website,
(28:52):
adventuresinparentingpml.podbean.com.
Music.
It's super long, but you can also link to it from the Patrick Winford Library's website.
Just click on the picture of the podcast and you can find resource guides for
today's episodes and all of our previous episodes. if you'd like to dig a little
deeper into any of these topics.
We also can be found on most major podcasting platforms.
So if you listen to us on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or any of the other ones,
(29:16):
please subscribe to us and rate us.
Yeah. Five stars. Let us know. You like it, you don't. We want to know.
Exactly. All right. Thanks again, Brian. Thank you for having me.
Music.
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