Board games and traditional games

There are many different types and styles of board games. Their representation of a real life situation can range from having no inherent theme, such as Checkers, to having a specific theme and narrative, such as Cluedo. Classic board games including Guess Who, Cluedo, Boggle, Battleship, Monoploy, Risk and Diplomacy go back many years. Traditional games are great retro entertainment for both kids and adults. New games include Pokemon Call of Legends and Black and White, Trivial Pursuit and for the little ones, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Gruffalo and Maisy will keep them amused for hours and hours.

Scrabble has been once of the best selling games worldwide and is sold in over one hundred games - based on the simple premise of creating words with only seven tiles. Scrabble is present in one-in-three households. As children get older they can create longer and more challenging words and the fun of trying to beat your friends and parents never diminishes. Help the younger ones out by multiplying their score to make the game more challenging or allow them too use the games multipliers and at the same time not allowing the adults to score any bonuses.

Backgammon is one of the oldest board games dating back some five thousand years but with a simple premise - get all your pieces removed before your opponent. Although luck does play some part, the skill comes in with tatical blocking play and the use of the doubling-die. Chess is not quite as old but is a much more complicated game then backgammon. Because there is no random element, such as dice, it is a pure test of intelligence and strategy. Top players constantly planning some ten or fifteen moves ahead. Teaching your child chess provides them useful life-enhancing strategies for anticipating future situations and planning accordingly.

Traditional wooden games like Shut The Box and dominoes are making quite a revival and are now competing directly with the newer games like Risk, Trivial Pursuit and Cranium.