Game Nights At Home – The New York Times

Monopoly takes forever. Candy Land is dull, Chutes and Ladders preachy, the Game of Life troubling in its implications. So even as parents scramble for offscreen entertainment over the holidays, the prospect of a family game night may drive them to despair.

Some good news: We are living through a 24-karat golden age of tabletop games, an amusement Renaissance that sees thousands of board games published every year, in a dizzying array of story, strategy and design. How to pick a game that will delight the youngest players without boring older ones silly?

“You need a game that’s going to appeal to everybody. And that’s not easy,” said Erik Arneson, the author of “How to Host a Game Night.” But it’s not impossible, either. Most children tend to pick up games pretty quickly. Starting with basic versions can prepare them for more complicated ones. At first, set the bar for entertainment low: Everyone plays, no one cries. Then work up to something more absorbing.

If your group includes sore losers and bad winners, try cooperative games, in which everyone plays against the game itself. Or opt for team-based play, in which stronger players can help weaker ones. Games with an element of randomness can help, the game designer Nick Fortugno suggested. “A game that has a lot of card draws from a deck or a lot of dice rolls tends to be a little more forgiving,” he said, because a win rests on luck rather than skill.

Here are a few suggestions, encompassing a variety of approaches and mechanics, to get the dice rolling:

ICECOOL

A game straightforward enough for the kindergarten-set that will keep adults immersed, too, ICECOOL casts players as class-cutting penguins. Players take turns flicking bobble-headed pieces around the board, trying to catch fish, while a no-fun hall monitor tries to catch them. “It’s a game of manual dexterity and muscle memory,” said Jon Freeman, the owner of the Brooklyn Strategist, a game shop and after-school program. “And who doesn’t like flicking penguins?”

In this cooperative game, with exquisite design and a climate-change underpinning, players race against the game, saving precious artifacts as an island sinks into the sea. Will you make it to your helicopter in time? “It’s very exciting,” Mr. Arneson said. Play isn’t too complicated and players can help one another as they race against the water level. Another plus: You can rig the game for harder or easier play. If you can’t stop saving artifacts, its maker has also released Forbidden Desert and Forbidden Sky.

Legacy games are games that transform as you play them, adding new rules and variations depending on your record of wins and losses. A terrific example is this cooperative game, in which students try to safeguard their school from marauding zombie teachers. The graphics are cheeky, the strategy simple and fiendish and it’s exhilarating to tear into the game’s envelopes and discover new rules. Older children and adults with stronger stomachs can try the best-selling legacy game, Pandemic Legacy.

Families that love puzzle-solving and code-cracking will enjoy the Exit series, though they may want options on the easier end of the spectrum like The Mysterious Museum or The House of Riddles. A downside: There’s no replay value as you will destroy certain components during play. Families with younger children might try the Charlotte Holmes Adventure Box, a delightful puzzle box with accompanying videos, games and a tutorial for morris dancing.