Have Fun with Your Kids! A Roundup of Board Games Recommended for Parents and Children

Gobblet Gobblers

[Board Game] Super excited for the evolved Tic-Tac-Toe! [Gobblet Gobblers]

Gobblet Gobblers is a board game that’s like a 3×3 tic-tac-toe turned into a 3D version where players place O’s and X’s.

The basic rules are the same as tic-tac-toe: you win by claiming any one row.

However, in this game the pieces, called Gobblers, come in three sizes—large, medium, and small—so a larger piece can cover a smaller one, even flipping a spot you claimed into your opponent’s.

You place pieces while keeping an eye on how many pieces of each size both you and your opponent still have.

As your supply runs low, you’ll need to reuse pieces by lifting ones that were covering others, which can dramatically change the board state! It takes more thinking than playing on paper, but it’s a tic-tac-toe-style game that kids can enjoy too.

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SAKI

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Mancala: Kalah

Mancala: Kalah How-to-Play Video

Keep moving colorful stones in Mancala Kalah.

The rules are simple: the winner is whoever clears all the stones from their own side! At the start, place four stones in each of the six pockets on both your side and your opponent’s.

On your turn, take all the stones from one pocket and drop them one by one into the pockets counterclockwise.

If you finish placing stones in either your own or your opponent’s regular pocket, it becomes the opponent’s turn.

If you finish in the slightly larger pocket called the “goal,” you get another turn.

Your goal is the larger pocket on your left, and you keep gathering stones toward it.

It may look tricky at first, but kids enjoy handling the cute stones, and the strategic thinking makes it great for learning, too!

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Ride a crocodile?

[Board Game Introduction] Ride the Crocodile? [Rules Explanation & Gameplay Video]

“Ride the Crocodile?” is especially recommended for animal-loving kids: you stack various animals on top of a crocodile.

The rules are simple—roll the die and place that many of your animals onto the crocodile.

However, the die has faces other than numbers.

If you roll the crocodile, you don’t place animals on top; instead, you attach them to the crocodile to widen the base.

If you roll a hand, you pass your pieces to another player and have them place them for you.

If you roll a speech bubble, another player chooses which of your pieces you must place.

If the stack collapses while building, you take two of the fallen pieces as your own.

The first player to get rid of all their pieces wins!

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Machi Koro

Machi Koro Rules and How to Play (Watch and Play Right Away)

Machikoro is a game where you keep growing your own city.

Building a city might sound difficult, but the process is simple—you roll dice, pay money, and build—so even kids can enjoy it! The player who first builds a Train Station, Shopping Mall, Amusement Park, and Radio Tower in their city wins.

Place 10 types of establishment cards in the center; when you roll the dice, you activate the effects of the cards whose numbers match your roll.

Then, using the money you earn from those effects, you construct new establishments.

Bit by bit, you earn income and expand your city.

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Raft Zoo

Board Game Introduction: 'Raft Zoo / Zoowaboo' at Sugorokuya

Here’s a game that calls to mind Noah’s Ark.

You’ll predict whether all the animals on the table can fit into the raft.

If everyone answers YES, add one more animal and have everyone predict again.

If even one person answers NO, then all the YES players try to pack all the animals on the table into the raft within the time limit.

If they fit, the YES players earn a bonus; if they don’t, the NO players do.

Play six rounds, and the player with the highest total score wins.

Some animal shapes are easier to fit than others, so look closely before you decide.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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chicken tail

At-Home Board Game #4: 'Chicken Tail'

Here’s a cute game that uses chicken-shaped pieces.

The gameplay is similar to Concentration (Memory), so children should be able to pick it up quickly.

First, arrange the egg-shaped cards in a circle.

Then, place the octagonal cards face down inside the circle.

Put the chicken pieces on the circular cards, and if you flip over an octagonal card whose picture matches the one on the card in front of your piece, you can move forward one space.

If you manage to overtake the chicken in front of you, you get that chicken’s tail, and the player who collects all the chickens’ tails wins.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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Mojipittan

[At-Home Play] Let’s play “Mojipittan,” a card game where you connect characters to form words!

This is a game where you combine letters to form words and fill all the squares.

In this game, when you create a word, its meaning is displayed.

It offers a great learning opportunity for young children who may know the word but not its meaning.

You can also use trendy, recently popular words.

There’s an online versus mode, so two people can play against each other anytime.

It’s even said that, based on the words you’ve created in the past, the game can analyze and diagnose the player’s personality.

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Hirakawa Masako (Bōkarisuto: Sakata Mizumako)

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