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If you’re a board-game-loving family (or want to be one), today we’ll talk about family games that tie into American History, as well as a few other games just for fun. The holidays are approaching and games make great gifts!
SLOCA parent Johannes Haar helped us out with this list. He is a board game enthusiast with quite a collection, and was happy to recommend some of his favorites. (Thank you, Johannes!) We’ve also added a few others that we’ve heard about, which you’ll see in italics:
Good US History games with historical tools:
Lewis & Clark: The Expedition [ 1-5 players, ages: 12+, playing time: 120 minutes ] – Better history, tougher game play – members of the expedition race against each other to make it to the Pacific first. Unbelievable amount of historical facts included in the game (available in our SLOCA library to check out to play).
Discoveries: The Journals of Lewis & Clark [ 2-4 players, ages: 10+, playing time: 60 minutes ] – Less history, easier game play. Goal is to discover new Indian tribes, new animals, and new plants.
Battle Cry (150th Civil War Anniversary Edition) [ 2 players, ages: 10+, playing time: 45 minutes ] – Give orders and move Union and Rebel troops in historical battles of the Civil War. Some reviewers note that this rather simple game actually gave quite realistic recreations of actual battles of the Civil War.
Games with US History backgrounds that I have heard good things about but have not played:
Founding Fathers [ 3-5 players, ages: 12+, playing time: 90 minutes ] – Lots of history, lots of reviews recommending this for teaching US History.
1960: Making of the President [ 2 players, ages: 14+, playing time: 90 minutes ] – Lots of great reviews, but expensive.
Tammany Hall [ 3-5 players, ages: 14+, playing time: 90 minutes ] – Power and corruption in NYC in the 1850's – warning: from what I understand the players are encouraged to make then break alliances amongst themselves.
And a few more we found that might be worth looking into:
Professor Noggin’s History of the United States card game [ 2 or more players, ages: 7+, playing time: not specified ] – Questions in the form of trivia, true/false, and multiple choice, both easy and hard levels of questions to keep multiple ages challenged. Also in this series:
Professor Noggin’s American Revolution card game
Professor Noggin’s The Fifty States card game
Professor Noggin’s Civil War card game
Way Back When in History [ 2-8 players, ages: not specified, playing time: 30 minutes ] – This is more trivia-based than history, but could be a lighter way to have fun with the subject. Players answer questions while traveling through five time periods in early America: Explorers, 13 Colonies, American Revolution, Constitution and the Civil War.
American Trivia Family Edition [ 2-8 players, ages: 9+, playing time: not specified ] – Make your way across the gameboard map to the West Coast by answering trivia questions about America. Cards have two sides – one side with junior level questions in 3 categories (geography, history, general), and the other side has expert level questions, in 4 categories (geography, history, arts, and general). This game is also more of a trivia game, less educational.
Catan Histories: Settlers of America Trails to Rails [ 3-4 players, ages: 10+, playing time: up to 2 hours ] – For Catan fans, here’s an American history version that focuses on the 19th century’s westward expansion and frontier life.
Good games with themes that can be tied to US History:
Ticket to Ride [ 2-5 players, ages: 8+, playing time: 30-60 minutes ] – Can be combined for discussing Westward expansion and the roll of trains in politics, information, treatment of Native Americans, buffalo, etc.
Tiny Epic Western [ 1-4 players, ages: 12+, playing time: 45 minutes ] – Discussion of Western towns and perhaps even Gold Rush era. It does include gunfights yet people don't die but are simply knocked down.
Bootleggers [ 3-6 players, ages: 14+, playing time: 120 minutes ] – Good thinking game but beware, this game DOES deal with themes of organized crime, alcohol, and speakeasies during the Prohibition.
And here are a few additional games we've added:
Postcards from America [ 2-4 players, ages: 7+, playing time: not specified ] – This is more geography than history, but easy for young kids to learn. Players learn geography by traveling to cities and other locations based on actual postcards.
The Scrambled States of America [ 2-4 players, ages: 8+, playing time: 20 minutes ] – This game primarily teaches trivia and introductory facts about the states, but is a fast-paced, fun game for kids.
Sequence States and Capitals [ 2-6 players, ages: 7+, playing time: 15 minutes ] – Test your knowledge of the states and their capitals in this version of the Sequence game. Each card has the name of a capital with it's location shown on the state. Players match the state's shape and color on the card to the same state’s shape and color on the board, then place your chip on that space. Five chips in a row wins!
DestiNation USA [ 2-5 players, ages: 8+, playing time: 30 minutes ] – Important landmarks, historical sites and capital cities are encountered as players drive their token cars around the continental United States, earning points along the way.
The Presidential [ 2-6 players, ages: 11+, playing time: 45 minutes ] – A political board game that takes players inside the world of the Electoral College process as teams compete for the presidency. This seems to be more of a luck based game with little strategy involved, but it could still be a learning experience.
Now to even more fun options. Here are Johannes's recommended games for families for pure entertainment and laughs. All are easy to learn and play fairly quickly:
Codenames – Cheap and great, really great – can actually play with crowds. Give one word clues to have others pick out words on cards.
Dixit – Weird & wild art pieces with clues – better than Apples to Apples.
Escape: The Curse of the Temple – You are working together frantically rolling dice without stop to get out of the temple with your treasure before time runs out – crazy fun stressful!
Tsuro – Relaxing, graceful game of flying dragons.
Get Bit – Actually, don't…
Jamaica – Pirate vs. pirate racing game.
Takenoko – Cute game moving around a panda to eat the right color bamboo. More than meets the eye.
Wits & Wagers Party – Fun trivia questions for people who are not good at trivia. You try to answer difficult trivia questions and then get to bet poker chips on everyone's answers.
Telestrations: 12 Player Party Pack – Yep, get the party pack…more is better.
Martian Dice – How could you not enjoy being the Martians trying to beam up cows and chickens and people? All in the name of Martian scientific exploration, of course….quick & easy dice game.
Blueprints – Rather brilliant little game. Why didn't someone think of this many years ago?
As we mentioned above, did you know that our SLOCA library has board games? We have Lewis and Clark, Ticket to Ride, and Dixit (along with many others) available to play in the library – OR you can even check them out and take them home for a week at a time.
Also, be sure to come to the Holiday Faire in the school store to see what games we have available for purchase.
Have a blast playing games together this holiday season!
