droolicious : 7 days of indoor toys

Mancala: The World's Oldest Game?

Sarah Verdone — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 15:41:00 GMT

Mancala was my first choice for our indoor toys series, but the pieces are often shiny, throat-sized pebbles. So be forewarned... Mancala is actually a family of strategy games - played for thousands of years throughout Africa and Asia. Ancient Egyptians were entombed with boards so they could play in the afterlife. Also known as Bao, Aware, Omweso and dozens of other names, mancalas have lots of different boards and rules, but in the U.S. you'll usually see a variation of the board above. You play by picking up and transferring the stones from hole to hole (mancala means "to transfer" in Arabic).

You can make your own mancala board with an egg carton and pebbles, seeds or paperclips. And there are lots of versions on amazon for $7.99 and up. My kids started playing it when they were around 4, and they'll probably still be playing it in the afterlife.

And On the 7th Day... Wedgit!

Sarah Verdone — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 13:28:00 GMT

Not only do I like Wedgits, I like cleaning them up. No, really. I start tidying and I can't help trying some new configuration. In fact, I dare you not to play with these things. I first saw them at my daughter's preschool, so I knew they had all the right moves "learning toys" have. But even my twelve year old and her friends fool around with them.

Most sets are primary colors, but the translucent deluxe set (above) lets you build double wide and crystal clear ($35.99). There are also shades of pinks or purples (a ploy to make building stuff appeal more feminine?) for $19.99. Plus, they've got softer, squeezy sets for babies and all kinds of expansion sets and challenge cards for older kids. Why build it when you can Wedgit?

7 Days of Indoor Toys: Cranium Hullabaloo

Chris Ford — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 13:03:00 GMT

My kids are 3 1/2 and 1 1/2, and finding a game that we can all play together has been a challenge. If my eldest is enjoying it then my youngest invariably wants to be a part of what's going on too - which usually ends up destroying the game itself (every try playing dominoes with a one year old?). Cranium Hullabaloo is the first game we've played that everyone has fun with.

The game itself is very simple. There are "play pads" that you place all around an open floor space (each pad with unique picture and color) and a "talking audio console" that gives directions when you turn it on. It's kind of like a cross between Twister and simon says, telling you to do things like touch a certain color or shape or do a funny dance. Eventually the game will ask if anyone is on a particular pad, and if you are then that person is the winner.

It's great because it's funny, not particularly competitive, and it's hard to mess up if you're playing it. My eldest loves to play it, and her younger sister loves to run around pretending to do the things her sister is doing. Also, there are no turns to take or pieces to loose, which makes it hard not to love this game.

Cranium Hullabaloo, $19.99 from Amazon

7 Days of Indoor Toys: Balderdash

Erin Behan — Wed, 23 Jan 2008 15:47:00 GMT

Balderdash ($22.89 at Target online) has been a Behan family favorite for as long as I can remember. While it's a word game that rewards creativity, a large vocabulary isn't necessary to play, only a wild imagination and decent guessing/bluffing skills. The box says ages 12 and up, but as long as your kid has a good grasp on writing, she should be able to play. The gist is this: All the players are read a seemingly impossible to define word that's not used in everyday language; each player then makes up a ridiculous but semi-plausible definition; the round's leader (dasher) reads them all; and players get points for guessing correctly or for having their incorrect defitinition guessed. It may sound dry, but I guarantee you, before long someone will be in danger of laughing so hard they pee their pants.

Bonus: Do you know what balderdash means?

-noun// senseless, stupid, or exaggerated talk or writing; nonsense.

7 Days of Indoor Toys: Battleground: Crossbows and Catapults

Aaron Burgess — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 15:02:00 GMT

Besides reissued G.I. Joe action figures, there was one other revived '80s plaything that found my kids and me bonding in geekdom over the recent holidays. The latest incarnation of Battleground: Crossbows and Catapults ($40 for the starter War Chest) turns your living-room floor into a Lord Of The Rings-style battlefield, and unlike the flimsier version many of us played as kids, it also packs stronger plastic armaments and better-detailed figures.

Choose to play as either knights or orcs; set up your castle, soldiers, flags and walls; and load your rubber-band-powered crossbows, catapults and cannons with battle discs. There's actually a good bit of strategy involved, and in my family, our 7-year-old had little trouble grasping the basic rules (although, being 7, he delights more in breaking them). His brother, 4, has also enjoyed getting into the action (as has Mom), and no matter what your tolerance for rules or geekiness, the game offers a ton of leeway in making things up as you go along.

The War Chest (pictured) includes 80 pieces, and a variety of additional sets let you add bigger and badder weapons to your arsenal. For those parents who are concerned about violence, the game's core principles -- taking turns; strategizing; and understanding basics of physics, force and aim -- are designed more to teach patience and improve fine-motor skills than to encourage fighting. I mean, I played the thing endlessly as a kid, and I turned out OK...

7 Days of Indoor Toys: Portable Ping-Pong

Erin Behan — Mon, 21 Jan 2008 14:55:00 GMT

I played a lot of games at my grandparent's house, but none that I enjoyed more than ping-pong. Kids can play ping-pong for hours--trust me, I did. And although the paddles can produce welts, the balls are harmless, so one out of two isn't bad in the safety department. Of course the main problem with ping-pong is space. And so I give three options for the space-confined parents who would like to teach their children the joys of ping pong. The first is the portable mini ping-pong table ($99 on sale) at Amazon. Smaller and less satisfying than a real table tennis table, sure, but at a fraction of the price, and with two paddles, a net, a ball and an amazingly small storage size, you really can't go wrong.

But, you may live in an apartment like mine, in which case there is no room for another table. Thankfully, there is another option that utilizes available table space. The Top Spin table tennis kit includes three net segments, two net stands, two net connectors, two paddles, and a bag for storage/travel. The foam pieces will protect sensitive furniture. The low price ($25) will pad your wallet.

And, finally, for the true professional who only wants to give her children the best in ping-pong, there's the Joola indoor-outdoor tennis table for just $799. This waterproof baby has an aluminum table top and includes a net. It does fold ... but truth be told, if you're buying this table, you've got a basement or a rec room just crying out for a large child-friendly game.

7 Days of Indoor Games ...

Erin Behan — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 13:31:00 GMT

... starts on Monday. Yep, next week we're going to be featuring a whole week's worth of games that you can play with your kids (inside). Some of them will be Droolicious blogger favorites. Others will come from readers. So if you've got an indoor game that's always a winner, send it on over. It just might make our list!