Jennefer@SSA Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 I did some board searches this morning because I wanted to add one more strategy game to our collection. We currently own and play chess, checkers, Othello and Blockus. Settlers of Catan came up time and again. I went to the site and it looks amazing! Is there one game that's a good starter game? We will be studying ancients again next year so I was looking at the Struggle for Rome version but wanted to check here with moms who have experience to see if this would be a good place to start. Any other tips, ideas or suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wyndie Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twoforjoy Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 How funny you ask this. DH wanted to get DS Settlers of Catan for his birthday, so he just got it this week. We played for the first time last night. We got the basic game (but not the kids' version). DS, who's 7, did really well with it. DH read the rule book and I watched the online tutorial ahead of time, and then DS just caught on as we played. We told him it was just going to be a practice game because we thought it would take him longer to get it, but he got it pretty quickly, and really enjoyed it. Five might be a bit young for the game, because it's very long (it took us about an hour and a half to finish) and slightly complicated. But I think it would work for most 7 year olds and definitely for a 10 year old. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 My just turned 6 year old did fine after watching the tutorial linked in this thread, post #2. http://www.welltrainedmind.com/forums/showthread.php?t=261221 We had fun playing, we just got it recently and have played it a few times now. He is good at math and strategy, I'm not sure if my daughter would have been able to play at 6 or not. We got the original. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 We have Settlers of Catan (basic game), Cities & Knights expansion, Seafarers expansion, Struggle for Rome, and Candamir. My 5yo has played none of them, but he might be about ready to try Candamir. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 My 6 year old has been playing Catan for some time without too much problem. She loves the pieces. Great game! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 We got the regular game at Christmas and our 7 year old did well with and hung through the whole thing. He enjoys it, as we all do, but I'm not sure about a 5 year old. I think it depends on the child. One thing you might do is have a parent "team up" with the youngest until that child gets the hang of it. We are thinking of getting the 5-6 player expansion pack just so we have a bigger board and might could increase the number of points we work to or something. I have wondered about the Rome game because we'll be doing Ancients next year, too. I'm all :bigear: about that one! We have created our own versions of the rules. One thing we do is give out resources for both settlements you start with instead of just one. Another is if you roll a number that no one is built on, you can roll again. Both have cut down on the time a little. We created a 2-player version where you start by putting down 3 settlements and go to 12 points instead of 10. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jennefer@SSA Posted May 15, 2011 Author Share Posted May 15, 2011 Thanks everyone. It sounds like I might need to start off with the original one and see how they do before purchasing the Rome version. Hmmm... Anyone else have any experience with Struggle for Rome and its level of difficulty for my boys' ages (taking out the 5yo or having him be my partner). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Virg Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 :lurk5: I was wondering the same! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Satori Posted May 15, 2011 Share Posted May 15, 2011 We finally played Settlers of Catan today, and the whole family loved it! My husband especially loves these types of games. Our six year old daughter kicked our butts, although toward the end, she was losing interest. She kept getting tons of resources (more sheep again??) and giggle crazily. Hehe. The two tutorials that ElizabethB linked to in her post were very helpful. Glad we started with the base game - Settlers of Catan, but we're looking forward to trying out some expansions. It's only the three of us though, but I have big family who are also into Settlers when we go visit them for the holidays. We're also psyched that they have online games available! My husband travels a lot, so we can all stay in touch and have fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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