Operation: Game Night

OGN Ep 7: Andromeda's Edge and Gaming with Kids

Join us on the latest episode of the Operation Game Night Podcast as we compare "Dwellings of Eldervale" with its refined successor, "Andromeda’s Edge." You’ll hear all about the upgraded mechanics, enhanced worker placements, and the dazzling production quality that elevate the experience. Plus, hear about Jareds recent eBay score with "Quacks of Quedlinburg" and how "That’s So Clover" became the life of the party.

Ever wondered what board games captivate the imaginations of kids today? Special guests Mason and Isaac, aged nearly 8 and 6, share their top picks, from "Marvel United" to "Ticket to Ride Jr." These young gamers offer fresh perspectives on the cooperative and action-packed elements that make these games their favorites. We also discuss the challenges and joys of gaming with children, highlighting the incredible life lessons that come from these shared experiences.

To wrap things up, we explore perfect board games for young kids, from HABA’s "My First Orchard" to "Magic Mountain." Whether you’re looking to introduce toddlers to the world of board gaming or seeking more complex games for older children, we’ve got you covered. And if you're in the mood for a gripping TV series, don’t miss our recommendation of "The Perfect Couple" on Netflix. Tune in for a lively episode packed with family-friendly tips, game reviews, and a dash of TV magic!

We want to hear from our listeners! Send us a text with recommendations, weigh in on discussions, or just say hi!

Speaker 1:

I've seen him on an airdyne before. He might cause tornadoes on that damn thing.

Speaker 2:

I'm a notorious birthday money guy. I'll keep spending that birthday money.

Speaker 1:

Puny minds. Should we get these kids up in here?

Speaker 2:

Travis is going to hate us after this. He's going to fire us after this. Welcome to the Operation Game Night Podcast, where the mission objective is to play more fort games. Put your battle rattle on and mount up. Let's start the show.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to the Operation Game Night podcast. Everybody, this might not be the voice that you're used to hearing, but it's one of them With me today on the podcast, the one, the only the one, that's looking like he's ready to hit a home run. It's Clay Gable.

Speaker 2:

What's up, Jared? What it do.

Speaker 1:

You got that backwards cap. You got that athletic shirt on. You're looking like maybe you got a pump in. I don't know.

Speaker 2:

I always get my pumps in Jared.

Speaker 1:

If there's anything that I know about Clay, he is dedicated to three things. Let me just say them real quick Family right, board games and getting that workout in that dude. I've seen him on an airdyne before. He might cause tornadoes on that damn thing. So, oh man, you're too I think the TV and couch fits in there somewhere too, but I think it might be part of some of them but yeah, yeah, I definitely am a TV guy, but, yeah, you, you not always in that order, but those are some of my priorities.

Speaker 2:

Shout out to our leader, our host with the most Travis. You guys will miss. Travis Smith. You will miss his smooth, radio-ready voice tonight because he's you know what.

Speaker 1:

Go ahead. I was going to say he's probably awake right now. He's got a beautiful little baby girl that just came to this world over there in Germany. I'm sure he's up at all hours of the night, like we were with our little ones Clay, maybe a little bit more than some. He's got two of them.

Speaker 2:

So double the trouble. I did my time.

Speaker 1:

I can only imagine.

Speaker 2:

In honor of his entry into parenthood. The main topic for this evening is going to be about gaming with children, so definitely excited to talk about that but before we get into it, we're going to jump into our plays for the week, as always.

Speaker 1:

So, jerry or plays and procurements. Guys, it happened. I did a thing, it's, it's right. I I got on ebay okay, ebay of all places it's. It's got some pretty good games out there, a lot of new ones and, um, I bought myself a used quacks of quitlingbergburg, quittlingburg.

Speaker 2:

Quittlingburg. I think you did a great job with that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, okay, I actually got it in the mail today. It was awesome Used game. It was only $20. All right, I saved myself some money. Well, I mean, I had to pay for shipping too, but whoever had this before me took really good care of it. The cards are sleeved. It's got little 3D printed protectors for the ingredients in the bags. Everything's super clean. I'm going to give this person a five out of five stars. For sure. I should have. You know, I don't know if they were like a wholesaler or something like that, maybe not. I don't know if they were a wholesaler or something like that, maybe not, I don't know. They did a great job. I am very excited to get this one to the table. Anybody in Alabama, if they want to hit up the old quacks, let me know. Let's put this thing to the table.

Speaker 2:

I can't wait to hear what you think of it when you finally get in there and start pushing your luck pulling those chips out of those bags. And I am so jealous that you got just handed to you those delightful little ingredient cases that's going to make it so nice, oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

But I did also have a play. Okay, I got that's so Clover out on the table. Went over to Randy's place this weekend. People were there. We watched the Browns game, had some grilled cheese sandwiches, played some that's so Clover have we talked about. That's so.

Speaker 2:

Clover no, why don't you give our listener a helpful understanding of what you're doing in? That's so, clover.

Speaker 1:

Oh gosh. Well, it's got some pretty sweet little game boards. I don't know what you call them plates maybe but it's like a word game where you have cards that have different words along the outside of them and they are randomly arranged onto your little player board, which they pair up four sets of two paired words, so maybe it's like shoelace and sword or something like that. It's like shoelace and sword or something like that, and you have to come up with one word to try and get the others to guess those two words together. You got to do that four times. So they have to rearrange these little cards to try and decipher your little, I don't know what you, what would you call it? It looks like a clover, that's why they call it, that's so clover. You gotta be clever, you gotta be, uh, thinking outside the box, because a lot of the times you just get some weird stuff and you gotta, you gotta be creative. So I I like it. It's a good word game, um, pretty easy for people to understand, to play.

Speaker 2:

How many people did you play it with?

Speaker 1:

We like it here. We played it with five and then six at one point, so it does have a good player count too. It comes with little dry erase markers. You can write the words on there and erase them between rounds and stuff and totally fun. I really like it. It's a good party game-ish.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, it's good party game ish, yeah, it's a party game, it's for sure a party game, yeah I oh yeah I man, this game creates so many awesome moments when you write some nonsense on those four clovers and you're and you're watching everybody try to figure out what the heck you were thinking, and somehow they'll get it, and you just see them put the little tiles on there in the right order and you're doing all you can not to give it away, because you're not supposed to give them clues.

Speaker 2:

No table talking, no table talking. And then they say this is it. And the cheers, the celebrations, oh my God. The high fives. Yeah, the chest bumps. Yeah, that's so Clover, oh my gosh, great party game.

Speaker 1:

When you find a good group and you're sinking. I think we had that moment one time I think it was maybe Tyler and Cole or something like that and we were just hammering them out.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, just boom. Magical experiences around the table. That's what we're about, beautiful.

Speaker 1:

I love it Well, clay any plays or procurements and or procurements here.

Speaker 2:

I've done all of the above many times. You know, with my birthday being last week, I had some money and I don't buy anything except board games. Birthday money, Birthday money Okay for the listener.

Speaker 1:

Sorry, I have so many asides here. Clay is one to really maximize his birthday money. I've seen a $50 birthday money check run all the way past Christmas. Really, I mean, it's September right now, people. So sorry, I digress. Sorry, without Travis here it's going to be tough. I will just keep talking. Travis, he's a perfect moderator. He leads this podcast so well. And there I go again. I talked right over you, back to you, clayton.

Speaker 2:

No, it's going to be tough. It's going to be tough this week but we'll get through it. Hopefully Travis will be back next week, but yes, I'm a notorious birthday money guy. I'll keep spending that birthday money. Anyway, to focus the conversation for this week's podcast, I played some of the newest hotness Andromeda's Edge. So this game is just getting out there to people. And I met that gentleman McKenzie at the Petri's swap night and we set up a little play date last week and we met up at Dungeons and Javas and he wanted to play Andromeda's Edge and I was like hell, yeah, I'm in it sounds like a big boy game.

Speaker 2:

It is a big boy game. I mean, the box is the biggest box that I would own. I mean, Dwellings of Eldervale is a big box and I think this one might be a tad bit bigger.

Speaker 1:

Oh, this one is the sequel to the Dwellings, right, you were telling me about this, or no? Yes, this is it.

Speaker 2:

This is like the little big sister of Dwellings of Valderville. Yeah, so there is going to be a lot of comparisons to Dwellings of Eldervale as I go through this, but I want to give the listener the best idea of what, what I think of this game and how it compares to Dwellings of Eldervale, with all this being couched by the fact that I played it twice in that one day, and I've played Dwellings of Eldervale twice, like a year ago.

Speaker 1:

So keep that in mind.

Speaker 2:

This is not like some super serious review, but this is just my opinions after having brief experience with it.

Speaker 1:

Maybe first reactions, maybe that's a good way to cage it. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So in broad strokes it's very similar to Dwellings of Eldervale. They're both the hybrid worker placement fighty games where the main two things you're going to be doing is placing your workers out onto a map and then recalling them back to your tableau and activating those cards on your tableau. And activating those cards on your tableau. In both games you have these big bad monsters that will come into your space and you have to fight them. In both games you have these colored tracks you're trying to go up on as you work through the game. It'll score you a lot of points at the end. Oh, yes.

Speaker 2:

In both games you get to build more workers as you go and they have unique special abilities as well, as your whole faction has special abilities. So all that's basically the same and you're still trying to turn those workers into dwellings, which is the ultimate goal of the game. I guess they're structures or buildings or something. In Andromeda's Edge they're dwellings and dwellings of Eldorvel, but anyway, you score a lot of points for doing that. So that's one of the main objectives of both these. None of that's really changed with Andromeda's Edge. The main things that I noticed that are different are the first one is in combat and a lot of people have beef with dwellings of elderville because in the combat you roll die equal to the amount of dice provided by your people in the region. So your worker would just give you one. If you had a warrior there, you would get three for him, so you would just roll four die. And then your opponent did the same thing and it didn't matter how many die you rolled. If they were all twos and the person you were fighting had one die and they rolled a six. They went just highest number wins. So they took some feedback from that, apparently, and they changed it up a little bit and there's this new targeting value. So now you have like a minimum rollable amount when you fight. So if you have three characters that are in combat, I'm not going to know the right number, but the lowest number you can roll is a three. So any die I roll that are less than three, I get to keep re-rolling. So that kind of makes it a little more beneficial to have those extra people in a battle. But all in all I think that was a nice improvement.

Speaker 2:

Another thing that changed was upgrading workers. So in Dwellings of Eldervale you could build new workers and they gave you new abilities. But in this game there's also an option. To your workers are different ships and you can upgrade those ships. Like, after you've already built them, you can upgrade them again to give them more special abilities. So just more customization, more things to do. You also have shields on your ships and damage is prevalent. So you'll have these little red icons that say, like the first time you would lose a battle with this, you can just put a damage marker here and it stays on the board instead of getting killed. There's also those damage markers on your tableau cards. So if you have damaged tableau cards they don't work.

Speaker 1:

So it's like you're just floating around in space battling each other.

Speaker 2:

I mean you're doing the same general thing as Dwellings of Eldorado, but there's definitely battling. You're still going to places, trying to get resources, using those resources to try and gather cards for your tableau or build your structures. You're building new things. That's awesome. How's the artwork? Jumping to final thoughts, I'll go back to.

Speaker 1:

Oh gosh, the production on this is probably jumping to final thoughts.

Speaker 2:

I'll go back to yeah, um, the production on this is probably the best I've ever seen in any game period. I mean he had the all in Kickstarter version. I mean these minis that were on the table were beautiful. You had these nice metal coins, your own little trays to keep things in. I mean, dwellings of Elderville had a great production too, but this just I mean stepped it up a notch and somehow it's even better.

Speaker 2:

So yes art works great. Everything production wise was top notch, hell yeah. Two more things that were different that I noticed Bonuses on the tracks. So as you go up these different colored tracks in Dwellings of Eldorvel, you just wanted to get to the top because you get an orb and then you could use that orb for various things. And you also want to get to the top because you got hella points if you had dwellings built of that color. But in this one, as you work your way up the tracks kind of like the battle track in dwellings every track has these little spaces that'll trigger bonuses, get you more resources, get you upgrades. So that was cool to see those little incentives to go up the different tracks. So that was cool to see those little incentives to go up the different tracks.

Speaker 2:

And the final thing is just overarching the tableau building was out of control. I remember thinking, yeah, this is really cool in Dwellings of Ellerville that you can bring your workers back and activate these cards. But I don't remember it playing too big of a part. Really, you get a resource here, a resource there, but Mackenzie, the guy I was playing with, he had like 20 cards that he could activate pretty much every time he did a recall action and it was just crazy if he wasn't so good at playing games and so fast, like it probably would have taken forever, but he was super quick about it and we played this game twice in three hours at two players. So, yeah, it's pretty impressive.

Speaker 1:

That's pretty quick.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I got stomped like bad twice in a row and it was embarrassing, but oh well, Anyway, so my final there's nothing to be embarrassed about, clayton.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'll try not to be. But my final thoughts about this whole thing Andromeda's Edge, dwellings of Eldervale. Again, you got me on production already Off the charts. If you're into that kind of thing, you'll love this game. All the changes I just talked about I think make the game better and address things that I even would have complained about in the playing of Dwellings of Eldervale. But I left those two plays and was kind of longing for the simplicity of Dwellings of Eldervale. I don't I don't know if it's just because I don't get many heavier games in the rotation anymore, but it just was almost too much going on to think about between the ship upgrades and having a tableau that you could activate like a hundred times. Like oh my god, trying to piece it all together in my head. I was like man, I wish I'd just go back to dwellings of eldervale where I could just have like those two cards I could activate and then move on with my life.

Speaker 2:

Um yeah, I think if, if you're, if you're into heavier games, and those are the type of games your group plays, and Andromeda's Edge is going to be a hit. Everything they did, I think, makes it better and a more complete game, but for my current taste, I think I would prefer to play Dwellings of Eldervale with its warts, because I think it's more streamlined and easier to get to the table. Have you seen it?

Speaker 1:

And that's have you seen it at pet treats at your local GameStop?

Speaker 2:

I don't know if it's going to be out like that for a while. I think it's just good Cause. You said Kickstarter. Yeah, I've got it on eBay. I've got it on my saved items. There's a lot of people out there. They're charging top dollar for their all in bundles. See if I put my birthday money towards it yeah, yeah but, yeah, I think I'm good.

Speaker 2:

I think I'm good, unless I start playing heavier games all the time. I'm happy to keep Dwellings of Eldervale if anything. This just inspired me to want to play that again. So yeah, yeah, that's my report on the newest hotness dude, that was awesome.

Speaker 1:

I I was getting so many good memories of our time playing um dwellings of Elderville and I'm a big boy that likes big boy games, and so I could see myself trying that one out for sure.

Speaker 2:

Oh, you'd be geeking out over it. My puny little mind can't contend with all the competing objectives there. But speaking of puny minds, Puny minds.

Speaker 1:

Should we get these kids up in here?

Speaker 2:

Yeah, let's bring in our special guest.

Speaker 3:

Doesn't look so good.

Speaker 2:

So let's kick things off with our special guest for this episode my two sons, mason 8, and Isaac 6. I'm at 8. No, way.

Speaker 1:

Oh, you're almost 8. Okay, he's close to 8.

Speaker 2:

Look at these guys. He's turning eight. Oh yeah, and correcting me like that on my podcast unbelievable Okay.

Speaker 3:

Wow.

Speaker 2:

I brought you in here for good content and you're going to go ahead and correct me. You got to get up here with me, man.

Speaker 1:

Hey, you know what? There's always growing pains when it comes to podcasting, okay, and these little kids? They are no different. I just want to say that I have known these little chubby kids. They're not chubby, I was just trying to razz them. I've known these kids for a long time. They're the most adorable two kids. I get the pleasure of seeing them live in person Well, not in person, but you know, over the Zoom they're looking good. I've played many board games with these two and they are fierce competitors. I will say that You're not just getting any old kids here on the podcast today, you're getting some grade A warriors. I just wanted to hype you guys up a little bit. What do you got to say for yourself, mason? Well, I ain't lying.

Speaker 2:

All right. Well, let's start with the first question here. Mason, you can go first. Really, yeah.

Speaker 3:

Where's my thing?

Speaker 2:

Your thing is up there, oh yeah.

Speaker 1:

Like a true podcaster. They have notes written down, they're prepared.

Speaker 2:

What I love it. What do you like about playing board games?

Speaker 3:

They make me feel relaxed Most of them.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, Isaac. Same question for you. Speak into the mic, buddy.

Speaker 3:

They are fun.

Speaker 2:

Okay. And sweet, fun and sweet.

Speaker 1:

Fun and sweet.

Speaker 2:

This is what brings them to the table. Guys, we got some relaxing fun times.

Speaker 1:

I mean, what kind of games are they playing? Wait, that might be a question that you have lined up.

Speaker 2:

We're going into top three games of all time. Yeah, mason and Isaac version. Top three games of all time. Yeah, mason and Isaac version. So, mason, we are going to go into Mason and Isaac's top three games of all time as of 2024.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I guess so. You should say it that way.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm saying it that way.

Speaker 3:

All right. So Mason, Just making sure.

Speaker 2:

What is your number three favorite game?

Speaker 3:

of all time, marvel United.

Speaker 2:

And why do you like that?

Speaker 3:

game, because I like it, because it's cooperative, like co-op.

Speaker 2:

Okay, that is a game we have had a lot of fun with Cooperative in what it's co-op.

Speaker 1:

Oh, co-op yeah.

Speaker 2:

He's using slang.

Speaker 1:

Heck, yeah, I likeop, yeah working together.

Speaker 3:

He's using slang. Heck, yeah, I like it yeah.

Speaker 2:

Isaac, what's your number three?

Speaker 3:

Ticket to Ride.

Speaker 2:

And what do you like about Ticket to Ride Jr?

Speaker 3:

Connecting in trains.

Speaker 2:

Nice, he likes building those roots, huh.

Speaker 1:

He likes building those roots. Huh, do you have a specific color that you like to be? Isaac, on Ticket to Ride.

Speaker 2:

He likes to be green. Mason, what's your number two?

Speaker 3:

My little size.

Speaker 2:

And what about that draws you in?

Speaker 3:

Not color.

Speaker 2:

Otherwise known as competitive? And what about?

Speaker 3:

that draws you in.

Speaker 2:

Knock-up Otherwise known as competitive.

Speaker 3:

Isaac, what's your number two?

Speaker 2:

Robot Quest 3. Really.

Speaker 1:

And what do you like about that? You get to choose who. Robots Whoa, these are some bangers. Absolute hits.

Speaker 2:

I'm excited to hear number ones. Number ones are going to be off the chain, Mason into the microphone for the audience please.

Speaker 3:

Captain Flip.

Speaker 2:

And what do you like about Captain Flip?

Speaker 3:

building, my crew.

Speaker 2:

Mason is a menace about Captain Flip. This guy will flip it, no matter what he loves pushing his luck when he pulls one of those tiles out. It could be great for him, he's going to flip it anyway. What's the person that?

Speaker 1:

you don't want three of Mason. What's the person that you don't want three of Mason? What's the person that you don't want three of? Do you remember? Yeah, who is it.

Speaker 3:

The gunner.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, you got too many gunners. You're a pirate, naughty boat.

Speaker 2:

Great choice.

Speaker 3:

You'll get caught like Blackbeard oh.

Speaker 1:

Ikey, what Can we get? A drumroll.

Speaker 2:

Let's hear it. Isaac Picture number one.

Speaker 3:

Monstrosity.

Speaker 2:

And what do you like about Monstrosity Isaac?

Speaker 3:

I like.

Speaker 2:

You know what you like, Sorry I.

Speaker 3:

Drawing things.

Speaker 1:

So you have to, like draw a monster, or you pull something out of a bag. What are you doing in this game?

Speaker 3:

Um, like, like um. You guess what monster or the person the person's describing on the card?

Speaker 1:

Yeah.

Speaker 3:

You draw, you like draw it.

Speaker 1:

Oh, like a one-eyed monster, or one like Mike Lazowski.

Speaker 2:

They're crazy.

Speaker 3:

I got my eye on you, Lazowski.

Speaker 2:

All right. Well, that wraps up Mason and Isaac's top three games of all time. Mason, hey, do you have any games you would like to give a shout-out to before you head to bed? Remember the microphone. It's these for Odin, probably to before you head to bed, remember Feast for Odin probably.

Speaker 1:

You're probably a big fan of Feast.

Speaker 2:

Unlock kids and Isaac. What games would you like to give a shout out to before you end your podcast? Career Spots Say it to the microphone Spots.

Speaker 1:

Spots? Oh dude, we talked about spots the other day spots for days that's a good one. Bye, bye goodbye, goodnight hey, thanks guys for sharing your intel and your insight. You guys are awesome dude. I love seeing your kids like thank you for bringing them on here today. It was that was super sweet. And again, I'd be remiss if I didn't say I wish we had travis here. Maybe we could do another one with the boys a little bit later, when travis is back up to full, full health.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I might have to give him a little bit later, when Travis is back up to full health. Yeah, I might have to give them a little more coaching on the proper use of the microphone before then, but I think they might warrant a repeat.

Speaker 1:

I mean, hell, you could just get them their own mics. They'd probably love that, that's true. I mean, as dad does, so do they? I mean, I've seen them do a lot of things that you like to do Wrestle, board games, uh.

Speaker 2:

Isaac likes spicy food.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh, that's hilarious, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

Hopefully I'm not imposing my will on them too much, but oh well, they could turn out worse. Yeah, yeah, hopefully I'm not imposing my will on them too much, but oh well, they could turn out worse.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, I mean, you're a great role model for them to look up to. Well, I'm glad that we got the kids' perspective on board gaming with kids and we can just start just really grinding into it. You know, personally I am quite envious of what you do with your boys, clay. I think it's pretty awesome that you involve them in your hobbies and, like you do with your adult friends, you do a great job of including people, including your kids, so I think this would be a great. I was looking forward to this podcast just to hear your take on how to play board games with kids. I am looking forward to the day that Jemmy has any kind of attention span. So I don't know, take it away, clay. What. What do you got for us today about, uh, playing playing board games with kids?

Speaker 2:

yeah. So the big bumper sticker I want to put up front here is I'm. I don't want to like, give an instagram version of of what it's like to game with kids, you know, like everybody hears this podcast and like oh man, that's so sweet.

Speaker 2:

They're the best family. They just sit around, play board games all day together and it's perfect. Like that's not what it's going to be like um 25% of the time I'd say it goes terribly and they aren't focused and we just have to quit because nobody's having a good time. 50% of the time.

Speaker 1:

That could be our first like maxim here Don't be afraid to quit.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, we're quitters and I will always quit.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, hey don't tell Joel Sherratt that okay yeah he doesn't need to hear that. That was our old wrestling coach Ap'm glad he got a shout out.

Speaker 2:

I'm sure he's listening of course, yes, yeah uh.

Speaker 2:

So back to my breakdown of time percentages here, my carefully curated time percentages. Uh. So 25 is horrible% of the time. It's just a labor of love that I'm doing because I want to do something with them and sit down and spend time together, and it's more just me trying to facilitate it and keep them going. And then 25% of the time they're focused and I'm having a good time too, and that's awesome. They're focused and I'm having a good time too, and like that's awesome. All the other times are worth it to get those. You know, 25% of the time where we're just all jamming as a family and having a great time. So that's my disclaimer up front. Don't don't leave this thinking oh, dan Clay just has the best kids and they're they're always just gaming and having the best time. I wish it was like that, but the reality is they're always just gaming and having the best time. I wish it was like that, but the reality is they're six and I guess Mason is seven, as he pointed out.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, he was very clear on that today.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, geez, give him a little age boost. Not having it. But anyway, into some of my thoughts about gaming with kids. Into, uh, some of my thoughts about gaming with kids. Uh, I think it's great to do, you know, because kids these, not these days I've sounded old, but there are so many things that compete for a kid's attention. They're electronic screen time, even at school, they're doing things on computers and just having that time to sit down and have something analog in front of them, they have to look at other people and interact with them and see what the vibe's like. I think that alone makes it worth it. They also have to develop some patience waiting for their turns, not running off and they run off a lot but not running off in between their turns.

Speaker 2:

When they do co-op games. Mason liked Marvel United because it's a co-op. He likes that. We're working together and, you know, develop teamwork, talking about how we can all contribute to. You know whatever objective it helps we can all contribute to. You know whatever objective it helps them learn about winning and losing. So you know, isaac is a poor sport and and we are working on that like he's, he is throwing his cards. I I don't know where he gets it from, because I could, I lose all the time and it's whatever, but we're learning about winning and losing and how to handle ourselves, so there's a lot of things that come out of it that I think are positives, if you can get through the hurdle of getting them to sit there and want to spend that time with you.

Speaker 1:

If I could just throw a couple questions out there, clay yeah um, so, like, like, what kind of mechanics work well for your kids? Like, definitely not. Obviously we're not doing feast for odin here. Um, with multiple different mechanisms placing workers building all this stuff. So what, what do you think? Like games that? Or mechanisms that work well for your kids?

Speaker 2:

I think cooperative games are always great. We just talked about it Just because you can talk about what's going on. They can ask questions and not feel like they're going to lose because they're showing you their cards. Everybody can just chip in.

Speaker 1:

Well, clay, I will say the competitiveness comes from biology. You're a biology major. I feel like it's just kind of caked into human beings If you don't win, you die. I mean going back to another Joel Sheridanism or something like that. You got to be either catch the gazelle or starve or something, or maybe that was Wayne Bachman, I can't remember Either way great quote.

Speaker 1:

So definitely cooperative games. But are there like, do you ever play a bigger, maybe like it's really geared for older ages, and then modify the rules, or do you really stick to games that are more geared towards kids?

Speaker 2:

I would say back to Marvel United. To Marvel United, that was probably a stretch, because I've been playing that with them for a year and a half, two years, and the time Isaac was barely five, he couldn't read. So the way I modified it was Black Panther in that game, all his cards just have symbols, so he didn't have to read anything. So I would give isaac black panther. He knew that a fist meant he could punch a bad guy and he knew that a green arrow meant that he could move and he didn't have to worry about, like, reading the special text on the cards. So, uh, yeah, that's one way to do it. I I generally try and stick in games that are in their wheelhouse, though, and I kind of meant for their age group so that they can.

Speaker 1:

God, six and seven year old boys are pretty distractible and it you know hell, 34 year old boys like myself, you know it's, it's. Uh, it's tough to keep my mind off of the cookie jar, or like running over here yeah, yeah, uh.

Speaker 2:

But yeah, there's definitely ways to uh modify the games and make it a good. Yeah, a lot of times I'm backtracking now I guess I do play more games that are like older focused. Uh, yeah, but I'll just, I'll change the win condition. If it's a longer game and I don't think they have that attention span, I'll just be like, yeah, it's over after two rounds or after somebody gets X amount of points, and just make it a little quicker experience. But yeah, once they can.

Speaker 1:

That's kind of like another Operation Game Night. I I mean stamp of approval or something changing the rules or changing the goalposts. It's totally fine, it's warranted it. I love it. I love the flexibility we are.

Speaker 2:

You got to do it.

Speaker 1:

I get inside the oodle loop don't get me started just go, nuts, from there but yeah, do you keep them engaged or focused? You know me big food guy. Is there food involved? Is you know? Do you need to make sure that they're snacked and napped, or don't do it right after practice, or something like that?

Speaker 2:

I try and do it when they're in a relatively calm state they just got done doing some art or drawing and they're not all wound up wrestling each other on the floor. They'll try and bring crap to the table. You know I they'll. They'll bring some like little toys over tail stuffies. Yeah, I'm like, get those toys out of here, because they just get. They get wrapped up with the toys and then the next thing you know they're, they're not paying attention, and that's something else they learn.

Speaker 2:

I always try and impress upon them like we are all in this together and if you are doing things, they're making this a bad experience for everybody else. That's not cool. So, like when you sitting over there doing weird noises, I mean, that's what they do and and isaac can't take his turn because you're distracting him, like, just, you know, have some patience, think about what you might want to do, so when it's your turn, people don't have to wait forever because they get upset. They get upset when other people are taking long, but when it's their turn they don't have a lick of an idea what they want to do. So I'm trying to teach them to think about it a little bit before it gets around to their turn.

Speaker 1:

You might be building some fighter pilots here. You know, multitasking focus, like all that. Yeah, things are looking well, things are looking good.

Speaker 2:

Again, low success rate, jared. But it is rewarding to see, as they've gotten older, like there are games where you can actually see them thinking strategically and having objectives, like we played Marvel splendor the other night and it's a bad strategy, but Mason had a strategy he wanted right off the hop to get one of to get one of the highest level cards up there, and so he reserved it, and he spent forever trying to get the gems required to be able to buy this card and he, he did it.

Speaker 2:

So it's cool to see him thinking ahead and thinking about what they might want to do. So, yeah, yeah, a little intro to strategy for him.

Speaker 1:

I like it Well, clay. I have one last question. A little intro to strategy for them. I like it Well, clay. I have one last question, but maybe I'll wait until after you give some game recommendations, yeah, and then I'll ask you my final question what kind of game recommendations you got?

Speaker 2:

I'm just going to quick fire these, okay, and kind of go through as I've introduced my two sons to board gaming. What games we went through. So when they were like three to four years old, we played a lot of the Hobbit games. So if you've seen those big yellow boxes, a lot of them are meant for really young kids. Big Bird, Little Hunger was one we played a lot, and my First Orchard oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, um, yes, we got these big chunky components and they're nice to look at. I mean we just got. I didn't get it, but no, we gave it to. Uh, yeah, we gave it to the Spanglers. For Jordan to play the, my first orchard. I don't know how well he does with the rules, but apparently he was asking to play it a lot. What's he? Three Gonna be four.

Speaker 2:

He's gonna be three this December oh okay, right, I don't know, he's gonna be three or four soon.

Speaker 1:

Not four, because he's close to Gemma's age. Okay, we just need our wives on this podcast at some point, because they are the ones who actually remember and retain information well so.

Speaker 2:

Yeah.

Speaker 1:

Maybe next time, maybe next time.

Speaker 2:

Anyway, my First Orchard. Great for that age group, and any of those HABA games that say they're in your kid's age range are probably going to be pretty appropriate for them. Age range are probably going to be pretty appropriate for them. Four to five. Some ones that we had a good time with were Magic Mountain. It's this fun little game. You're rolling marbles down a hill, trying to block them and get these witches. The theme's weird but it's a lot of fun. It's a lot of fun to just see where the marbles end up, and the kids loved it. Cobra Paw is your generic quick game where you flip something over and you've got to be the first to grab what matches it. Cobra Paw, cobra Paw.

Speaker 1:

I like that yeah.

Speaker 2:

Big fan a few years ago of that and we'll still play it too because it's fun. It's quick Concept Kids. Big fan was a few years ago of that and we'll still play it too because it's fun. It's quick concept kids. If you're not familiar with the adult game concept, it allows you to place these it's kind of like charades or pictionary, without the free-flowingness of it. It has a board with all these different categories, so there'll be like a color spot and you can put your little marker on white and you're like okay, so the animal's white. And then you put something else on a thing that shows that has feathers, and you're trying to like get everybody else to guess what the animal is. They really liked that. Six to seven. What about that one? It was like icebreaker to guess what the animal is.

Speaker 1:

They really like that Six to seven. What about that one? It was like Icebreaker. It was like some kind of you jiggle some board and little resources fall off to a different level, or something like that I remember watching it Hammer Time.

Speaker 3:

Hammer Time yeah, that's another hop that would look fun. I wanted to play that one. Yeah, let's recommend fun.

Speaker 2:

I wanted to play that one. Let's recommend that. Add that to the list. Hammer Time I think that's probably appropriate for your 4-5s, maybe 6. That's a good game In the 6-7 range. That's when I start getting into the junior versions of all the games. I like my Little Everdell Ticket. Ticket to ride junior. Shout out to Isaac's number three game of all time ticket to ride junior. That's, he loves it.

Speaker 2:

Quacks and co, which is a quacks of Quedlinburg kid game and I actually really I really I really like playing quacks and co like I would probably play that with adults but and unlock kids and I actually really like playing Quacks and Co. I would probably play that with adults and Unlock Kids. They really enjoy that. And now Mason's about to be eight, isaac's seven. They've been doing this for a long time. I think at eight plus, now they can read.

Speaker 2:

I think you can start introducing them to whatever they really have the attention span for. I think you'd be surprised what they can pick up on. Like Isaac loves robot quest arena and it's not, it's a deck building game. Like you have to play it, yeah, and they pick it up. I mean it's a lighter deck building game, but they still know to buy cards for their deck from the scrapyard. I don't know what it's called, but they do it all and they read the cards now. So it's crazy to see what they can do when they're motivated and focused. Key points motivated and focused. But yeah, if you've been playing games with kids since they're three, four, I mean, once they start getting this age it really starts to get fun. Because now I'm getting to the point where I can play games that I really like and, god willing, if they're well behaved. We have a really good time together, so it's fun.

Speaker 1:

Well, clay, I think you um the listener. Some good uh places to start good games. Good uh, good advice on getting some some games to the table, even with the little ones. Yep, but I do have one last question. Yeah, uh, hit me with your most memorable moment, playing board games with the boys, just whatever comes to the the top of your mind. Maybe it's not even a good memory, I don't know. What do you got?

Speaker 2:

I would have to say I it's not going to be a surprise, considering it was on my top five games of all time. But marvel united is a game we've played a lot together, and when I just got the Marvel United multiverse and it came with that big Galactus look at this, jared. I don't know if you've seen this for listener. I am displaying a probably.

Speaker 2:

I don't know, this might be a foot tall Galactus yeah he's about a foot Figurine that came with Marvel United and the kids were hyped as soon as they saw that and they wanted to take on Galactus. That's awesome. We didn't know much about Galactus as a collective, so we watched some Silver Surfer on Disney Plus and learned about.

Speaker 1:

Galactus and what?

Speaker 2:

he's all about eating up worlds. And we set up Galactus on the table and it was epic and we lost. But it was a lot of fun because there's a lot of hype around it. We've been talking about it for weeks since we got this and, yeah, it was just a lot of fun to play that.

Speaker 1:

Wait, so you haven't taken down Galactus yet.

Speaker 2:

No, We've only tried once oh my gosh, he's undefeated.

Speaker 1:

Huh yeah, he's pretty tough Big guy, Clyde, you better. As soon as you take him down, you pop up, come up on comms and tell us that you took him out.

Speaker 2:

Maybe I'll do it tomorrow.

Speaker 1:

The people need to know how to take down strategies. We need strategies. We need to wake these boys up early. Start training them.

Speaker 2:

I know Isaac was doing some perplexing stuff. That game.

Speaker 1:

I like to let him try and make his own decisions.

Speaker 2:

Just because he can play doesn't mean he's his own decisions. Hone him in. Yeah, just because he can play doesn't mean he's good at it, but it was still fun.

Speaker 1:

You know what? I'm sorry. I just went against. One of Operation Game Night's rules is winning is not the end. All be all Okay.

Speaker 2:

Thank you, it's about the journey.

Speaker 1:

I got to remind myself that every now and then.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, I anyways, I can remind you of that because I'm a great loser and uh that. And contrary to my opening argument about it not always being fun to play games with kids, my closing on the subject is it is so rewarding. So if I never played games with anybody but my kids, and if they never play games with me again, I still think it was worth it to like we've played so many games together and we've had such a good time. It's hard to bond with little kids. Sometimes you know they're they're into their own stuff and just having those moments to sit down together and do something, I treasure that. I hope it continues, but even if it doesn't, it's been fun. That's beautiful.

Speaker 1:

It gives me a lot of hope for the future.

Speaker 2:

I have hope for the future too.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, All right. Well, quick hits Clay. What do you got?

Speaker 2:

Let's start with you, because I didn't come prepared, oh no, I'm going to think here while you give me something.

Speaker 1:

All right. Well, I have been doing a lot of biking with my little girl, jemmy. I don't think I've come up about this. I was telling you on a phone call. But as I was riding my bike with her, I throw her in the back of the buggy and drive her around the neighborhood. Sometimes she does not really want to get into the buggy, like maybe I take a pit stop at the park and she doesn't want to go home, but daddy needs to go, you know. So that makes it difficult to get the kid into the buggy when they're not complying. So I kind of have to like hold her down with one hand and zip it up with the other. But all in all we usually have a great time. She loves seeing the bus. She starts screaming every time she sees it and we usually go in the morning. You know, let adrie sleep in a little bit. I grab her, we hit the road. But uh, that's my quick. I've been having a blast riding the bike with Jimmy. I have little lights now you know for safety first.

Speaker 1:

Heck yeah, I just got a mirror so I can check on her and what's going on behind me.

Speaker 2:

Awesome, that's my quick hit. Look at this. You start bonding over your little buggy rides with her. Next thing you know you and her are going to be playing Lost Ruins of Arnak together. That's right. It's going to be beautiful. She's going to be a little nerd, I hope.

Speaker 1:

Yes, no, she will.

Speaker 2:

Since Travis usually deals out the TV wrecks, I guess I'll go ahead and throw my hat in the ring. Mary and I just watched.

Speaker 1:

The Perfect Couple on Netflix.

Speaker 2:

I guess I'll go ahead and throw my hat in the ring, man. I just watched the uh, the perfect couple on Netflix.

Speaker 3:

Um it's guys leave.

Speaker 2:

Schreiber from Ray Donovan. He also plays saber tooth in X-Men origins Wolverine, which I used to love that movie. So I love leave Schreiber and this show is a classic whodunit show A bunch of rich people just who killed this person. It's a great little I think it's eight episodes, but we went through it pretty quick. It's a fun watch, so definitely check that out if you like that kind of whodunit.

Speaker 1:

All right, do we say something at the end? Gosh, we need.

Speaker 2:

Travis. Here we do For this Travis-less episode. This has been Clay, Gable and Jared.

Speaker 1:

Oh yes, this has been Jared Erickson.

Speaker 2:

And this was Operation Game Night. We're out of here, baby, we're out.

Speaker 1:

Bye, bye, bye, bye, bye're out Bye, we miss you, travis.