I'm Not Kid-Friendly

I'm just not a very kid-friendly person. I lack the patience necessary.

For the last few weeks, we've had some young'uns showing up for my regular Wednesday gathering. Not astoundingly young - just young enough that I doubt the wisdom of their being out after 9:00pm without a parent or guardian present.

I guess it speaks volumes for how well Brian has established Phoenix Games as a Safe Place.

Last week, I was not mentally prepared for kids, and so my attitude was not as good as it should have been. In my defense, it'd been an unusually stressful day of work which included evacuating the building due to a gas leak.

Fine, I thought, I have to play games with kids, but I don't have to make it any fun!. So we played TransEuropa, which is a very underrated game. But I changed the rules - we played until all but one player shot off the track. It made the game d-r-a-g. And the kids lost interest pretty quickly.

Then we played Lord of the Rings, which the younger kid had been foaming at the mouth for a chance to play. The Fellowship was dead in three turns (Frodo met Sauron on the corruption track). The older brother lost interest when we didn't have enough players to add a Sauron player, as he wanted to be Sauron.

Don't get me wrong: These kids are reasonably well-behaved. In a chat with Brian last weekend, I realized that they were there to play games - something that even some of the grown-ups who show up at Game Night don't always realize is the goal. In this respect, they are the ideal of the Game Night participant. Even if they're a bit obsessed with Lord of the Rings and Nexus Ops.

Tonight, we're playing Battleground: Fantasy Warfare. I've had several requests from a number of the regulars (some of whom have purchased decks). I've got enough cards to cover at least eight players - and I'm not the only attendee who owns the game. (If you're a member of the Wednesday group, you can find the latest version of the rules here)

It's not a game I think these kids could handle. I can't let them just run loose in the store, so I'll probably wind up playing games with children while Battleground is played on another table.

I know that some of you who read this have children. Any suggestions for games that I can play that won't bore me to death that they can handle? Their ages range from ... um ... eight to twelve, I think.