My kid loves Busytown, a cooperative game, what's next?

  1. Catan: Junior - the most complex of the games listed here. All players usually progress evenly, although kids don't notice.

  2. Countdown - an introductory addition and subtraction game (later on, a division and multiplication game). Start by counting the dots on the dice. Nullify the die roll that lets you reset your opponent's progress (unless you like tears).

  3. Hiss - play by the rules, or do co-op working to complete snakes together.

  4. Max - the simplest and most bloodthirsty game listed... roll-and-move with some decision-making based on how good or bad the rolls are going. Try to get three critters to safety before Max the Cat eats them.

  5. My First Carcassonne - an introduction to Carcassonne played with simpler rules.

  6. No Stress Chess - move the chess piece indicated by the card you draw (which has illustrated and written instructions for movement). Normal chess strategy doesn't apply. Five-year-olds can beat parents while they learn how the pieces move.

  7. Pitch Car Mini - a dexterity game.

  8. Robot Turtles - a one-player game where a parent is a software program executing your son's commands to lead a turtle through the maze you built.

  9. Tapple - Announce a topic (pizza toppings), then take turns identifying things that match that word -- spelled starting with one of the letters on the board (Pepperoni for P, Ham for H, etc.). Click a letter down to take it out-of-play. This will be difficult until your son knows the alphabet and can guess what letters words begin with. Don't use the timer that comes with the game. You can wait to purchase. It's a $10 (or less) game on Black Friday,

  10. Telestrations - it's similar to the telephone game, but with markers. Skip the supplied topic cards and think up your own things to draw (that your son knows about). This game is best with at least 4 players.

  11. The Extraordinaires Design Studio (an inventive activity, not so much a game). When I bought it, it was only sold through Amazon (of boardgame retailers I checked).

  12. Toc Toc Woodman or Click Clack Lumberjack. Start with a Jenga-like plastic tree. Using an axe, take turns trying to knock bark off the tree without knocking interior core pieces out. Bark is positive points, cores are negative points. The two games are the same, except Toc Toc Woodman has a better box and Click Clack Lumberjack has several grub stickers you place on bark pieces to make those few pieces worth more points.

/r/boardgames Thread