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Primarily, you get fun, and learning, and a chance to play across age groups. There's a new expansion for Harry Potter which looks like a good one; and a new expansion for Magic as well. But what other card games are out there? The list is almost endless. What can you play with your 5 to 8 year old that won't numb your mind and not leave them whining "but mo-o-o-o-ommie, I don't get it!!!"? Good question. Let's see if I can manage some good answers. . .

My daughter loves playing Harry Potter, she even loves teaching it to our friends; when I suggested she learn a new card game, she was excited. Here was another chance to teach grownups new games! I was pleased to teach her a game that wasn't constantly coming out with "new cards" we just had to have!

We started with Jan-Ken-Po (by Playtyme, Inc). Is this a familiar game? Sure; ever play War? This makes it loads more interesting and way shorter - both good things in my book. The art is great fun - the colors are vivid and the style is very anime, something the kids enjoy immensely. It's also nice to see there are both male and female superheroes in this game as well. The basic premise is war: each player has a stack of cards and tries to take each "trick" (that means we lay down 1 card each, high card wins). But unlike its more prosaic predecessor, this one has some twists. First it's designed for either 2 or 3 players (the rules for 3 players are a blast!). Second, instead of hi/lo, the "suit" is all important. Paper defeats Stone, Stone defeats Scissors, Scissors defeats Paper. There are also a couple of specialty cards that defeat all others (especially useful in the "Match-Off")

If you turn over the same "suit", you have a Match off, where you place cards face down and up until a tie doesn't occur - the winner taking all the cards. These mechanics (not to mention the great art) make the game not only more fun and interesting than war, but much faster too. This game generally takes us 10-15 minutes to complete - leaving everyone looking for more, rather than just wondering when the game will end. Even in this game, there are "learning features", though not so easy to name as the other 2 games I'll be talking about. Here you have learning to distinguish suits, you have understanding categories, you have some counting, and you have learning to deal with "chance" (you can't plan this game - so what happens when you have bad cards? Do you whine? One hopes not. . .). Mostly though, this game is just fun.

We then graduated to Water Works (by Parker Brothers). This is a fairly simple game in terms of rules; the fun part is watching your kids keep up and invent ideas I'm pretty sure the creators of this game never intended. It's a game for 2 to 4 persons, and it's a nice version of this old favorite. The art is clean and bold and colorful - things that attract a child (or an adult player for that matter). Each player is trying to complete the pipeline from the valve to the spout by connecting enough cards in between (typically 15). Meanwhile, opponents are able to place leaky pipes on your pipeline, making you have to spend turns fixing them (of course, the opponent isn't advancing if he's attacking you - something to remember and explain to your little one). The nice thing about this game is it doesn't take forever to learn or to play. It's a simple game which can be played in 20 minutes or so and everyone gets to participate. Incidentally, there's no reading here. It's all pictures and logic puzzles. If you're looking for the "learning features" in this game (because, let's face it, all games have some) - you don't have to look far. There's taking turns, there's left vs. right, there's sequence, there's logic and strategy, there's planning ahead (so you have the right pieces at the end) and the list goes on.

More recently (my daughter was 6 at the time), we started playing Guillotine (by Wizards of the Coast) with her. Yes, it's a little morbid - but we're history teachers, so it had to happen, right? We explained, in somewhat simple terms, about the French Revolution and got on with the game. The game idea is wonderfully twisted, the art historically accurate (meaning we could show our daughter some of the clothing worn in this period of history), and the game mechanics simple. Designed for 2 to 5 players, the point of the game is to have the most points at the end of 3 days (rounds) - of course this means having chopped off the most heads. Each round there are 12 nobles placed in the line and each player, in turn, takes the best noble he or she can using the action cards to adjust the line. It's a lot of fun and takes precious little time to play (they say 30 minutes, more like 20 minutes in my experience). You may have to help the younger ones read their action cards, but the older ones (often as young as 6) can read most of them by themselves. This game is just popping with "learning features", though I'm sure Paul Peterson (game design) didn't intend this part, it's just a natural part of well designed game. There's reading practice, there's ordering, there's strategy (do I take this first card or this other card further back that I can reach - which is more useful), there's the opportunity to discuss history (ok, that's a bonus in my book), there's taking turns and there's learning your mom or dad can be dastardly cads (ok, that last won't pass muster with your average teacher, I have to admit). Overall, this is game is a great deal of fun.

The best thing about these 3 games is our 6 year old can play them not only with us, but with our adult friends who have no kids, and with kids her own age as well. They allow us to bring her into our world without frustrating her or our adult friends and they allow her to show her friends her age there's something not on a computer that's cool.