Games that Require Logic

SET Game

SET Game SET is a card game of quick recognition and deduction. Each card contains one of three symbols (squiggles, diamonds, ovals) in varying numbers (up to three), colors (purple, green, red), and degrees of shading. A dealer arranges 12 cards, face up, and the players--without taking turns--hastily scrutinize the images for logical "sets" of three cards linked by combinations of sameness or difference. It's not as complicated as it sounds: examples include a trio of paired ovals with increasing levels of shading between cards, or disparate symbols in different colors which increase in number on each card (card one has a green squiggle, card two a pair of purple ovals, card three a trio of diamonds). The trick is to keep calm while trying to make the rapid connections. The Darwinian nature of the game (remember: everyone plays simultaneously) is certain to cause some feistiness among more competitive players. --Tom Keogh

Axis & Allies Board Game

Axis & Allies Board Game "It is the spring of 1942. The world is at war. Five world powers are struggling for supremacy. You and your opponents control the military and economic destiny of one or more of these countries.... In this game, you'll discover that cooperation and negotiation are just as important as tactical maneuvering." So begins the 32-page instruction manual for Axis & Allies. To win this complex strategy game, you must learn to be a master economist and a brilliant military strategist and tactician. The game board is a map of the world divided into the spheres of influence that existed at the height of World War II. Both the Axis and Allied powers are allotted combat forces and income, measured in Industrial Production Certificates (IPCs). You must manage your nation's economy and lead its military forces--air, land, and sea--into well-chosen battles. The intricacies of the game are carefully spelled out, as are the criteria each side must meet to become the victors. Contents include 299 detailed combat force playing pieces, IPCs, dice, markers and chips to chart each country's progress, and everything you need to change the course of history in under a day. For two to five players. --Rachel Radway

Risk

Risk Risk--the game of world conquest--features a tri-fold game board that is a map of six continents divided into 42 territories. It's a game of strategy as you battle to win by launching daring attacks, defending your territory, and moving across continents with your cunning plan! Includes five dice, 56 Risk cards, and six sets of armies that contain 360 miniatures. Play three variations: World Domination, Capital Risk, and Secret Mission Risk. This game will engage and challenge any player to join the ranks of world leaders! --Margaret Quinn

Quiddler Card Game

Quiddler Card Game The rules are brutal, but the rewards are worth it in this card game that works a bit like Scrabble. Although there is a solitary version of the game for one player, you can play with up to eight. Cards containing letters of the alphabet and special combinations of letters are dealt in increasing number each time the dealer completes a round. Once you've collected your share, you can discard and pick up a new card with each turn. The object is to turn all the letters in your possession into dictionary-proof words while leaving one stray card as a final discard. You want to be the first to accomplish the goal, of course, but there is a scoring system that makes the play competitive for everyone. One nice element is the cards themselves: the letter design is based on beautiful artwork from Celtic manuscripts. This card game is a 1999 Parents' Choice Silver Award winner. --Tom Keogh

Cranium Cariboo

Cranium Cariboo Taking a step away from trivia questions and clay sculpting, the makers of Cranium have instead created a game for teaching wee ones a few colors, shapes, numbers, and letters. (And, if you know 3- to 6-year-olds that won't lose all the included cards and balls, they may also learn sharing, cooperation, and imaginative play.) The bottom of the box houses the game itself, with three chutes along the top that the balls are dropped into and three rows of flip-up panels that are decorated with various colored objects. Players draw cards, match them to a panel, flip up the panel, and hope there is a ball underneath it. Once all six balls are recovered a treasure chest pops open and gameplay can begin anew. --Pam Lauer

Heroscape Game System Master Set

Heroscape Game System Master Set The Heroscape line of toys is like the all-star game of make believe. While other games might focus on a specific era of history, the age of chivalry, perhaps, or the Jurassic period, Heroscape puts everyone together on one enormous madcap battlefield. Vikings, World War II soldiers, ninjas, mutant monsters, samurais, dinosaurs, dragons, they’re all there, done up as tiny, highly detailed figure. It would be sort of comic if all the players didn’t look so gosh-darn serious. 85 interlocking terrain tiles are also included so you can craft exactly the landscape you wish for all the action to happen on. Multiple dice are featured along with game cards and detailed instructions on how to play. We liked the boundless imagination of this game and the open-minded versatility of its imaginary protagonists. --Charlie Williams

Scene It? The DVD Game - Turner Classic Movies Edition

Scene It? The DVD Game - Turner Classic Movies Edition No description

Sorry

Sorry This classic game of luck, strategy, and determination is easy to grasp for children as young as 6 years old, yet it's fun for adults and older siblings too. By drawing cards, players move their game pieces around the board, hoping to eventually accumulate all their pieces at the final destination--home sweet home. Sorry is known as the game of "sweet revenge," since players can send each other's pawns back to the starting line, thus forcing one another to lose ground and begin all over again. This kind of frustration may be hard for children under age 8 to handle. In fact, young ones typically crumble into tears of outrage when their pawns are cavalierly sent back. The only recourse is to teach children how to plot their own revenge, which makes them feel as powerful as superheroes.

SCENE IT? Jr. The DVD Game

SCENE IT? Jr. The DVD Game If parents like the original Scene It? Game--the main requirement being an obsessive love of movies, TV, sports, and the like--it's a good bet their kids will like this Jr. version of the well-known game. Of course one learns new things from playing Scene It?--it's trivia--but the Jr. version emphasizes the engaging of memory, logic and knowledge skills to play successfully. The objective is the same as the original game: answer the most trivia questions within a 30- or 60-minute period, using real DVD video clips as visual aids. There are up to 700 on-screen challenges, 480 trivia cards, and over 250 past and current pop stars featured in the game. The only things needed are an opponent (groups can play as two teams), a TV, and a DVD player--neither of which is included in the box. Diane Beall

Balderdash Game

Balderdash Game No description

Name That Country Game

Name That Country Game "Dear Pen Pal, Konnichi wa! We've been to see Mt. Fuji. Name my country! Sayonara, Michiko." Challenge your group with this fast-paced geography game, created in 1992 by Educational Insights, Inc. Everyone begins at the post office. Players twirl a finely printed spinner (built into the game board itself) to select one of 60 countries. If the player can correctly identify the country's location on the board's numbered map, he or she may advance along the path to the finish. Bonus moves are won by landing on "postcard" spaces, listening to the clues on one of the 40 postcards, and correctly identifying the pen pal's country. (The sample postcard above came from Japan.) A more challenging game can be achieved by requiring players to name the country's capital; answers are provided. --Liane Thomas

Guess Who?

Guess Who? A wonderful blend of deduction with a form of 20 Questions. Two players try to deduce the identity of their opponent's "Mystery Person." Using game boards with 48 frames apiece and an equal number of cards displaying character faces, players ask one another yes or no questions that help narrow the pool of possibilities. Through process of elimination, the identity of the Mystery Person slowly becomes evident. As kids' skill levels grow, their questions become more strategic, allowing them to solve the mystery faster and faster. The faces on the cards are cheerful and clever and designed to give subgroups among the 48 characters just enough similarities to challenge players. --Tom Keogh

Boggle

Boggle You can't beat a classic like Boggle for sheer return of fun on one's investment in a simple game. A small container holds 16 cubes, each cube marked with a different letter on each of its six sides. Give the container a good shake, and the cubes land within little pockets. Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to find as many words (of three-or-more letters) as you can--in three minutes. Points are tallied by word length. --Tom Keogh

The Game of Life

The Game of Life Practice makes perfect in the game of Life. Try marriage, kids, and more. Will you go to college and take out student loans? Or join the working force and collect on payday? Will you go bankrupt, or earn millions in stock and real estate? Anything's possible with a spin of the Life wheel! A classic family game that can be a reality check--or just a fun time. --Margaret Quinn

Monopoly

Monopoly In 1934, in the midst of the Great Depression, an unemployed heating engineer from Pennsylvania created the game of Monopoly. Realizing that his get-rich theme might appeal to other Americans, he had the game printed and distributed in a Philadelphia department store. When he couldn't keep up with the overwhelming requests for more sets, he arranged for Parker Brothers to take over the game. And the rest, as they say, is history. But Monopoly is far from a quaint historical relic. To this day, it remains a riveting game of luck, chance, and savvy wheeling and dealing--all of which can make some lucky dog rich, rich, rich! Based on the purchase of Atlantic City real estate (a city currently renowned for its get-rich gambling opportunities), Monopoly is now printed in 26 languages with more than 200 million sets sold worldwide. Players still scoot the same beloved board pieces: the old shoe, the terrier, and the hot rod. This set also includes rules for a shortened version of the game and a new token, winner of Monopoly's recent "design a token" contest. This is capitalism at its most fun and ruthless, a must-have edition in the family game closet. --Gail Hudson

Imaginiff

Imaginiff That iMAgiNiff was developed by two brothers (in Australia) makes perfect sense, because this is a board game you'll want to share with family and friends. It's simple to play. A set of names is chosen, usually the name of every player plus those of several absent friends. When it's your turn, one name is selected as the subject of the question. You pick a card--one of hundreds--that poses a question and six possible answers (for example, "Imaginiff _____ were a crime. Which would he/she be?"). Read the question aloud, plugging in the subject's name. Then read out the six answers (in this case, they range from "homicide" to "indecent exposure"). Each player picks an answer to fit the subject; those who have picked the most popular answer move forward. But though you win by advancing, winning is obviously not the point: laughter and arguments are. The questions on the cards range from the ridiculous ("Imaginiff _____ were a body part.") to the provocative ("Imaginiff _____ had to decide which of the following values is most important."). The game is a fun cross between Scruples and True Colors. --Elisa Murray

Pictionary - The Game of Quick Draw

Pictionary - The Game of Quick Draw Can you draw a cat? How about sketching something that conveys the word area or The English Patient? Can you do it in less than 60 seconds while your team yells the wrong answers at you and the other team is close to getting it right? Welcome to the game of Pictionary, in which players attempt to guess words from sketches made by other members of their team. The words can be objects, people, actions, places, animals, or the dreaded "difficult," although in the heat of an exciting game, even house can be difficult. Word cards are randomly selected, the timer is activated, and players begin scribbling franticly as they race to beat the clock. Correct answers are rewarded with a toss of the die and progression around the board toward victory. Pictionary veterans should note that this is an updated edition of the game, including more than 1,000 new words to challenge even the most experienced quick-draw artist. Pencils, sketchpads, and a 60-second timer are included. Pictionary is for four or more players. --Simon Leake

Rubik's Professor Cube (5x5)

Rubik's Professor Cube (5x5) No description

Clue

Clue Poor Mr. Boddy has been shockingly murdered in his own mansion. To win this game, you must become a roving detective, sniffing out the answers to the classic mystery questions: Who among Mr. Boddy's guests committed the murder? What was the murder weapon? (Lead pipe? Wrench? Candlestick?) Where did the murder happen? (Library? Conservatory?) Because the answers change each time, the game is constantly challenging. A gameboard map of the mansion, detective notepad, deck of cards, one die, wandering playing pieces, and a healthy dose of intuition will help players be the first to figure out the answers. This edition of Clue is a departure from the old faces and mansion rooms that were beginning to look dated after all these years. Sultry Miss Scarlett looks like Lesley Ann Warren from the movie Clue. Mr. Green looks convincingly sinister, Mrs. Peacock snobbish and potentially cruel. Colonel Mustard is still Pompous, Professor Plum still clueless. Mrs. White, the grandmotherly maid, is downright spooky. --Gail Hudson

Scattergories

Scattergories Scattergories is a fast-paced word game that's a real crowd pleaser. Each player takes a category list with 12 categories--such as vegetable, state, president, things you throw away--and must write down the name of one item that fits into each category. Sounds easy enough, but each item has to begin with a specific letter that is determined when the 20-sided die is rolled. For instance, you roll the letter "R." Your answer list for the above categories might look something like this: rutabaga, Rhode Island, Roosevelt, rubbish, etc. You have to think fast, because a round lasts only 3 minutes! Players score points for each unique answer. --Alison Golder

Deluxe Encore Game

Deluxe Encore Game Clear your throat and drink that honey-lemon tea: It's time to play Encore, the game of dueling larynxes. The goal is to come up with a song that contains particular words--and then sing lines from the song that contains those words. Here's how it works: The first team turns up a card featuring five words; the two teams then take turns singing at least six words of any song that contains one of those five. The round continues until one team is stumped, which, if the word is "love," could take a while. But repetition is not allowed, and for every "said" and "moon," there's a "highway" or "piano"--whaddya do when you've exhausted the Billy Joel songbook? And it's great to draw a lyric that's in a song title, but if you don't know five others that come after, you'll be like the player who drew "nice"; he spent the entire run of the sand timer with his shoulders hunched like Sinatra because he couldn't connect "and let's make all the stops along the way" with the song's title, "Nice 'N' Easy." Oh, and don't play Encore with Renaissance Faire actors--when they draw the word "lady," they'll come up with an inexhaustible supply of 15th-century madrigals. Only after they've won will you discover that they were all bogus. --Tony Mason

Stratego

Stratego To arms! A harsh and lonely battlefield is the setting for Milton Bradley's newly redesigned Stratego board game. A removable fortress barrier sequesters your army from prying eyes whilst ye prepare yourselves for a most lengthy and glorious conflict. Utmost care must be taken as you place your men. From the lowliest scout to the highest-ranking marshal, all must make ready to encounter enemy bombs, defend the flag, and steel themselves to triumph over the foe. Skillful planning, a keen memory, and sleight of hand will be your allies. Onward, for King and for Country! Spanish and English instructions are included. Stratego is for two players. --Julie Ubben

Pictionary, Jr.

Pictionary, Jr. Speed, not artistry, is the key to Pictionary Junior, a party game that stole the show from Charades in the '80s. The kids' version, which has been updated with hundreds of new words to draw, has hints and two levels of play. There are 144 two-sided cards. The red side is more challenging, and the blue side is easier--for younger players. Both include a theme to be read aloud and start everyone thinking on track. Teams go head-to-head to guess the word their "picturist" draws within 60 seconds. How fast can you draw an apple pie, an eyebrow, or a coin? It takes a quick hand and good guesswork to move around the game board from start to finish before the other team. A timer and easy-to-read instructions are included. --Lynne Sampson