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EFG Staff

Raising a Chess Prodigy: Tips and Tricks for Teaching Your Children the Game of Chess

by EFG Staff January 14, 2023

People of all ages have enjoyed Chess for ages. Not only is it a fun pastime, but it also provides many benefits for children, including developing critical thinking skills, problem-solving abilities, and strategic planning.

Teaching your children how to play chess can be a wonderful way to spend quality time together. It also gives them a lifelong hobby they can enjoy. In this post, we will go over the basics of chess, including the movements of the different pieces, as well as some tips on how to teach your children the game in a fun and engaging way. We’ll even throw in a little extra and share some strategies that might help them improve their game (and maybe yours too)!

The Basic Rules of Chess

Each player takes turns making a single move. Players cannot choose to skip a turn – they must make a move. Each chess piece moves in a specific way and must be moved according to its legal movement. (see below). Pieces cannot move through pieces of either color without either:

stopping (in the case of a piece of the same color)
capturing them (in the case of a piece of the opposite color).

How the different chess pieces move:

There are 6 different pieces in chess.

King: The king piece can only move one square in any direction.
Queen: The Queen is the most powerful piece. It can move any number of squares in any direction, horizontally, vertically or diagonally.
Rook: The Rook can move any number of squares horizontally or vertically.
Bishop: The Bishop can move any number of squares diagonally.
Knight: Knights move in an L shape, two squares in one direction then one more space after a 90-degree turn.
Pawns: Pawns are interesting. They can only move forward one square at a time. The exception is on their first move where they can move forward two squares. They can only capture other pieces diagonally.

Castling

Castling is a special move in Chess, and is the only move where two pieces move within one turn. It is a special rule where your king can move two spaces to its right or left. Simultaneously, the rook on that corresponding side moves to the space on the opposite side of the king.

There are four key rule the must be followed in order to complete a castling move. First, the king and rook must still be in their starting squares, and never moved over the course of the game. Secondly, all of the spaces between the king and rook need to be clear of other pieces. Third, the king may not be in Check. Finally, the spaces the king will travel and land on may not be vulnerable to attack in the next move.

Ending the Game

As the game progresses, players must be mindful of the concept of “check” and “checkmate.” When a player’s king is under attack, it is in “check.” When a player’s king is in check and there is no way to move the king out of the attack, it is “checkmate” and the game is over.

Tips for teaching your kids how to play chess.

Here are some tips on how to teach your children the game of chess in a fun and engaging way:

Start with the basics: Begin by introducing your child to the different pieces and their movements. Let them practice moving the pieces on the board and familiarize themselves with the layout.

Use visual aids: Children often learn better through visual aids such as pictures and videos. There are many resources available online, including interactive chess tutorials, animations, and diagrams that can help explain the rules and different strategies.

Play with them: Playing chess with your child is the best way to teach them the game. As you play, point out the different tactics and strategies you’re using, and explain the reasoning behind your moves. Engage them into deciding what moves are best to make. Instead of just telling your child how to move the pieces, ask them questions and get them to come up with their own moves. This will help them think critically and develop their problem-solving skills.

Keep it fun: Remember that the most important thing is to make the learning experience fun and engaging. Use humor, praise, and positive reinforcement to keep your child motivated and interested in the game.

Be patient: Teaching your child chess can take time and patience. Make sure you’re ready for a long-term commitment and that you’re there to guide and support them along the way.

Story Time Chess

One product out on the market designed to help teach young children how to play Chess is Story Time Chess. This unique Chess set is formatted in a simple way that is approachable to children as young as three-years-old. What makes Story Time Chess unique is they have created a story to explain how each chess piece moves with reason for their movement within the story. So for example, the King is scared, so he moves on tiptoes and very slowly. This provides a connect to the children on why the king only moves one space. There are also exercises that go with each piece/character to teach their movement. Besides the storybook, the game has standard chess pieces, but they have a small slot. These slots allow parents to put in a picture of the character that corresponds to the story. This visually helps coordinate the traditional piece with the character in the story.

Story Time Chess has gotten wide praise and has won quite a few rewards. Two notable rewards are winning the 2021 Toy of Year Award, and winning the Mom’s Choice Awards.

Ways to Encourage Engagement

Reward their progress: You could give rewards for progress made. For example, every time your child successfully checkmates you, or every time your child beats an opponent (even if it’s you). This can make the game more engaging and fun for your child.

Show them professional games and Grandmasters: Show your child some professional games, videos and even watch live games with them. This will help them understand the game at a higher level and provide a good motivation for them.

Five tips to Improve Your Skills

Study the basic tactics: Learn common tactical motifs such as forks, pins, double attacks, discovered attacks, and so on. There are many resources available online, including chess puzzles and instructional videos.

Analyze your own games start to finish: After you finish a game, take the time to analyze your own moves, both the good and the bad. Try to understand what went wrong and how you could have played better. The endgame is the stage of the game where there are fewer pieces left on the board. It can be a great opportunity to improve your technique and find the best way to finish the game.

Learn from the best: Study the games of grandmasters and try to understand their thought process and reasoning behind their moves. As you improve, it’s important to play against players who are better than you. This will help you to identify and improve on your weaknesses.

Keep it simple: A good rule of thumb is to keep your play simple and avoid overcomplicating things. Try to focus on the most important aspects of the position, such as king safety and piece activity.

Practice, practice, practice: The most important tip of all is to play as much chess as you can. The more you play, the more experience you’ll gain, and the better you’ll become at the game.

Final Thoughts

In conclusion, teaching your child how to play chess can be a rewarding experience for both you and your child. Not only will they learn valuable strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, but they will also gain confidence and self-esteem as they improve at the game. By starting with the basics, breaking the game down into manageable chunks, and making learning fun, you can help your child develop a love for chess that will last a lifetime. Remember to be patient, encouraging, and to make it a fun family activity. With a little bit of time and effort, you can help your child become a chess prodigy in no time!

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

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January 14, 2023 0 comment

Board Games Parent Resources

EFG Essentials: Great Board Games for Kids

by EFG Staff January 9, 2023

written by EFG Staff

The Engaged Family Gaming team has the mission to provide information and support families who want to play board games with their kids (and video games too). We work hard to provide parents with the tools they need to make informed decisions about their children’s gaming. To facilitate this, we help parents who might not be “gamers” themselves learn to understand the games their children are playing and help them find great board games for their kids.

Games for the Whole Family

Planted

Buy Planted here at Target

Card Drafting/Resource Management/ Set Collection
2-5 Players
Age 10+

There is something very satisfying about caring for plants and watching them flourish. Planted takes the premise of collecting and caring for plants and couples it with beautiful artwork and components. This Target exclusive game had a high production value for the price. Players collect Resource Cards and Item Cards at the beginning of each of the four rounds. Then players draft their cards by picking and passing the cards to the right or left, the direction changes each round.

Planted plays over four rounds with a very simple card drafting mechanism. The game design keeps beginning players in mind. The player boards and nursery board do a great job of communicating clearly for the players. Each round players draw 6 Resource cards and 2 Item cards. Over the round players pick a card simultaneously, reveal and gather any resources based on their cards.

Planted takes some more complicated gaming mechanics and has streamlined their play as well as provided lots of visual support on the player boards, cards, and nursey board. For novice gamers this have become a great new gateway into set collection, resource management, and card drafting.

Chonky Donkey

Party Game
3-8 Players
Age 12 +

Buy Chonky Donkey here on Amazon

Party games are wildly popular and easy to find, but may have a similar gameplay or theme from each other. Chonky Donkey has taken the party game and transformed the judge into the reader. In Chonky Donkey, just as in many other party games with cards and a judge, players submit a card to a prompt.

However, this is where there is a twist, the judge is only a reader. This game has question cards and answer cards. First the reader flips an answer card and all the players (except reader, who is in “the hot seat) submit a question card that they feels goes with the question, or is just ridiculous. As they read the cards summitted my their fellow players. the reader can not smile or laugh. If the reader smiles or laughs, the player who’s card they were reading gets the prompt card and the point. Should the reader keep a straight face the whole time, the reader keeps the prompt card and they get the point.

Ticket to Ride

Route Building and Set collection
2-5 players
Age 8+

Buy Ticket to Ride on Amazon!

Ticket To Ride is the quintessential starting place for families looking for the next level in board games beyond Monopoly or Uno. This is the game that was the starting point for multiple members of the EFG team to become passionate about board games.

During gameplay, players collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout the United States. Each player is working on completing their own secret routes. If another player claims a path they need, the player needs to try and find another path to complete their route, if possible. This also adds a potential “take that” element to the game.

On each turn you can only take one of 3 actions: draw Train Car Cards, claim a Route between two cities on the board, draw additional Destination Tickets. The object of the game is to score the highest number of total points. Points are earned from completing routes, and lost for incomplete route cards. Each round allows for players to plan, think strategically, and make tactical decisions.

Ticket to Ride has expansions for other geographical areas (Europe, Asia, India, etc), in addition to First Journey for younger players. We love the fact that this game has so many version and appeals to such a wide range of players.

See our review of Ticket to Ride here.
See our review of Ticket to Ride First Journey here.

Sushi Go

Card drafting
2-5 players
Age 8+

Buy Sushi Go on Amazon!

Sushi-Go takes place in the fast-paced world of a sushi chef, you must be the most creative and the fastest of all to be the best! The game comes in a cute tin and plays two to five players.

Players start with cards in their hand based on the number of players. Then select one card to play before passing the rest of their cards to the next player to choose from! The game plays in 3 rounds. The strategy of the game lies in making the most of the cards passed to you, while trying to stop opponents from making the combinations they need to maximize points. The most interesting dynamic of this game is the chopsticks. They are played in one round, and used on a subsequent turn to play two cards at once from the current hand. The chopsticks get passed on to be used by someone else.

Sushi Go! is a fun game to play with anyone, and it is a light streamlined game that is a perfect first card drafting game.

See our review here.

The Crew

Trick Taking, Cooperative Strategy
3-5 players
Age 10+

Buy The Crew on Amazon!

Multiple award winner, the 2020 Kennerspiel Des Jahres and 2021 American Tabletop Casual Game, the Crew combines two unique gaming styles, cooperative game play and trick taking. Players take on the roll of a space crew trying to complete missions. The rule books tells the story of each mission as well as the conditions players need to follow to succeed. Once a mission is completes successfully players can move on to the next mission. The game has 50 mission, which increase in intensity both within the story and in the requirements needed to be successful.

The Crew does a great job of adding small elements to each mission to make the difficulty increase. It is done in a gradual way that keeps the game approachable for families. For a small game, and modest number of components there is a lot of game packed into the small box.

The Crew Mission Deep Sea

Trick Taking, Cooperative Strategy
2-5 Players
Age 10+

Buy The Crew Mission Deep Space

If you like The Crew, another adventure is available. In The Crew Mission Deep Sea, players search for the lost city of Mu beneath the ocean depth with in this sequel to the award winning game, The Crew. Using an easy to learn cooperative trick-taking gameplay the players take on different missions to tell the story. Completing each hand under certain conditions completes each mission and advances you through the story on your search for Mu. Just like in its predecessor, as you complete each mission additional rules and conditions might applied to future missions.

Abandon All Artichokes

Deck Builder (Deck Deconstruction)
2-4 players
Age 10+

Buy Abandon All Artichokes on Amazon!

Winner of the 2021 American Tabletop Early Gamers category, Abandon All Artichokes has you build your hand of garden vegetables by deconstructing your deck of artichokes. In Abandon All Artichokes, players start with a hand of all artichoke cards. The goal is to abandon their artichoke cards and create a hand with other vegetables from the garden.

This is a great deck builder game for players new to that style of game, and has been referred to as a “my first deck builder” While the game is rated for age 10 and up this is a game that can scale down to slightly younger players. The non-artichoke vegetable cards have text with the actions the card allows. Young players being able to read the cards is helpful.

Qwixx

Roll and Write
2-5 players
Age 8+

Buy Quixx on Amazon!

Qwixx is a simple roll and write where all players participate in every dice roll. However, you must be strategic about the numbers and colors you select each turn. Roll and write games have a set of dice and each player has a scoring sheet. The genre of roll and write games have become more popular in the last few years, and Qwixx is the perfect game to learn the genre.

To play, there are six dice, two white, one yellow, one red, one blue, and one green. On a turn, the active player rolls and announces the total of the two white dice. All players have the option to mark any color on their sheet with the corresponding number. The active player only has the additional option to add one white die with any one of the red, yellow, blue, or green dice to select a number on their record sheet. The more numbers you can mark off the more points you score. Players must choose carefully once you cross off a number you can not go backwards.

Kingdomino

Tile Laying
2-4 players
Age 8+

Buy Kingdomino on Amazon!

Kingdomino, the 2017 winner of The Spiel Des Jahres (The Game of the Year), and combines the universal simplicity of dominoes with kingdom building. It is a tile drafting and placement game for two to four players. The game is played in short rounds.

First, tiles are laid out in a field and players take turns drafting tiles based on the order of the previous round. Players draw domino shaped tiles and lay them out in their 5×5 block kingdom. only one side of their domino needs to match the land the connect to, but it can gain them more points if both sides match. The goal is to sort their kingdom so that they have large contiguous terrain (lakes, forests, etc) to earn points. Points are calculated by taking the number of continuous terrain times the number of crown icons found on any domino in that terrain. The gameplay is quick, easy to teach, and the game ages down very nicely.

See our Spiel Des Jahres 2017 article here.

Forbidden Island

Cooperative
2-4 players
Age 10+

Buy Forbidden Island on Amazon!

Forbidden Island puts players on an island that is slowly sinking into the ocean, and they need to work together to gather treasures then escape. Each turn is filled with tension as players flip over cards that indicate which tile will sink (and thus shrink the board). As the game progresses it really feels like the world is sinking.

The tiles are laid out in a set island pattern, and six cards are flipped from the Flood Deck. As cards are drawn from the Flood Deck, the corresponding tile on the board is flipped over. Which reveals a blue tinted version of the same piece. This represents the location “flooding”. If a flooded location floods a second time (via the same flood card being drawn later in the game), that location is lost to the abyss and both the tile and the corresponding flood card are removed from the game.

The randomness of the tile layout leads to huge variety and replay value. The difficulty can be scaled to all abilities based on how high the water level starts the game. Even at the easy setting can provide a decent challenge for some of the most experienced gamers.

See our review here.

Pandemic

Cooperative
2-4 players
Age 8+

Buy Pandemic on Amazon!

In Pandemic, two to four players take on one of several roles, such as Medic, Dispatcher, or Researcher, in their quest to cure 4 diseases before time runs out and humanity is wiped out.

Game play follows a standard turn-based approach. Each player starts their turn by drawing from an event deck to determine where the newest infections are. Then, they use location cards to move around the globe, treating diseases to prevent outbreaks. Finally, they draw more location cards to restock their hand. If a player can get three location cards of a single color and can get to a lab, they can create a cure. The cure that won’t immediately eradicate the disease. Rather, it will make the disease easier to treat.

There is one way to win (working together to cure all 4 diseases), and multiple ways to lose (running out of time, being overwhelmed by diseases, etc.) Players can change the difficult by increasing the starting number of infections.

See our review here.

Tsuro

Tile Laying
2-8 players
Age 8+

Buy Tsuro on Amazon!

Tsuro is a tile laying game for two to eight players with a beautiful Asian aesthetic. In this game you are a flying dragon. Your dragon is represented by a colored carved token. Tsuro consists of tiles with twisting lines on them, a 6×6 grid on which to lay these tiles and a token for each player.

Each player has a hand of tiles. On your turn you do two things: place a tile from your hand onto the board next to your token and move your token as far as it can go along the line it is currently on. You continue to move it until it is stopped by an empty space with no tile in (yet), the edge of the board, or if you collide with player’s token. If your dragon reaches the edge of the board or collides with another player’s token, you are out of the game.

The goal of the game is to be the last player left with a dragon on the board. The strategy, therefore, consists of trying to drive your opponents either into each other or off of the board. While trying to extend your own route in directions that will make it difficult for your opponents to hinder your path.

See our review here.

Zombie Kidz Evolution

Legacy/ Cooperative
For 2-4 Players
Ages 7+

Buy Zombie Kidz Evolution on Amazon!

Your successes or failures affect the game in your future plays of the game, in Zombie Kidz Evolution. This is a perfect first step into Legacy games. Legacy games are played over a series of sessions and what occurrences in previous sessions permanently changes the game and can influence the next events in the game. In Zombie Kidz Evolution you are working together to protect yourselves and drive off the zombies in the school. All the staff at the school zombies. The rules start off very simply, and as the game progresses new rules and abilities are added.

Zombie Teenz Evolution

Legacy/Cooperative
2-4 players
Age 8+

Buy Zombie Teenz Evolution here on Amazon

The zombies are causing trouble around the town and you must work with your friends to find all the ingredients for the antidote to save them. Zombie Teenz is another game in the same world as Zombie Kidz Evolution. This is a stand alone game which can also be combined with Zombie Kidz Evolution. Just like in its predictor, this is a cooperative legacy games and evolves as you play. If your family likes Zombie Kidz Evolution, the this adds just a little more complexity and challenge for players.

Happy Salmon

Party Game
3-8 players
Age 6+

Buy Happy Salmon on Amazon!

Happy Salmon is a great game for motivating your family to get up, laugh, and shout their way through a game. The rules also suggest being creative for a silent mode in locations where shouting is too disruptive. Each player gets 12 cards in their personal deck with three of each action card and the players who stand around a table. Each player shuffles their deck and flips it over so only one card is visible.

Once play begins, all players simultaneously say the name of the action on the revealed card. They are trying to find another player with a matching card. If no one has the same card the card moves to the bottom of their deck. If they find a match the two players perform the action and discard the card in front of them. The actions of Happy Salmon include: High Five, Fish Bump, Switch it up (where players switch places), and Happy Salmon (where players slap arms together) will leave players doubled over in laughter. The first player to run out of cards wins.

Exploding Kittens

Player Elimination and Hand Management
2-5 players
Age 7+

Buy Exploding Kittens on Amazon!

Exploding Kittens is one of the silliest games in our collection, and is a family favorite. There are fifty-six cards in the deck. The artwork is exactly what you may have come to expect from The Oatmeal. Characters such as Taco Cat and Beard Cat make an appearance alongside original artwork on each card. The game play is quite simple; the box claims it takes two minutes to learn. They weren’t kidding.

You can play as many cards as you like and you end your turn by drawing a card. If the card is an exploding kitten and you cannot defuse it you are out of the game. The last person standing wins. That’s it. The game really is that simple. The design is such that you never need to reshuffle the discard pile into the deck. There will always be a winner by the time the cards run out.

This game is a lot more fun than one might think it would be. It plays very quickly and is very easy to learn.

Check out the review here.

Evolution: The Beginning

Engine Building
2-5 players
Age 8+

Buy Evolution: The Beginning on Amazon!

The Evolution Series by North Star Games has multiple games in this line. In the Evolution games you are evolving your creatures with various traits to help their survival. Each animal needs to have enough food or they die out and can go extinct. There is something for everyone in this series. For elementary age students you can start with Evolution: The Beginning. This is a simplified and streamlined version of the game good for ages eight and up. For older children: Evolution, Flight (which is an expansion), Climate, and Oceans.

The Evolution: The Beginnings the perfect lighter family game. It has streamlined the game elements of the Evolution series. For players new to engine building board games this gives a framework for that genre of game that is easy to understand. An engine building game is where the players are building something that will ultimately produce points for them in the game. The theme of Evolution is also very engaging to a wide range of players. It can be played with a wide range of players.

Block Ness

Area Control/Basic Resource Management
2-4 players
Age 8+

Buy Block Ness on Amazon !

Loch Ness Monsters are taking over the Loch, in Block Ness by Blue Orange Games. Players are vying for the limited space and trying to make their monster the longest before running out of room. To keep space limited and challenging at all player counts the number of players impacts the size of the loch (play space).

Each player gets 12 segments of their color monster, including a head and tail. Each segment is slightly different, they vary both in length and height. As players add to their monster, they can place a new piece horizontally or vertically only. Monster pieces can also (and eventually will need to) go over other monster pieces. The must be taller than the existing piece to cross over.

Block Ness is a great family game, and it plays well multi generational. The rules are very easy to learn and only takes 15 minutes to play, making it a great addition to family game collections.

Splendor

Engine Building
2-4
Age 10+

Buy Splendor on Amazon !

Blending a balance of easy to learn rules and deeper strategy, Splendor is a fantastic game for older children and grown-ups alike. Splendor is a simple and elegant set collection game for two to four players. This is a game that is easy to teach, quick to learn, and will take a long time to master. The bottom line here; Asmodee has a huge hit on their hands as this has become one of our family’s favorite games.

In Splendor, players take on the role of Renaissance jewelers who are working to build their prestige and attract the attention of wealthy noble patrons. They do this by gathering resource tokens and spending them on development cards that represent new designs, tools, mining operations, and store fronts. The game is essentially a race to fifteen prestige points. Players acquire gems in order to buy mines, which in turn provide more gems (and ultimately points). While the gem-dealer theme may feel thin at times, the card drafting mechanic and engine-building gameplay will quickly make this a family game night staple.

Check out our review!

Skyjo

Set collection
2-8 players
Age 8+

Skyjo is a great addition to any game collection. It supports of wide range of players and scales well at all player counts. Being able to support up to eight players is a huge asset. It is challenging to find a game, which is not a party game, that supports such a high player count. Skyjo’s rules are simple and easy to learn. It fits a casual gaming and multi generational gaming setting.

Players receive cards face down at the beginning of the round they reveal three cards. On their turn a player can either draw a revealed card from the discard pile, or they can take a card from the draw pile. If a player selects a revealed card from the discard pile, they must use it either for one of their face up cards or flip over a card and use it there. Should they choose an unknown card from the draw pile, then players can either substituted for a visible card or flip a card as well.

The round ends when 1 player has revealed all of their cards. One final turn occurs for the remaining players. Finally, players reveal their remaining cards and calculate points. There is a risk to ending the round, because that player must have the lowest score or their points are doubled. Additional rounds are played until one player meets or exceeds 100 points. The player with the lowest score wins the game. There is one special condition in the game.

Check out our review here.

Drop It

Dexterity/ Abstract Strategy
2-4 players
Age 8+

Buy Drop It on Amazon!

Some of the best family games are easy to learn, but hard to master. Drop It has very simple rules and can be taught in minutes, yet has enough strategy within the simple rules to keep it engaging for all members of the family. Do not be deceived by the bright primary colors of the game, Drop It is more than a kids game!

In Drop It, each player has a collection of shapes in one color, and players drop them down the vertical game board to try and score points. The challenge come in meeting the criteria to score points. Along the side and the bottom there are colors (or shapes depending on the set up you select) and if your piece touches the side of the same color it does not score any points. Pieces also may not land touching another piece of a matching shape or color. The player with the most points when they run out of shapes wins.

King of Tokyo

Push Your Luck
2-6 Players
Age 8+

Buy King of Tokyo on Amazon!

Attacking Aliens, Rampaging Lizards, Giant Robots, Mutant Bugs, and Ferocious Gorillas: this game has them all! King of Tokyo is a game for two to six players that combines a board game, a dice game and a card game. You play as one monster whose main goals are to destroy Tokyo and battle other monsters in order to become the one and only King of Tokyo!

At the beginning of the turn, each player rolls six dice. The dice show the following symbols: numbers 1, 2, or 3 (representing Victory Points that can be earned), a lightning bolt (representing Energy that can be earned), a heart (representing Healing), and a claw (representing Attack). The player with the most Attack dice goes first (the fiercest). Each turn consists of 4 steps: rolling and re-rolling the dice, resolving the dice, buying cards and using their effects, and the end of turn decision.

The fiercest player will occupy Tokyo, and earn extra victory points, but that player can’t heal and must face all the other monsters alone! When you add in cards that can have a permanent or temporary effect, like growing a second head, body armor, nova death ray, etc., you get a VERY exciting game. In order to win the game, one must either destroy Tokyo by accumulating 20 victory points, or be the only surviving monster once the fighting has ended.

See our review here.

Fire Tower

Area Control and Hand Management
2-4 Players
Age 14+

Buy Fire Tower on Amazon!

Most fire fighting games are cooperative, but in the game Fire Tower, you compete with other players to protect your fire tower from the fire and spread the fire to your opponent’s tower.

Players are working to defend their Fire Tower, the nine squares in the corner of the board, and to breach their opponents. In the Fire Tower squares fire can spread, but water and fire breaks can not be used. Players take a range of actions depending on the card they play. There are Fire cards that spread the fire regardless of wind direction. Water cards put out the fire in a small area. Fire Break cards create areas the fire is unable to burn, but may not be added to adjacent spots with a Fire Break. Once fire reaches the orange square in the corner that player is eliminated. The player with the last unburned tower wins.

See our preview from when this was on Kickstarter here.

For Young Gamers

Rhino Hero

Dexterity
2-5 players
Age 5+

Buy Rhino Hero on Amazon!

Rhino Hero is a competitive 3-D stacking game where players are building a tower of cards and moving Rhino Hero up the tower. This is a great games for younger players and involves no reading.

This dexterity game directs players were the wall cards need to go on each turn. Players have wall and ceiling tiles. On their turn, the player first builds the wall in the place indicated on the ceiling tile and then place their ceiling tile. Actions indicated on some of the ceiling tiles and those benefit the player, such as skipping the next player. The game ends when the tower fall, a player places their last roof card, or all the walls are built.

Animal Upon Animal

Dexterity
2-4 players
Age 4+

Buy Animal Upon Animal on Amazon!

Animal Upon Animal is a dexterity game perfect for young games, where players are stacking wooden animal pieces. On a turn, players roll a special die to determine what happens on their turn. If the player rolls one pip they add one animal, two pips the add two animals, the crocodile image has the player place one animal on the table touching one side of the base animals, therefore further expanding the base. The hand icon has the active player choose one of their animals and give it to another player who then has to add it to the stack. Finally the question mark icon has the other players determine which animal the active player has to add to the stack.

Should animals fall off while a player is trying to add one to the stack, the player who was placing the animals takes them if there are one or two that fall. Should more than two fall one two are kept and the rest returned to the box. The game ends when a player runs out of animals to stack, and the last player to place their piece can declare victory.

Sneaky Snacky Squirrel

Set Collection
2-4 players
Age 3+

Buy Sneaky Snacky Squirrel on Amazon!

The Sneaky Snacky Squirrel Game is where you are collecting acorns to feed your hungry squirrel. At the beginning of each turn you spin the spinner and that dictated the color acorn you can take or if another event occurs. If a player lands on a storm cloud their acorns get blown back onto the tree. A sad squirrel means you lose a turn. The thieving squirrel picture allows the player to steal one acorn from another player. The first person to fill their log with acorns wins.

This is a great simple game for very young gamers.

Hoot Owl Hoot

Cooperative
2-4 players
Age 4+

Buy Hoot Owl Hoot on Amazon!

Hoot Owl Hoot is a cooperative game where players work to bring the owls back to the nest. The goal is to get all the owls back before the sun comes up. Each player has three cards dealt in front of them. Players choose a color card to play, and draws a card to refill at the end of their turn. With a color card the player selects an owl and move it to the next corresponding space of that color. If a player has a sun card they must play it, and the sun moves one space on the tracker. The difficulty can be increased by adding more owls to put back in the nest.

The EFG Essentials are reviewed and updated every few months to make sure we have the most current information for our readers.

The EFG Essential Guide Collections

Check out our other Essentials Guides for great collections of games!

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on Xbox

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on Nintendo Switch

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on PlayStation

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January 9, 2023 1 comment

Gaming Glossary

Fighting Game Glossary

by EFG Staff October 2, 2022

written by EFG Staff

Fighting games and the Fighting game community use very specialized language when talking about games. This language is so specialized that talking with an experienced player or watching a broadcast can be like hearing a different language.

Below is a list of commonly used fighting game terms. Understanding these terms will help things make sense when you hear people using them.

Inputs

The instructions that are sent from the controller to the console or PC and are interpreted into in-game actions and animations. These instructions can vary from game to game but are mostly separated into three groups: Attacks, which are instructions that translate to the basic combat interactions within that fighting game. Directional, which are instructions that translate to the basic movement with that fighting game, and when paired with attacks can create instructions that result in special attacks and super moves. And Auxiliary, instructions that control the basic game and console functions outside of the game itself (pause, share, etc)

Directional Notation: Movement directions vary from game to game and from console controller to an arcade stick. A common notation is to use the ASCII number pad on a keyboard to represent the 8 directional movements of an arcade stick, plus one for neutral/no movement. This is represented in the image below.

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Directional Inputs

Block: Holding back 4, while being attacked by an opponent will cause the character to defend. This input is only effective against high attacks. Holding back 1 while being attacked by an opponent will also cause the character to defend, and is effective against low and high attacks, but not any basic attack or special move with the overhead property. Blocking does not stop any basic throw or command grab special moves.

Dash/Run: An input of 6,6 or 4,4 that causes a character to move very quickly across the screen. This input often has to start up and recovery animation and makes the character vulnerable to attack if performed at the wrong time. Depending on the game this movement either happens for a short distance, or for as long as you hold the button down after the second input.

Input (Buffering): Originally a bug in the original Street Fighter 2, this common feature of fighting games is where directional and button inputs are stored and processed even while action and animation is being executed. For example, Zangief’s Spinning Piledriver has an input of 6,3,2,1,4,7,8,9 (or one full revolution of a control stick) + Punch, which if performed incorrectly will cause Zangief to jump instead of performing the move. Historically, players discovered that they could perform a crouching light kick, and perform the full circular motion of the Spinning Piledriver while the animation for the kick was being performed. The input for the punch would be timed just as the animation for the kick would end. The console/arcade/pc would read all of the stored inputs as one complete and successful motion for a Spinning Piledriver.

Short Hop: An input of 7 or 9. In certain fighting games, this input will cause the character to perform a very short and shallow jump to close the distance or create space with the opponent.

Super jump: An input of 2, (7/8/9) causes the character to jump high into the air.

Walk: An input of 6 or 4 that causes the character to slowly move forward or back, creating or closing space with the opponent.

Basic Attack Inputs

Special Attacks/Super Moves (Inputs): A combination of directional and basic attack instructions that results in a powerful attack against your opponent. Super Moves are a special attack that is exceptionally powerful but also consumes additional resources. Together with basic attacks, special attacks and super moves often define how a character plays and cements them into a certain archetype.

Types of special moves, advanced basic attacks, and attack properties

Command Normal: A special attack that is the combination single directional input followed by a basic attack button. This attack has different properties than the same basic attack performed in neutral and is often not as flashy as a listed special attack.

Overhead: A command normal or special attack that will ignore an opponent’s defense if they are blocking in a crouched position, but can be blocked normally from a standing position. Attacks like this are the exception to the normal rules of blocking and are a tool to punish overly defensive players.

4 Button vs 6 Button Layout: Two of the most common configurations of basic attack inputs in fighting games. 6 buttons are often used to express three strengths of punch and kick while 4 buttons either express two strengths of punch and kick or a punch, kick, light, and heavy attack (the latter case is usually used for fighting games that involve weapons)

Install Super: A Super Move that significantly alters the properties of a character’s basic and special attacks. This move lasts a set amount of time until ending. (X Factor, Genajin, Dragon Install)

Types of Directional Inputs:

Short Hop: An input of 7 or 9. In certain fighting games, this input will cause the character to perform a very short and shallow jump to close the distance or create space with the opponent.

Super jump: An input of 2, (7/8/9) causes the character to jump high into the air.

Walk: An input of 6 or 4 that causes the character to slowly move forward or back, creating or closing space with the opponent.

Characters

A video game avatar that interpolates the inputs of the player into various basic attacks, movements, special, and super moves. Fighting game characters often have a distinct visual style. Not only to make them distinct from one another but to make them easier to visualize their movement and actions on the screen. Fighting game characters are often given a distinct visual style as a way to communicate their archetype when compared to other characters. Ryu, Mario, and Spongebob are fighting game characters.

Character Archetype

A collection of characters that share a common set of basic and special moves, and often with an amount of life and [stun], are often described in shorthand as an archetype. These character archetypes are well-established tropes in the fighting game community and have their origins in older fighting games that were hosted in both home consoles as well as arcades and game cabinets in the US and Japan. Zoners, Rushdown, and Grapplers are fighting game archetypes. Characters are often defined not only by what they look like, but by what they do.

Examples of Fighting game character archetypes:

Big Box Characters

Big Box Character: A character archetype that takes up an above-average space on the screen and has a corresponding increased size to their hitbox. This increased size often makes blocking and avoiding attacks difficult. As attacks that are normally high are considered low for this character. Entire combos from other characters in the roster are available that only work on this specific character due to their exceptional size. In exchange, these characters often deal high damage and have higher than normal durability.

Charge Character

A playstyle in gaming consists of aggressive actions meant to limit both the space and time an opponent can use to play. This playstyle often sacrifices personal durability for overall strength.

Example: Cammy from Street Fighter

Example (Alt): Demon Hunter, Zerg, The Color Red from Magic the Gathering

Composite Characters

A character archetype that features properties, basic attacks, and special moves from multiple archetypes. This diversity is often at the expense of overall power or durability. For example, a Charge/Grappler would feature moves requiring holding the patient attacks of a charge character and the close-range grab-based attacks of a Grappler.

Grappling Character

A fighting game archetype that features movement, basic and special attacks design to close the distance with their opponent to deliver powerful throws and command grabs. This archetype often has basic and special attacks with armor and projectile invincibility to get the upper hand on zoner and shoto characters. Grapplers tend to have high life, stun, and power in exchange for a slower base speed.

Mimic Character

A character archetype who has either a special move or a super move that copies the opposing character’s attributes, basic attacks, and special moves. This copying can last for one specific attack or a set amount of time.

A fighting game character archetype that features special moves that require the player to press and hold, then release, certain directions or buttons as part of their execution. These moves limit the character’s movement and actions in exchange for higher damage or better frame data. Advanced techniques for Charge Characters often involve buffering the hold and release of buttons and directions while performing other basic attacks.

Mix Up Characters

A character archetype whose basic attacks and special moves are equally capable of attacking either high or low or attacking from either the front or back when in the air. These characters are notoriously difficult to defend against. They require understanding and anticipating the intentions of your opponent as much as knowledge of the character.

Puppet Character

A character archetype whose basic attacks and special moves can control a second semi-independent sub-character that is an ally/extension of the first. This independent character often has either a limited duration or durability that leaves the primary character vulnerable while it is sent away. Puppet characters are an archetype that encourages long to midrange play to keep the opponent away. As the character’s damage and durability are often split between themselves and the sub-character.

Rush Down Character

A fighting game character archetype that features moves designed to close the distance between the player and opponents and to limit an opponent’s options through a barrage of fast basic or special attacks. Rush Down characters often feature dashing or jumping attacks that are immune to projectile attacks. They have faster-than-normal attacks to capitalize on whiff punish. These characters often lack durability and often have low [health or stun]. Rush Down characters suit players who enjoy fast play with high [execution] to end rounds and games as quickly as possible.

Stance Character:

A character archetype that uses a special move to switch between two or more separate sets of basic attacks, special moves and super moves. These separate sets are often referred to as “stances” and give the character a diverse set of moves at the cost of vulnerability during transitions from one stance to another.

Shoto Character

A fighting game archetype for 2D games that features a mix of projectile attacks, dragon punch and hurricane kick special attacks, and well-rounded basic attacks. Shotos are so well known in fighting game tropes and design, that they are even featured as guest characters in fighting games that do not feature projectiles. Shotos, when placed in a roster of other fighting game archetypes, are meant to serve as the balance point for comparison.

Zoning Character

A fighting game character archetype that features moves designed to push opponents away and prevent opponents from approaching safely. Zoners often feature projectile attacks and/or basic attacks with a long reach. Zoners often lack fast basic or special attacks and have difficulties on wake up. Zoning characters suit players who enjoy slow methodical play from a position of safety.

Special Attacks

Dragon Punch (Shoryuken)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XI6qfA-BrBE

A special attack from Street Fighter character Ryu that has become shorthand for the attack itself, the directional input needed to perform it, and similar moves used by other characters and games. This special attack is a powerful attack that rises into the air capable of countering an opponent’s aerial attack. The directional input of Dragon Punch ([3,5,4 or Forward, Down, Down Forward]) is among one of the most common inputs for special moves, and has become slang terminology in the fighting game community.

Fireball/Projectile

A well-known special attack that creates a separate, moving object across the screen. This could be a blast of energy, a ball of flame, or a streak of lightning. Projectiles have an active hitbox as they travel across the screen and will harm the opponent as soon as they touch it. Direction, speed, and power vary from character to character.

Hurricane Kick (Tatsu/Tatsumaki Senpuu Kyaku)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pAfYtqT50A

A special attack from Street Fighter character Ryu that has become shorthand for the attack itself, the directional input needed to perform it, and similar moves used by other characters and games. This special attack is a large sweeping horizontal attack that closes the distance to an opponent. The directional input of a Tatsu ([5,6,7 or Down, Down-Back, Back]) is among one of the most common inputs for special moves and has become slang terminology in the fighting game community.

Mix Up/Cross Up

A combination of normal or special attacks that are difficult to block because they can strike a player or opponent from either high or low (or front and back in the case of Cross Up). Mix-Ups force an opponent to guess if the attack will go high or low and block appropriately, with an incorrect guess resulting in a hit.

Command Grab

A special attack that executes a throw through the use of directional inputs and button presses. Unlike a standard throw, which often requires a simple button input, this throw cannot be interrupted by a simultaneous and matching button input by the opponent (referred to as “Teching”)

Teching (Throw)

In a fighting game, the act of canceling a throw command with a simultaneous input from the other player. This move leads to more advanced play, as players who anticipate a throw from their opponent might preemptively input a throw command. Then only to find their opponent doing something else with the intent to punish the move.

Punish (Punishing, Whiff Punish)

In a fighting game, the act of reacting and countering your opponent’s moves, specifically a move that leaves the character vulnerable while/during it is being executed.

General Terms

Active Frames

The total animation time of a basic or special attack where the move’s [hitbox] is present on the screen.

Arcade Stick/ Fight Stick

Arcade Stick/Fight Stick: A console or PC input device that is built to replicate the custom controls of a fighting game’s arcade cabinet. These devices often feature mechanical buttons and an 8-direction lever (or stick) for directional controls. These devices are created by third parties and are highly customizable and potentially highly sought after.

Armor (Super/Hyper Armor)

The property of an attack or special move that allows the character to take the damage, but ignore the [hit stun], of one or multiple attacks. This property often occurs during the move itself, but can also happen before the move starts or after the move ends. Armor is usually given to either the first hit received, or all hits received until the property or special move ends (In which case it is referred to as Super or Hyper Armor)

EVO

Shorthand for the Evolution Fighting Game Tournament that has been hosted in both Japan and Las Vegas, and is one of the most popular, continuously running, brand/company independent fighting game tournaments.

EVO Moment #37

A highlight from the early history of the Evolution Fighting Game torment that has encapsulated the community and hype of the fighting game community. The scene depicts two professional players of the popular game Street Fighter 3: Third Strike. It ends with a display of technique that is nearly unthinkable without dedication and training. This scene has been recreated in both the tournament scene and as an optional challenge in an anniversary rerelease of Street Fighter 3: Third Strike.

FGC

FGC is short for Fighting Game Community.

Frame Data

The breakdown of a fighting game’s basic or special attack over its entire animation. Animation is analyzed frame by frame and written down in physical or online guides. Some fighting games publish their frame data, Nintendo’s Smash Bros series is a notable exception and does not publish current or changed information about basic and special attacks.

“Happy Birthday”

Fighting game shorthand for an attack in a multiplayer or multicharacter fighting game that hits multiple opposing players or characters at once. (This was originally coined by the FGC commentator IFCYipes)

Hitbox

An Arcade Stick where the 8-direction mechanical lever is replaced with four mechanical buttons similar to the command buttons. They are considered exceptional for their ability to execute commands exceptionally fast. Specifically by performing directional inputs where opposing directions are pressed simultaneously but are processed by the device and sent to the console/pc as a single input.

Hit Stun

The property of a basic or special attack where an opponent’s character cannot respond to player input for a short period of time. Hit stun will decay over time as more and more successive attacks lead to less and less hit stun, forcing players to use a safer series of fewer attacks or a series of attacks that results in a knockdown or pushback.

Input lag (Button Press/Screen)

The total amount of delay (measured in frames of animation) from button press to the beginning of the animation on the screen. The delay from the game machine to the tv or computer display has recently been mitigated with modern high-definition television and monitor. Online multiplayer play is mitigated by the fighting game’s online communication protocol, referred to as [Netcode].

Knockdown (hard/soft)

A fighting game special attack for an attack that brings an opponent to the ground. In some fighting games, recovering from a grounded state can either take a short or relatively longer time. Short or instant recovery from being grounded is often called a soft knockdown. A paused, delayed recovery from a knockdown is often called a hard knockdown

Shorthand for Fighting Game Community, the local, regional, and worldwide organizations that support, host, and broadcast fighting games on various streaming and video platforms.

K.O.

Shorthand for Knock Out. The game state where a player’s life is reduced to zero, ending the round. K.O.s tend to have spectacular visual and audio flair.

Meaty

Fighting game shorthand for a basic or special attack that can only be blocked if you are recovering from a knockdown.

Netcode (Frame Delay and Rollback)

A term that is used to define the collection of computer programs and tools used for online multiplayer interaction in a fighting game.

Neutral

Fighting game shorthand for two or more players being equal distance apart from each other and occupying similar space in the game screen. Also refers to a character who is not performing any actions or basic attacks.

O.T.G. (Off the Ground)

Fighting game shorthand for an attack that will hit an opponent that is currently in a grounded state and brings them into a neutral or airborne position, often with the potential for follow-up attacks.

Recovery Frames

The total animation time of a basic or special attack from after the move’s [hitbox] disappears to when the character returns to neutral

Start up frames

The total animation time a basic or special attack has from the final button input to when the move’s hitbox appears.

Wake up

In fighting games, the time during which a player is recovering from a knockdown to a state neutral. A character who is recovering is vulnerable to a variety of follow-up attacks.

Wall Splat

Fighting game shorthand for an attack that pushes the opponent back, which if the opponent collides with the edge of the screen, results in additional damage and a hard knockdown.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

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The EFG Essentials

Video Games for kids on Xbox One
Video Games for kids on PS4
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October 2, 2022 0 comment

Parent Resources Video Games

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on PlayStation

by EFG Staff April 10, 2022

written by EFG Staff

The Engaged Family Gaming team has the mission to provide information and support to families who want to play video games with their kids (and board games too). We work hard to provide parents with the tools they need to make informed decisions about their children’s gaming. To facilitate this, we help parents who might not be “gamers” themselves learn to understand the games their children are playing and help them find great video games for their kids.

The “EFG Essentials” is a core collection of games we frequently recommend across different genres. The purpose of these essentials is to provide a starting point for families to engage with high-quality games. Below are our EFG Essential games for kids for both the PS4 and PS5. We have chosen at the moment to include both of these systems on to one list as there are currently very few PS5 exclusives at the moment and even fewer that would fall under the “Family Game” umbrella.

Minecraft

ESRB rating: E 10+
Survival
Also Available On PS4, Xbox One, and Everything that has an electronic signal

Minecraft is one of the best-selling games of all time, and one of EFG’s family games of the last decade. It is so well known that I questioned whether or not to include it here. But, it is too important of a game to leave off.

Minecraft holds a special place in a lot of kids’ hearts because it is so flexible. It can be so many different games for so many different people. It can be a survival game, a creative outlet, a multiplayer battle game, and more. It even ends up being the equivalent of a popular TV show considering how many hours of the game are consumed globally each month (Hint: It’s a lot.)

Marvel’s Spider-Man

ESRB Rating: T
Action-adventure
Exclusive

Spider-Man was our game of the year in 2018, and would easily hold its own against other games of the year that we’ve announced in the past. Insomniac Games was the perfect developer to bring the friendly neighborhood Spider-Man to life. They were able to capture the true essence of what makes Spider-Man a fun hero to watch and to play: the traversal.

Swinging around New York City looking for backpacks, finding crimes to fight, and battling with supervillains was a blast from the very first second until its emotional end.

Madden 2021

ESRB Rating: E
Sports Game
PC, Xbox One

Madden 2021 is the singular NFL title for all your gaming needs. If you are looking for a high-quality football simulation with all the applicable NFL licenses this is going to be your go-to.

MLB The Show 21

ESRB Rating: E
Sports Game
Exclusive

The exclusive Major League Baseball property across all platforms, MLB The Show 21 is an exceptional baseball simulation. This year’s version brings two changes to the classic game. First, there is now a ballpark creator mode that allows you to custom-build your own ballpark to whatever specifications you desire. Secondly and we believe more importantly this is the first time that this is not a Sony Exclusive and instead has been released on both the Playstation and Xbox platforms, allowing access to the game to a whole slew of players that could only look on from behind a Sony sized wall.

NBA 2K22

ESRB Rating E
Sports Game
Also Available On PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5

Buy NBA 2K22 on Amazon.

The NBA 2K games are far and away the most consistent and best performing NBA property on the market today. This is truly a basketball simulation that allows you to play as any of the current NBA teams, customize your own, or even play as some of the iconic teams of the past.

WWE 2K22

ESRB Rating: T
Genre: Sports Game
Also Available On PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series

Buy WWE 2k22 on Amazon.

In WWE 2K22, you can take your dream of becoming a WWE superstar and make it a reality. With over 200 superstars from throughout WWE’s history to choose from, you and your family will enjoy laying the Smackdown on each other in a family-friendly way.

2K20 was remarkably bad. So bad in fact that they took a year off from publishing in order to refine the game engine. 2k22 is a return to form for the franchise.

This year’s entry gives you the chance to relive highlights from the brilliant career of Rey Mysterio Jr. Some of his biggest highlights are missing because the opponent isn’t in the game. But, it is a fun ride through history nonetheless.

Rocket League

ESRB Rating: E
Sports Game
Also Available On: PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, macOS, Classic Mac OS, Linux

Rocket League is, quite literally, soccer as played by rocket-powered vehicles. It launched in 2015 to great fanfare and has only grown as they added more game modes like “hockey” and “basketball”

This is a great game to play (and watch) because of how wild the matches can be. There is just something exciting about watching race cars flying around a trach crashing into a massive steel ball and trying to score a goal.

The Messenger

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Platform Game
Also Available On PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

Simply put… The Messenger is a modern response to the Ninja Gaiden series from the NES era. Sabotage Studio is a team full of people who love that game and have gone out of their way to show their reverence in game form.

It isn’t an easy game, but the experience is well worth the effort. The soundtrack alone is worth spending time with the game. But, exploring the different levels AND playing with time travel mechanics are rewarding.

This is definitely a game that needs to be on your radar.

Sackboy: A Big Adventure

ESRB Rating: E
Platform Game

LittleBigPlanet gave the world a gift in Sackboy. Sony didn’t really have a mascot until he came along and he finally gets his own dedicated game in Sackboy: A Big Adventure.

Overwatch

ESRB Rating: T
First-person Shooter
Also Available On PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch

Overwatch is a great alternative for parents looking to let their kids play a multiplayer shooter. It features cartoonish graphics, a diverse cast of characters, and a number of game modes that keep things interesting. One of the things we love about Overwatch is that the cartoonish aesthetic helped keep the ESRB rating down, and makes this more of an Avengers-like experience than a Saving Private Ryan one.

Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart

ESRB Rating:E 10+
Platform Game
PS5 exclusive

The sixth installment of the wildly successful Ratchet & Clank series, Rift Apart leverages the capabilities of the PS5 to provide exceptionally smooth gameplay and stunning visuals that were not possible on the previous versions of the Playstation. This game stays true to the themes and style of the previous Ratchet and Clank installments; it introduces plenty of new twists and turns such as the “Rift Tether” that allows the player to instantly change worlds, and the introduction of Rivet, the first playable female character in the franchise.

Kingdom Hearts All-in-One

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Action Role-playing
Also Available On Xbox One

The Kingdom Hearts All-In-One package includes 10 different Kingdom Hearts experiences dating back to the PlayStation 2. This is an amazing value for Disney fans who are looking for an Action RPG series to sink their teeth into. Once you finish this amazing collection you can pick up Kingdom Hearts 3.

Stardew Valley

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Simulation
Also Available On: PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Playstation Vita

Stardew Valley is a remarkable game. It is a farming and life simulator where you play as a younger person who inherits relatives run-down farm. You need to build it up, explore the surrounding wilderness, meet people, get married, etc. It is a wildly engaging game that has been a sensation since it’s release. This is a great game to relax with.

Final Fantasy XV

ESRB Rating: T
Action Role-playing
Also Available On: PC, Xbox One, Stadia

The Final Fantasy Series is a benchmark against which all role-playing games are weighted. Final Fantasy 15 is one of the best stand-alone role-playing games of the PS4/Xbox One era. The Final Fantasy series incorporates fantasy and futuristic elements into a compelling story.

Final Fantasy 15 is a coming-of-age story, as the young prince Noctis grows from a brash teen to an adult and wielder of magic powers. His journey is assisted by three friends that are as many mentors as they are friends, each with stories in their own right.

With a steady, fast pace in mind, Final Fantasy 15 handles the action in the third person view. It has simple commands mapped to the controller ahead of time. Combat happens in real-time, players can choose to pause the action for an opportunity to plan and strategize which is an anchor point of the RPG experience.

The Final Fantasy Series represents a collection of stories throughout gaming history. All of the games are great in their own right, and everyone has a favorite that can be endlessly argued

FIFA 2021

ESRB Rating: E
Sports Game
Also Available On PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Stadia

Soccer (Football for our international readers) is the most popular sport on Earth. It stands to reason then that the digital version would be wildly successful as well. If your kids play soccer, then they likely have this game on their wish lists every year. I can’t say that I blame them. FIFA does amazing work each year in crafting as authentic and fun of an experience as they can.

Tetris Effect

ESRB Rating: E
Puzzle
Also Available On PC, Oculus Quest

Just like the original Tetris, Tetris Effect requires you to place tiles in order to clear lines. This update though adds themes and music through different levels based on the beat of the music. It also adds a mechanic that allows you to place several blocks at once and a VR compatibility that varies greatly from your standard Tetris game. This is a high-quality addition to one of the most popular gaming titles ever.

Horizon: Forbidden West

ESRB Rating: T
Action Role-playing

Buy Horizon: Forbidden West on Amazon

Horizon: Forbidden West is an open-world action and adventure title that takes place in a land so far removed from a global catastrophe that civilization has reset again in the ruins of ancient cities. The game encompasses a rich story, beautiful landscapes, and great voice acting. In addition, there is the thrill of hunting giant robot dinosaurs.

The Story of Horizon: Forbidden West continues the story of Aloy, a young woman raised as an outcast, and her struggles to navigate and explore the lands beyond her home. This time around she is recognized everywhere as a hero who has already saved the world. She has to face the ramifications of that newfound fame while trying to save everyone from a dangerous blight that threatens to choke out all life. This takes her to new regions and introduces her to new tools, new people, and new robot beasts to fight.

Rocket League

ESRB Rating: E
Sports Game
Also Available On PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, macOS, Linux

Hollow Knight

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Platform Game/Metroidvania
Also Available On PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, macOS, Linux

Hollow Knight is an independently developed action game that blends the best of Castlevania and Dark Souls into a beautiful and family-friendly title. You take on the role of a wanderer who is brought to the entrance of The Hollowness from unknown circumstances.

The Hollowness is an interconnected dungeon with multiple entrances and exits to each beautifully crafted zone. Every part of the Hollowness is built to be both journey and destination, with levers and gates revealing backtracking paths to the surface, and many difficult challenges focusing on platform-based movement and fair, but brutal combat.

Hollow Knight is built to unfold by itself in a very organic path. Exploration and curiosity open up alternate paths and entire sections of the world. Your skills and the story are shown rather than told and are left for you to discover through environment and inference rather than straight and simple exposition.

LEGO Games

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Action Adventure
Also Available On PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, macOS

From Harry Potter and Star Wars to Marvel and DC, LEGO has consistently captured the imagination of kids 0-99. That they have somehow managed to consistently do this with their video games titles is somewhat remarkable. Most of their games follow the same basic format of providing you with familiar characters to interact with your environment while collecting blocks either by battling enemies or destroying objects in the world around you. This has proved a winning formula time and time again and has provided tens of thousands of hours of entertainment to its fans.

Plants vs Zombies: Neighborville

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Tower Defense
Also Available On PC, Xbox One

Parents regularly approach the EFG team looking for alternatives to more violent M-rated shooters on the market. We regularly suggest the Plants Vs Zombies Garden Warfare series. This is the latest entry to the series, but any of them are worthy additions to your collection.

Everything about this game is all bright colors and goofy characters. There is even a Disco Zombie character!

Everybody’s Golf

ESRB Rating: E
Sports Game
Exclusive

The latest installment in the series “formerly known as Hot Shots Golf” was published specifically for Sony platforms. Everybody’s Golf is a cartoony arcade-style golf game that allows for single-player or online multiplayer gameplay. The gameplay is refreshing and simple allowing for easier accessibility to players of all ages. In keeping with the theme, Sony has also decided that if you need a break you can feel free to drive your golf cart anywhere you like. This is typically frowned upon by the “establishment” for those that would like to know and infinitely entertaining. Go out, play golf with everybody, and have a great time.

Journey

ESRB Rating: E
Adventure Art Game
Also Available On: Playstation 3, PC, iOS

Journey is one of the best games to come out in the last decade. It is a relatively short experience where you guide a cloaked wanderer through a desert, but the way that this game handles multiplayer will take your breath away.

No Man’s Sky: Beyond

ESRB Rating: T
Survival
Also Available On: PC, Xbox One

No Man’s Sky was released in 2016 and wasn’t very well received. However, Hello Games has been releasing regular, free updates since its launch. It is almost unrecognizable from its original form now. It still has the exploration mode, but it has base building, a creative mode, multiplayer, and more!

Dragon Quest 11: Echoes of an Elusive Age

ESRB Rating: T
Role-playing
Also Available On PC, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo 3DS

Dragon Quest XI is the most recent edition to an ongoing series of role-playing games by Square Enix. The series is known for the art style of Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball.

Dragon Quest is a series that consistently comes out with a reliable turn-based combat system that has seen nothing but simple improvements.

Its place as an EFG essential is based on its ease of entry in an ongoing, fantasy story. The fantasy elements that many other games work off of got their start here with a chosen warrior of light and a band of friends and heroes rally to fight the darkness.

Dragon Quest has had a consistent following in Japan since its first incarnation on the NES in the 1980s. That following was earned by creating a game that was as much a storybook as it was a turn-based game.

Addendum: Fortnite

At this point almost every kid on Earth has played Fortnite. But, we wanted to include it here for the sake of completion. It is a worthy recommendation though. Fortnite is huge. It is a great alternative for more mature shooters since there is no blood and most of the action is over the top and silly as opposed to violent.

The EFG Essentials are reviewed and updated every few months to make sure we have the most current information for our readers. Last updated 4/10/2022.

The EFG Essential Guide Collections

Check out our other Essentials Guides for great collections of games!

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on Xbox

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on Nintendo Switch

EFG Essentials: Great Board Games for Kids

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

Like us on Twitter!

Subscribe to our Newsletter!

Subscribe to our Podcast!

April 10, 2022 0 comment

Parent Resources Video Games

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on Xbox

by EFG Staff April 9, 2022

written by EFG Staff

The Engaged Family Gaming team has the mission to provide information and support families who want to play video games with their kids (and board games too). We work hard to provide parents with the tools they need to make informed decisions about their children’s gaming. To facilitate this, we help parents who might not be “gamers” themselves learn to understand the games their children are playing and help them find great video games for their kids.

Minecraft

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Genre: Survival
Also Available On PS4, Xbox One, Everything that can play video games

Minecraft holds a special place in a lot of kids’ hearts because it is so flexible. It can be so many different games to so many different people. It can be a survival game, a creative outlet, a multiplayer battle game, and more. It even ends up being the equivalent of a popular TV show considering how many hours of the game are consumed globally each month (Hint: It’s a lot.)

Madden 2021

ESRB Rating: E
Genre: Sports Game
Also Available On: PC, PS4

Madden 2021 is the singular NFL title for all your gaming needs. If you are looking for a high-quality football simulation with all the applicable NFL licenses this is going to be your go-to.

NBA 2K22

ESRB Rating: E
Genre: Sports Game
Also Available On: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X

Buy NBA 2K22 on Amazon.

WWE 2K22

ESRB Rating: T
Genre: Sports Game
Also Available On PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series

Buy WWE 2k22 on Amazon.

New Super Lucky’s Tale

ESRB Rating: E
Genre: Platform Game
Also Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4

An adorable game perfect for families. This cartoony platformer is the sequel to the original Lucky’s Tale and follows the adventures of a fox, Lucky Swiftail, as you try and protect the Book of Ages and all the characters and worlds within. The gameplay varies from your standard open level 3D worlds to the occasional puzzle levels and even some 2D side-scrolling just to add flavor. This is wholesome entertainment great for the whole family to enjoy together.

Rocket League

ESRB Rating: E
Genre: Sports Game
Also Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, macOS, Linux

Rocket League is, quite literally, soccer as played by rocket-powered vehicles. It launched in in 2015 to great fanfare and has only grown as they added more game-modes like “hockey” and “basketball”

The Messenger

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Genre: Platform Game
Also Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4

This is definitely a game that needs to be on your radar.

Steamworld Dig 2

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Genre: Platform Game/Metroidvania
Also Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, macOS, Linux, Playstation Vita, Nintendo 3DS, Stadia

Image and Form games is a small game development studio from Sweden. They have made several games in various genres that are feature steam powered robots as the characters. Steamworld Dig 2 is all about … digging. You are constantly digging deeper into a planet in search of resources and secrets. This is a wonderful exploration game that everyone should try! (The rest fo the Steamworld games are worth a look too!)

Overwatch

ESRB Rating: T
Genre: First-person Shooter
Also Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4

Kingdom Hearts 3

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Genre: Action Role-playing
Also Available On: PS4

Kingdom Hearts 3 is the culmination of a gaming franchise that dates back to the PlayStation 2. The series is a mish-mash of Final Fantasy characters and Disney worlds that has no right to be as good as it is. The story is … complex… but visiting Disney worlds and battling evil monsters is a lot of fun.

Stardew Valley

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Genre: Simulation
Also Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, macOS, Linux, iOS, Android, Playstation Vita

Stardew Valley is a remarkable game. It is a farming and life simulator where you play as a younger person who inherits a relatives run down farm. You need to build it up, explore the surrounding wilderness, meet people, get married, etc. It is a wildly engaging game that has been a sensation since it’s release. This is a great game to relax with.

Forza Motorsports 7

ESRB Rating: E
Genre: Racing
Also Available On: PC

Forza Motorsports 7 is a simulation racer. It is significantly more challenging than its arcade racer cousin Forza Horizon. It is intended to provide a more authentic driving experience. It also happens to be a drop-dead gorgeous racing game that features famous race tracks from around the world.

Forza Horizons 4

ESRB Rating:E
Genre: Racing
Also Available On: PC

Forza Horizon 4 is an arcade racing game that has so many cars in it, that any car person will have trouble recognizing all of them. The game has an amazing single-player campaign but an even better multiplayer. With the wide range of minigames and races to participate in you will not get bored, you can even customize and design your own cars.

Final Fantasy XV

ESRB Rating: T
Genre:Action Role-playing
Also Available On: PC, PS4, Stadia

Final Fantasy 15 is coming of age story, as the young prince Noctis grows from a brash teen to an adult and wielder of magic powers. His journey is assisted by three friends that are as much mentors as they are friends, each with stories in their own right.

With a steady, fast pace in mind, Final Fantasy 15 handles action in the third person view. It has simple commands mapped to the controller ahead of time. Combat happens in real time, players can choose to pause the action for an opportunity to plan and strategize that is an anchor point of the RPG experience.

FIFA 2021

ESRB Rating: E
Genre: Sports Game
Also Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4, Stadia

Ori and the Blind Forest/Ori and the Will of the Wisps

ESRB Rating: E
Genre: Platform Game/Metroidvania
Also Available On: PC

We went ahead and put both of these games on the list because, while they are separate games, they are both great. These are a pair of Metroidvania games that tell the story of Ori, a nature spirit, and their adventures through a dangerous, magical land. These are pretty challenging games – not for the easily frustrated – but they are beautiful and would be a great additions to your collection.

The Show 2021

ESRB Rating: E
Genre: Simulation Sports
Also Available on PS5

Celeste

ESRB Rating: E 10 +
Genre: Platform Game
Also Available On: PS4, Nintendo Switch, PC

In Celeste, you play as Madeline on a quest to survive her inner issues. This game is a platforming game that is really difficult. Each screen poses its own challenges, of which there are 700+ of them! As you learn new skills along the way, the game becomes more complex. As you run, air dash, and climb you will learn more about Madeline and the difficulties that she must face. If you want an even deeper challenge, you can go for all of the strawberries in the level, which require your best platforming abilities. Each world also has a B-side, which is a more difficult version of that world. Overall, Celeste is challenging but is not unforgiving. Anyone who is up to the challenge of a difficult platformer should give it a try!

LEGO Games

ESRB Rating: E
Genre: Action Adventure
Also Available On: PC, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, macOS

From Harry Potter and Star Wars to Marvel and DC, LEGO has consistently captured the imagination of kids 0-99. The fact that they have been able to do that with their video games has been remarkable. Most of their games follow the same basic format of providing you familiar characters to interact with your environment while collecting blocks either by battling enemies or destroying objects in the world around you. This has proved a winning formula time and time again and has provided many many hours of entertainment to its fans.

Plants vs Zombies: Battle for Neighborville

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Genre: Third-Person Shooter
Also Available On: PS4

Everything about this game is all bright colors and goofy characters. There is even a Disco Zombie character!

No Man’s Sky: Beyond

ESRB Rating: T
Genre: Survival
Also Available On: PC, Xbox One

No Man’s Sky released in 2016 and wasn’t very well received. However, Hello Games has been releasing regular, free updates since launch. It is almost unrecognizable from its original form now. It still has the exploration on mode, but it has base building, a creative mode, multiplayer, and more!

Riverbond

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Genre: Action Adventure
Also Available On: PC, Nintendo Switch, PS4

Riverbond is a four-player drop-in/drop-out cooperative game that is a cross between Gauntlet and Minecraft with very simple controls that consists of attack, ranged attack, special attack, pick up/throw, block and jump. You and your friends slash your way through more than 100 levels, interacting and destroying everything in your path. The combat was easy to pick up and learn while at the same time being complex enough that I think that veteran gamers will be able to stay engaged and happy for quite a long time. I think it was the simplicity of the combat as a whole that is what made this game so great. There was no need to get used to the controls, we just picked up and played and were able to focus on the game without getting lost in the mechanics of this. This is why I chose this game as my “Game Of The Show” for E3 2017. It hit all the marks for me. Family-friendly, easily accessible, and endlessly playable in any environment.

Slime Rancher

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Genre: Simulation
Also Available On: PC, PS4, macOS, Linux

In Slime Rancher you play a space-faring explorer who has landed on a planet filled with adorable bouncing slimes of different colors. The goal is to capture them, place them in enclosures, breed them, and collect resources they drop to expand your settlement.

This is an adorable exploration game that is a great idea for kids looking for a temporary alternative to Minecraft.

HALO 5: Guardians

ESRB Rating: T
Genre: First Person Shooter
Also Available On: PC

The HALO franchise has never appeared as a recommended game on this site due to its M rating with the ESRB. HALO 5: Guardians, however, is the first time in the series that has a T rating. The conscious decision to create a game with a T rating finally brings this to our table for a larger cross-section of the population is amazing and if you own an Xbox One you need this game in your library.

Minecraft Dungeons

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Genre: Action Role-playing
Also Available On: Nintendo Switch, PS4, PC

Take Diablo but make it Minecraft. Sounds stupid but it makes a really good game. With infinite possibilities for weapons due to the enchanting system, and plenty of different ways to tackle every problem, and a very in-depth difficulty system. Minecraft Dungeons makes a great game for all ages.

Addendum: Fortnite

At this point, almost every kid on Earth has played Fortnite. But, we wanted to include it here for the sake of completion. It is a worthy recommendation though. Fortnite is huge. It is a great alternative for more mature shooters since there is no blood and most of the action is over the top and silly as opposed to bloody and realistic.

The EFG Essentials are reviewed and updated every few months to make sure we have the most current information for our readers. Last updated 11/7/20.

The EFG Essential Guide Collections

Check out our other Essentials Guides for great collections of games!

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on Nintendo Switch

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on PlayStation

EFG Essentials: Great Board Games for Kids

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

Like us on Twitter

Subscribe to our Newsletter!

Subscribe to our Podcast!

April 9, 2022 0 comment

Parent Resources Video Games

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on Nintendo Switch

by EFG Staff April 9, 2022

written by EFG Staff

Minecraft

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Survival
Also Available On: PS4, Xbox One

Minecraft is one of the best selling games of all time, and one of EFG’s family games of the last decade. It is so well known that I questioned whether or not to include it here. But, it is too important of a game to leave off.

Minecraft holds a special place in a lot of kid’s hearts because it is so flexible. It can be so many different games for so many different people. It can be a survival game, a creative outlet, a multiplayer battle game, and more. It even ends up being the equivalent of a popular TV show considering how many hours of the game are consumed globally each month (Hint: It’s a lot.)

Super Mario Odyssey

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Platform Game
Exclusive

Super Mario Odyssey is a great Mario game that just about anyone can play and enjoy. In this edition, you can throw your hat at enemies to take control of them and you take over their bodies to use their powers. There is plenty of content here and collecting all 999 power moons is a challenge that does not get old. This is a must-buy for all Nintendo Switch owners

Super Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

ESRB Rating: E
Racing
Exclusive

The Mario Kart series has slowly grown to be the biggest game in their stable of exclusives. Ever iteration is met with thunderous excitement and delivers fun that the entire family can enjoy! Mario Kart 8 Deluxe is the definitive version of the very best that the franchise has to offer.

Every track is masterfully created (or recreated) and the music is jazzy and fun in all the right ways! Not only that, but the deluxe version includes the DLC that introduced Link and Isabelle to Mario Kart and made the case for the next game to just be called, “Nintendo Kart.”

This is the first game I recommend to families who buy the Nintendo Switch. It is an absolute must own.

Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Action Role-playing
Exclusive

Long time EFG fans will know that this is one of my favorite games of all time and that means that the games above it have to be pretty significant in order to leave Breath of the Wild in the 4th spot. That isn’t to say that this isn’t one of, if not THE, best video games Nintendo has ever made though.

Breath of the Wild was our game of the year in 2017 and it faced stiff competition from Horizon: Zero Dawn.

It earned its place because it took the Legend of Zelda franchise in a bold new direction by eschewing the linear path of item collection and temple dungeon completion in favor of an open world that could be tackled in any order. Open world games are by no means new, but this was a welcome addition to Zelda and I can’t wait to see where they take it next.

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker

ESRB Rating: E
Puzzle Game
Exclusive

Captain toad Treasure Tracker is a simple puzzle game that can be challenging but is very accessible. This was originally a minigame in Super Mario 3D World that was so in-depth they made it into a full game. We love spending time solving these puzzles.

It’s a top-down puzzle platformer without a jump button. Your goal is to get to the star usually at the top of the level, so you have to figure out how to get to the top. Definitely a fun time for all Puzzle game fans.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Fighting Game
Exclusive

The phrase, “Let’s settle it in Smash!” is very common in our house, and I can’t imagine that it is uncommon elsewhere.

The Super Smash Bros. series has been around since the Nintendo 64 era and it continually grows in scope and in popularity. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate lives up to his name and its fan base is huge as it is the best selling fighting game of all time. There are obviously members of the Super Smash Bros. community that prefer earlier games like Super Smash Bros. Melee. But, as far as we’re concerned it is the best game in the series.

It’s often difficult to recommend fighting games to anything other than fighting game fans. Smash is the exception I can recommend this game to anyone that owns a Nintendo switch and feels comfortable that they will enjoy it.

Super Mario Maker 2

ESRB Rating: E
Platformer +
Exclusive

Super Mario Maker 2 is one of the best creative tools for young and adult gamers alike. This game lets you create Super Mario levels using art styles and mechanics from across the history of Nintendo. It has a well-made tutorial that offers plenty of new ideas. Players can browse player-made content by individual creators or select an endless mode that selects levels based on difficulty. Super Mario Maker 2 is easily the best level creation experience for the Nintendo Switch.

Pokemon Sword and Shield

ESRB Rating: E
Role-Playing
Exclusive

Pokemon Sword and Shield are great Pokemon games and are great RPGs. With a team of six Pokemon, you will travel the Galar Region on your quest to become the champion. Though the campaign is short the post-game content is enough to last hundreds of hours. You can catch all the Pokemon, make a competitive team, and participate in online tournaments, or you can battle your friends.

Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze

ESRB Rating: E
Platform Game
Exclusive

Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze is one of the best 2d platformers available on the Nintendo Switch. This is actually a rerelease of the original game that was available on the Wii U. It has been polished, and a new gameplay mode featuring Funky Kong has been added to help make the game more accessible to newer/younger players. Funky Kong moves through levels on his surfboard so he doesn’t take damage from spikes and can hover while he comes down from jumps.

Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury

ESRB Rating: E
Platform Game
Exclusive

One of the best games from the Wii U can now be played on your Nintendo Switch! This includes the original Super Mario 3D World and adds in a whole new adventure with the Bowser’s Fury add on. Bowser’s Fury is an open world type Mario Game that people of all ages can enjoy. If you have a little one, you can even have them play along with Mario as Bowser Jr.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

ESRB Rating: E
Simulation
Exclusive

Animal Crossing New Horizons is a life sim game where you move to a deserted island with a group of animals. The goal is to spend time on your island making it beautiful, befriending other animals on the island, and earning money (bells). The available tasks change with the seasons, but there is always something to do. This is a must-have for Switch owners looking a relaxing game.

The Adventure Pals

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Platform Game
Also Available On: PS4, Xbox One, PC

The Adventure Pals from Armor Games is an absurd jaunt through a bizarre world where almost nothing makes sense. Turtles can do backflips. Whales complain about “hashtag body shaming.” The hero’s best friend, Sparkles the giraffe, can use his tongue like a propeller to slow their collective fall. The villain wants to turn everyone into hot dog monsters. Every single one of those sentences is true. And here’s one more: This game is just as fun as it is ridiculous.

Shovel Knight Treasure Trove

ESRB Rating: E
Platform Game
Also Available On: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Wii U, 3DS

This wily Kickstarter from 2013 is still alive and kicking. Shovel Knight does an amazing job of taking all of the things that we love about old school platformers like Mega Man, Duck Tales, and even Castlevania and smashing them together into a wonderful, cohesive whole.

Shovel Knight is a fun protagonist whose adventures are silly more often than not, but packs some serious challenge. The other games in the treasure trove are all wonderful and feature different knights from the first game in their own wild adventures; each with their own mechanics and stories.

It’s hard to find a better value than Shovel Knight Treasure Trove and it is easy to recommend it to anyone, especially folks looking for an old school challenge!

Super Mario Party

ESRB Rating: E
Party Game
Exclusive

The most recent update to the Mario Party franchise brings back to 4-player board game mode that has been so beloved as well as introducing a 2 vs 2 mode with grid based maps. You can test your skills against the others in your living room as well as see how you stack up against others across the globe in the new Online Marathon feature. Nintendo has also leveraged the ability to link two Nintendo Switch systems side by side on a table to play arena games or mini baseball. This is going to be the party game that you want for game night.

Snipperclips

ESRB Rating: E
Puzzle Game
Exclusive

Snipperclips is a two-player puzzle game where players each take on the role of different shapes. The goal is to overlap parts of each other’s “bodies” and “snip” off the overlapping pieces. This will let you complete challenges like creating a bowl-like shape to carry a ball across a playing field. This is a fully cooperative experience that is unlike anything else that you’ve seen before.

Rocket League

ESRB Rating:E
Sports game
Also Available On: PS4, Xbox One, PC

This is a great game to play (and watch) because of how wild the matches can be. There is just something exciting about watching race cars flying around a track and crashing into a massive steel ball and trying to score a goal.

The Messenger

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Platform Game
Also Available On: PS4, Xbox One, PC

This is definitely a game that needs to be on your radar.

Stardew Valley

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Farming Simulator / RPG
Also Available On: PS4, Xbox One, PC, Mobile

Click the picture to purchase on the online Switch Store.

Stardew Valley is a remarkable game. It is a farming and life simulator where you play as a younger person who inherits a relative’s run-down farm. You need to build it up, explore the surrounding wilderness, meet people, get married, etc. It is a wildly engaging game that has been a sensation since it’s release. This is a great game to relax with.

Tetris 99

ESRB Rating: E
Puzzle Game
Exclusive

Tetris is an all time classic, but Tetris 99 surprised us by adding in a HECTIC battle royale mode. You play Tetris against 99 other players in a frantic race for survival.

I have spent hours playing this game and building my Tetris skills. Everything moves at a desperate pace so the games move very quickly as well. Its definitely worth a look.

Dragon Quest Builders 2

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Role-Playing
Also Available On: PS4, Xbox One, PC

The Dragon Quest Builders series paints itself in a much lighter tone than the Dragon Quest series. Specifically, Dragon Quest Builders 2 integrates co-op multiplayer that shows promise for both epic exploration, combat, and construction to put it in league with Minecraft in terms of its possibilities. Unlike Minecraft though, the story of Dragon Quest Builders 2 is meant to also serve as a tutorial and narrative focus for its block based construction. This is in contrast to the much more open world that is traditional Minecraft. The play dynamic will give some structure to keep the sprawling options presented in a meaningful way and keep the more casual fan engaged in the gameplay.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land

ESRB Rating: E 10+
Platform Game
Exclusive

Buy Kirby and the Forgotten Land on Amazon.

Kirby and the Forgotten Land is, without question, the best game in the franchise. This time around Kirby takes his adventure into 3D and it is a LOT of fun. When it was first revealed everyone assumed that it was going to be an open-world game like Breath of the Wild. It becomes clear very quickly that it shares more in common with Super Mario Odyssey. That’s not a bad thing though! Each level in Forgotten land is beautifully crafted with all manner of secrets to find and challenges to complete.

Kirby games have always been on the easy side and Forgotten Land is no different. It’s perfect for younger kids who are easing into gaming.

Pokemon Legends Arceus

ESRB Rating: E
Platform Game
Exclusive

Buy Pokemon Legends Arceus on Amazon.

Pokemon games have shared the same formula for twenty-five years. Arceus bucks that trend by taking players back in time within the Pokemon Universe and serving up an action game. Players go on a wild adventure in the ancient Hisui region during a time before Pokemon trainers were common. Some might think that a break from the norm would be a problem, but Arceus ends up being a refreshing change of pace for longtime fans.

The core gameplay loop in Arceus is very fun. You venture into one of several different biomes within the region and run around capturing pokemon. You do this by sneaking up on them in tall grass and throwing pokeballs. You can even do it on the run! Once you run out of Pokeballs (or your bags are filled up with other materials) you return to base to get credit for the work you have done. Then you resupply and head back out! It’s a great experience.

Yoshi’s Crafted World

ESRB Rating: E
Platform Game
Exclusive

After Yoshi’s Wooly World, Nintendo has done it again and added a cute aesthetic to a Yoshi’s Island game. This time around the levels look like a child made them out of craft supplies including cardboard, paperclips, paper cups, and tape. While you traverse the levels, there are the typical Yoshi collectibles, hearts, flowers, and red coins. The collectibles are what really make this game a challenge. You can go through the levels, or you can try and collect everything. At certain points during the game, you will need to replay levels to search for certain items in the background and foreground. Each level also has an opposite view where you much search for a Poochy puppy. While the game can be tedious with replaying levels, sometimes multiple times with different objectives, this is a great stepping off point for your young children to play a platformer.

Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age Definitive Edition S

ESRB Rating: T
Role-Playing
Also Available On: PS4, PC

Dragon Quest XI is the most recent edition to an ongoing series of role playing games by Square Enix. The series is known for the art style of Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball. Dragon Quest is a series that consistently comes out with a reliable turn-based combat system that has seen nothing but simple improvements.

Its place as an EFG essentials is based on its ease of entry in an ongoing, fantasy story. The fantasy elements that many other games work off of got their start here with a chosen warrior of light and a band of friends and heroes rally to fight the darkness.

Dragon Quest has had a consistent following in Japan since its first incarnation on the NES in the 1980’s. That following was earned by creating a game as much storybook as turn/quest based game.

Luigi’s Mansion 3

ESRB Rating: E
Action Adventure
Exclusive

Luigi doesn’t get the spotlight very often. That honor is normally reserved for his brother Mario. The Luigi’s Mansion series is the exception. These spooky adventures feature Luigi while he tries to rescue his lost brother from King Boo. Luigi’s Mansion 3 and includes a lot more variety in the environments than previous editions because it takes place in a massive haunted hotel. This will be a great game for kids who love to explore and solve puzzles. (Note: This game is definitely more silly than it is spooky so don’t be super concerned about kids getting scared.)

Addendum: Fortnite

At this point almost every kid on Earth has played Fortnite. But, we wanted to include it here for the sake of completion. It is a worthy recommendation though. Fortnite is huge. It is a great alternative for more mature shooters since it there is no blood and most of the action is over the top and silly as opposed to violent.

The EFG Essentials are reviewed and updated every few months to make sure we have the most current information for our readers. Last updated on 08/01/2021.

The EFG Essential Guide Collections

Check out our other Essentials Guides for great collections of games!

https://engagedfamilygaming.com/parent-resources/efg-essentials-great-video-games-for-kids-on-xbox-one/

https://engagedfamilygaming.com/parent-resources/efg-essentials-great-video-games-for-kids-on-ps4/

EFG Essentials: Great Board Games for Kids

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

Like us on Twitter!

Subscribe to our Newsletter!

Subscribe to our Podcast!

April 9, 2022 2 comments

Parent Resources Holiday & Gifts Console / PC Gaming

Engaged Family Gaming Holiday Gift Guide – Premium Subscription Services

by EFG Staff October 23, 2021

written by EFG Staff

People buy a lot of games. That can make it incredibly challenging for those of us that want to buy cool games for the gamers in our lives. Fortunately, every console (including PC) has a subscription service. These make “practical” gifts that will always be appreciated.

These services can all be purchased for various lengths of time to accommodate your budget. You don’t even need to worry about whether they are subscribed or not. You can purchase a subscription card for them and the time will be added to the end of their existing subscription!

Take a look at the options below to see what you might need!

PlayStation Plus

PlayStation Plus is a subscription service for PlayStation that is required in order to play online multiplayer games over the PlayStation Network. The service also includes periodic discounts on digital purchases through the PlayStation Network. It also includes a suite of free PS5 and PS4 games each month.

(We wrote a parent’s guide for PlayStation Plus. Take a look here for a full explanation!)

PlayStation Now

PlayStation Now (PSNow) is a Netflix-esque streaming service for PlayStation 4 and PC. Subscribers have unlimited access to stream a collection of PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 games over the internet on their PlayStation 4 console or PC.

Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Xbox Game Pass is a service that allows unlimited downloads of a wide range of Xbox games

We wrote a parent’s guide to Xbox Game Pass. Take a look here for a full explanation!)

Xbox Live Gold

Xbox Live Gold is a subscription service for Xbox that is required in order to play online multiplayer games over Xbox Live. The service also includes periodic discounts on digital purchases through the Xbox Marketplace. It also includes a suite of Xbox games that are available for free each month.

(We wrote a parent’s guide to this service. Take a look here for a full explanation!)

EA Play

EA Play subscription service run by Electronic Arts that gives subscribers early access to EA games, discounts on digital purchases, and access to the “EA Vault.”

(We wrote a parent’s guide to this service. Take a look here for a full explanation!)

Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pass

Nintendo Switch online is a service that allows online multiplayer for Nintendo Switch games as well as cloud saves. It also includes unlimited access to a suite of NES, SNES, N64, and Sega Genesis games.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

The EFG Essentials

Video Games for kids on Xbox One
Video Games for kids on PS4
Video Games for kids on Nintendo Switch
Board Games for kids

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October 23, 2021 0 comment

Video Games

Engaged Family Gaming Holiday Gift Guide 2021 – Xbox

by EFG Staff October 23, 2021

written by EFG Staff

It is well documented at this point that supply chain issues are going to make holiday shopping difficult this year. Phil Spencer, the big man in charge of Xbox, has said that they will have shortages throughout the end of the year as well. We definitely recommend looking early and often if the Xbox Series S or X are on your family’s Christmas list.

Nickelodeon All-Star Brawl

Lots of games have tried to clone Super Smash Brothers to find success. But, we haven’t seen anything like All-Star Brawl before. Game Mill Entertainment has combined the deep roster of Nickelodeon licenses like Spongebob, Avatar, and Ninja Turtles with retro gameplay that is reminiscent of Super Smash Bros. Melee.

This is also as close to the original as one can get without owning a Nintendo Switch and actually buying Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2

Everyone of a certain age will have memories of playing Tony Hawk on their PS1 in their dorm room. (Ok. Might just be me.) This is a well done remaster of the first two games of the series. It is gorgeously remade and includes some quality of life improvements that will help us share the game with our kids as we remember it (as opposed to how it actually was).

Game Pass

Buy here!

One of the biggest reasons to choose Xbox over other consoles is the immense value of Xbox Game Pass. Below is a list of just a few of the highlights that you may want to download ahead of the big day with your Game Pass Subscription.

Forza Horizon 5

Forza Horizon 5 is the latest in the long running series and this time takes place in Mexico. This is an arcade style racing game designed to be much more accessible to the general public than a lot of other racing simulators out there. The gameplay and settings are gorgeous to look at and set the bar for all others out there. This is the perfect fit for any racing fanatic on your list.

HALO Infinite

HALO is one of the biggest franchises on Xbox. Infinite is the latest entry and is going to be a highlight of the lineup this year. The story mode is taking a turn from tradition by including open world exploration which is exciting in and of itself. But, the multiplayer modes are going to be where a lot of the action is.

Mighty Goose

Longtime EFG fans know that we love games with a little bit of absurdity in them. Mighty Goose is a side scrolling tank game where you play as a goose. It is colorful, fun, and hysterical. Definitely worth a download.

Marvel’s Avengers

There are few times where it is possible to absolutely maximize your “bang for your buck” during the holiday shopping season, this is one of those chances. While this is not a new title, Marvel Avengers is a recent addition to Xbox Game Pass and includes all the available DLC. If someone you know has been on the fence about downloading this game, now is the time.

Xbox Live Gold / Xbox Game Pass Ultimate

Buy here!

Supply chain issues abound this year. It will likely be challenging to find games to wrap up and give as gifts. There will likely be chances to pick up gift cards for Xbox Live and Game Pass subscriptions. These are “practical” gifts (or at least as practical as anything game-related could be). But, they will be appreciated nonetheless.

EFG Essentials

If you are looking for more recommendations than what we list here, then check out our Xbox essentials list.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

The EFG Essentials

Video Games for kids on Xbox One
Video Games for kids on PS4
Video Games for kids on Nintendo Switch
Board Games for kids

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Subscribe to our Newsletter!

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October 23, 2021 1 comment

Parent Resources Video Games

Nintendo Switch Games for Young Gamers

by EFG Staff November 26, 2020

written by EFG Staff

Nintendo has set itself apart in the gaming console world by focusing on accessibility and family games. Features have been added to some games to make them more approachable for younger and inexperienced gamers. The Nintendo library includes many games rated E, but that does not tell you the difficulty rather it only is a measure of the content. The EFG Staff has put together a list of games that are more approachable to young gamers, specifically those who are beginning readers.

Games with Accessibility Features

Super Mario Odyssey

Super Mario Odyssey is one of the best switch games available. Mario is well known and his games are well-loved

Odyssey takes steps to be more accessible by including an assist mode that tells you where to go and gives you more health. One of our editor’s sons played through the game and finished it at around age five. some of the platforming challenges were difficult, but since there were no game overs he never felt defeated.

Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Mario Kart is on this list for two reasons. First, it is an amazing game that everyone will want to play together. Second, unlike past Mario Kart games (I’m looking at you Mario Kart Wii) it has accessibility options that make the game much easier to play. You can turn on an Auto Accelerate, which makes it so you don’t have to hold down the A button to go. Having to hold a button the whole time can be very hard for small hands. Additionally, you can turn on auto-steering. This feature makes it so you cannot go off-road, and it keeps you facing forward. You can have both of these on at once or choose one.

Great Games With Reading Help Required

Pokemon: Let’s Go Pikachu/ Pokemon: Let’s Go Eevee

Kids everywhere recognize Pokémon, with Pikachu and Eevee as some of the most well known. After Pokémon Go had such wide popularity, Nintendo took the feel of that and turned it into a console game. The quests are simple, and the game allows players to just run around, explore, and catch Pokémon. Unlike other Pokémon games, players do not battle their Pokémon to catch them. Instead, they can befriend them by feeding them berries, making them easier to catch with Pokeballs.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is an interesting beast. It is perfect from a content perspective, but the game can be challenging depending on your personal goal within the game.

Animal Crossing: New Horizons is about making a villager and building a community on a deserted island. You explore collect bugs and decorate. There is no real conflict in the game. All of the characters are friendly, anthropomorphic animals. Each day the player is given a small list of tasks to do. This is a great game to play in short bursts and still feel like you accomplished something. It also teaches kids about lists of tasks by rewarding them for completing said tasks each day.

The real challenge is going to come if more than one person wants to play the game. Each Switch as One island and everyone on that switch shares it; meaning if your five-year-old places a tree in front of your house, the tree will be there when you log on. This means that in order to progress everyone will need to work together. This can be challenging when you have players of different age groups.

Another challenge is that only one player gets to make decisions about the island. That happens to be the first player. One family in the EFG team had their 7 year old start the game before her mother. Due to the design of the game, it meant the 7 year old was the one making decisions and getting to experience the “story” Her mom was frustrated by not being able to do things with the island decision wise and ended up having to log on to 7 year old’s account to make progress the island. The lessons learned have been an asset to other families. Our advice it to carefully plan who is the first one to start Animal Crossing New Horizon. With careful planning the who family can enjoy playing on their island.

Games with Online Play

Nintendo does a great job to try and make their online game experiences as family-friendly as possible. Even with the best precautions, there is always a chance something inappropriate could be missed by the filters. Our recommendation is to just be aware that the filters are not flawless and to proceed with online play with that understanding. The following games have online play as a core component, but all these games have some aspects which can also be played offline.

Minecraft

Any five year old who has had exposure to older kids or youtube will be exposed to minecraft. The survival mode will be too challenging for most, but ht ecreative mode will be just right. The creative mode in minecraft makes you invincible lets you fly and gives you unlimited resources of any typee, this turns minecraft into a sandbox where you can build anything that your iomaginatiuon can cook up..Since all of the blocks in minecraft are the same size minecraft is a great place to learn about patterns and 3 dimensional shapes.

Super Mario Maker 2

Activate creativity by creating your own Mario levels from different Mario editions in this “sandbox” game. There are multiple modes of play including: Make and Play your own Mario Levels, Make Together (on the same screen),Play Together (on the same Switch), Story Mode, Online: Share and Download levels, plus compete or cooperate online too. For younger gamers the story mode, make and play your own levels, and play together are the best starting places. Those are also the safest, since players do not interact with any strangers.

Arms

Fighting games that are family friendly can be extremely hard to find. Arms portrays fighting in a lighthearted and approachable way for players of all ages. There are many different combinations of buttons and motions with the joycons to execute the different fighting moves. While the game walks you through each move once, players can go back and look up moves as they get more comfortable. This is a game that a novice (such as our board game editor ) or young gamer can jump right in an play.

Splatoon2

Splatoon 2 is a shooter that even young kids can play. The Squid kids (Inklings)shoot paint and try to cover the largest area. This competitive game has many new tools that open up the more you play and level up. Additionally, there is the option to play locally or online. This is one that anyone can jump in and play. The local play is a great way to get comfortable with the controls before joining a game online and participating in a turf war.

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

The EFG Essentials

Video Games for kids on Xbox One
Video Games for kids on PS4
Video Games for kids on Nintendo Switch
Board Games for kids

Like us on Twitter!

Subscribe to our Newsletter!

Subscribe to our Podcast!

November 26, 2020 0 comment

Board Games Parent Resources Video Games

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games and Board Games for Kids

by EFG Staff November 6, 2020

written by EFG Staff

We’ve made four lists – one for each major gaming console, and a fourth for board games.

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on Xbox One

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on PS4

EFG Essentials: Great Video Games for Kids on Nintendo Switch

EFG Essentials: Great Board Games for Kids

What do you think? Sound off in the comments and let us know your thoughts!

Make sure to keep your eyes on Engaged Family Gaming for all of the latest news and reviews you need to Get Your Family Game On!

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November 6, 2020 1 comment