What Makes a Good Game?

What makes a good game? If you have decided to have a family game night or use games in your homeschool, you want to make sure you choose games that will be favorites for years to come. There are three characteristics that good games share. What are they?

1. Good games are easy to learn but difficult to master. Think of two of the great time tested games: chess and Scrabble. They can be played by children as young as 5 or 6, but it takes time and dedication to be a master. On the flip side, who want to spend more time learning the rules of a game than it takes to play it.

2. Good games are flexible.When I say they are flexible, what I mean is there are many different ways to move from the starting point to winning. If you just plot out the same path over and over again to win, it’s not flexible.

Candy Land is a great tried and true game for young children and my children loved it. It teaches a variety of different skills. However, for an adult (or older child), it is boring, because there is no other way to win other than drawing the cards that lead you up the path to victory. It boils down to “who’s lucky?” Not that Candyland isn't a good game for very young children to learn rules, colors, and counting. It's just not a game that is going to be a favorite for years and years.

A good game will allow each player to work out a strategy to the endpoint. For example, chess can be won by a multitude of different moves and strategies that change as the opponent plays out his strategy. Chess can be enjoyed by players of all ages for years and years and the game will rarely be the same game twice.

3. The amount of intrinsic motiviton a game elicits is a way to judge what makes a good game. Intrinsic motivation means you don't want to quit until your are finished. Friendly competition actually motivates players. Competition can be against others (like in a card game) or against yourself (like trying to complete a crossword puzzle) or as a team (like in a sport such as football or a card game with a partner.)

If you look for these three qualities when choosing games for your family game night, you are likely to pick a future family favorite.

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