Wil Wheaton & Mini Guests Play Catan Junior On Tabletop
December 12, 2014 by brennon
If you're interested in some good games for kids and you like the idea of board games as the avenue of entry then see what you think of Catan Junior from this weeks episode of Tabletop on Geek & Sundry...
Instead of the celebrity guests this week Wil was joined by three rather charmingly cute kids to play the game and show how much fun they can have with something that isn't just Monopoly again.
A friend of mine has started a board gaming club at his primary school and the kids love it. It's great to see that it's not all just games consoles that can get kids excited about gaming.
What did you think of the episode?
I didn’t think I would like this one… I mean, this is the kids episode. I love kids, don’t get me wrong (I’m a teacher by trade…) but as an adult I have to say the “junior” editions of games and the programs that are made for kids sound apalling… Not because they’re for kids, but because adults somehow think they have to sugarcoat and dumb down everything for children. Nothing could be further from the truth : children are not stupid, they’re just adults with less XPs.
I was very much surprised to find here an episode that’s well put together, where the kids are portrayed as real people… and a fun, balanced game that could also be suited for adults : it’s just as complex as Catan, but with less restrictions and more equal probabilities (one die to roll, the statistics are no longer a gaussian curve), and with a fun theme to boot. Is it actually a better game ? Less random with the tiles and dice, more thematic, which is what Catan always gets flak for ? I couldn’t tell, but it sounds at least as good.
And as usual, Wil Wheaton’s expert presenting and imaginative storytelling makes it all worthwhile anyway.
This is a good one, folks ! 🙂