Hello All, I have been going to Gen Con for about 20 years now. This may be my first year bringing my 7 year old son who can read, knows basic math, and is very mature for his age. Can anyone suggest games for us that we could play together? My daughter is only 3 so I think she is a bit to young still. Something fun but not too hardcore as I don't want him feeling frustrated. He loves gaming and I am hoping this turns into a fun and possibly yearly thing for us to do together. Thanks!
In no particular order, some of our family favorites include My Little Scythe, Villainous, 5-Minute Dungeon, Castle Panic, Cat Lady, Code Names, King of Toyko, Machi Koro, Zombie Kidz, Kingdomino, Karuba, Dixit, Potion Explosion, Fireball Island, Survive: Escape from Atlantis!, Evolution, Sheriff of Nottingham, Tea Dragon Society Card Game, Takenoko, Ticket to Ride and Explording Kittens.
Drop-It Harry Potter Battle at Hogwarts (Start with year one)
Depending on his love of the geek culture, you may find role-playing games that are suited to young (and young at heart) players.
My kids loved Catan Junior when they were young.
I'll be bringing my 8 year old son and 9 year old daughter this year for the first time since they were 1 and 2 years old. I plan on signing them up for a bunch of events in the KID track. Here is a list of what that entailed last year. My kids are especially interested in the Primaschola events.
We will be bringing Motley Kids and My First RPG sessions back this year - targeting 4-8 year old gamers, welcoming older kids too :)
I can confirm we will have kid-friendly games of D&D, Mighty Tiny, Dread, and GasLands. We'll be continuing our play tests of Yestereve (an Apocalypse World hack) and will have a bunch of other games, depending on GM and attendee preference. Last year we ran No Thank You, Evil, Threadbare, Laser Kittens, You Must be Looney, and Adventure Maximus.
Keep an eye out for KID events!
Paizo usually does Pathfinder Academy. I am not sure of the ages, but I saw some kids that looked like they were between 7 and 12 at those tables sometimes.
Pathfinder Academy will run down to 6 or 7, and their gms are great
These are some amazing suggestions. He is going to be thrilled!
Another question on this topic. When you sign your kids up to play kids friendly games, do you sign up to play with them? Or do you just buy them a ticket and help/watch from the sidelines. I was going to buy two tickets for most events anyway as most are only $2 but I was curious how this goes. I would like to play with him as much as possible. The motley kid events look pretty cool like the craft stuff (potion and sword making) as well as the first RPG stuff so i am sure we will be going some of that too.
My 7yo daughter and 6yo son love Grimm's Forest, Blue Lagoon, Brix, Barnyard Roundup, Coconuts, Sparkle Kitty, Feuerdrachen, The Incredibles Save The Day, Villainous, Rocky Road a la Mode, Gimme Gimme Guinea Pigs, Tiny Epic Galaxies and Ticket To Ride. Every year, we take them to the area of the vendor hall with all the games made for kids their age, let them demo games and pick one out that they want. We also take them to Motley Kids and let them play for awhile. They have a blast!