The Tao of Gaming

Pokemon.

My daughter built her first deck (instead of using preconstructed decks) and we played a few games today. Pokemon really is the CCG for kids. There are a few reasons.

1. Deck building is tightly constrained. I dislike this, but it's great for kids. Exactly 60 cards. 20-25 will be Energy ("Land" in Magic). Probably 20-25 will be Pokemon. So once you decide the colors/pokemon, your just decide the last few cards to splash into a deck.
2. You can play one energy a turn (attached to a specific pokemon). Only one pokemon can be active, although it can 'retreat' by discarding some energy. Each Pokemon has 1 or 2 attacks. Unless you've got a trainer/support card (one of those 10-20 spare), your turn has the following decisions:
   1. Retreat your current pokemon? (Usually not).
   2. Which pokemon (if any) do you attach energy to?
   3. Which of two attacks should you use?
   Now, these decisions are coupled (if you play to squeeze every last ounce of win percentage), but they appear uncoupled when you are starting, and give the young apprentice trainer a nice rhythm ("Draw card, attach energy, retreat?, attack!").
3. The coin flip mechanism handicaps adults fairly well.
4. Many of the decisions you have to make are 'non-decisions.' "Do I hit for 20 points or flip a coin for 0/40?" If your opponents pokemon only has 20 points left, or (conversely) ignores the first 20 points of damage, then the decision is easy ... for an adult. Children will go through a stage and then realize that some options have no upside. That's a pretty good lesson to learn.

The downsides:

1. You will walk by the TV and say "Look, a Buizel!" Then you will pause and slap yourself.
2. Then others will (rightly) mock you.
3. When your children turn ten, you may be disappointed to find out that they aren't setting off to make their mark just yet ...

So, uh, does anyone have any Pokemon decks they want to trade (cheaply?). Reply via email (or geekmail) to hide your shame.

Update: To reclaim any lost 'cred' I had, I made this geeklist.

On New Years, I told my daughter that she was probably old enough to play "Daddy's Games." Needless to say, she beemed with pride. We've mainly been playing Settlers of Catan (with Jacqui); she wins often. It's a forgiving game, given the dice and that Jacqui and I will rob each other rather than Rebecca, unless she's in the lead.

I've also introduce Ticket to Ride, which she wants to play again. I don't think she has a realistic chance to win (without deliberately throwing the game), so I'm pushing Settlers for now.

The Missus picked up Kerplunkt!, which both my kids have been playing. Sometimes they even play by the rules, sometimes they make up games. The made up games are interesting ... especially watching my daughter build a scoring system. She's taken the pinball machine route -- all points are multiples of hundreds. Inflation strikes early.

My son wants to play Fantasy Forest, a game that's really for older kids. As I've mentioned before, it's a suprisingly good game. Although it looses any strategy when your opponent can't count.

Jacqui picked up Fantasy Forest (a TSR's kid game) and it's not bad at all. A quick trip to the geek reveals why, it's by Michael Gray (other credits include Daytona 500, Fortress America, Shogun, as well as other reasonable games for kids). Fantasy Forest is a Candyland derivative, but with real choices. You have a hand of three cards (each with a monster and value) and draw a card, play a card. The card tells you how far you move, but each shortcut also has a monster ... play the right card to get a short cut. The 'spot' spaces make you play a card against the top card of the deck. If your card is higher, you go forward; if your card is lower, you go backward. If you land on an opponent, you get to take their hand and then give them back any three cards.

Rebecca and I also split a pair of games of Can't Stop.