After half a dozen club meetings, I’m starting to notice some patterns about how students pick the games they want to play each week. Foremost, if there is something new and shiny, every student will be drawn to it. Last week, that was Jumanji Stampede. Perhaps in my infinite concern about which games the kids may find the most interesting each week on-theme, I overlooked one very simple fact: 7 to 9 year olds just want to have the most fun possible.

The second week of board game club saw us try out a series of tile games, a particularly enjoyable week for the visual learners in the class who readily took to the spatial patterning in games like Kingdomino.

A scope and sequence for the first few weeks of the club, including weekly topics, discussion and reflection prompts, and some ideas for games.

I had the opportunity to chat with designer Torben Ratzlaff about game design and our shared love of Root

In this review of Beacon Patrol I explain the simple tile placement gameplay and underscore the importance of attention to solitaire play.