If you don’t know this amazing and fun family, you must do it. They are Kelsey, Adam and five kids, from Iowa – USA, playing all kinds of board games! They do an amazing job introducing great games through fun stories in Instagram and in their web page as well. I met them on Instagram and I instantly liked the way they manage playing with kids, but also play more sophisticated games between them, friends and family.
That’s enough from me, let’s go for it!
Tell us a bit more about you and your work with board games!
Well, my husband and I have been playing games since we started dating way back in college. We would play a variety of both card and board games in the evenings together. Now, when we’re not running around keeping the family running, we’re able to enjoy games with our 5 kids! We started our board game account to help other parents like ourselves not only introduce games to their kids, but to also remain connected by playing them together as a couple.
How do you manage to produce all the content you post with five kids?? I have two kids and I try really hard to keep Board Bunker posts weekly!!
Ha! It’s definitely a challenge sometimes. As a stay at home mom and homeschooling family, the kids come first so when life is busy, our content slows. Luckily we all love to play and make gaming a priority in our family so there’s always something to talk about.
Since when do you play board games?
We’ve been playing modern board games together for about 13 years.
Who introduce board games between you two?
We each grew up playing games in our childhood. I was learning how to play cards before I could read. In college while dating we would play cards and games together in our dorm rooms and eventually wandered into the modern hobby as we know it through common gateway games and it sort of snowballed from there. We’re both very competitive people so board games was a natural hobby for us.
Do you have a favorite game? What about favorite mechanics?
Our favorite game is easily Marvel Legendary. We have pretty much played this nonstop since it came out and I don’t see us stopping any time soon. Mechanic wise we enjoy just about anything, especially worker placement, engine & deck building.
We know you always play with your kids and introduce to them a lot of board games. Do you have a top 5 board games for kids?There are so many amazing games available for kids right now, its hard to pick a top 5, but we are always highlighting games we think are excellent choices for kids and families on our blog. Some of our very favorites include: First Orchard, Ghost Fightin’ Treasure Hunters, and My Little Scythe.
What about board games that are not much of a hit, is there some title in this list?
A thing I’ve learned over the many years of playing is that while sure there are some games that we feel aren’t as good as others, even the “best games” aren’t for everyone. There are so many different tastes and styles that people are looking for so what may not be a hit for you could be someone else’s favorite game. That’s the beauty of the hobby. Even some great games never make it to become known as “hits” but that doesn’t stop them from being a great game.
Sometimes we see you home schooling your kids with board games. In Brazil we´re facing this kind of teaching for the first time as it’s not allowed yet. Can you give us some tips on how to include games into the learning hours?
I love to include board games in education because it helps make the learning process more dynamic and kids often don’t realize that they’re reinforcing concepts they are working on in the classroom. Just about every game can have some sort of learning element to it. In our home, I look for games that help my kids practice their math skills — think adding up card points and final scores, examining probability of outcomes — and other games that offer a bit of reading to work on comprehension skills. Outside of that, I always look for games where my kids will have to make choices on their turns (rather than just rolling and moving) so that they’ll be working on developing valuable critical thinking skills. No matter what you play I promise you they’ll be learning!
Over last few years, we saw a substantial raise in Kickstarter projects for board games market. Do you follow and back this kind of project?
We do not back many Kickstarters personally. It’s just not something that works for our family at this time. We do however enjoy following the progress and making notes for what we might want to check out once it hits the retail market. Whether you’re backing or just watching, Kickstarter is an exciting place for board gamers.
Last one, I promise! Do you know any Brazilian board game that you might like?
I’m not sure if I know any Brazillian specific board games off the top of my head. You tell me, what should we be playing!?
We suggest you play Gnomopolis, Tsukiji, Encantados, Cartógrafos and Deusastrados! Some of them hit international status, but they are all great games!
Thanks a lot for your participation! We are fans of your work with board games and we hope that you keep it for many years, always sharing some fun moments of your beatiful family!
See you latter!
