Ryan Moore
United States
Clarkston
US
Migraine day... like a mole in my brain
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Hey all.
I'm a school counselor and I use a variety of games in my practice for different strategies related to the personal/social development and academic development of the child. One of the games I love to use is Rumis (or blockus 3d).
A few things I appreciate about this game, and that I find useful in counseling are as follows:
1. This game is not hard to learn for middle school students and is still engaging for adults. Rules are fairly straight forward. Strategies can take a bit to develop.
2. This game can be played in a 10 minute window and has a lot of replay value. If I have a kid that doesn't want to open up or talk, I might not say anything to them when they come into the office other than to pull out these shiny plastic pieces, explain the rules briefly and start playing. It's a fat enough game that it doesn't eat a whole session to play.
3. This game is attractive. (the 2005 version anyway) With it's brightly colored plastic pieces, rotating board and aztecish theme, kids can't help but to touch it, even if they just start building cubes.
4. For academic development, it promotes spacial thinking, planning, organization, etc.. It's great for the brain. I love watching students learn to visualize where the ceiling is and start to plan accordingly. It's also cool to see when they finally learn to get rid of difficult pieces first.
5. Social development, in a 3 or 4 player game, trying to block each other, out witting each other, and all the while modeling good sportsmanship (saying nice job when they get you, good game, etc.) is great way to help teach basic social skills to student who would otherwise just naturally follow the negative examples they see all the time.
Besides all that, it's just a great game; fun, quick and addictive.
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Ian Bohne
United States
Colorado Springs
Colorado
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Every positive you talk about is why it makes a great FAMILY game. My 6yo was having a hard time being a good sport but when the FAMILY plays together and model the right behavior it makes it better for all.
Hurray for using games (real games, not video) in school. Good games can teach so much.
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Ryan Moore
United States
Clarkston
US
Migraine day... like a mole in my brain
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Yeah, I am a father as well and I agree that modeling good sportsmanshp in table top games is very valuable. Another good one to look at for modeling rule following and positive attitude for the youngsters is any variation of the Flux games. Lotsa laughing and discovery while learning how to be a well adjusted, social gamer.
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