Guest Author - Megan Romer

Many of the best adult games have wonderful kids' versions available; Scrabble, Monopoly and Boggle all come to mind. These games are great for a little while, but even the best-meaning adults may find them tedious or tiresome after a few rounds of play.

There are ways to incorporate children into the adult version of these games. These may be beneficial for both parents and children; the parents don't get bored with the game and the children may get slightly more stimulation than the kids' versions may provide. It's also a good way to play a game with kids of different ages.

Boggle is a surprisingly easy game to play with players of different ages or skill levels. One version is the "par" version. Instead of using the timer, just shake up the board and let everyone make a list of words. The first person to reach their "par" is the winner. Unlike regular Boggle, do not subtract words that more than one player find. Also, length of words should not be a determiner. To find each player's par, an easy method is to double the player's age (up to age 15). Adjust as necessary.

Another version of family-friendly Boggle is to give each player a handicap. Parents who think the word "handicap" may hurt their children's feelings could use the term "magic number" or another variation instead. To find handicaps, play through a few games of Boggle, find each player's average score, and find the differences between them. With this version, you can play with all of the regular Boggle rules, and simply add the player's handicap to their final score.

Scrabble is another game that kids can be easily incorporated into. One possible way to do this is to score the adult's words normally, and score the kids' words with a "flat-rate" scoring system. Depending on the skill of the adults playing, this flat-score may change. A good starting point is 15 points per word. For slightly older kids, try giving them 10 points per word, plus 3 bonus points per extra letter for words longer than three letters.

For kids who are old enough to have reasonably large vocabularies but do not have the strategy skills necessary to play full-on adult Scrabble, try theme Scrabble. A theme, for example, could be "food", and anyone who plays a word related to food gets a set amount of bonus points.

Most kids who can count and do basic math are capable of playing Monopoly right along with adults, but for younger kids who are still working on their math skills, consider giving them the sole responsibility of being the banker. They can practice their counting, adding and subtracting while still feeling like they're part of the game.

Find your own fun ways to let your kids play along with you. Let me know what they are in the forum.