The Great Big Book of Children's Games, published by McGraw Hill, is full of fun games of all sorts: Ball Games, Water Games, Chase Games, Card Games, and so on. Naturally, my interest was in the board and table games chapters.
The book offers lots of ways to play versions of popular games with a make-your-own version. Naturally, it doesn't tell you explicitly, "Don't buy game X, you can make your own!", but it does give great instructions on how to make paper playing boards for games like Shut the Box, Beetle (like a drawing version of Cootie), and also how to get the most out of a game like Checkers.
The book explains 8 different versions of basic checkers, including French checkers, where un-kinged checkers cannot jump other pieces (which makes for a long but exciting game). It also explains giveaway checkers, where players TRY to lose all of their pieces.
The book also explains some other games which can be played on a checkerboard with a standard checkers set, such as Fox and Geese, where one player must try to get their single checker past a row of 4 checkers that are controlled by the other players. This game is simple enough that even young players (5 or 6) can play it. Other checkerboard games described are Pyramid (sort of like Chinese Checkers on a standard checkerboard) and Reversi.
This is a great book to have around any house with a few kids. There are game ideas for rainy days and game ideas for sunny days. The book is illustrated with cute pictures and each game is described in careful detail. Over 450 games are taught, so you'll be all set for great game ideas, and at only $12.95, it's a steal!
Great Big Book of Children's Games
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