Looney Labs Educators Mailing list Archive

[Juanpablo Amado <cardzmaster2004@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey all,

have been casually observing this thread for a while and figured I'd throw my opinions into the ring.

I have demoed the game with younger children and even use it during "Game Day" rewards with my regular students.  They really do enjoy just the matching part of it.  I liked Lydia's ideas about playing with the Goal face up and some of the other ideas in topic too.    The only two changes I made were to these rules:

---------------------------

*The player who completes their goal chain first wins. The number of cards 
that must be connected is decided by the players. We base it on the 
youngest player's age. In Lydia's case we match 3 and sometimes 4 cards.
----------------------

Good start but, to make it variably difficult for the changes I'm making, I
say you just base the chain on each player's age.  That way, a six year old 
who knows the game's strategy really well has to match 6 and is handicapped 
versus a four year old who has to match 4 and is just learning the game.  
this way, they feel their moving up into a "big kid" game as they get older.
-------------------------

* Players take turns drawing a card from the top of the pile. If the player 
has a card that matches his or her goal the player can begin to make a 
chain. If the card chosen doesn't have a match it is set it aside. If 
player's goal is not part of the first card placed on the table, that 
player has to wait until another card from another player is connected to 
begin play.
-------------------------

Here, I say "...ehh...".  I say you just go to the regular rules now.  Deal 
out a three-card hand and go to draw, play.  On a first play-through, you 
could include playing the first few games hands face-up so parents/
experienced players can help make sure they make legal plays and, when 
appropriate, help make strategy decisions.  Playing face-up also lowers the 
stress of entry into a new game IMO.
--------------------------

I think the biggest thing for marketing to a younger audience is to make sure
parents know to remove the Action cards.  They make the game much more
confusing and by simply taking them out it turns the game into something that
is easy for players of any age to learn.  Then, when they hit 6-7, you can 
add in one or two actions, like Trade Goals or Move a Card as has been 
mentioned.

Hope these thoughts help!

~JP.

> Date: Sun, 10 May 2009 12:46:01 -0400
> From: kristin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> To: edu@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> Subject: Re: [Edu] Aquarius rules for 3 year olds
>
> David wrote:
>
> > I like Lydia's rules, but they look daunting to my eye for most parents
> > of kids that young.
>
> We definitely don't want something that looks daunting to parents!
>
> We want a really simple rule set that can be used when playing the
> game with younger kids than the recommended ages 6-adult.
>
>
> Kimberly wrote:
>
> > I do pretty much what Lydia does.
> > P.S.- we don't do this part though:
> >  
> > * Players take turns drawing a card from the top of the pile. If the
> > player has a card that matches his or her goal the player can begin to
> > make a chain. If the card chosen doesn't have a match it is set it aside.
> > If player's goal is not part of the first card placed on the table, that
> > player has to wait until another card from another player is connected to
> > begin play.
> >  
> > everyone just plays whatever card matches anything that's laid already.
> > (with a starter card from the top of the pile)
>
>
> Ok, so if we take out the complexity of that step this might work then.
>
> Kimberly also wrote:
>
> > I bet the game could also be made into a GoFish type of game (sans action
> > & goal cards).  Collecting 4-6 cards with the same picture, then laying
> > them out with like pictures touching.
>
>
> I would like for our simpler version in the rules to be a simpler version
> of the real game - so that kids who learn the simple version can move into
> the full game as they get older by adding in more of the game - rather than
> it being a completely different game you can play with the cards.
>
>
> Does anyone else have any thoughts on how we should pitch the idea of
> playing Aquarius with younger children?
>
> Thank you David and Kimberly for your input and ideas!
>
> -Kristin
>
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