Bill wrote:
The basic mechanic of the game, to me, is the matching of like sides.
It's similar to dominoes in that respect. So, that's the core, in my
opinion.
I agree - very well put.
What we are working on is figuring out what to put in the printed rules
sheet that comes with the game. To give advice to parents who want to
play it with 3 and 4 year olds - much younger than age 6 we put on the box.
Bill continued:
If I were to play this with ,6 yr olds again (my daughters are 9 and 13)
I would keep secret goals, drop the action cards, and draw and play the
game as written otherwise. Over repeated playing, as the child became
proficient with playing the basic game, I would add in the change goals
action card. If that's the only action card, most preschoolers can learn
what it means without having to read.
The only other change we ever played was to have our "hands" face up on
the table, so we didn't have to hold them. That also let me guide my
daughters' strategy if they needed help. And, I could explain my
thinking as I played my cards. We were never too concerned with the
competition.
If it were me, I'd add in action cards over repeated playing as I felt
the child could handle it.
I like the idea of saying remove X, Y, Z, and Q - and then add them back
in again one at a time over repeated playing of the game.
How does this sound?
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To play Aquarius with children as young as 3:
Remove all action cards from the deck. Each player picks a goal, which is
placed face up in front of them. Place a 4 panel card in the center of the
table, and give each player 3 cards. Take turns drawing and playing (just
like in the full game) until a player gets enough panels of their goal
connected together equal to the youngest players age. If necessary, play
with your "hand" of cards face up on the table the first few times, before
teaching your child to hold their hand of cards secret from the other
players.
Over repeated playing, as the child masters this very simple game (and as
they get older) you can increase the challenge by first assigning a random
goal card, and then teaching them to keep their goal card a secret, and
eventually adding the action cards back into the game one at a time.
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David: do you think this will sound daunting to parents?
is my wording good? should we try listing the order to add the action cards
back in? is there an obvious difference in difficulty between the actions
- or is the important thing only adding one at a time?
Also - does this really work with 3 year olds? or should we say as young
as 4 ?
Thank you everyone for your input!
-Kristin