8 Exciting Games to Play with Grandma

I am very lucky to have an awesome grandma that loves to play games with me.

My brothers and I call her “Memaw”.  She says I’m the “thinker” of the family.

And Memaw used to tell me really fun bedtime stories where she would make up some fun and crazy monsters. Then my cousins, Memaw and I would have to create some potions to help out the fun monsters (or to make them go away if they were being mean).

These stories are what inspired me to make my first game.

Along with telling me really fun stories, she taught me how to have fun playing games with her.

Finding new games to play with grandma showed me how to be more creative along with bringing the 2 of us closer together.

So I wanted to make a list of 8 games that I have played with Memaw to help you find fun games to play with your grandma.

4 games that we played when I was a kid and 4 of them we played as adults.

4 Games I’ve Played with Memaw as an Adult that you can Play with Your Grandma

These 4 games are also great for kids to play with their grandma.

I would have enjoyed playing these with Memaw when I was a kid. But we didn’t have them growing up.

And also I wanted to point out that no matter how old we both get, we still have a blast playing games together.

1. King of Tokyo – A Great Dice Rolling Board Game to Play with Your Grandchild

Teachability – 4/5
Difficulty – 3/5
Game Type –  Press Your Luck and Resource Management

Our Experience:
Memaw had a bit of a hard time understanding the concept of this game. That is why the teachability is 4/5. However, after she learned the goal of the game, she had fun and was able to play the game much easier. It also has really cool game pieces that Memaw liked.

There are a lot of small and easy decisions to make. Such as “would you like to keep points or try to roll for more attack?” Or “Would you like to leave Tokyo or stay in?”

So once we started playing and she understood King of Tokyo, she liked it. But my Memaw has played a lot of games and is pretty good at picking up new board game concepts.

If your grandma is not used to games then this one may be a bit confusing to her. But she will probably catch on if she has a good teacher!

2. Sequence – One of Our “Family Favorites”

Teachability – 2/5
Difficulty – 2/5
Game Type –  Card game with Tile Placement

Our Experience:
Our family enjoys this game a lot with Memaw. I haven’t played a two player game with just Memaw, but I think we would have fun doing that as well.

Basically, you have 2 decks of cards and a board that has 2 of every card (except the jacks. They are wild).

The 2 eyed jacks allow you to place your token (tile) anywhere. While the 1 eyed jacks give you the option to remove an opponents token.

We like to play teams of 2. The first team to get the correct amount of “5 in a rows” wins!

This game is a lot of fun because there is a lot of back and forth between teams. And the end of the game is almost always filled with anticipation as players race to draw the exact card they are looking for.

3. Treasure Hunter – My Cousins Favorite Board Game to Play with Grandma

Teachability – 4/5
Difficulty – 2/5
Game Type –  Drafting

Our Experience:
This is by far our families favorite game at the moment. Treasure Hunter is the game we are playing in the headline picture. Memaw is choosing which card to draft next.

It is great because you can think as little or as much as you want. And still have fun without messing up the game!

The teachability is 4/5 because Memaw has a bit of a hard time understanding the game from round to round.

While the difficulty is low (2/5) because she doesn’t necessarily HAVE to know what cards are best each round. Because she still just drafts her favorite cards (treasure goblin scaring dogs) and has a blast!

(Also Check Out: How to Make People Feel More Welcomed at Gaming Conventions)

4. Farkle – A Classic Dice Game for All Ages

Teachability – 1/5
Difficulty – 1/5
Game Type –  Dice Rolling and Press Your Luck

Our Experience:
Farkle has been our go to dice game for about the last 3 years. It’s a great game to play when it’s just you and Grandma too because you can focus on both game and conversation well.

Memaw has been a huge fan of Yahtzee for decades now. But she got a bit wore out on it (as most of us did) several years back. So we searched for a new dice rolling game and found Farkle.

It is a very easy to learn and play game. But has provided some really fun and exciting game play.

Funny story – When a player reaches 10,000 points, then that marks the start of the last round. So everyone gets one last chance to catch up.

One time, Memaw had roughly 4,350 points. And on her last round rolled until she had got over 11,000 points to win!!

That was one of the craziest games of all time!

(Related board game list – Try out these exciting games at your next party)

4 Tabletop Games to play with Grandma for Children

These 4 games are the games Memaw and I grew up playing together.

I have many great memories of playing board games with her as a kid and making up our own rules. Especially in Monopoly.

She was always very supportive in my creativity (making up new rules) and I am forever grateful of that.

Thanks Memaw!

5. Monopoly – My Most Played Board Game with My Grandma

Teachability – 3.5/5
Difficulty – 2.5/5
Game Type –  Dice Rolling and Resource Management

Our Experience:
I can’t even begin to count the number of times we played this growing up.

We got tired of the “regular rules” when I was about 7 or 8. So we made up our own!

I would spend hours thinking of new rules I wanted to try out in Monopoly. And Memaw is awesome so she would try them out with me.

This was when I should have known I was destined to make games the rest of my life.

6. Battleship – The Perfect Game for Improving Deduction Skills for Kids

Teachability – 3.5/5
Difficulty – 2.5/5
Game Type –  Dice Rolling and Resource Management

Our Experience:
Memaw was really fun to play Battleship with.

Looking back on it. I’m pretty sure she would test me (as every great grandmother would!) She did this by setting up her ships in certain patterns repetitively just to see how long it took me to catch on.

And right when I had figured it out, she would change her strategy. It was a fun game of “cat and mouse” trying to make great educated guesses as to what layout she would set up.

I don’t know what it is about humans but we can be so predictable at times.

Playing Battleship with Memaw taught me how to be less predictable and increased my ability to “go with the flow”. 2 life skills I’m thankful to have!

(Ever thought about making a game? See 3 reasons why I think you should make a game and how I use game design for a creative outlet.)

7. Sorry! – Classic Board Game that Helps Children Learn Basic Math Skills

Teachability – 2/5
Difficulty – 1/5
Game Type –  Classic board game

Our Experience: Memaw played Sorry! with me at a very young age. I was probably 5 or 6 when we enjoyed our first game together.

Sorry is a really good game to play with your grandma as a kid because it teaches you basic math skills. And since grandparents tend to like teaching their grandchildren valuable life skills, they usually like to play this game as well.

I know my Memaw enjoyed playing. And I am very thankful I had her to help teach me basic addition and subtraction while having fun.

(Interesting Read for DIY Fans – Check out how to print cards for games at home)

8. Guess Who? – Another Great Game for Increasing Deduction Skills

Teachability – 1/5
Difficulty – 1/5
Game Type –  Deduction

Our Experience: This is another very simple, but very fun game.

I played this with Memaw 100’s (maybe even 1000’s) of times growing up.

Trying to figure out her character by asking off the wall questions was very fun to me.

I also liked trying to guess her person even when I had like 5 to choose from. It was fun going off of my instinct even if it did cause me to lose a lot!

Bonus: Roll For It! –  A Dice Drafting Game Enjoyable for the Entire Family

Teachability – 2/5
Difficulty – 2/5
Game Type –  Dice Rolling with a bit of Drafting

Our Experience: We hadn’t actually played this one together when I first wrote this article but now we have! Roll for it! was a blast and my grandma loved it. In fact, three generations of my family played and everyone seemed to enjoy this game quite a bit.

It’s a great game that introduces players to the drafting mechanic in board games. One of my favorite types of games.

We plan on playing many more rounds of this simple and easy to learn game. This is another game that helps children learn basic math skills such as probability (though it’s not the focus of the game).

If your family loves exciting dice game then give this one a try!

What are Your Favorite Games to Play with Grandma?

Which of these games do you plan on playing with your grandma?

Do you have a favorite game you played with your grandma growing up?

Let us know in the comments below.

 

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