Tombola and not only: the Christmas holidays are a time of social and family board games, never so in vogue as this year. There are some new entries this year among board games as the new  Force 4X4 and Clue Harry Potter, but the evergreen classics board games are always the most played games, with millions of fans around the world.

Beginning with the dear old Monopoly, with the little green houses,  so worldwide famous that Ridley Scott is adapting it into a movie. Monopoly, distributed by Hasbro,  has incredible numbers: it was played by some 750 million people since 1935, making the “most played board game in history .

Starting in 1935, has sold over 250 million copies of Monopoly in 106 countries and 40 languages. Have been published over 200 editions of the game, but the most popular is the classic number nine which is based on the streets of Atlantic City and is nearly identical to the original version by Charles Darrow presented to Parker Brothers. 74 years of history always renewed: from simple board games iPhone application has become the most downloaded, for PC.

In 1998 jeweller Sidney Mobell has created the version most valuable in the world: a Monopoly all gold and precious stones from the value of 2 million.

Among the board games pole position on the shelves for this Christmas we have the classic Blokus, and Chaturanga, who returns this year with a new version and the game becomes even more fun thanks to the presence of sound effects that will recognize the different parts aching.

Conjuring triks;
to amaze your audiences, conjuring tricks are games with a magical surprise at the end. Those games are fun even for spectators but the best of this category are the conjuring tricks that involve the active participation of kids in the game.

Board Games;
Board games are always present in the life of every child, young person and adult, because are fun gaming activities to play around a table. Board games are clever and fun and do not require much space to be played, for this reason, they represent the perfect recreational activity to spend pleasant moments in company and friendship.

Card games:
Today, there are many famous card games; many of them like poker, are inappropriate for children and are only for adults. But there are also many educational card games for children that can be played with cards, paper and pencil.

Memory and observation games;
Powers of observation and memory are essential to play these games. Playing memory and observation games invest skills and concentration and can definitely train the brain of the players and build their imagination.

Wordplay and puns;
Wordplay and puns are useful for teaching and training kids and to develop mental flexibility and linguistic ability. Wordplay and puns are usually played indoors and are suitable for people of all ages.

Other Skill games;
Other skill games, such as videogames, quiz games, riddles and puzzle games are perfect to animate and entertain adults, teenagers and children because they’ help to build a good atmosphere and a sense of group cohesion.

Kids have fun together playing group games:
Classic group games such as trust games, cooperation games, patience games, can really be great educational activities for kids. All these group games require a number of participants and children can vary from a few kids to more than 20.
Group games are often based on tactics, well-defined tasks, roles and strategies for participants, and require a strong partnership between kids. Many group games (and sports) of this kind can be played with balls, freebees and other tools.

kids at play sign

Party games, gaming, playing strategies recreation and leisure are nowadays object of increasing attention. The educational value of party games and gaming activities plays a certain role in the education and growth of the child. New studies and disciplines train teachers and educators more prepared and professional in offering party games and gaming activities to support the educational development of children.

The best party games for kids and adults can be divided into group games, outdoor and indoor games, skill games and board games. Party games and tournaments are also great occasions to improve group socialization and discussion and to establish solid team works.

But before endorsing this educational path we should really understand what play means to children:
Playing a game for a kid means bring into play all his skills, learn problem solving, confront himself with others, have fun and enjoy his time with others.
In this view party games and gaming activities begun a powerful training tool for children and a valuable teaching support for educators even for older kids (thinking of board games skill games, quiz games, trivia, puzzles, brain teasers and riddles). Educational gaming activities have the ability to combine and elaborate in different ways data and information and concentrate into few moves or actions an entire universe of meanings and symbols. Once you’re in the game you can change your point of view, analyze and evaluate your own experiences. For example this is very true in sports, especially for children and teenagers.
In the playing activity, players show their personalities and characteristics, their feelings and thoughts, cooperating and interacting with their opponents to accomplish a common goal at the end of the game.
Party games and gaming activities are essential for the educational development of a kid and should accompany al his growth, making him laugh and enjoy his life from 0 to 90 years old.
For adults there are also other kind of games especially on internet as spicy games, poker online and other skill games that include gambling.

online games for kids

The following websites provide online educational flash games for kids free to play and share:

• POISSON ROUGE
fun and educational online games in flash technology, recommended for young ages
• KIDSPSYCHC
Online educational games for kids: an interactive adventure for children with different games divided per age (from 1 to 9 years)
• VIVOBIMBO
The light bulb in the games room will help kids discover fun online games in flash technology.
Visual skills games and many other educational games suitable for children between 3 and 7 years.
• ORISINAL GAMES
An excellent collection of free online games for kids to improve attention and concentration.
• BOOWA & KWALACI
For children from 0 to 10 years is a journey in with two funny mascots around musical games, jigsaws and puzzles, coloured shapes and many other fun educational games for kids.
• CHILDTOPIA
The perfect place to learn math, language and creativity thanks to many online games for kids, selected according to different subject areas, cognitive development and the different age groups.
• PAULY PLAY HOUSE
a very nice collection of interesting online games and recreational activities for kids.
• FUN4THEBRAIN
a lot of educational games in this website where math, English and science practice is done with fun flash games for kids presented in different levels of difficulty. The access to the games is really intuitive, so kids can choose their favourite without parents’ help.
• KIDS GAMES
A world of games for children with funny characters and educational activities.
• FUNSCHOOL EDU GAMES
Online educational games for children organized per age groups.
• EDUCATIONAL GAMES
Educational games for kids with an intuitive and funny approach to math and English language.
• KIDS LEARNING GAMES
A collection of fun online games for preschool children designed to develop logical, linguistic and numerical skills.
• PRIMARY GAMES
A lot of learning flash games for kids to play online; games are organized in thematic trails. Very useful teaching tools.
• PRONGO
Educational games, quizzes, e-cards, organized in categories and divided by age, for children aged 3 to 12 years (comments in English).
• YAHOO KIDS
A selection of fun flash games to play online on Yahoo.
• FUNBRAIN
A web site to play games online and learn in a fun way. Free online games to learn math, language and other school subjects.
• LULU’S GAMES
A collection of fun logic and strategy games for kids dedicated to children. Ages: 4 and 7 years old.

Educational videogames

The use of educational games, e-learning and videogames in school education became one of the main objectives of many research centres around the world.

In United States Microsoft, Columbia University and New York University had started a partnership with the Games for learning institute, to conduct different researches on educational games, e-learning and videogames.
In Europe the need for an implementation of new educational tools in school education is the new scientific research’s challenge.
The aim of all these organizations is to conduct differnet researches on the use of games, e-learning and videogames as learning tools, trying to find the perfect implementation of these new digital tools  in school education.

The European Schoolnet recently completed a survey project called Games in School, developed to analyze the use of educational videogames in European schools.

E-learning school

The survey considers 8 countries: Austria, Denmark, France, Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, Spain and United Kingdom.
The idea behind the survey is simple and its result is really interesting because show how the European education system is evolving thanks to a more focused attention on life skills and concrete abilities teaching, rather than on “classic” school’s subjects learning.
Now the big question is: how e-learning and new educational games can face this challenge?

In the survey, teachers from primary and secondary schools reported that they had used educational games, such as videogames, online games, PC games, console, mobile, etc., for the following reasons:

• to increase the motivation of students
• to develop some skills (visual, social, manual, spatial, etc..)
• Consolidate the knowledge of educational content.

According to the same teachers, the adoption of electronic games had positive effects on their students. The videogames helped many students to develop an analytic and critical thinking and to be more autonomous in their study.
Videogames are also a way to personalize learning and develop team working skills.

Those kinds of games are primarily used to learn foreign languages, but also for history, geography and mathematics.

But there are also obstacles to the introduction of electronic games in schools:
• Lack of games suited to school’s subjects;
• Lack of computers in schools;
• Cost of educational videogames and e-learning material;
• Teachers and parents’ opinion of new educational games.

The studies so far already proved the importance of e-learning and educational videogames, and the importance of their implementation in schools’ programs.

Find in the video below an intervew with Paul Holdsworth of the European Commission for the Lifelong Learning Program.

If you’re looking for practical tips to choose, educational videogames and e-learning tools, in the references you can find the links to the studies quoted above.

References:

Digital games in schools handbook for teachers
Digital games in schools study (final report)
Digital games in schools study (syntesis report)

New Rubik 360 puzzle game

Thirty years ago, a Hungarian professor named Erno Rubik invented one of the most famous brain teaser of the world: the Rubik cube. Last February was released the successor of the popular cubic puzzle game: it’s called Rubik 360 and it is a Sphere!

The mythical Rubik Cube became a symbol of the 80s with millions of puzzles sold worldwide (one of the best-selling toy in history) and millions of hardcore players challenging themselves in leagues and tournaments.
One sphere, six balls and only one possible solution make the new Rubik puzzle game quite different from its cubic father.
So The Hungarian architect Erno Rubik tried to tease again millions of people with this apparently innocuous spherical puzzle game, trying to repeat the success of his previous brain teaser.
The Rubik 360 is a sphere within a sphere within a sphere, really simple to play but very difficult to solve.
The object of the game is to get the small coloured balls from within the central sphere into the matching colour holes of the external sphere (it’s easy to say, but less easy to do).

In fact the Rubik cube brain teaser is quite harder to solve and it’s more a visual logic skill game, instead, the new 360 puzzle game it’s more related to manual ability and coordination.

I don’t know if this new brain teaser puzzle will replicate the success of the Rubik Cube, but it’s now clear that this new spherical puzzle game already become, for all Rubik cube fans, another addictive and challenging brain teaser.

Challenge your mind and if you want know better how the new Rubik sphere works, take a look at this video and find out how the solution to the puzzle in few moves .

Curiosities and facts around the Rubik Cube

- Rubik Cube has 43,252,003,274,489,856,000 possible combinations, but only one solution.

- In the world have been sold over 350,000,000 Rubik cubes

- the Cube was invented in 1974, but only in 1980 arrived in the rest of Europe

- There are more than 40.000 YouTube videos about the Rubik cube

- The first world championship ‘Speed-cubing’ was held in Hungary in 1982 and was won by Minh Thai, an American student, who solved the puzzle in 22.95 seconds

- The current world champion of ‘Speed – cubing’ is Eric Akkersdijk; record: 7:08 seconds.

- Other disciplines include solving the cube blindfolded, with one hand, with feet and underwater

Expensive old toys

Old toys and classic games are nowadays part of famous collections.
Trains, planes and cars models, dolls and dollhouses, rocking horses, optical toys, wood construction, and all other kinds of old toys and classic games are collected from nostalgics and amateurs in desperate need for a dip into past amusements.

Today, many old toys and classic games of our great-grandfathers, are considered   real artefacts , and are collected by many amateurs willing to preserve our history and traditions.

Old authentic toys (There are a lot of fakes in circulation) can be really expensive; for example the value of a rare small toy made between 1880 and 1940 can cost from £400 to £1500, and there are some unique pieces valued thousands of pounds.
Old Toys and classic games can sometimes be interpreted as a cultural phenomenon, that reflects mores and traditions of a particular historical period.
However some old toys and classic games, seem more fashionable than others, and probably contributed to shape a old but still alive cultural heritage common to many countries and people.
This is true also for old toys and classic games whose origins are lost in history, like dolls, rocking horses and toy soldiers, and for more recent inventions, such as metal cars and trucks models.

But even in the last case is very hard to identify an evolution, or at least a detailed historical reconstruction of old toys and classic games. We can only identify all the changes of the modern concept of toy, related to industrial production, the use of design and technology, the creation of specific safety rules, the application of copyright, the toys association with entertainment movies, the digitalization of modern amusement arcade.

If we only forget for an second fashion dolls, hi-tech toys and gadgets designed in Japan, and we dip into world of toy trains, soldiers, dolls and dollhouses, we understand why collectors are ready to spend thousands of dollars for and antique and rare toys:
the aesthetic and intrinsic value of some old toys is unique and priceless in its simplicity and essentiality.
In old toys collecting hobby, the passion for untold history join the love for antique and rare things preserve and maintain alive those classic games and antique toys; priceless artefacts that represent a piece of our cultural heritage and the symbol of a timeless happy childhood.