One of the best things about games for the Gameboy Advance is the ease with which even the youngest gamers can play them. Majesco’s Kid’s Cards is a great example of this. We played it on a Nintendo DS, and it seemed to work just fine. Because we were playing it on a DS, though, we couldn’t take advantage of linking systems together to see what the multiplayer option was like. I have a feeling my kids would like the game even more if they could play against some of their friends. In fact, it is so easy to play that, with just a little instruction from mom, even my 4 year old was borrowing his sibling’s DS and taking a turn as a little “card shark.”
There are five different games to choose from in Kid’s Cards: Go Fish, Crazy 8s, War, Old Maid and Slap Jack. My older two kids (ages 7 and 10) were already familiar with the rules of all the games but Slap Jack, so they were able to pick up the game and start playing in moments. You can choose from having just one computerized opponent to up to 3, so the game can be longer or shorter depending on how many players you choose to play against. The controls are simple, using the “A” key to select a card and the left and right arrows to move through the cards in your hand. The instruction manual for the game does come with directions for playing the game, but I found that I had to play a few games with a real deck of cards before my youngest was able to understand the rules of Go Fish. But once he understood that he was trying to make matches, and if he got a match he could go again, then it was very easy to teach him how to play the game on the DS. He loves listening to the child-like voice saying “Fish, fish, got my wish,” for example. And the voice used isn’t so annoying that I wasn’t able to tune it out when he wanted to play the game over and over again, a great plus for parents.
Crazy 8’s was fun and had some strategy to it if you play against 2 or 3 computerized opponents. The game “greys out” what cards can’t be played on your turn, so that those you could play are highlighted. This made it easier for my kids to not miss an opportunity when it came their way. And, of course, when they didn’t have anything to play they could just hit “A” to draw a card.
Old Maid is fun and easy to play as well. This game was great for teaching my son to find matching cards, and starting to recognize the numbers on cards as well. It’s fun trying to guess who might have the Old Maid (the Queen without the match), though there isn’t much strategy involved in the game.
Slap Jack is a game we’d seen played before but never quite understood the rules of, so we all had fun learning it. And it’s a whole lot of fun to play on the DS as well. The deck of cards is dealt evenly between the players. You then hit “A” and everyone playing turns over the top card automatically. If a jack appears, be the first to slap your hand on the table (hit “B”), and you win the stack of cards. This game quickly translated to mayhem when we played it as a family with two decks of cards, but is also the one my kids liked playing in Kid’s Cards the best.
War was rather boring for even my youngest. The game automatically resolves who wins, so really all you have to do is press the “A” button over and over again. However, that’s basically what War the card game is. You just continue flipping over the top card until someone collects the whole deck. It might have been better in this case to play the “modified” rules that I remember playing as a child in a game we called “Strategy War”. Here you decide which card to play and put it down and everyone flips at once. The good part about playing War on the DS was that my kids quickly learned what card beat what, and so got an idea of how the cards ranked for when they picked up a deck of cards.
And I think this is one of the best parts about Majesco’s Kid’s Card games. All three of my kids were able to learn a little more about the games provided, and in fact learn a new game. They then would get out a deck of cards and play together with mom and dad. Any game that leads to time spent as a family, but also can keep kids busy when mom needs them to be, ranks high up on my list. Kid’s Cards does just that, and was fun even for my preschooler - not something you get with many games.
I’ve played computer games since college, addicted first to story type games like Might and Magic. I have 3 children who also love computer games. My oldest son is a typical kid who loves the challenge of pressing the right combination of buttons and levers on a joystick in just the right way to make something happens, and frequently gets frustrated with mom’s slow fingers. ;) We use computers for both education and entertainment, and sometimes even bribery for good behavior.
The “glory days” of computer gaming for me were when games like Spectre Supreme, Pirate’s Gold, the Might and Magic series, the original Prince of Persia… those sorts of games were coming out on a regular basis. Back then I owned a Macintosh and was a die hard Mac fan. I was one of the first in my area to buy an iMac and on it learned the joy of playing games on the internet like daily crossword puzzle and “mind bender” type puzzles. My first online RPG was given to me for Christmas the year EQ was released, and I was hooked from day one. I played EQ for about a year. I started playing DaoC during late alpha testing, and was hooked on it.. well, to be honest I still am. I’ve tried pretty much every MMORPG I can get my hands on, from big names like EQ, to more obscure ones such as Underlight. I’ve been writing for IMGS since the first DaoC guide, and find I love the challenge of learning a game and presenting what I’ve learned (and sometimes my opinions), to other players.
I’m not a very strong player as far as learning PvE or quick reaction times, so I tend to stay away from games where I’m pitted against someone else in a way that requires physical (rather than mental) response. I still enjoy story and puzzle games, and in a way that’s how I still approach online games. I would much rather spend hours working through a quest than 5 minutes in combat against another player. I still get lost in simulation type games, obsessing over them until I’ve gotten them beaten. And I like being able to sit down at the computer when I’ve got less than half an hour and playing through a few levels of a puzzle game. I tend not to like first-person shooter type games, or anything with person to person violence, so I steer away from them unless they are fantasy based settings. All in all, I enjoy computer gaming so much that my life feels incomplete somehow when my computer is down.
