Generic Game Board for the whole family to play. Cortney, Kyle and Big Bird game pieces Note: Cortney and Kyle are now grown with children of their own, but these pictures were MY favorites at the time I made the game. The Idea for the Game To Make: To Play:
Of course, the idea to make this game came from watching the popular TV game show by the same name. Not having television, I had never seen this show. I was visiting with my son's family and the show came on. Even though the questions were way above the knowledge of my grandchildren, they actively shouted advice to the contestants. I knew that this was a winner. I came home and immediately set about making a game that could be used to review and drill information at their level.
IT WAS A WINNER!! On my next visit, I gave the game to the children along with a set of cards for each of them to draw their questions from. The first round Kristopher, the younger brother, made a mistake. He was devasted, of course, as there is so much competition between them. Then, he found out that he was NOT out of the game. In fact, he HAD won some money. We moved his game piece back to the last "safe" place and he collected this amount. We wrote his winnings on a sheet of paper. But then the best part for him was to realize that he did not have to quit as the TV contestants do. He simply went back to the start of the gameboard, recollected Life Line cards so he had three again, and was still in the game.
After we played for quite some time, I suggested quitting. They both shouted, "NO!" Luckily, it was dinner time so I did get a break. However, play resumed when eating was finished.
I cut library pockets in half and I had to cut the bottoms off the ones I
had as they were the taller ones. The pockets are now 2" deep and about 1
1/2" wide. To complete them, I wrapped them in contact paper to make them
sturdy and glued them unto a file folder.
Starting with row one, along the bottom edge of the folder, I have the
pockets labeled $100, $200, $300, $500, and $1,000....the $1,000 one has a
gold sticker on it as it is one of the "safe" levels.
The middle row has the pockets, labeled: $2,000, $4,000, $8,000, $16,000,
and $32,000 which also has a gold sticker.
The top row has the pockets labeled: $64,000, $125,000, $250,000,
$500,000, and $1,000,000 which also has a gold sticker.
I made "Life-Line" cards...several of each and thought maybe each player
could chose three before the play begins. The cards I made are:
50/50 -- the questions would either be restated in the form of a True or
False statement OR the player would be given the choice of two possible
answers.
HINT -- the player would be given an age-appropriate hint
HELP -- the player may ask anyone for help with the answer, even calling
Grandma is acceptable.
RESOURCE -- the player may look in one resource book of his choice to find
the answer.
NEW -- they could get a new question.
By having players select three cards (or having three cards dealt to each
player), it will make keeping track of who has which Life-Line helps left.
Now, something REALLY neat....I thought of the cutest game pieces to
use. I got some of those wooden spoons that you can get at stores when you
buy an ice cream treat. I cut out pictures of some of the children's
favorite characters to place on the spoons....Big Bird, Superman, whoever
their fun heros may be.....Then I thought it would be even more fun if
their OWN pictures where on their game pieces, so that is what I did...I
cut out their pictures and glued them on the sticks....My grandchildren loved having their own personalized game pieces.
Each player gets a question, if they are
correct, they place their game piece into the $100 pocket. When all
players have had one turn, the next round will begin. If a player should
miss a question, he is not out of the game...he goes back to the beginning
and starts again, or to the last "safe" space he was at and collects the money. The gold sticker pockets are "safe" places. Once that level of money has been won, it cannot be lost even if a question is answered incorrectly at a higher level. Also, a player
may be satisfied with his score at any time and keep that amount and
"quit", though he need not leave the game. He would just start again...so
players could be at all different levels of play. These rules could vary a
little depending on the ages of the children and however works best for
your family. Whenever a player would restart, he would again make sure he
has three Life-Line cards.
I think the way our family would have played would be to make a marathon
of it....it could just be for an evening, a weekend, a week, or
month. Keeping score of each players winnings. Since there is only Kyle and I left at home now, we don't do the marathon thing any more...though we continue to play games. However, marathons were really popular at our house when Cortney still lived at home and we had more players.
One lady told me that her
boys would have more fun if they actually got money, and suggested using
Monopoly money to be paid out...I am not sure there is enough money in a
Monopoly game, so I think I will be making some special money for this
game, as I agree, I think many children will have fun collecting money, and
if I run out, I can simply xerox or print some more (Don't you wish it were
that simple in life??? LOL) This would also make for good advanced money
counting skills...