Kingbeast's Lair

Summary

I really excited that my two boys are now old enough to start playing games that are much more sophisticated. I am having a blast teaching them about a hobby that I adore. During this time I have seen them improve in many areas. While they have been improving I have been carefully following their progress. This list is my fun way to track our progress. I call it John’s Gamer Dad Level Up List. The ones we have completed are in gold. I added a computer knowledge list because it is important to me even though it is not really game related. 🙂

Board Games

• Play hide & seek
• Play simple kids board games
• Play a more complicated Euro style board game
• Play a simple wargame
• Reference rules from one game while playing another game
• Save money to buy games at a game store
• Kid beats me regularly at a board game
• Makes a reference to a board game in an unrelated conversation

My Comments
Right now my boys are playing many different board games with various mechanics and difficulty levels. Probably the most complicated might be our favorite, Memoir 44. The piggy bank to save money for games was actually their Mom’s idea. It is a great one that they have literally bought into.

RPGs

• Play pretend
• Play kid focused rpg
• Go to first gaming com
• Play a more advanced rpg
• Refer to dice as “d[number of sides]”
• GM an RPG
• Teach an RPG to someone else
• Makes a reference to an RPG in an unrelated conversation

My Comments
We started with Hero Kids and it has worked great. It is simple and really fun. Having Don present at the first session and some that follow has been wonderful. He is teaching them by example that the best way to solve issues is with your brains not at the tip of a sword. Evan has asked to try Dungeons & Dragons so he may get that as a gift at some point. SHHH!!! 😉

Video Games

• Play video games with me
• Play video game alone
• Beat bosses alone
• Beat an entire game alone
• Buy a video game with their own money.
• Makes a reference to a video game in an unrelated conversation

My Comments
At first the boys and I started playing simple games like Monkey Island, Animal Crossing, and Mario Kart. We then moved to the Zelda games and really enjoyed it. We finished Skyward Sword and nearly finished Twilight Princess…I cannot beat Gannondorf at the end. 🙁 Recently we started playing Fire Emblem which is a turn based strategy game. The boys loved it and actually finished it during the summer on their own. Hot darn! 😀

Computer Knowledge

• Feel comfortable playing on a tablet
• Know how to turn on the PC and play with simple software
• Know how to search for something on the internet
• Can create documents
• Know the various parts of a computer
• Help Grandpa and Grandma with their computer

My Comments
I am really proud of how my guys are taking to the computers and tablet. Josh is especially great at finding stuff on Google. He found tons of games with police officers, pictures of tanks, etc. Just awesome. Next I need to get a PC I can pull apart to show them.

Did I miss anything? 😀