The staff of Father Geek are passionate about sharing their table top gaming hobby with family and friends. We reviews games from the perspective of Child Geeks, Parent Geeks, and Gamer Geeks. Put another way, we review games with new players, non-gamers, casual players, and gaming elitists. We believe games are an excellent medium to teach children (and adults) important social and cognitive skills. In essence, the game becomes the medium of the lesson and the game play the teacher. By participating in the games with children, parents and educators can further support the skills being taught, share in a positive experience, and obtain a deeper personal connection with all those involved. Plus, games are a lot of fun to play!
Games can teach and help strengthen many cognitive and social skills, that we commonly refer to as the “Geek Skills” (because every geek needs them). Some games have many, some only a few. Our reviews will summarize what Geek Skills are being best represented in the game to help the reader understand if the game is right for the players or of interest.
The Geek Skills noted in each of the game reviews are listed here:
- Active Listening & Communication
- Counting & Math
- Logical & Critical Decision Making
- Reading & Writing
- Emotional Coping Skills
- Hand/Eye Coordination & Dexterity
- Memorization & Pattern/Color Matching
- Strategy & Tactics
- Risk vs. Reward
- Visuospatial Skills
- Cooperative & Team Play
- Hand/Resource Management
- Self-confidence
- Imagination
- Reflex & Speed
- Bluffing and Misdirection
- Auctioning, Bidding, & Trading
- Worker Placement & Area Control
