Table Games
“No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time.” Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland
Team Phenix spends an inordinate amount of time around the dinner table. This intentional decision is how Billy and I train our kids into thinking "hang out & talk" time is not just routine, but FUN. We play the compliment game, color in the family yearbook, or lure them into conversation with the Christmas box in an effort to get them to stay put. Sure, call 'em dirty tricks, we'll own it.
Our favorite activity, of late, is using Rory Story Cubes.
The game's simple (and silly) appeal draws all of us into the mix. Simply roll the dice and make up a story representing all of the images.
We have both the dice version (click here - note, I'm not getting commission!) and the app for our phone (here - ditto on the no commission!), and I can't begin to tell you how much we enjoy playing a few rounds. Sometimes one person is responsible for making up an entire story using all nine dice or sometimes we take turns building on each others' stories as we go.
This is one of our recent rolls and subsequent stories:
"Once upon a time, there was a turtle named Sam (#1) and he lived under a bridge in England (#2, all subsequent dice were explained in a British accent). There always seemed to be a rainbow at the bridge (#3), and this made Sam happy (#4). Sam called all of his friends (#5) and asked them to join him to see if they could hit the rainbow with arrows (#6). When his friends shot the rainbow, it went away and they were confused (#7). The local police put them in jail for breaking the rainbow (#8). Their jail cell was shaped like an 'L.'" The End
Sometimes our endings aren't so strong!
Still, the creative process of shaping a story, the humor, and the "together" time from this game is absolutely worth the $8 (or $2 app) investment!So if you're traveling on family vacation, hanging out at the breakfast table, or going out to eat, bring the Story Cubes along.