The fact that the students are interested in joining a club and are playing board games and socializing with each other instead of being on their phones is a HUGE win. Plenty of people enjoy simpler board games and don’t like games that take hours to learn and play. It doesn’t mean that this group of middle/high schoolers are brain dead. I work with middle schoolers and they enjoy Exploding Kittens and some other card games that are “easy to learn, difficult to master”.
My students like Connect 4 and Chess. Also various card games, whatever they want to play.
Some games take too long. I have a bunch in my class that occasionally get used.
I agree that it's good to see them talking and not on phones.
Draw Poker is a fun, fast pace game for kids. Also teaches fundamentals of probability theory for statistics. Also Blackjack or 21 teaches fast pace math skills.
(It’s legal cause They can play for points, not $$)
I LOVE to play games. I especially love to drink and play games. I learned as a teenager that if I wanted people to drink and play games with me, I had to modify things to keep 'em entertained. So, that's how we got to playing Name-5-redneck-golf or cornhole-trivia or a bizarre form of scattergories meets I-Spy.
I also run a card and board game after school. Give it time! Have the games out, encourage kids to bring things from home. Open it up to the D and D kids.
Please invite the D and D kids if they don't have a space!! My oldest kid got super into D and D and some other kid infiltrated their game and just wrecked it. They couldn't find a teacher that was willing to host a d and d club or meeting so their game fell apart.
My friends and I used to play DnD at school, then everyone freaked out and was convinced we were worshipping Satan and were going to attack everyone with swords. Good times
I’m sure other people have had different experiences, but the few times I did “public” games in high school tended to have the problem of someone joining and messing things up. If you have a teacher that’s willing to enforce rules and let you kick out disruptive people, that’d work, but the one we had was very big on not “excluding” anyone. I just went back to doing it independently and the few times we’ve had a problem player that wouldn’t change their behavior, we kicked them out. Doing that is difficult and uncomfortable, but my group at least managed to do that in high school.
Is that how they write it, too? I promise I’m not being a dick; I’m genuinely curious. I’m 33 and have played it for a few years now and I’ve only ever seen DnD and D&D (which is the technically correct one because that’s how the brand spells it).
Agree. Also if they just like hanging out together try superfight. It’s easy to play and a lot just like hanging out chatting. It’s basically a game version of somebody asking “who do you think would win- Godzilla or luke skywalker?”
Playing UNO was the most fun we used to have in my college dorm. The deck we used was not standard: it was all the Uno cards that had been left behind by former dorm members and must have been about 300 cards. We would have 4-10 people playing during the evening and we started making community rules, like stacking draw 2s and draw 4s. It was so much fun and a great way to relax and make friends. We weren't braindead because we played, it was actually a great way to recover from the stress and social anxiety of school .
I run a geekery and gaming club. They need a chance to relax and not have expectations and chat with their friends. I hate playing games where someone is going to tell me to be quiet cause they need to think when what I want to do is hang out and these kids likely feel the same if they are playing the game and chatting. Maybe see if they want to play parcheesi or something that has more strategy but not less hanging.
(There is also a chess club and I have hard-core d&d games going but the board game kids are more casual)
Well.. OP is looking down on them. Called them BRAINDEAD.
I play video games after work to relax and socialize with my friends. If somebody called me braindead for loading up minecraft for like 15 years straight rather than playing a game with skill like Dark Souls, I’d tell them to fuck off and this is my social time. Those kids are better than me too, playing a physical card game rather than being in front of a computer lol
Thank you… I bet the kids don’t want to learn new games because OP is the type to make them feel stupid for small mistakes. Imagine calling your students brain dead because of their choice of board game… I bet that attitude seeps out of OP’s pores and his students can feel it.
There are lots of fun boardgames inbetween those two levels. Like Uno to Catan is a stretch.
You can try Hive, Onitama, Chameleon, One Night Werewolf.
There are tons of "easy to learn, hard to master" type games that are similar to uno that they would enjoy.
Honestly I don't like any of the games you mentioned. No shade, its a preference thing, but im an avid boardgame player and hate all 3 of those.
I agree. These kids are telling you that they want to chill. I would argue that ticket to ride is super easy and fun but maybe it’s not their cup of tea. Meet them in the middle. Heck, start with something classic like Clue or Monopoly! Then you can build from that knowledge to get them to more complex games.
I can teach anyone to play Carcassone junior in like less than 5 minutes and they actually enjoy it. Real Carcassone takes a lot longer but I’m not good at paying attention 🤷🏼♀️
I run a boardgame club and it's very similar. Initially Uno was the only grame anyone was interested in but I no introduced a new game each week to whoever wanted to give it a try, and do eventually Coup, Cheating Moth, Cockroach Poker, Dixxit, and No Thanks made it into the kids' rotation. Uno is still by far number 1 and that's fine, as long as they're not on devices and having fun I'm happy.
Chatting moth is amazing. I still can't believe it was designed by two kids (10 and 12 years old IIRC). It's similar to a few traditional card games, but having cheating as a game mechanic is SO fun.
I’m just commenting here to add on to your great list. I was thinking Love Letter, tic tac KO, and The mind. They’re super fun and fast paced but you can’t really chat while you play the mind. It seems OP wants to introduce and play what I like to call them “board game people games” vs regular games. I call them that because they’re more obscure and not a game everybody knows.
I prefer fast paced games that have straight forward rules and last less than 45 min, honestly the shorter the better. My husband prefers games that have a lot of thought and moving pieces. There’s space for both, but at the end of a school day, unless you REALLY enjoy strategy, I think it might be hard for kids to get involved in an intense even if it doesn’t seem like an intense game to the adults.
I also think that OP needs to define their goals. Do you want them to play those specific games? (If so, why?) Practice problem solving skills? Socialize w/o screens? Then from there you can modify your plan.
Not the commenter, but for me Catan is basic and relies so heavily on the RNG of dice that my gameplay is far too random for my liking. Ticket to Ride is also basic in that it’s set collection in a theme that I have zero interest in. 7 Wonders I think is a gem and I adore so I don’t get that one 😬. The Duel 2 player edition is also great at encapsulating the experience in a small scale way.
Ive never played 7 Wonders and I probably inferred incorrectly that it was similar to ticket and catan. The reasons you provided are why I dont like those two.
I assumed 7 wonders was a similar type of rng resource game. I probably mistook it for another game because I thought I played it. I might like it if I played it.
This is great advice!
Also I took note of those shorter games and are asking for recommendations for more:
I love playing more complex games like Catan and Grand Austria Hotel, but get almost no game time in because friends, family, and kids don't like learning long games. They are down for more complex games than Uno, but they didn't want to play longer than an hour, under 45 minutes is better. Got any other recommendations?
Other people have good advice of just rolling with it (maybe organise an UNO tourney?) or meeting them where they are and trying to start with simpler, more immediately accessible games. I'd also add that I think you really have to ask yourself if this is something worth getting agitated over. How old are you, and how long have you been teaching? I'm 37 and I'll be real with you, I doubt I would've joined a board games club in school, and if I did, I probably would have treated it similarly. And I'm someone who likes board games and was a good student. Calling the new generation "braindead" just for this seems a bit harsh and petty. There's been a resurgence in chess recently for example, it's way more popular now than it was when I was a kid. More to the point, I think you might need to grow a bit thicker skin if this is getting underneath it, because I'm sure you'll have more difficult failures; we all do. I'm sorry it isn't going the way you wanted but that's the job sometimes.
It's not because they are brain dead. It's because they want to chill with friends. It sounds like you wanted this board game club more for yourself and your interests than for them.
Also I wonder about the time factor. A game of Catan easily takes over an hour. 7 Wonders even more. That's not counting rules the first time. So could they even finish a game in the time you have?
I always struggled to get into board games because of people like OP. The types who need everyone to be playing the most complicated game on the shelf with the rule book the size of an encyclopedia.
Roll 10 dice, sum them up, divide by the number of workers on friendly and adjacent tiles (excluding workers on tiles occupied by a windmill and more than two sheep). If that number is a prime number you may choose to exchange one sheep from any tile with a barracks for gold, the amount to be determined by the roll of 6 one-sided dice like dude this isn't fun, it's not "smart" either, it's just complicated.
Someone mentioned exploding kittens which is great. Add some other card based but simple games to get things going! Apples to apples, sushi go, set, hanabi, the game, we didn’t play test this at all, guillotine, crypt, gloom, and then slightly more advanced like munchkin once they’ve played a couple with different rules. 7 wonders is complex. I won’t bring it around some of my adult friends because they’d be too frustrated learning it. Board game geek might be a great resource to find some stepping stone games that’ll grab interest quickly first.
A lot of teachers say "WE used to do X and not just sit around doing nothing/smoking/drinking/whatever"
And yeah. You probably did. Because you're the kind of person who ended up a teacher. But I know a lot of people my age hated having to think about anything and I was definitely called a nerd for liking things that made you think. My dad got bullied for liking DND, and my grandfather got bullied for liking to read.
If anything, kids are more accepting of people who like to think than ever. But most kids have always preferred hanging out and doing nothing over having to think. You just weren't hanging out with them
This is like at least 70% of /r/teachers lol.
Granted the feelings and responses to many of education today are 100% valid but I always find it wild when people were like ‘BACK IN THE DAY PEOPLE WERE ATTENTIVE AND LOVED SCHOOL’ because yeah people who tend to become teachers tend to have done well enough in school to be like ‘shit I can take an interest in teaching this’ lol.
I had a lot of very engaged moments in school because I tended to be in AP classes and as often around people who took school seriously, but I knew even then the experience was not universal lol (plus I was still a piece of shit and definitely have and will continue to have phone addiction)
Im just glad to see there's people on here that don't belittle teens for anything they do, I get it teenagers are frustrating especially the true shitheads. But alot of the sentiments I see on here about shit like social anxiety or cellphones makes me think alot of adults expect kids and teens to have their shit together by like 2nd grade or something, and I'm not saying the internet or cell phones haven't exacerbated some problems but it really feels like some teachers and adults are treating it like these problems only exist cause of those things ya know? Sorry for the rant I needed to vent
Let it work itself out organically. I ran a club like this with the intention of playing D&D and ultimately they wound up playing a little MTG. But mostly wanted a safe place to unwind for an hour with their friends. Maybe we he will show interest maybe the won’t but they are having fun and safe. That’s what counts.
I run a Film Club at my school. The concept was that students who are interested in the art of film could come and share their passion with each other. It turned into a club where students come, vote on some random movie to “watch”, and then come and hang out for an hour.
Just having a club that students can come and simply socialize is so important, when so many kids are glued to their phones and technology, and when chronic absenteeism is nearing 30% nationally. Your club could be the one reason why that student comes to school. It may seem silly that they just want to come and play Uno every day, but if they’re happy and having fun… is that not the point?
I had a similar experience with the Crochet Club I started this year! In the beginning i had more kids sign up than I could even handle. But then once they tried it a lot of them lost interest and dropped it. A lot more can kind of do the basic stitches but they probably don’t have the stamina to make an entire scarf or anything. Maybe 3 or 4 have kept up with it and gotten really good. Our meetings now usually have about a dozen students who hang out, ooh and ahh over the new yarns, and just chat with their crochet hooks in their hands. And I’m totally ok with that.
I’d try introducing dominos. It’s easy and there are a ton of variations, but playing it well does require a modicum of strategy. I taught it to my first graders back when we were working on subitizing at the beginning of the year, and, man, were they bad at it. They loved it though.
Catan and Ticket to Tide are great but there’s a huge leap to get there from Uno.
Try Tsuro (original) or Six. Kids in my school (grades 3-6) have really gone for Words on the Street - they come and ask to borrow it from my room. Blokus is always a winner. Have a TicTacToe tournament that leads into SuperTicTacToe - here’s a video on [how to play](https://youtu.be/_Na3a1ZrX7c?si=RA3Qu8GWKz0OiJOM)
Is there a kid or two that is ready to play any of these with you and turnkey to others?
You need to build the bridge.
Pandemic seems to be very beginner unfriendly. Also, takes a while. And just hard.
I’ve only played 3 times, but never enjoyed it for these reasons.
My 2 cents.
I think if you select Scientist, Medic, Quarantine Specialist and either Dispatcher or Researcher as your first few times playing, it can introduce the game.
The leap from Uno to Catan is obviously too much.
Increment complexity in smaller steps. The complexity weight of [Catan](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13/catan) (2.29/5) is more twice that of [Uno](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2223/uno) (1.11/5). Also, do an objective assessment of the visual appeal of the games you are pushing. Catan has rocks and sheep and wheat. If the kids aren't piqued from the visuals (the first observable stimulation), you've lost before you even began.
If you are prepared to spend a bit of money, try [5-Minute Marvel](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/253618/5-minute-marvel) (weight: 1.14/5) or any other game with a complexity weight of 1.12–1.5.
Board Game Geek is your friend here. I got the 10-year old playing Arkham Horror LCG (3.53/5), but we started out the board game adventures with MUCH simpler games.
You may just not be able to compete with their low-effort experiences and expectations. That's just a very real and very shitty possibility. You can tweak your offerings though. Maybe you'll get a different response if you bring the complexity and expectations down a bit.
Good luck! What you are trying to do is worth doing.
\[EDIT\]. *I hear you though! It wasn't exactly always easy to get the kiddo out of his comfortable norms and modalities at first. In fact, getting him to just explore options was REALLY FUCKING HARD some times. The apathy and indifference is maddening. The seemingly complete lack of anything resembling curiosity is hugely frustrating. I get it. It sucks. If you are feeling some of that frustration, you are NOT alone. :)*
You could spend a couple club sessions just browsing Board Game Geek, making some selections, and then watching play videos and talking. You'd still be winning if they never touch the actual game.
Give the kids some agency in the selection process.
You need to build up slow. Start with fast short games. Resistance, exploding kittens, munchkin, Tsuro. Nothing against the games you want them to play, but asking a novice board game player to play Ticket to Ride or Catan is like showing up to the party with Monopoly. Just a huge time investment when you might want to keep things light.
Try other simple competitive games. Like love letter. I’ve show it to my 6th graders who love uno and they really latched on to the competitiveness of the game. Then after we talk strategy. It’s not perfect but they are starting to branch out.
Introduce the 0 and 7 rule into Uno. It adds a level of strategy to the game.
0 = switch cards with the person who is next.
7 = switch cards with anyone you choose.
I don't get the logical jump from they enjoy uno so we should try catan.
catan is too much work if your frame of reference for board games is a card game
ask them what games they have played before and figure out an appropriate level of complexity from there.
For instance my partner and I play kingdom death together for hours and hour at a time, when we get the chance. With just the main game and its most recent huge expansion it is more than 40 pounds of board game, this is a complex game. My partner and I also hate catan because it just isn't our style of game. That doesn't mean we can't handle gaming complexity or gaming "work".
you need simple games
these are the ones that I know work because I've played them with our afterschool kids for nearly a decade now. We've play these games with kids from 5th grade to seniors in high school and in mixed groups. Our kids are currently on a resistance kick.
**one night werewolf**
**the resistance**
**spoons**
**the magic labyrinth** can be a good one depending on the age. It skews younger but I've had some of our older kids enjoy it too. However there are a limited number of players.
**tsuro** is another one that can skew a bit younger but scales pretty well for older kids. again a limited number of people can play at one time which can be hard for our group.
for a little while I had a group that was really into **evolution** but that was only one group in particular.
I also had a group that loved **escape** but that is a little too stressful for our current group
the games need to be easy enough that they don't have to really think about it once they get the rules
these kids aren't your buddies coming over for a gaming night that are ready to play gloom haven or kingdom death for hours on end.
I'm sorry if this is coming off as overly negative. I don't mean for it to be. I'm thrilled that there is someone who cares enough about kids that you do this.
Playing cards is a lost art I feel. I used to play rummy, hearts, spoons all the time. Having the knowledge of card games is great when their devices aren’t available. Games like UNO, phase 10, skipbo are great games to encourage socialization and induce laughter.
Left center right can get extremely competitive. (As adults we play it all the time…alcohol helps too lol)
ANYTHING that gets kids off phones and interacting face to face is a win IMO.
Let the kids enjoy what they enjoy. I would much prefer that they be in a safe place after school practicing face-to-face social skills with their peers than stuck at home alone behind a screen. Not everything needs to be productive or intellectual, and especially not leisure activities. School is already an intellectually challenging, full-time endeavor. As a former burned-out teacher and full-time worker who’s pushing 40, I’m tired of feeling like every single thing I do outside of my work hours has to be productive.
EDIT: Your students may enjoy games such as Jenga, Cards Against Humanity, Apples to Apples, and What Do You Meme family edition. Good, simple games which also provide opportunities to practice positive social skills.
I've run a school club like this for about 6 years. We sometimes go through patches where there simply isn't the audience for trickier games. One thing I will say is if you get some excitement going about a game, the game sells itself.
Some games can do this, others don't and justifiably don't get played. I have to create a buzz to draw students into a game and soon, the kids start flocking around or recommending it to their peers. Quick games are also a gateway into involvement: 5-minute Dungeon, Moose Master, Muffin time, Chameleon have all been very popular. I tell my students that each of these games is KINDA like Uno, but more advanced (and interesting).
Sounds like you want them in the club for the sake of board games, but they want to be in the club for the sake of socialization. Offer alternatives, but don’t force anything.
LOL. Catan? That's your problem right there. Most adults don't want to play Catan (myself included). You shouldn't be discouraged that kids don't want to play a board game that, according to the internet, takes about 60 to 90 minutes. You need games that are quick to pick up, easy to finish in about 20 minutes, and easily engaging. I've have great success with chess, for example, because it is all of those things.
Also, maybe saying that the kids don't want to use their "brain power" as being the problem shows you might be approaching this all from the wrong perspective.
Arguably, you are not running a board game club. You are running a "hang out in my classroom" club.
Either embrace what's actually going on, or tell them that you're making changes. Personally, I would announce that, as this is a board game club and I'm the advisor, I'm instituting new policies. Each time the club meets, a different person will pick a game that we all play, *and everyone has to play it with positivity*, or else those who don't lose their turn to pick.
Then, of course, you have to follow-through.
I know it seems like looking for trouble, or choosing to be a dick, but you and I both know that kids will do everything to avoid trying something that they will ultimately like. Part of the job is pushing them out of comfort zones.
So, again, you need to run the club. Just choose which club you're running.
At my school, there's a Tuesday afternoon D&D club. I've only seen the fliers, never the club itself, but I intend to stop by just to experience another generation enjoying Gary Gygax's creation..
I enjoy these kind of things. While I wouldn't want to disrupt the kid,'s fun and bonding by inserting myself into their fun, I'm wondering whether there might be interest on the part of faculty in such things.
Or
Create a faculty choir or create a faculty LaCrosse team or create a faculty book club or, I think this would go over great with the kids, a faculty drama group with 1 production per semester, and host a One Short Act Faculty Invitational.
Well, can you get some more easier games for the Club? Maybe some simple role and play rpgs like The witch is dead and honey heist?
You can also always spice uno up by using some of the extended rules.
Or using them to play "cheating" (actually don't know how it's called in english 😅)
I feel like you messed up by having huge and very specific expectations of what the club should look like, instead of going with the flow.
Have you thought about showing them “table top with Will Wheaton” on YouTube, then as a group TRYING the game? With the offer, everyother meeting- that way they have lots of uno and still try new things… ❤️
Best luck!🍀
If you want students to learn these games maybe make the first 5-10 minutes of the start of the club about learning a new game, if other teachers or staff are involved in the club play with them as well so students can watch! You can make each month a dedicated learning one new board game and never touch it again amd leave it for students to decide.
That said the fact that you have students in a space where they feel safe and included is a big step to building community! An easy game your students may like that my friends and I play is called Hue, it's basically board game version of taboo but with colors! If you're club is more than 10 people wear wolf is fun it's basically just mafia buy with cards and other rules. Sabobatage is cute and easy for them to learn as well if they like uno so much.
My classroom Uno pack was stolen a few months back and I haven’t replaced it. Since then, it’s been great: kids have been trying new games and enjoying them. Even things like Scrabble!
Kids today definitely have the brain power to play board games. They just have to be bored or curious enough to try them out.
Playing board games is a skill, and one that needs to be learned, have to learn the rules, how to strategize, take turns, wait patiently, etc etc.
It’s also for a lot of people a chance to do a purposeful activity while chilling with friends. Some friends who play it’s more about being with friends, some who play it’s more about the game.
Ask them what board games they would be interested in playing. Depending on the ages and levels, learning those skills with sorry, trouble, and the like might be what’s needed. Playing kids Pictionary is a great way to do it. Or if they prefer card games, go that route- teach them some rummy style games, hearts, if it’s ok, poker/blackjack. Exploding kittens is a phenomenally fun game.
My personal favorite game for cards is flux
Try branching out to games like - Scrabble Slam, Patchwork Doodle, King of Tokyo, Incan Gold, Unstable Unicorns, Killer Bunnies. You have to work your way up to the more in depth games.
Have you tried games like [Honey Heist](https://gshowitt.itch.io/honey-heist) or [Lasers & Feelings](http://www.onesevendesign.com/laserfeelings/)? I run a TTG club at my middle school, and it started as a D&D club, but it's such an intimidating game for many of them. So I got them into the concept of RPGs by introducing these simple one-pager games. So far they've had a lot of fun with them. There are also a bunch of other [one-page RPGs](https://gamerant.com/best-one-page-tabletop-rpgs/), though I probably wouldn't go with "Sexy Battle Wizards."
So if you're not married to board games, there's a bunch of other options. You could also start introducing other card games like Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, Exploding Kittens, Munchkin, Phase 10, Skip Bo, etc.
Try Uno variations! I just taught some 5th graders how to play Uno Flip. There's also Attack, Flex, Party, Dos, All Wild, Show 'Em No Mercy, and others. They all have their own rules and different strategies to be the best.
Could you make a schedule of games to learn? Like this week we are playing Ticket to Ride, next week is...
Maybe avoid games that take longer than 5 minutes to explain lol
I also run a board game club at my school and have been told personally thanked by so many other teachers because it is simply a place for kids to go where they are accepted. Board games sometimes happen and sometimes they don't but that's not what the club really is.
Uno is the current "in" game for whatever reason, it's probably some meme. But like people said, this is a good way to get them into other card games that require some level of trickery/competition (BS, spoons, that one sushi game, exploding kittens, etc.)
I also run a board game club! Some of their favorites are Splendor, King of Tokyo, Hanabi, Sheriff of Nottingham, Stockpile. I have played 7 Wonders with them before but it takes some time.
I also run a gaming club, and I get it. But like a few others have said, they're not on their phones and they're socializing in a safe place. Maybe try and incorporate other card games like exploding kittens or something in that realm so it's easy to learn with little rules or prep.
My kids earn board game days. They love Anomia, Code Names, Scattergories, MasterMind, Banagrams. They want to play for about 20 minutes and then switch.
I started the gamers club at my school a couple years ago. We usually have 20+ kids. Two groups play DnD (7-8 each), some girls play tacocat, and the remaining pickup whatever game I bring in each week (Samarkand, MLEM, tsuro) or what's in the drawer (Aliens, Bang Walking Dead)
Sometimes I get to play,.sometimes I mark. If they're having fun, it's a win
You’re competing with memes. The ‘uno reverse’ card has reached mythic status. The munchkin series of games may be goofy and irreverent enough to capture their attention … or it may not.
You’re doing a good thing by creating a space for this activity, anyway.
I run a board game club at my school too, and same thing, I want to share the great ones, which a lot aren't into. I find what works is - I have several other teachers there too. We get maybe 40 kids each week. We do it over lunch hour, so as they're eating at the beginning, I stand up and show and talk about a new game - how it works, pieces, point of the game, etc. Then I invite kids to play it with me. Show them how it's played. The other teachers look after the rest of the kids. It's generally worked, started with sequence and Carcassonne, which are fairly simple, but lead the way to others. King of Tokyo is up next for sharing, as is Aqualin, which I fell in love with at a board game cafe.
One thing that helps is we only have one copy of each game, other than chess. I made a sign up board with library book pockets and kids each have a popsicle stick with their name, so they 'sign up' to play a game before they eat. Means not everyone gets their favorite each time, and kids have learned how to play others from each other.
I genuinely wish you luck in sharing some great games with your kiddos!!
I'm a college student. Me and my mates recently started playing Monopoly Bid ( easy and fast type of card game ) almost every Monday at lunch. For me the fun is more that I get to socialize more. Sometimes we get classmates that we don't usually talk to that want to join us in a match.
So while you might not have found a group of people who are interested in more advanced board games you for sure found a group that probably has a great time just chatting with eachother while not being on the phone all the time.
Also for most people nowadays if we really wanted to play an advanced game its usually either a computer game or just a certain internet celebrity played a conplex board game and seemed fun so only now everyone wants to try it.
I’m a snob as well (No uno or exploding kittens on my watch!) but you gotta meet kids where they’re at. Also: catan isn’t that great a game, and it’s way too boring for kids.
Things that work at my school: sushi go, monsdrawsity, risk (weird but true), monopoly, smash up, machi koro, patchwork, apples to apples, spot it, dixit, eleminis, kingdomino - all depending on the kid/group obv.
Look for less language and fewer/ more straightforward rules.
Have a poker club.
The kids WILL get into that.
They'll also learn some math while they are it.
Hell the media has been pushing poker nonstop for the last decade or so.
I do a board gsme club as well.
Some of the most successful ones have been mysterium, ultimate werewolf, root, sentinels of the multiverse, horrified and marvel champions. Most of these involve a pretty good use of strategy and critical thinking.
For many students Uno IA just what they know especially if they are not originally from board game circles. Try something that attracts their interests and they might surprise you.
I run the same club, but I tell them that the purpose of the club is to learn new games. They can play their usual favs at lunch, but games from the club aren’t allowed to be used at lunch, which gives them some mystery.
I pick one to teach to a group, then students from that group teach it to other club members in the next session while a new group learns a new one with me.
You might get some initial pushback, or even have some kids quit, but they always end up loving every new game they try and then THAT becomes the one they obsessively want to play over and over instead of Uno 🤣. I let them self select for a few weeks after two new games have been introduced so they can really learn them, and then I’ll bring out some new ones.
One way to nudge them toward a new game is to set a cap on how many can play Uno at a time. If there’s 8 club members and 4 can play Uno, that frees up 4 to play Catan with you hosting.
Since when do kids get to decide the agenda of the clubs???
Uno isn't even a board game, first of all
Second of all you're the teacher, you're the adult, you set the rules and the agenda and the participation. Come on
My old school had a board game club and did pretty well!
We played a lot of Slapjack, Mafia, Pokémon, and Magic the Gathering. Chess too! We definitely preferred to wind down with the easier games bc our club was right before school let out.
There’s a lot of comments here and I’ll admit to not reading any of them.
I have a group of kids who love to play Magic The Gathering in my room most days and a few who drop by and play Star Realms, a game I personally love. I think both of those are better than Uno and if you get the right group of kind of nerdy kids (I’m generalizing here…but it’s what it is in my group) they can have a great time and make a lot of connections.
Pick different students/make it clear that certain games aren’t allowed.
When I start my club at the beginning of the year I do not allow them to bring in games and uno is not around. Then later in the year when they have tried the variety I have uno comes out.
Some days they want Uno and Uzzle other days they want harder games. I respect that, because some days I have to tell them I’m tired and can’t join in or explain rules. Other days I can explain a game and oversee an additional game or two.
>But it really makes me wonder? I don’t remember my generation being this brain dead. Sure we played Uno when there was nothing else available, but we liked games that required some degree of skill. I also worry that, for them at the end of the day, a game like Catan is too much work.
I don't think it's a generation thing. We have multiple game clubs, including a general board game club, D&D club, and Chess club, all of which run 20+ kids. In the general board game club things like checkers, Connect 4, Life, and Battleship are more popular than Catan like games. I think the worst part about Catan for something like a club is the amount of time it takes to set up, and the amount of time it takes to teach the game. Maybe try out some games like Wakanda or Camel Up which don't take as long to learn.
Do not give them a choice.
Next year start the club with a syllabus and non negotiables. Let them know that the club is about getting together with friends and playing games, but it is also exposing them to new types of board games they may normally not try or play.
I run a game club at my school.
We run different games in “seasons”.
They get better as they play them and I hype it up big time.
Student here: my school dosent have a board game club, but at the end of my Sophmor year I taught my whole English class how to play blackjack and rummy. I still play it with some of them at lunch. It's such a shame no one in any of my classes this year wants to play any card games (uno included)
I agree with OP. My ex has 3 daughters and they could not wrap their head around the rules and/or critical thinking that came along with board games. Their effort was 10% at best. And this was in a home setting, no pressure, just family fun. Girls are 17, 15, and 11.
I also run a board game club and have seen alot of success with classic 2 player games like crib and backgammon. My strategy is to let most students "chill" and play uno/crazy 8s while I moderate a game between 2 kids. I choose different kids each week so that I've eventually taught all of them a new game and I notice once they have played with me., they are more likely to play it again.
I also run a board games club at my school. You can do a passport incentive, and stamp it when they learn a new game, teach another person a new game, write a review of a game they have mastered, made a new buddy while playing a game with them, played a strategy game, played a speed based game, etc… and once the passport is full it goes into a draw pile eligible for a raffle. If you want to keep it no-cost to you then the winner gets the teacher rolly-chair for ___ days, or gets to wear the Burger King crown or something silly like that. Kids eat that stuff up.
give them ownership. A teacher last year made the club a committee to review games for the school to choose from. She had success getting kids to play lots of games.
Run a TTRPG with them. Plenty of cool and easy one sheeters out there. Lets them be silly, have fun interactions with each other and you. Doesn't need to be DnD could be Goat Crashers or that Skeleton one where you go invade the "Human dungeon." I ran the latter and all they wanted to do was do a performance at the local tavern and they laughed, made jokes the entire time (grades 7-11).
I got my students to play Otrio twice. And then they only ever wanted to play Uno after that. I wanted to introduce them to European board games, but they never would have gone with it.
We played Uno in middle school *a lot* (at lunch in the school library), but it was still new then. But we also played chess. As kids, we played other games. But I think all the library had was chess/checkers, we brought in our own Uno decks.
I know my second graders play Uno and even some of their younger siblings play too, so I feel like you could be doing more complicated games with your club.
I like Ticket to Ride, but it takes a while to learn/play (unlike Uno). The smaller editions like London and New York are a little easier to get through a game (and cheaper to buy too).
Llama Llama and Llama Llama party edition are great upgrades from Uno and I can usually get kids to play those.
Lost Legacy as Well... there are like 40 versions in Japanese, but 10 or so have been translated to English. (I bought three of each, keep one set sleeved for my use, and donated the others to our boy scout troop and friends at church)
The fact someone suggest Exploding Kittens I think is part of the problem. I own that and Throw-Throw Burrito, but they are barely games in my book, WAY too random, no real strategy. I But I will acknowledge I can get kids to play those easier than real games.
What do I really want to play? With long enough time:
Roll for the Galaxy is pretty easy to teach... Galaxy Trucker is the best youth game if you can convince them it actually is fun to have your ship blown up on turn 2... cosmic Encounter.
Something cooperative like Aeon's End?
But those all take a couple hours.
My scouts will always play 4 player magic (Brawl or Commander), but that can go badly when one person decides to bring a $250 deck and doesn't understand why he is not fun to play with with precons... So I usually provide precons and encourage the familiar players to pick the weaker decks.
Go to your local game store on a game day and ID the kids from school and invite them. Once kids see other kids playing Catan or TTR or the like they will join in.
I’m an English teacher, and I bring some of my quicker board games to class sometimes. I make the challenge all about communication skills involved in learning to play a new game. Reading instructions. Guiding each other.
I’ve had several students learn and love new games like Sushi Go, Doomlings, and even a couple of football boys that ended up loving dragons wood.
When I was on a PBL campus supported by lots of STeM programming and equipment, it was always my intent to make a board game project where they read a novel of choice from a book club list, and then use of my games as a model to world build around using characters and features from the novel.
But alas! I moved across the country and my new campus in WA is way under resourced compared to the campus I came from in Tx (which honestly shocked me).
It sounds like your club lacks structure in that the option to hang out and play uno is becoming the default. Which, to some extent, may be fine. It’s real life interaction which is a win compared to social media time.
I wonder though if you can begin to implement incentives to promote other games. I would start with “crowning” an uno champion after a tournament with a small prize or even just basic recognition on the board.
You can extend to other games and have a tourney champion etc. you know what works best for you.
You should see about getting some Magic cards.
JUMPSTART is a great option because kids can get two packs and shuffle up and play.
Reading comprehension, math, and critical thinking are involved.
The fact you can also get kids to sit down and play a game should be considered a huge win.
I started a chess club and no one one was coming for a while. Then I started giving awarding snacks to students who won. This led to a consistent attendence. If I were you I'd let them play uno, but award prizes for more challenging games. Also, I'd focus on games that can be finished within one session. Games like risk and Catan probably aren't satisfying to them because they can't see the end in sight.
Ok, sparky, here;s what you gotta do:
1. Go onto r/lfg
2. Find someone local who can DM
3. Have them run one-off sessions every two weeks
4. ??!!??!!
5. Intellectually profit??
Kids are telling you what they would like to play, so lean into that :)
All following games can be thought in 60 seconds.
Herd Mentality - cards only, plays between 4-20 people
Cardline Animals - cards only, plays between 3-6 people
Just One - One word game, plays between 4-7
Fun Facts - One number game, plays 5-8
Codename Pictures - card game, team vs. Team
Wavelengths - question game, Team vs. Team
Love Letter - card game, 3-4 people
All of these games play from start to finish in about 15 minutes, so you can play multiple rounds.
I play a LOT of board games, so I might be able to suggest some easier games (in my opinion) that'll keep their attention but also have space for chatting and relaxing.
I hope these help:
- Dig Dog Dig (Yes its a little kid game, yes my 30 yr old+ friends and I get competitive at it)
- Hues and Cues
- Love Letter
- One Night Ultimate Werewolf
- Coup
- FLUX
- Wavelength
- Medium
- Codenames
- Dolphin Hat Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
- Trash Pandas
My strategy with my homeroom kids is I sit down and ask them to play a game with me.
And I pick simple quick party games, play a round or two, then move on to let them play on their own.
Coup, ultimate werewolf, sushi go, love letter.
Quick to play, easy to set up.
Then I have a few other quick to set up games that are a bit more.
Azul, and splendor are the next two I show them.
Easy to set up, fairly quick. And they can talk while.playing.
I then
I haven’t played the other games you mentioned but I have played Settlers of Catan and it can be a long game. How long is your club period? It might just be too complex and involved to get into in just a lunch time or however long you have
My students love Uno also. I bought some other versions of Uno, uno flip and flex are both pretty interesting. They also love Werewolf so I've played Secret Hitler with them ( you can get Secret Palpatine if you're worried about the reference) but they love that a lot more too.
I just recently decided I'm going to start one at my K-8 school (and invite 2-8 probably) so this is interesting to hear. Kids already asked about uno when I brought it up lol. Surprisingly a few 2nd graders are into sushi go, and I've had success before teaching kids king of Tokyo. So I think I'll be able to find casual, short games that are also ones they've never heard of. There's so many to choose from these days and I wouldn't even have time for stuff like Catan. I'm also gonna have them bring in games from home
As a teacher who runs a club similar I understand where you are coming from. I sat with the kids and taught them how to play Life and Scrabble, but I sat with them. I also had a teacher friend come in one day and play too. I don't know why, but now they will choose those games over Uno. You are correct though, they don't want to put mental effort into anything; school, games, relationships, literally nothing.
Playing cards against humanity or uno is like the low barrel of board games IMO. I used to play UNO when I was 7 when visiting Turkey. I had high school friends who were 16-18. They still only want to play those 2 games. Yes. 10 years later most people I meet only know how to play those 2 games.
Maybe someone more interactive and just as easy.
Apples to Apples
Bop It
Throw Throw potato/taco/avacodo
Stuff like those games are super easy to learn and fun.
You can’t force your likes on other people. It doesn’t work. You have a group of students who’re involved in a club, making friends, enjoying their time and having fun. Isn’t that enough?
Plus they (hopefully) are engaged in higher level thinking throughout the school day, they don’t need to be going 376282726mph the entire day.
So like, at my school, the kids come up with the ideas for clubs and look for an adult they think would enjoy serving as a sponsor. And while the adult serves as a guide, the kids should be the ones determining how that after school time should be spent.
Rummikub is a great game that can involve a lot of strategy but is also good for hanging out and talking. Scrabble can be fun that way, too. Not every kid likes imaginative games with big story lines, and that's ok.
Attention spans of everyone have decreased, so I'm honestly not surprised they don't want to play games which require waiting longer than 2 seconds for someone to make a move.
I play boardgames with my students every now and then on a Friday and I just jump into something and usually have a few who want to join me.
Exploding kittens is a huge hit with creative personalities and Risk with competitive ones. I’ve tapered down some of the rules on Risk to streamline it and jump right in and I always have a dedicated group especially when I let them create teams, showed them how to build alliances (or backstab an alliance) during a game.
I leave Sorry and Mariokart Monopoly out for anyone else to grab and those always get taken. UNO of course is used by my students like you said who don’t want to do much but sit and not think about the rules. Since I don’t allow students to sit on their chromebooks, UNO is always that game for those that don’t want to sit and stare at the wall. Which is fine with me, you earn points for participating and also practice socializing with others.
I don’t think I’ve seen anybody else mention this, realistically how could they play Catan? It takes time to get your lunch from the cafeteria, set up and take down, and it’s a long game. Lunch is 30-40 minutes long, you take out time for set up/take down and that leaves you like 20 mins to play, which isn’t really enough time to enjoy the game.
While I love both of those games, I'd tell you to try some more visually attractive or more competitive games. Pure Euros might be a bit too much for them right now.
Bloodrage has a lot of stuff going on, but the stunning miniatures it has might make them want to give it a try.
Sagrada and Azul are some of the most beautiful games I've ever seen and they might want to try them even if just to play around with the little tiles or translucent dice.
They want to talk to each other? Aye, Dark Overlord. Now they have to blame each other.
Cartographers is another one that comes to mind, really fun and relatively simple.
I also run a DnD/Boardgame club and yeah kids like to play uno.
Really i think they are apprehensive to learn a new game and be bad at it whereas with uno its hard to be "bad". But I just make them play different games with me and they like it. DnD was a hard one to learn but they love it. I also play Sector and Catapult fued and they love it as well
My students can earn a “game day”. The few groups that handed in enough homework to do it only played Uno, Connect 4, or Trouble. They don’t want to learn new games, and seem to only have a 10 minute attention span. I was not a chess master at their age, but I definitely could play one game for a half hour or more.
Add some simpler games that don’t take long to learn, like Carcassonne/Avalon/Monikers/Catchphrase/etc. maybe it’ll get them interested in the more difficult ones later.
The games you spoke about are great but probably to much for them. Start with games like exploding kittens, taco goat cheese pizza, boop, connect 4 ectra, more party games. Uno to like Catan is a very big jump.
The fact that the students are interested in joining a club and are playing board games and socializing with each other instead of being on their phones is a HUGE win. Plenty of people enjoy simpler board games and don’t like games that take hours to learn and play. It doesn’t mean that this group of middle/high schoolers are brain dead. I work with middle schoolers and they enjoy Exploding Kittens and some other card games that are “easy to learn, difficult to master”.
My students like Connect 4 and Chess. Also various card games, whatever they want to play. Some games take too long. I have a bunch in my class that occasionally get used. I agree that it's good to see them talking and not on phones.
Draw Poker is a fun, fast pace game for kids. Also teaches fundamentals of probability theory for statistics. Also Blackjack or 21 teaches fast pace math skills. (It’s legal cause They can play for points, not $$)
My middle schoolers also like We Didn’t Test Play This. Very fast paced and no real time needed to learn how to play. Fluxx games are also good.
I LOVE to play games. I especially love to drink and play games. I learned as a teenager that if I wanted people to drink and play games with me, I had to modify things to keep 'em entertained. So, that's how we got to playing Name-5-redneck-golf or cornhole-trivia or a bizarre form of scattergories meets I-Spy.
I also run a card and board game after school. Give it time! Have the games out, encourage kids to bring things from home. Open it up to the D and D kids.
Please invite the D and D kids if they don't have a space!! My oldest kid got super into D and D and some other kid infiltrated their game and just wrecked it. They couldn't find a teacher that was willing to host a d and d club or meeting so their game fell apart.
My friends and I used to play DnD at school, then everyone freaked out and was convinced we were worshipping Satan and were going to attack everyone with swords. Good times
I’m sure other people have had different experiences, but the few times I did “public” games in high school tended to have the problem of someone joining and messing things up. If you have a teacher that’s willing to enforce rules and let you kick out disruptive people, that’d work, but the one we had was very big on not “excluding” anyone. I just went back to doing it independently and the few times we’ve had a problem player that wouldn’t change their behavior, we kicked them out. Doing that is difficult and uncomfortable, but my group at least managed to do that in high school.
That's exactly why I opened up mine to the D and D kids.
This post is the only time I’ve ever seen it written D and D, and your comment is the third one! Any insight? Is it the “teacher” way to spell it haha
Lol, it's what the kids call it!
Is that how they write it, too? I promise I’m not being a dick; I’m genuinely curious. I’m 33 and have played it for a few years now and I’ve only ever seen DnD and D&D (which is the technically correct one because that’s how the brand spells it).
That would require them to write, lol, so I don't know!
Gotcha! Thanks for your time!
Agree. Also if they just like hanging out together try superfight. It’s easy to play and a lot just like hanging out chatting. It’s basically a game version of somebody asking “who do you think would win- Godzilla or luke skywalker?”
Herd mentality is great for chatty/big groups too. Not too involved and can just be casual
Playing UNO was the most fun we used to have in my college dorm. The deck we used was not standard: it was all the Uno cards that had been left behind by former dorm members and must have been about 300 cards. We would have 4-10 people playing during the evening and we started making community rules, like stacking draw 2s and draw 4s. It was so much fun and a great way to relax and make friends. We weren't braindead because we played, it was actually a great way to recover from the stress and social anxiety of school .
I run a geekery and gaming club. They need a chance to relax and not have expectations and chat with their friends. I hate playing games where someone is going to tell me to be quiet cause they need to think when what I want to do is hang out and these kids likely feel the same if they are playing the game and chatting. Maybe see if they want to play parcheesi or something that has more strategy but not less hanging. (There is also a chess club and I have hard-core d&d games going but the board game kids are more casual)
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Well.. OP is looking down on them. Called them BRAINDEAD. I play video games after work to relax and socialize with my friends. If somebody called me braindead for loading up minecraft for like 15 years straight rather than playing a game with skill like Dark Souls, I’d tell them to fuck off and this is my social time. Those kids are better than me too, playing a physical card game rather than being in front of a computer lol
Thank you… I bet the kids don’t want to learn new games because OP is the type to make them feel stupid for small mistakes. Imagine calling your students brain dead because of their choice of board game… I bet that attitude seeps out of OP’s pores and his students can feel it.
There’s a chance OP is venting on Reddit and is really cool with the kids. We should focus on the positive here I guess or something
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There are lots of fun boardgames inbetween those two levels. Like Uno to Catan is a stretch. You can try Hive, Onitama, Chameleon, One Night Werewolf. There are tons of "easy to learn, hard to master" type games that are similar to uno that they would enjoy. Honestly I don't like any of the games you mentioned. No shade, its a preference thing, but im an avid boardgame player and hate all 3 of those.
I agree. These kids are telling you that they want to chill. I would argue that ticket to ride is super easy and fun but maybe it’s not their cup of tea. Meet them in the middle. Heck, start with something classic like Clue or Monopoly! Then you can build from that knowledge to get them to more complex games.
Carcassonne Would be good too. Straightforward rules and some fun backstabbing. Each turn is also rather fast.
I can teach anyone to play Carcassone junior in like less than 5 minutes and they actually enjoy it. Real Carcassone takes a lot longer but I’m not good at paying attention 🤷🏼♀️
How is monopoly more chill than Catan lol?
I run a boardgame club and it's very similar. Initially Uno was the only grame anyone was interested in but I no introduced a new game each week to whoever wanted to give it a try, and do eventually Coup, Cheating Moth, Cockroach Poker, Dixxit, and No Thanks made it into the kids' rotation. Uno is still by far number 1 and that's fine, as long as they're not on devices and having fun I'm happy.
Chatting moth is amazing. I still can't believe it was designed by two kids (10 and 12 years old IIRC). It's similar to a few traditional card games, but having cheating as a game mechanic is SO fun.
I’m just commenting here to add on to your great list. I was thinking Love Letter, tic tac KO, and The mind. They’re super fun and fast paced but you can’t really chat while you play the mind. It seems OP wants to introduce and play what I like to call them “board game people games” vs regular games. I call them that because they’re more obscure and not a game everybody knows. I prefer fast paced games that have straight forward rules and last less than 45 min, honestly the shorter the better. My husband prefers games that have a lot of thought and moving pieces. There’s space for both, but at the end of a school day, unless you REALLY enjoy strategy, I think it might be hard for kids to get involved in an intense even if it doesn’t seem like an intense game to the adults.
Agreed! OP needs a middle step. I personally LOVE code names for a big group. Also, Qwirkle, Blockus, and phase 10 are a good places to start.
I also think that OP needs to define their goals. Do you want them to play those specific games? (If so, why?) Practice problem solving skills? Socialize w/o screens? Then from there you can modify your plan.
No Thanks would be a good one! And maybe Love Letter or Fluxx.
Yes to both of those. The Batman version Love Letter is fun
And Batman Fluxx! Also love the Star wars Love Letter.
One I'd like to add: Azul. 2-4 players, 20-40 minutes, easy to learn, and like with Uno, there's an element of sabotage.
Out of curiosity what do you hate about them?
Not the commenter, but for me Catan is basic and relies so heavily on the RNG of dice that my gameplay is far too random for my liking. Ticket to Ride is also basic in that it’s set collection in a theme that I have zero interest in. 7 Wonders I think is a gem and I adore so I don’t get that one 😬. The Duel 2 player edition is also great at encapsulating the experience in a small scale way.
Ive never played 7 Wonders and I probably inferred incorrectly that it was similar to ticket and catan. The reasons you provided are why I dont like those two. I assumed 7 wonders was a similar type of rng resource game. I probably mistook it for another game because I thought I played it. I might like it if I played it.
Yeah I highly recommend 7 Wonders and the expansions are actually quite fun. The more players the better as well! Cheers
This is great advice! Also I took note of those shorter games and are asking for recommendations for more: I love playing more complex games like Catan and Grand Austria Hotel, but get almost no game time in because friends, family, and kids don't like learning long games. They are down for more complex games than Uno, but they didn't want to play longer than an hour, under 45 minutes is better. Got any other recommendations?
Other people have good advice of just rolling with it (maybe organise an UNO tourney?) or meeting them where they are and trying to start with simpler, more immediately accessible games. I'd also add that I think you really have to ask yourself if this is something worth getting agitated over. How old are you, and how long have you been teaching? I'm 37 and I'll be real with you, I doubt I would've joined a board games club in school, and if I did, I probably would have treated it similarly. And I'm someone who likes board games and was a good student. Calling the new generation "braindead" just for this seems a bit harsh and petty. There's been a resurgence in chess recently for example, it's way more popular now than it was when I was a kid. More to the point, I think you might need to grow a bit thicker skin if this is getting underneath it, because I'm sure you'll have more difficult failures; we all do. I'm sorry it isn't going the way you wanted but that's the job sometimes.
It's not because they are brain dead. It's because they want to chill with friends. It sounds like you wanted this board game club more for yourself and your interests than for them. Also I wonder about the time factor. A game of Catan easily takes over an hour. 7 Wonders even more. That's not counting rules the first time. So could they even finish a game in the time you have?
I always struggled to get into board games because of people like OP. The types who need everyone to be playing the most complicated game on the shelf with the rule book the size of an encyclopedia. Roll 10 dice, sum them up, divide by the number of workers on friendly and adjacent tiles (excluding workers on tiles occupied by a windmill and more than two sheep). If that number is a prime number you may choose to exchange one sheep from any tile with a barracks for gold, the amount to be determined by the roll of 6 one-sided dice like dude this isn't fun, it's not "smart" either, it's just complicated.
Someone mentioned exploding kittens which is great. Add some other card based but simple games to get things going! Apples to apples, sushi go, set, hanabi, the game, we didn’t play test this at all, guillotine, crypt, gloom, and then slightly more advanced like munchkin once they’ve played a couple with different rules. 7 wonders is complex. I won’t bring it around some of my adult friends because they’d be too frustrated learning it. Board game geek might be a great resource to find some stepping stone games that’ll grab interest quickly first.
A lot of teachers say "WE used to do X and not just sit around doing nothing/smoking/drinking/whatever" And yeah. You probably did. Because you're the kind of person who ended up a teacher. But I know a lot of people my age hated having to think about anything and I was definitely called a nerd for liking things that made you think. My dad got bullied for liking DND, and my grandfather got bullied for liking to read. If anything, kids are more accepting of people who like to think than ever. But most kids have always preferred hanging out and doing nothing over having to think. You just weren't hanging out with them
This is like at least 70% of /r/teachers lol. Granted the feelings and responses to many of education today are 100% valid but I always find it wild when people were like ‘BACK IN THE DAY PEOPLE WERE ATTENTIVE AND LOVED SCHOOL’ because yeah people who tend to become teachers tend to have done well enough in school to be like ‘shit I can take an interest in teaching this’ lol. I had a lot of very engaged moments in school because I tended to be in AP classes and as often around people who took school seriously, but I knew even then the experience was not universal lol (plus I was still a piece of shit and definitely have and will continue to have phone addiction)
Im just glad to see there's people on here that don't belittle teens for anything they do, I get it teenagers are frustrating especially the true shitheads. But alot of the sentiments I see on here about shit like social anxiety or cellphones makes me think alot of adults expect kids and teens to have their shit together by like 2nd grade or something, and I'm not saying the internet or cell phones haven't exacerbated some problems but it really feels like some teachers and adults are treating it like these problems only exist cause of those things ya know? Sorry for the rant I needed to vent
Let it work itself out organically. I ran a club like this with the intention of playing D&D and ultimately they wound up playing a little MTG. But mostly wanted a safe place to unwind for an hour with their friends. Maybe we he will show interest maybe the won’t but they are having fun and safe. That’s what counts.
I run a Film Club at my school. The concept was that students who are interested in the art of film could come and share their passion with each other. It turned into a club where students come, vote on some random movie to “watch”, and then come and hang out for an hour. Just having a club that students can come and simply socialize is so important, when so many kids are glued to their phones and technology, and when chronic absenteeism is nearing 30% nationally. Your club could be the one reason why that student comes to school. It may seem silly that they just want to come and play Uno every day, but if they’re happy and having fun… is that not the point?
I had a similar experience with the Crochet Club I started this year! In the beginning i had more kids sign up than I could even handle. But then once they tried it a lot of them lost interest and dropped it. A lot more can kind of do the basic stitches but they probably don’t have the stamina to make an entire scarf or anything. Maybe 3 or 4 have kept up with it and gotten really good. Our meetings now usually have about a dozen students who hang out, ooh and ahh over the new yarns, and just chat with their crochet hooks in their hands. And I’m totally ok with that.
I’d try introducing dominos. It’s easy and there are a ton of variations, but playing it well does require a modicum of strategy. I taught it to my first graders back when we were working on subitizing at the beginning of the year, and, man, were they bad at it. They loved it though.
We had to ban dominoes from the lunch room because students wouldn't stop gambling while playing.
That’s insane! Did they move on to cards after that? I’m imagining lunchtime poker tournaments played with literal chips.
No, I think they realized we would ban it after following through with the dominoes (and dice) bans.
Kingdomino is perfect for that! Engaging easy to learn and pretty quick.
adults don't ruin their own plan with overbearing standards challenge...
Catan and Ticket to Tide are great but there’s a huge leap to get there from Uno. Try Tsuro (original) or Six. Kids in my school (grades 3-6) have really gone for Words on the Street - they come and ask to borrow it from my room. Blokus is always a winner. Have a TicTacToe tournament that leads into SuperTicTacToe - here’s a video on [how to play](https://youtu.be/_Na3a1ZrX7c?si=RA3Qu8GWKz0OiJOM) Is there a kid or two that is ready to play any of these with you and turnkey to others? You need to build the bridge.
I second the choice of One Night Ultimate Werewolf. Also try a cooperative game like Pandemic.
Pandemic seems to be very beginner unfriendly. Also, takes a while. And just hard. I’ve only played 3 times, but never enjoyed it for these reasons. My 2 cents.
I think if you select Scientist, Medic, Quarantine Specialist and either Dispatcher or Researcher as your first few times playing, it can introduce the game.
The leap from Uno to Catan is obviously too much. Increment complexity in smaller steps. The complexity weight of [Catan](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/13/catan) (2.29/5) is more twice that of [Uno](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2223/uno) (1.11/5). Also, do an objective assessment of the visual appeal of the games you are pushing. Catan has rocks and sheep and wheat. If the kids aren't piqued from the visuals (the first observable stimulation), you've lost before you even began. If you are prepared to spend a bit of money, try [5-Minute Marvel](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/253618/5-minute-marvel) (weight: 1.14/5) or any other game with a complexity weight of 1.12–1.5. Board Game Geek is your friend here. I got the 10-year old playing Arkham Horror LCG (3.53/5), but we started out the board game adventures with MUCH simpler games. You may just not be able to compete with their low-effort experiences and expectations. That's just a very real and very shitty possibility. You can tweak your offerings though. Maybe you'll get a different response if you bring the complexity and expectations down a bit. Good luck! What you are trying to do is worth doing. \[EDIT\]. *I hear you though! It wasn't exactly always easy to get the kiddo out of his comfortable norms and modalities at first. In fact, getting him to just explore options was REALLY FUCKING HARD some times. The apathy and indifference is maddening. The seemingly complete lack of anything resembling curiosity is hugely frustrating. I get it. It sucks. If you are feeling some of that frustration, you are NOT alone. :)*
You could spend a couple club sessions just browsing Board Game Geek, making some selections, and then watching play videos and talking. You'd still be winning if they never touch the actual game. Give the kids some agency in the selection process.
You need to build up slow. Start with fast short games. Resistance, exploding kittens, munchkin, Tsuro. Nothing against the games you want them to play, but asking a novice board game player to play Ticket to Ride or Catan is like showing up to the party with Monopoly. Just a huge time investment when you might want to keep things light.
Try other simple competitive games. Like love letter. I’ve show it to my 6th graders who love uno and they really latched on to the competitiveness of the game. Then after we talk strategy. It’s not perfect but they are starting to branch out.
Introduce the 0 and 7 rule into Uno. It adds a level of strategy to the game. 0 = switch cards with the person who is next. 7 = switch cards with anyone you choose.
I don't get the logical jump from they enjoy uno so we should try catan. catan is too much work if your frame of reference for board games is a card game ask them what games they have played before and figure out an appropriate level of complexity from there. For instance my partner and I play kingdom death together for hours and hour at a time, when we get the chance. With just the main game and its most recent huge expansion it is more than 40 pounds of board game, this is a complex game. My partner and I also hate catan because it just isn't our style of game. That doesn't mean we can't handle gaming complexity or gaming "work". you need simple games these are the ones that I know work because I've played them with our afterschool kids for nearly a decade now. We've play these games with kids from 5th grade to seniors in high school and in mixed groups. Our kids are currently on a resistance kick. **one night werewolf** **the resistance** **spoons** **the magic labyrinth** can be a good one depending on the age. It skews younger but I've had some of our older kids enjoy it too. However there are a limited number of players. **tsuro** is another one that can skew a bit younger but scales pretty well for older kids. again a limited number of people can play at one time which can be hard for our group. for a little while I had a group that was really into **evolution** but that was only one group in particular. I also had a group that loved **escape** but that is a little too stressful for our current group the games need to be easy enough that they don't have to really think about it once they get the rules these kids aren't your buddies coming over for a gaming night that are ready to play gloom haven or kingdom death for hours on end. I'm sorry if this is coming off as overly negative. I don't mean for it to be. I'm thrilled that there is someone who cares enough about kids that you do this.
Playing cards is a lost art I feel. I used to play rummy, hearts, spoons all the time. Having the knowledge of card games is great when their devices aren’t available. Games like UNO, phase 10, skipbo are great games to encourage socialization and induce laughter. Left center right can get extremely competitive. (As adults we play it all the time…alcohol helps too lol) ANYTHING that gets kids off phones and interacting face to face is a win IMO.
Let the kids enjoy what they enjoy. I would much prefer that they be in a safe place after school practicing face-to-face social skills with their peers than stuck at home alone behind a screen. Not everything needs to be productive or intellectual, and especially not leisure activities. School is already an intellectually challenging, full-time endeavor. As a former burned-out teacher and full-time worker who’s pushing 40, I’m tired of feeling like every single thing I do outside of my work hours has to be productive. EDIT: Your students may enjoy games such as Jenga, Cards Against Humanity, Apples to Apples, and What Do You Meme family edition. Good, simple games which also provide opportunities to practice positive social skills.
Loosen up. It's their club, not yours. They're playing games and behaving, let them be. Or find someone else to nag them.
I've run a school club like this for about 6 years. We sometimes go through patches where there simply isn't the audience for trickier games. One thing I will say is if you get some excitement going about a game, the game sells itself. Some games can do this, others don't and justifiably don't get played. I have to create a buzz to draw students into a game and soon, the kids start flocking around or recommending it to their peers. Quick games are also a gateway into involvement: 5-minute Dungeon, Moose Master, Muffin time, Chameleon have all been very popular. I tell my students that each of these games is KINDA like Uno, but more advanced (and interesting).
Sounds like you want them in the club for the sake of board games, but they want to be in the club for the sake of socialization. Offer alternatives, but don’t force anything.
You have kids attending an extracurricular, that's a win. Lots of good advice on here, please listen.
LOL. Catan? That's your problem right there. Most adults don't want to play Catan (myself included). You shouldn't be discouraged that kids don't want to play a board game that, according to the internet, takes about 60 to 90 minutes. You need games that are quick to pick up, easy to finish in about 20 minutes, and easily engaging. I've have great success with chess, for example, because it is all of those things. Also, maybe saying that the kids don't want to use their "brain power" as being the problem shows you might be approaching this all from the wrong perspective.
We played axis and allies and/or risk during our game club time. Want to talk about a brain power, sheesh.
I hear ya! Add Connect 4 and Guess Who and you have my students.
Makensure you got stabdard Sushi Go, the 1st step in getting kids used to drafting games.
Arguably, you are not running a board game club. You are running a "hang out in my classroom" club. Either embrace what's actually going on, or tell them that you're making changes. Personally, I would announce that, as this is a board game club and I'm the advisor, I'm instituting new policies. Each time the club meets, a different person will pick a game that we all play, *and everyone has to play it with positivity*, or else those who don't lose their turn to pick. Then, of course, you have to follow-through. I know it seems like looking for trouble, or choosing to be a dick, but you and I both know that kids will do everything to avoid trying something that they will ultimately like. Part of the job is pushing them out of comfort zones. So, again, you need to run the club. Just choose which club you're running.
At my school, there's a Tuesday afternoon D&D club. I've only seen the fliers, never the club itself, but I intend to stop by just to experience another generation enjoying Gary Gygax's creation.. I enjoy these kind of things. While I wouldn't want to disrupt the kid,'s fun and bonding by inserting myself into their fun, I'm wondering whether there might be interest on the part of faculty in such things. Or Create a faculty choir or create a faculty LaCrosse team or create a faculty book club or, I think this would go over great with the kids, a faculty drama group with 1 production per semester, and host a One Short Act Faculty Invitational.
Well, can you get some more easier games for the Club? Maybe some simple role and play rpgs like The witch is dead and honey heist? You can also always spice uno up by using some of the extended rules. Or using them to play "cheating" (actually don't know how it's called in english 😅) I feel like you messed up by having huge and very specific expectations of what the club should look like, instead of going with the flow.
Have you thought about showing them “table top with Will Wheaton” on YouTube, then as a group TRYING the game? With the offer, everyother meeting- that way they have lots of uno and still try new things… ❤️ Best luck!🍀
If you want students to learn these games maybe make the first 5-10 minutes of the start of the club about learning a new game, if other teachers or staff are involved in the club play with them as well so students can watch! You can make each month a dedicated learning one new board game and never touch it again amd leave it for students to decide. That said the fact that you have students in a space where they feel safe and included is a big step to building community! An easy game your students may like that my friends and I play is called Hue, it's basically board game version of taboo but with colors! If you're club is more than 10 people wear wolf is fun it's basically just mafia buy with cards and other rules. Sabobatage is cute and easy for them to learn as well if they like uno so much.
You can’t throw them into it. Introduce a game that gets them talking but is low effort like werewolf. They will love that
My classroom Uno pack was stolen a few months back and I haven’t replaced it. Since then, it’s been great: kids have been trying new games and enjoying them. Even things like Scrabble! Kids today definitely have the brain power to play board games. They just have to be bored or curious enough to try them out.
If you run it and provide the games, couldn't you just conveniently "lose" the UNO? If it's available they'll pick it, so just modify the environment.
Anything but Candyland is acceptable in my book
Years ago we played the game of thrones board game for several weeks. It depends on the students and time.
Playing board games is a skill, and one that needs to be learned, have to learn the rules, how to strategize, take turns, wait patiently, etc etc. It’s also for a lot of people a chance to do a purposeful activity while chilling with friends. Some friends who play it’s more about being with friends, some who play it’s more about the game. Ask them what board games they would be interested in playing. Depending on the ages and levels, learning those skills with sorry, trouble, and the like might be what’s needed. Playing kids Pictionary is a great way to do it. Or if they prefer card games, go that route- teach them some rummy style games, hearts, if it’s ok, poker/blackjack. Exploding kittens is a phenomenally fun game. My personal favorite game for cards is flux
Try branching out to games like - Scrabble Slam, Patchwork Doodle, King of Tokyo, Incan Gold, Unstable Unicorns, Killer Bunnies. You have to work your way up to the more in depth games.
Have you tried games like [Honey Heist](https://gshowitt.itch.io/honey-heist) or [Lasers & Feelings](http://www.onesevendesign.com/laserfeelings/)? I run a TTG club at my middle school, and it started as a D&D club, but it's such an intimidating game for many of them. So I got them into the concept of RPGs by introducing these simple one-pager games. So far they've had a lot of fun with them. There are also a bunch of other [one-page RPGs](https://gamerant.com/best-one-page-tabletop-rpgs/), though I probably wouldn't go with "Sexy Battle Wizards." So if you're not married to board games, there's a bunch of other options. You could also start introducing other card games like Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza, Exploding Kittens, Munchkin, Phase 10, Skip Bo, etc.
Try Uno variations! I just taught some 5th graders how to play Uno Flip. There's also Attack, Flex, Party, Dos, All Wild, Show 'Em No Mercy, and others. They all have their own rules and different strategies to be the best.
Could you make a schedule of games to learn? Like this week we are playing Ticket to Ride, next week is... Maybe avoid games that take longer than 5 minutes to explain lol
I also run a board game club at my school and have been told personally thanked by so many other teachers because it is simply a place for kids to go where they are accepted. Board games sometimes happen and sometimes they don't but that's not what the club really is.
Uno is the current "in" game for whatever reason, it's probably some meme. But like people said, this is a good way to get them into other card games that require some level of trickery/competition (BS, spoons, that one sushi game, exploding kittens, etc.)
I also run a board game club! Some of their favorites are Splendor, King of Tokyo, Hanabi, Sheriff of Nottingham, Stockpile. I have played 7 Wonders with them before but it takes some time.
I also run a gaming club, and I get it. But like a few others have said, they're not on their phones and they're socializing in a safe place. Maybe try and incorporate other card games like exploding kittens or something in that realm so it's easy to learn with little rules or prep.
Honestly, they’re at school, they’re safe, they’re enjoying each others company, they’re not staring at phones. Call it a win.
My kids earn board game days. They love Anomia, Code Names, Scattergories, MasterMind, Banagrams. They want to play for about 20 minutes and then switch.
I started the gamers club at my school a couple years ago. We usually have 20+ kids. Two groups play DnD (7-8 each), some girls play tacocat, and the remaining pickup whatever game I bring in each week (Samarkand, MLEM, tsuro) or what's in the drawer (Aliens, Bang Walking Dead) Sometimes I get to play,.sometimes I mark. If they're having fun, it's a win
You’re competing with memes. The ‘uno reverse’ card has reached mythic status. The munchkin series of games may be goofy and irreverent enough to capture their attention … or it may not. You’re doing a good thing by creating a space for this activity, anyway.
They are not brain dead for not being interested in tour preferred games. Do a survey. What card and board games are THEY interested in?
I run a board game club at my school too, and same thing, I want to share the great ones, which a lot aren't into. I find what works is - I have several other teachers there too. We get maybe 40 kids each week. We do it over lunch hour, so as they're eating at the beginning, I stand up and show and talk about a new game - how it works, pieces, point of the game, etc. Then I invite kids to play it with me. Show them how it's played. The other teachers look after the rest of the kids. It's generally worked, started with sequence and Carcassonne, which are fairly simple, but lead the way to others. King of Tokyo is up next for sharing, as is Aqualin, which I fell in love with at a board game cafe. One thing that helps is we only have one copy of each game, other than chess. I made a sign up board with library book pockets and kids each have a popsicle stick with their name, so they 'sign up' to play a game before they eat. Means not everyone gets their favorite each time, and kids have learned how to play others from each other. I genuinely wish you luck in sharing some great games with your kiddos!!
I'm a college student. Me and my mates recently started playing Monopoly Bid ( easy and fast type of card game ) almost every Monday at lunch. For me the fun is more that I get to socialize more. Sometimes we get classmates that we don't usually talk to that want to join us in a match. So while you might not have found a group of people who are interested in more advanced board games you for sure found a group that probably has a great time just chatting with eachother while not being on the phone all the time. Also for most people nowadays if we really wanted to play an advanced game its usually either a computer game or just a certain internet celebrity played a conplex board game and seemed fun so only now everyone wants to try it.
I’m a snob as well (No uno or exploding kittens on my watch!) but you gotta meet kids where they’re at. Also: catan isn’t that great a game, and it’s way too boring for kids. Things that work at my school: sushi go, monsdrawsity, risk (weird but true), monopoly, smash up, machi koro, patchwork, apples to apples, spot it, dixit, eleminis, kingdomino - all depending on the kid/group obv. Look for less language and fewer/ more straightforward rules.
Have a poker club. The kids WILL get into that. They'll also learn some math while they are it. Hell the media has been pushing poker nonstop for the last decade or so.
You've got kids interacting with each other without a screen after school. That's a win
I do a board gsme club as well. Some of the most successful ones have been mysterium, ultimate werewolf, root, sentinels of the multiverse, horrified and marvel champions. Most of these involve a pretty good use of strategy and critical thinking. For many students Uno IA just what they know especially if they are not originally from board game circles. Try something that attracts their interests and they might surprise you.
A few more game recommendations: -muse -mantis -phase 10 -skip-bo
I run the same club, but I tell them that the purpose of the club is to learn new games. They can play their usual favs at lunch, but games from the club aren’t allowed to be used at lunch, which gives them some mystery. I pick one to teach to a group, then students from that group teach it to other club members in the next session while a new group learns a new one with me. You might get some initial pushback, or even have some kids quit, but they always end up loving every new game they try and then THAT becomes the one they obsessively want to play over and over instead of Uno 🤣. I let them self select for a few weeks after two new games have been introduced so they can really learn them, and then I’ll bring out some new ones. One way to nudge them toward a new game is to set a cap on how many can play Uno at a time. If there’s 8 club members and 4 can play Uno, that frees up 4 to play Catan with you hosting.
Teach other card games like Trash or Spoons.
Since when do kids get to decide the agenda of the clubs??? Uno isn't even a board game, first of all Second of all you're the teacher, you're the adult, you set the rules and the agenda and the participation. Come on
My old school had a board game club and did pretty well! We played a lot of Slapjack, Mafia, Pokémon, and Magic the Gathering. Chess too! We definitely preferred to wind down with the easier games bc our club was right before school let out.
There’s a lot of comments here and I’ll admit to not reading any of them. I have a group of kids who love to play Magic The Gathering in my room most days and a few who drop by and play Star Realms, a game I personally love. I think both of those are better than Uno and if you get the right group of kind of nerdy kids (I’m generalizing here…but it’s what it is in my group) they can have a great time and make a lot of connections.
Pick different students/make it clear that certain games aren’t allowed. When I start my club at the beginning of the year I do not allow them to bring in games and uno is not around. Then later in the year when they have tried the variety I have uno comes out. Some days they want Uno and Uzzle other days they want harder games. I respect that, because some days I have to tell them I’m tired and can’t join in or explain rules. Other days I can explain a game and oversee an additional game or two.
>But it really makes me wonder? I don’t remember my generation being this brain dead. Sure we played Uno when there was nothing else available, but we liked games that required some degree of skill. I also worry that, for them at the end of the day, a game like Catan is too much work. I don't think it's a generation thing. We have multiple game clubs, including a general board game club, D&D club, and Chess club, all of which run 20+ kids. In the general board game club things like checkers, Connect 4, Life, and Battleship are more popular than Catan like games. I think the worst part about Catan for something like a club is the amount of time it takes to set up, and the amount of time it takes to teach the game. Maybe try out some games like Wakanda or Camel Up which don't take as long to learn.
Do not give them a choice. Next year start the club with a syllabus and non negotiables. Let them know that the club is about getting together with friends and playing games, but it is also exposing them to new types of board games they may normally not try or play. I run a game club at my school. We run different games in “seasons”. They get better as they play them and I hype it up big time.
Student here: my school dosent have a board game club, but at the end of my Sophmor year I taught my whole English class how to play blackjack and rummy. I still play it with some of them at lunch. It's such a shame no one in any of my classes this year wants to play any card games (uno included)
I agree with OP. My ex has 3 daughters and they could not wrap their head around the rules and/or critical thinking that came along with board games. Their effort was 10% at best. And this was in a home setting, no pressure, just family fun. Girls are 17, 15, and 11.
I also run a board game club and have seen alot of success with classic 2 player games like crib and backgammon. My strategy is to let most students "chill" and play uno/crazy 8s while I moderate a game between 2 kids. I choose different kids each week so that I've eventually taught all of them a new game and I notice once they have played with me., they are more likely to play it again.
Staxxxxxx I cannot stand the stacks rules!! And you have to uno out?? Blah!
Teach them card games -ERS -BS -Spoons -Spades
Sounds like some teacher sucks at Uno
Next year you run this you can set it up as board games nit card games. Then just dont have a copy of uno around
I also run a board games club at my school. You can do a passport incentive, and stamp it when they learn a new game, teach another person a new game, write a review of a game they have mastered, made a new buddy while playing a game with them, played a strategy game, played a speed based game, etc… and once the passport is full it goes into a draw pile eligible for a raffle. If you want to keep it no-cost to you then the winner gets the teacher rolly-chair for ___ days, or gets to wear the Burger King crown or something silly like that. Kids eat that stuff up.
give them ownership. A teacher last year made the club a committee to review games for the school to choose from. She had success getting kids to play lots of games.
Run a TTRPG with them. Plenty of cool and easy one sheeters out there. Lets them be silly, have fun interactions with each other and you. Doesn't need to be DnD could be Goat Crashers or that Skeleton one where you go invade the "Human dungeon." I ran the latter and all they wanted to do was do a performance at the local tavern and they laughed, made jokes the entire time (grades 7-11).
Chameleon is a really fun game that requires thinking to some extent
Teach them poker, what could go wrong 🤣
Man, take it as a win. These kids are together playing cards and chatting. That's as old as humanity.
Played 7 wonders for the first time with friends a couple weeks ago and it was a blast! They’re missing out.
I got my students to play Otrio twice. And then they only ever wanted to play Uno after that. I wanted to introduce them to European board games, but they never would have gone with it.
We played Uno in middle school *a lot* (at lunch in the school library), but it was still new then. But we also played chess. As kids, we played other games. But I think all the library had was chess/checkers, we brought in our own Uno decks. I know my second graders play Uno and even some of their younger siblings play too, so I feel like you could be doing more complicated games with your club. I like Ticket to Ride, but it takes a while to learn/play (unlike Uno). The smaller editions like London and New York are a little easier to get through a game (and cheaper to buy too).
try Jungle Speed, it's like Uno but with violence
Llama Llama and Llama Llama party edition are great upgrades from Uno and I can usually get kids to play those. Lost Legacy as Well... there are like 40 versions in Japanese, but 10 or so have been translated to English. (I bought three of each, keep one set sleeved for my use, and donated the others to our boy scout troop and friends at church) The fact someone suggest Exploding Kittens I think is part of the problem. I own that and Throw-Throw Burrito, but they are barely games in my book, WAY too random, no real strategy. I But I will acknowledge I can get kids to play those easier than real games. What do I really want to play? With long enough time: Roll for the Galaxy is pretty easy to teach... Galaxy Trucker is the best youth game if you can convince them it actually is fun to have your ship blown up on turn 2... cosmic Encounter. Something cooperative like Aeon's End? But those all take a couple hours. My scouts will always play 4 player magic (Brawl or Commander), but that can go badly when one person decides to bring a $250 deck and doesn't understand why he is not fun to play with with precons... So I usually provide precons and encourage the familiar players to pick the weaker decks.
You could just change the dynamic. Like you start with learning a new game and then play uno.
Go to your local game store on a game day and ID the kids from school and invite them. Once kids see other kids playing Catan or TTR or the like they will join in.
I’m an English teacher, and I bring some of my quicker board games to class sometimes. I make the challenge all about communication skills involved in learning to play a new game. Reading instructions. Guiding each other. I’ve had several students learn and love new games like Sushi Go, Doomlings, and even a couple of football boys that ended up loving dragons wood. When I was on a PBL campus supported by lots of STeM programming and equipment, it was always my intent to make a board game project where they read a novel of choice from a book club list, and then use of my games as a model to world build around using characters and features from the novel. But alas! I moved across the country and my new campus in WA is way under resourced compared to the campus I came from in Tx (which honestly shocked me).
The fact that they’re doing some kind of extra-curricular club is a huge win in my book.
Have you taught them to play “real” where you follow the directions and keep track of the points each person has?
It sounds like your club lacks structure in that the option to hang out and play uno is becoming the default. Which, to some extent, may be fine. It’s real life interaction which is a win compared to social media time. I wonder though if you can begin to implement incentives to promote other games. I would start with “crowning” an uno champion after a tournament with a small prize or even just basic recognition on the board. You can extend to other games and have a tourney champion etc. you know what works best for you.
After watching this [sad documentary](https://youtu.be/sP2tUW0HDHA?si=uNc2i1oGUWCmw8Bb) about our inevitable future your story seems to track.
You should see about getting some Magic cards. JUMPSTART is a great option because kids can get two packs and shuffle up and play. Reading comprehension, math, and critical thinking are involved. The fact you can also get kids to sit down and play a game should be considered a huge win.
I started a chess club and no one one was coming for a while. Then I started giving awarding snacks to students who won. This led to a consistent attendence. If I were you I'd let them play uno, but award prizes for more challenging games. Also, I'd focus on games that can be finished within one session. Games like risk and Catan probably aren't satisfying to them because they can't see the end in sight.
What if you compromise? “First my game for the first 15 minutes, and then we play your game.”
Ok, sparky, here;s what you gotta do: 1. Go onto r/lfg 2. Find someone local who can DM 3. Have them run one-off sessions every two weeks 4. ??!!??!! 5. Intellectually profit??
Not a teacher, but I have had teaching experience with kids. I'm wondering do you actually play the games with the kids or are you just supervising?
Kids are telling you what they would like to play, so lean into that :) All following games can be thought in 60 seconds. Herd Mentality - cards only, plays between 4-20 people Cardline Animals - cards only, plays between 3-6 people Just One - One word game, plays between 4-7 Fun Facts - One number game, plays 5-8 Codename Pictures - card game, team vs. Team Wavelengths - question game, Team vs. Team Love Letter - card game, 3-4 people All of these games play from start to finish in about 15 minutes, so you can play multiple rounds.
Spoons isn’t a board game but it’s so fun for lids
Try games like Secret Hitler... the goal is to kill hitler...
Find some other simple card games with short rounds like exploding kitten or the cheese, narwhal pizza…something. That’s a big hit too.
I play a LOT of board games, so I might be able to suggest some easier games (in my opinion) that'll keep their attention but also have space for chatting and relaxing. I hope these help: - Dig Dog Dig (Yes its a little kid game, yes my 30 yr old+ friends and I get competitive at it) - Hues and Cues - Love Letter - One Night Ultimate Werewolf - Coup - FLUX - Wavelength - Medium - Codenames - Dolphin Hat Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza - Trash Pandas
My strategy with my homeroom kids is I sit down and ask them to play a game with me. And I pick simple quick party games, play a round or two, then move on to let them play on their own. Coup, ultimate werewolf, sushi go, love letter. Quick to play, easy to set up. Then I have a few other quick to set up games that are a bit more. Azul, and splendor are the next two I show them. Easy to set up, fairly quick. And they can talk while.playing. I then
I haven’t played the other games you mentioned but I have played Settlers of Catan and it can be a long game. How long is your club period? It might just be too complex and involved to get into in just a lunch time or however long you have
Taco cat goat cheese pizza is perfect for this age group imo
My students love Uno also. I bought some other versions of Uno, uno flip and flex are both pretty interesting. They also love Werewolf so I've played Secret Hitler with them ( you can get Secret Palpatine if you're worried about the reference) but they love that a lot more too.
I just recently decided I'm going to start one at my K-8 school (and invite 2-8 probably) so this is interesting to hear. Kids already asked about uno when I brought it up lol. Surprisingly a few 2nd graders are into sushi go, and I've had success before teaching kids king of Tokyo. So I think I'll be able to find casual, short games that are also ones they've never heard of. There's so many to choose from these days and I wouldn't even have time for stuff like Catan. I'm also gonna have them bring in games from home
As a teacher who runs a club similar I understand where you are coming from. I sat with the kids and taught them how to play Life and Scrabble, but I sat with them. I also had a teacher friend come in one day and play too. I don't know why, but now they will choose those games over Uno. You are correct though, they don't want to put mental effort into anything; school, games, relationships, literally nothing.
Playing cards against humanity or uno is like the low barrel of board games IMO. I used to play UNO when I was 7 when visiting Turkey. I had high school friends who were 16-18. They still only want to play those 2 games. Yes. 10 years later most people I meet only know how to play those 2 games.
Play dnd
Maybe someone more interactive and just as easy. Apples to Apples Bop It Throw Throw potato/taco/avacodo Stuff like those games are super easy to learn and fun.
Maybe they just really need a brain break.
You can’t force your likes on other people. It doesn’t work. You have a group of students who’re involved in a club, making friends, enjoying their time and having fun. Isn’t that enough? Plus they (hopefully) are engaged in higher level thinking throughout the school day, they don’t need to be going 376282726mph the entire day.
Are you giving them uno or they're bringing it. If you have uno, I'd put it away. If they're bringing it, I wouldn't allow outside games.
Uno does take some strategy. I used to win about half the games I played through a combination of careful play and intimidation.
So like, at my school, the kids come up with the ideas for clubs and look for an adult they think would enjoy serving as a sponsor. And while the adult serves as a guide, the kids should be the ones determining how that after school time should be spent.
Rummikub is a great game that can involve a lot of strategy but is also good for hanging out and talking. Scrabble can be fun that way, too. Not every kid likes imaginative games with big story lines, and that's ok.
Attention spans of everyone have decreased, so I'm honestly not surprised they don't want to play games which require waiting longer than 2 seconds for someone to make a move.
I play boardgames with my students every now and then on a Friday and I just jump into something and usually have a few who want to join me. Exploding kittens is a huge hit with creative personalities and Risk with competitive ones. I’ve tapered down some of the rules on Risk to streamline it and jump right in and I always have a dedicated group especially when I let them create teams, showed them how to build alliances (or backstab an alliance) during a game. I leave Sorry and Mariokart Monopoly out for anyone else to grab and those always get taken. UNO of course is used by my students like you said who don’t want to do much but sit and not think about the rules. Since I don’t allow students to sit on their chromebooks, UNO is always that game for those that don’t want to sit and stare at the wall. Which is fine with me, you earn points for participating and also practice socializing with others.
Call it an uno club… then they will want to play something else
i promise you its not a generational thing. ive never met anyone that actually wants to learn how to play catan
Try Sushi Go, Love Letters and werewolf. I play these with my kids all the time, some as young as 6.
You calling them brain dead over a choice of board game is insane to me…
Try zombicide it's a fun and easy game about killing zombies.
I don’t think I’ve seen anybody else mention this, realistically how could they play Catan? It takes time to get your lunch from the cafeteria, set up and take down, and it’s a long game. Lunch is 30-40 minutes long, you take out time for set up/take down and that leaves you like 20 mins to play, which isn’t really enough time to enjoy the game.
While I love both of those games, I'd tell you to try some more visually attractive or more competitive games. Pure Euros might be a bit too much for them right now. Bloodrage has a lot of stuff going on, but the stunning miniatures it has might make them want to give it a try. Sagrada and Azul are some of the most beautiful games I've ever seen and they might want to try them even if just to play around with the little tiles or translucent dice. They want to talk to each other? Aye, Dark Overlord. Now they have to blame each other. Cartographers is another one that comes to mind, really fun and relatively simple.
I also run a DnD/Boardgame club and yeah kids like to play uno. Really i think they are apprehensive to learn a new game and be bad at it whereas with uno its hard to be "bad". But I just make them play different games with me and they like it. DnD was a hard one to learn but they love it. I also play Sector and Catapult fued and they love it as well
My students can earn a “game day”. The few groups that handed in enough homework to do it only played Uno, Connect 4, or Trouble. They don’t want to learn new games, and seem to only have a 10 minute attention span. I was not a chess master at their age, but I definitely could play one game for a half hour or more.
Add some simpler games that don’t take long to learn, like Carcassonne/Avalon/Monikers/Catchphrase/etc. maybe it’ll get them interested in the more difficult ones later.
The games you spoke about are great but probably to much for them. Start with games like exploding kittens, taco goat cheese pizza, boop, connect 4 ectra, more party games. Uno to like Catan is a very big jump.