Top Games:

Brighter Minds Top Chef
$19.99
My ten year old daughter who watches the show with me whizzes through the game whereas I, her ancient mother, freaked out and couldn't ascertain what was being tested. The game is for HER and she likes it so bottom line: our kids will rule the next century with their thumbs and a keyboard! The first thing she said to me: Mom, look - Padma's scar is in the game...........kids! (:-))

Blokus Classics Game
$24.99
I purchased this game several years ago and it remains one of my favorites. It can be easily played with 2 or 4 players, or 3 if you are creative enough. When I explain the concept to my friends, I tell them, "Imagine Tetris and Chess at the same time!"

Blokus is a great spatial-reasoning exercise, and quickly became one of my wife's (an interior designer) favorites.

This game starts with players dividing up the colored pieces into four piles - one for each player. We keep ours seperated in 4 baggies to make this step a lot easier. The first player places their first piece so the corner square of the playing area nearest them is filled, then the other players do the same in turn. From that point, it's a free-for-all. The only rule is that every following piece must touch a corner, and only a corner (not a side), of an existing piece of the same color but not overlap any square already filled by another piece. Once a player is not able to play anymore pieces, they are eliminated.

My strategy is to go towards the center with as many long pieces as possible, then start filling in towards one of the sides. There is a scoring system in place, but I usually play until only one person is remaining and call them the winner.

Herd Your Horses Board Game
$29.99
This has to be the best board game ever. My six year old daughter wants to play it every day. My 3 year old son and her can even play by themselves now. It's a great way to get the whole family involved.

Top Spin 3
$29.99
This game is fun, and more-true to-life than the Wii-Sports tennis game in terms of strokes and movement around the court. One thing that feels restrictive to me is the requirement to use the nunchuk. because it's tethered to the controller, I cannot take swings (especially forehands) at the ball the way I normally would in real life. It limits my ability to really whack the ball with correct form and full arm extension.