Whether you're at the cottage, campsite or at home, a boardgame is a great way to get every member of the family in on the fun.  Jon Levy of Mastermind Toys paid a visit to Canada AM to share some of his favourites!

Games for the Cottage

  • Crokinole 2 in 1 Game - The object of the classic game of Crokinole is to gain points by shooting (or snapping or flipping) the wooden discs into the highest possible scoring areas on the board.
  • Gobblet Gobblers - This game is similar to playing Tic-Tac-Toe, only you can gobble up your opponent's smaller pieces and move your own pieces around the board when it's your turn.
  • Bananagrams - Very similar to Scrabble, this game works without a board to allow for lots of spatial freedom.
  • Scrabble Deluxe Classic Edition - The days of cardboard and sliding tiles are over!
  • Staxis - Take turns trying to balance the 12"-long playing sticks within the frame without causing a crash.

"Gamer" Games

  • Pandemic - Players must work together, playing to their characters’ strengths and planning their strategy of eradication before the diseases overwhelm the world.
  • Spy Alley - Players become a spy for their given country and try to uncover their opponents’ identity while keeping their own identity a secret.
  • Ticket to Ride - Ticket to Ride is a cross-country train adventure in which players collect and play matching train cards to claim railway routes connecting cities.
  • Settler of Catan - You and the other players each control a group of settlers who have just discovered this island and wish to tame it.

Card Games

  • Apples to Apples - Select the card from your hand that you think is best described by a card played by the judge. If the judge picks your card, you win that round!
  • Hedbanz Charades - Guess the card on your headband by looking at your co-players acting out the activity shown on it and earn a token. The player or team that ends up with the most tokens is the winner.
  • Five Crowns - Five Crowns is a card game for the whole family. It has original game play, but uses skills that you have obtained from playing your old favourites like Hearts, Spades and Rummy.
  • Set - Out of the pile of cards on the table, you need to find three that will form some type of Set.
  • Spot It - There are several ways to play Spot It! but the strategy is the same: be the first player to “spot” one of the eight illustrated symbols on your card to the matching symbol on another card.

Games You Can Play On Your Own

  • Rush Hour - Shift the cars to escape the gridlock! To play Rush Hour Game match the car and truck playing pieces to the colour-coded puzzle card and slide your car to the single exit.
  • Cool Circuits - The object is to place all of the pieces on the board to successfully complete the circuit; do so, and the entire board lights up!
  • Lazer Maze - Lights and mirrors may make it feel like magic, but it’s really science and a good dose of brain power that’s needed to direct the laser beam through this series of mind challenging mazes.