Kids Are Fun

Yesterday I taught my son a new game - Micro Mutants:Evolution. This game is best described as combat Tiddledy Winks (yes the BGG has an entry for that). Basically, you get a set of plastic disks that have different powers (there are 4 teams of unique bugs). You roll two dice, which indicates which two guys you can attack with. Each side has three cardboard hex bases which the other team tries to get. It sounds really dumb. Its actually pretty fun and takes a bit of skill. At any rate, I simplified it a bit for my son (no special powers, just land on three bases to win). Surprisingly (or not) he figured it out in record time and "killed" a number of my guys - not before I captured his three bases of course. Today, he asked to play again, and so I happily pulled it back out. This time, he wasted no time in both getting the first kill and capturing the first base. His aim was surprisingly good and I was shocked at how often his touch was perfect. I managed to win again through one lucky turn where I nailed two bases, but he was in position to easily get his second base and he was picking me off at a surprisingly good clip. The most interesting thing about this game though was his approach. He made great tactical choices. He picked the guys with the best shot each time. Yesterday was all about using the first piece he saw, or the one closest to him. Today was completely different as he chose the guys that had the easiest chance for a kill, and he didn't waste his chance to jump on a base. The best part is that even though he really wants to win, he still cheers when Dad makes a good shot and kills his guy (though not as loudly as he cheers himself when he makes a good shot) and he doesn't get upset when he doesn't win. I don't know how long it will last, but he really enjoys playing as much as anything else and it makes playing with him even more fun.