Family game night popularity increases; Games improve kids’ math skills

Here’s an interesting article published by the Pittsburgh Post Gazette on Sunday. It highlights the ability of board games to bring families together. At the end of the article, there’s a snippet that mentions a study conducted by a Carnegie-Mellon professor that shows that board games can improve math skills. Certain number skills increase as much as 40%. Just one more reason to get your family board games on.

Color Scheme: Great idea, bad execution?

Board Game News recently posted a review of the game Color Scheme published by Educational Insights. When I read this review I LOVED the idea of this game. It’s like Connect Four where you try to match several colors in a row. The unique twist of this game is that the color tiles are translucent and you can play multiple colors in one spot so that the COLOR CHANGES! What a great concept and a great way to teach kids about color basics.

I was sad then to read this review and learn that the game play and game construction were lacking. Most people don’t really realize or appreciate all the play testing that often goes on before a game is released to insure the rules work well and create an enjoyable gaming experience. It sounds like our friends at Educational Insights didn’t do enough game testing. Hopefully they’ll learn their lesson and republish this great idea down the road with the needed improvements.

Color Scheme retails for $34.99, but can be purchased new at Amazon for $23.45

Have any of our readers played this game? What did you think?