Charming games.

I'm increasingly being taken with the charm of 'children's games' and games that are 'light' and 'fluffy'.

Most of them are brightly coloured and feature large wooden pieces and a variety of innovative devices. Just looking at them brings a smile to my face and sometimes, I chuckle with glee as I imagine the havoc the games evoke.

Of late, here are some of the ones that I have played and ones that just made me smile.

1) Treasure Falls aka Flausspirates (Guntar Bears)



2) Up the River (Manfred Ludwig)



3) Rüsselbande aka Piggy Racing (Alex Randolph)



4) Hoppla Llama (Roberto Fraga)



Sure, the adults may dismiss them as fluff, but sometimes I just don't want to strategise 20 steps ahead or melt my brain with analysis paralysis.

I think the world will be a happier place if we played a little more kids games and took things less seriously.

Now where did I put Mark 'fluff daddy' Jackson's telephone number again?

(More information on these games can be found on www.boardgamegeek.com)

No more. Stop. Please, I need to spare my wallet.

Gamer weakness 101:

'Ok, it's the last game I'm buying until I finish playing all my games at home at least once. I swear. Really. I do!'

2 minutes later, I'm browsing Robbirob's game sale page, trying to cajole my mates into splitting an order with me so I can save on shipping.