Hobbies And Interests
Tic Tac Toe
This game is especially good for an adult to play with a very young child. You build a grid with three rows and three columns. Players alternate putting in an "X" or an "O" until one player has three marks in a row. It's a fun game for beginners, but it doesn't take long to figure out the secrets.
Capture The Flag
Gather no more than four players for this game. Using logic and luck, players in Capture The Flag try to be first to find an opponent's flag on the grid. Start with each player building a 6x6 row-and-column grid. Put a letter by each row and a number over each column. Each player puts a flag somewhere on Row F and two mines on each row of her grid. Then players alternate calling out grid coordinates -- A-3, for example -- moving row by row across the grid. Advance to Row F and guess the opponent's flag coordinate. Hit a mine, then start back at Row A. Players can't guess the same coordinate twice unless they have exhausted all other possibilities in the row. Each player also starts with a blank grid handy to keep track of his own guesses.Once a player reaches the final row, she can use her turns to keep guessing on that row until she captures the flag -- or hits a mine and must go back to Row A.
Battleship
Strategy, luck and logic all come into play in Battleship, as players try to eliminate an opponent's fleet by hitting the coordinates where each ship is hidden. Start with a grid; eight rows and eight columns are good enough. Label the rows with a letter and the columns with a number. Put symbols in 10 of the squares for four battleships, "B"; three cruisers, "C"; two destroyers, "D"; and one submarine, "S." Players alternate calling out coordinates, trying to find -- and sink -- an opponent's boats. Each player also should start with a blank grid to keep track of her own guesses. More than two players can compete, but it slows down the game.
Numbrix
For older children who are around 10 years old, Numbrix is a numbers game using a 9x9 square. Some starter numbers are placed on the grid. The puzzle is solved by completing 1 to 81 using only horizontal and vertical moves; no diagonal moves are allowed. Players must work forward and backward -- even working from the middle sometimes -- to find the solution.