The Best Boredom Busters with John Adams

AD – This post is in collaboration with John Adams / Ideal

If there is one phrase that parents literally dread hearing its “I’m bored’

At the time of writing, with the prospect of 3 months of home educating and staying home ahead of us, those two little words are feared even more than usual! There is only so much you can do to try and balance home education, employment, housework and staying sane before you start to feel a bit deflated.

John Adams recently sent us a selection of their classic boredom busters to put through their paces and I was so glad to see that some retro favourites of my own had made an appearance. Growing up as a child in the 80s and 90s, there was no such thing as ‘screen time’ and iPads to distract us. Instead, board games were our entertainment of choice. It’s great to see that despite advances in technology, some of the classics I played as a child are still just as popular today.

Here’s my round up of some of the best classic games and puzzles to keep children (and adults) occupied during an extended period at home.

Triominos

Playing Triominos over the last week with my nearly 7 year old daughter has bought back SOOO many happy memories from my childhood. I used to play this myself back in the early 90s, where my neighbour and close friend Katie and I would play board game rallies for hours. It was just as good as I remembered it, and surprisingly educational!

If you aren’t familiar with the concept, Triominos is a triangular version of the classic game dominos, and has triangular shaped pieces with sides worth different points. To win you must try and score the highest number of points by matching your tiles, and be the first person to place all your pieces.

The perfect combination of luck and skill, Triominos uses skills such as maths, logic and strategy, with the opportunity to gain bonus points for creating shapes such as bridges, hexagons or double hexagons.

The instructions are easy to follow, meaning players young and old can get started straight away, and there is no competitive advantage for us grown ups – so far Erin has beaten me every single time!

In just a few weeks of playing, this has quickly become one of Erin’s favourites and we play it regularly before bed. You have to concentrate (making sure the numbers are in the right place), keep a close eye on any potential high scoring opportunities (completing a hexagon for example) and I have found it a great way to encourage Erin to practice her addition by keeping a little book with our scores.

The set comes in a handy little canvas bag that zips all the pieces away making it ideal for travel.

Having over 50 years of heritage (first published in 1965), I am confident this will be a much loved game for years to come, and is suitable for 2-4 players aged 6+/

Our rating – 9/10 – Dominos with a twist! 

Orthello

I will be honest that Orthello is not a game I had previously heard of Orthello before but this is a simple to play strategy game for two players that is quick to learn but hard to master!

Game play is really simple – players share out the double sided black and white discs and choose a colour. To play you must trap the discs of the opposing player between two of your own colour. When captured, you turn their disc over to your colour.

Starting with just four discs on the board, the winner is the person with the most pieces of their colour on the board and lead can change from one move to the next!

We are still getting to grips with some of the more strategic elements of this game and at 6, Erin is slightly younger than the target age of 7+, but so far we have really enjoyed this and its great for some one on one quiet time.

Our Verdict – 7/10 – Fun game play, but have a feeling we’ve only scratched the surface! 

Rummikub

Another favourite from my own childhood I actually was quite excited to play this again. Mike on the other hand needed some convincing, but I could tell that halfway through our first game he was actually getting pretty hooked and he now, a few games on, thinks of himself as a bit of a pro – oh how the tables have turned.

Rummikub comes with 106 tiles numbered 1-13 in four different colours. The aim of the game is to be the first person to clear all their tiles and should RUMMIKUB!

To play, you must lay down sets of groups (three or four tiles of the same number but different colour) or runs (3 or more consecutive numbers of the same colour).

On each turn you can then either rearrange of add to existing runs, create new ones and clear your rack, using a joker to create any number.

The game is quick and easy to learn, and less about counting but more so strategy, sets and logic – requiring tactical thinking and planning ahead, using your rack to group and order your numbers so you can clearly plan for your next move. You also have to concentrate, observing other players moves to ensure you don’t miss any opportunity to place a tile.

We have all really enjoyed the game, and I have a feeling during lockdown this will be coming out a LOT.

Our Rating – 9/10 a really fun tactical game the whole family have enjoyed. 

Rubik’s Cube

Moment of admission – I don’t think I have EVER managed to successfully complete a Rubik’s cube – so surely lockdown has to be as good a time as any?

A great game to help test and develop your memory, sequences and problem solving skills, this classic puzzle game is super addictive, and involves a unique turning and twisting action to try and solve, bringing all the colours in to the right locations.

With 43 QUINTILLION combinations, unbelievably this puzzle can be solved in less than 10 seconds, although I am yet to figure out how!

A great way to keep the mind busy, with a wonderful sense of nostalgia, its not hard to see why Rubik’s cube has become the best selling puzzle in history.

Our Rating – 8/10 – A great way to pass the time, even if we are nowhere close to cracking it! 🙂 

Overall, we’ve had so much fun playing some of these nostalgic games over the last few weeks during lockdown. If there is one thing I hope will happen when life returns to “normal”, its that we continue to spend more quality time together as a family – more interaction, more communication and more laughter, and spend more time off our screens and enjoying our company. There have to be some positives at the end of this unknown period, and for me personally, I hope that is just the tip of the iceberg!

You can learn more about John Adams boredom busters on their website here.