Mixing Screen Time with Game Time
If your kids are anything like the people above, you’ve raised your voice at least once trying to get their attention. I’ve resigned myself to the fact that it is just part of today’s culture, like it or not. I remember having my face buried in my Mattel Electronic Football game for hours on end so I guess I can’t fault them too much. With our girls we have tried to let them have their freedom with their cell phones as long as they agree to our parent-child agreement. And we’ve made sure they know how to take care of their phones with a few preventative measures. But there is still no sure-fire way to make sure they are listening when they are mesmerized by the tiny screen.
One way we grab their attention is to regularly play board and card games with them. But their phones are always close by, lest they miss that important text about who is dating whom or the latest notification from their game of the week. What if we could combine the two activities? And make fun of each other at the same time? That’s exactly the premise of Game of Phones by Breaking Games!
We’ve run into a number of games lately that follow the Apples to Apples mechanic of having one player issue a challenge and the rest of the others vie to convince the first player to choose their answer. Normally this involves coming up with a verbal response (Apples to Apples, Cards Against Humanity or our latest Thrift Treasure, Back Round). In the case of Game of Phones, you’ll have to pull out your smart phone and get creative with your answer!
Each player takes turns drawing a card and reading aloud the challenge. This player then ‘judges’ the submissions and decides which they like best by any criteria they see fit.
Answers can range from serious to hilarious and you’ll find some unwilling to participate in a round due to the embarrassing nature of their answer. Last photo they were tagged in? Best Snap Chat screen-grab? Oldest photo of yourself? All have the potential to make the submitter (or everyone) uncomfortable.
Some cards have an extra icon of an app icon with a circular notification symbol. This type of card cannot be resolved quickly, so when drawn it is set aside and play continues to the next person. The first person to complete the challenge (in this case the next person to get a text), wins the card. First person to collect ten cards wins the game!
Game of Phones is a nice twist on this party game genre. Probably best to play with players of similar ages since the answers can definitely range from mild to extreme. Obviously a smart phone is needed to participate (sorry flip-phone aficionados).
You can find your copy on Amazon or direct from Breaking Games! At $20, I’m sure you’ll get many times that in value, especially by just what you learn about your friends and family when you take a peek at what they have stored on their phones! As always, be sure to check out some of the other great titles from Breaking Games and follow them on Facebook and Twitter for new product announcements and special savings!
What do you have on your phone that you wouldn’t want to share in a game?
Oh well-I don’t have a smart phone so I won’t be trying this one! I could see where this could be either fun or very embarrassing,
What a fun game that combines technology with “old-fashioned” fun! This way they don’t have to put the phone down 😉
That sounds like such a fun game! And a great way to mix old school with new school. We still love old fashioned board and card games though, I don’t think we’ll completely phase those out any time soon! Thanks for sharing this great idea.
That sounds like a really fun game. What a great way to use what you already do.
Ha! That would be a lot of fun to play with my brothers & sisters. I know we’d come up with some really embarrassing pictures.
NEVER heard of that game, but wow, that would be awesome. It is soooo like Cards Against Humanity but more family friendly and brings in the phones. We seldom play games, but when we do, the phones are out of the room. We have dinner at the dinner table every night and then breakfast and lunch on the weekends and the phones… nowhere in sight. Something I instilled in my girls from an early age, WHEN they got their phones which was much later (MUCH) than most
This game sounds awesome – I love that it makes your phone a part of the game! Plus the name of the game – Game of Phones – just pure awesome! I need this game – thanks for letting us know about it!
Sounds like a fun game for teens! I would love to do this with my girls.
What a fun idea! My family always have a game like this, and they would love this for sure.