Playing games with a child raises an old problem. If you play properly, you win every time and they stop wanting to play. If you lose on purpose, they notice, usually sooner than you expect, and the win is worth nothing.
The better answer is to choose games where the child has an honest chance. There are more of those than you might think, because children are better than adults at some things. Here are six from TwoSide, and why they work.
1. Pairs Duel
Children are often better than adults at the memory game. Nobody is entirely sure why. One suggestion is that adults try to be clever, using systems and labels, while children simply remember where things are.
In Pairs Duel, twenty cards hide ten pairs. Find a pair and you go again. Play it straight. You may well lose.
Good from about age four.
2. Shape Snap
A shape appears in the middle, and each player hunts for the same one among six cards. It is pure looking, and young eyes are quick.
Shape Snap also punishes haste. A wrong tap freezes you for a moment. Adults who rush get caught by a card of the right colour and the wrong shape.
Good from about age five.
3. Quick Draw
Wait for the signal, then tap. Reaction times differ very little between people, and a child of eight or nine is not far behind an adult.
Quick Draw has a rule that helps patient children. Tap before the signal and the point goes to your opponent. Fidgety adults give points away.
Good from about age six.
4. Sum Race
This one depends on the child. A sum appears and both players race to tap the answer. The sums are additions up to thirty and times tables up to nine.
A child who is learning their tables at school has them fresher than most adults do. If your nine-year-old has just been drilled on the seven times table, do not expect mercy in Sum Race.
Good from about age seven, or once they have started on tables.
5. Sea Search
Each player hides three treasures in a small grid, and then you take turns hunting. There is a good deal of luck in it, which keeps things even.
There is also real guessing about the other person. Children love trying to work out where you would hide something, and they are often unpredictable hiders themselves. Sea Search rewards that.
Good from about age five.
6. Greedy Dice
Roll to build up points, and stop before you roll a one. The luck of the dice gives anyone a chance in a single game.
Greedy Dice is also a gentle lesson in risk. A cautious child will beat a reckless adult more often than not. And the question "shall I roll again?" is one children take very seriously.
Good from about age six.
Levelling the other games
Some games on the site favour whoever has more experience: Five in a Row, Dots and Boxes, Seed Pits. You can still play them fairly by giving the child a head start that both of you agree on.
This is called a handicap. It is how unevenly matched players have always made a real game of it, and there is nothing second-rate about it. The stronger player still plays their best.
Some ideas:
- A free move. In Five in a Row, the child places two pieces before you place any.
- First go, always. Small, but it helps.
- A target. In Dots and Boxes, with sixteen squares, the child wins by getting six. You need eleven.
- A time limit for you. You must move within five seconds. They take as long as they like.
- Wrong hand. In Air Hockey and Tap Tug, you use the hand you do not write with, or one finger.
Adjust as they improve. When they start beating you with the handicap, reduce it. Children find that enormously satisfying, because they can see themselves getting better.
Teaching while you play
A game is a good place to think aloud.
Say what you are considering. "If I draw this line, you could take that square, so I had better not." You are giving away your plan, and showing them how planning is done.
Ask before they move. "What do you think I will do if you go there?" Do not answer for them.
After the game, find the turning point together. "I think it was this move. What else could you have done?" Keep it short and stop while it is still fun.
Losing well, and winning well
Games are where children practise both.
Let them see you lose without fuss. "Good game. You got me with that one." That teaches more than any talk about being a good sport.
When you win, be brief about it. And when they lose and it stings, do not rush to fix it. "That was close. Want another?" is usually enough.
The scoreboard on the site keeps a running tally under two names. Some children love it. If it starts to cause upset, there is a Reset button, and nobody needs to know the lifetime score.
One screen, two people
There is plenty of worry about children and screens, much of it about a child alone with a device. A game for two on one screen is a different thing. You are across the table from each other, talking, laughing and arguing about the rules.
These are HTML5 games, so there is nothing to install. Pick one of the six, put the tablet flat between you and play it properly. If you lose, you lost.