Engaged Family Gaming

I have a 5-year-old daughter and a 2-year-old son, who, if I have anything to say about it, will be as nerdy/geeky as their father is.  My daughter is budding race-driver in Mario Kart, and very much into Wii Sports and Sports Resort.  She's also started asking questions about Daddy's cars (aka Leman Russ Battle Tanks) in the miniatures cabinets.  As my children move from diapers to gaming, I want to introduce them into the world of gaming, but as a parent, I want to game with them.  Sure, I need time to myself sometimes, but I want to make family gaming part of our family time too.  So where to find good games that can be fun for both children and their parents?

Distant Worlds

Uh oh, I found another computer game.  I already have far too many demands on my time, and then I stumble upon Distant Worlds, a space grand strategy wargame.

Back in the 90s I fell in love with a 4x game called Stars!  There were essentially no graphics to it, but the game was about the strategy, not the graphics.  You explored the galaxy, sent out ships to colonize other planets, built up an economy while fending off attacks from alien races, and ultimately exterminated them to rule the galaxy.  Long after I had abandoned many other games, I kept coming back to Stars!.  There was a planned sequel called Stars: Supernova Genesis, which was billed as an improvement with the addition of cool graphics, but it was abandoned, and I was heartbroken.