Meantime, the internet offers us infinite variety to feed our gaming habit and our need for the new. Which is why, even though it’s the holidays, and it’s family time, you probably have at least 6 people sitting in your living room looking at their individual screens.This is not a good thing. It does not bode well for the concept of family togetherness, if you grasp my meaning.

That’s why I was thrilled to come across the Blue Orange Games website. Not only do the people at Blue Orange Games have new board games I’ve never seen before, they actually look like games normal people would like to play. I can totally see my family getting addicted to Blue Orange Games’ flagship game creation, Gobblet.

Gobblet reminds one of a fast-moving corner street game (or is it a magician?) where the hapless patsy invariably chooses the wrong cup (nope, no coin under there) and loses his money. But it’s also a lot like tic tac toe, with a twist. The game is deceptively simple. It’s the kind of game where you’re sure you’re winning when all of the sudden your kid trounces you and you’re left with your mouth hanging open saying, “I lost again?? No way. Play me another round. C’mon. Just one more time?”

Yup. That’s the kind of game it is.

Gobblet gets its name from the way large, cup-like pieces gobble up smaller ones. This game is beautiful to look at and the sleek wooden pieces a pleasure to handle. The manufacturers say that Gobblet is superb for improving visual perception, problem solving, memory, plus focus and attention skills. I like the fact that Gobblet is suitable for ages 7 to adult. It is so rare to find board games that can be played by all ages, which is what we’re all looking for in a family game, especially at holiday time.

Browsing the Blue Orange Games website I found a ton of intriguing board games and other types of games I would like to have or purchase for family members. The website in and of itself is a pleasure to surf. Each game carries a description detailing the appropriate age range for players and the specific skills that will be improved upon play.Moreover, Blue Orange has games that are compact which can keep kids occupied during a long drive or plane trip, for instance. The Blue Orange line called Spot It! consists of flash cards (in a number of disciplines such as languages, shapes, and numbers), memory games, and matching games. There’s even a Spot It! edition that is waterproof, Spot It! Splash, especially made for jaunts to the beach.

Board Game Benefits

We all know that there are benefits to gaming. Playing games can help lower blood pressure, prevent Alzheimer’s disease, and strengthen the immune system, for instance. These are benefits you can get from playing any game, be it a board game or a virtual online computer game.

There are, however, at least four benefits one can only get from playing board games (and other games with physical components such as cards, for instance), that you just can’t get from computer games:

• • • Build Family Bonds: Playing games together as a family improves family closeness. It’s a way to get to know each others’ similarities and differences, strengths and weaknesses. Building the family means building the individuals of the family to help them stand tall.
    • Improve Social Skills: When friends play games together, it teaches them how to be effective when communicating in words. It also teaches people the kindness of sharing and the patience involved in taking turns. Playing games can reveal important talents and characteristics, showing a side of an acquaintance you may not have noticed before. You’ll know a friend better, after you’ve played a game with that friend.
    • Boost Number Skills: At least one study has shown that children from low-income homes gain a better understanding of numbers and math skills from playing certain board games, such as Chutes and Ladders. These children don’t have board games at home and aren’t getting good counting practice. When children have to count to play these games, it improves their numbers skills. Why Chutes and Ladders? It works best when kids have to count to a specific number, starting from a numbered space within the game, for instance, counting four spaces from the 14th space takes the child to 18. Chutes and Ladders has consecutively numbered, linearly–aligned spaces.
    • Sharpen Fine Motor Skills: Gripping and moving game pieces can help improve a preschooler’s manual dexterity, coordination, and flexibility. Regular game play can help ready a child to grip and use a pencil. Playing games with physical components can also serve as occupational therapy. Board games can help restore muscle and nerve function after an accident or stroke, or improve the condition of those with mental or physical disabilities.

Spot It! games each come in their own small round tins. You can easily pop a few of them into a handbag to keep children occupied while waiting to see the doctor, or pull one out for a child to play with while sick in bed and going out of her mind with boredom. I wouldn’t mind having a whole bunch of them.

Happily, for me, Blue Orange Games products come in a range of prices. Otherwise, my wallet might be in trouble. Because, cautionary note: I wouldn’t call Blue Orange games inexpensive, but they are well-made and sturdy, and prices are in keeping with the quality of the games.

I found, for instance, Crazy Cheese Puzzle, at Amazon, on sale for $6.99 (down from the list price of $10.99). The game is small and very portable, has nine wooden pieces, a travel pouch, illustrated rules, and a solution key. You can find cheaper games for sure. But I don’t think you’ll find anything of this quality for a better price.

Every single game just has something about it; something charming, something nostalgic, that just beckons to you and says, “Come play with me.”

I can’t imagine, for instance, the small child who won’t be immediately enchanted by Zimbbos! with its carved wooden elephant and circus pieces. The game pieces would feel good in the hand—a joy for a young fist to hold and manipulate.

You might be wondering (as I did), what would drive someone to manufacture board games in this age of computer technology. No doubt you’d have to be a game-lover. And maybe, you’d also have to have some nostalgia for the hours spent playing board games with family and friends.

Turns out, you (and I) are not far off. Blue Orange Games was founded by Julien Mayot and Thierry Denoual in 2000, because, they say, they’re, “Driven to spread the timeless pleasure of connecting face to face with family and friends around a great game.”

Face to face. I think they may be on to something.

Mother of All Road Trips

The two “natives of France” decided they’d build games that aren’t too difficult to learn, that build skills, are well-made, and fun for a variety of ages. In coming up with the concept for Gobblet, for instance, Denoual consulted mathematicians and chess makers, and finally hired a wood worker to create a prototype. Denoual brought Mayot in as his partner and the two went on the mother of all road trips, schlepping 1,000 games across 22,000 miles over 3 months’ time, during which, you should know, they sold 10,000 copies of the game.

Whoa.

As for coming up with the name of their company (because that’s what you do after you sell 10,000 copies of your first game), Denoual and Mayot waxed poetic, naming their business after a surrealist poem by Paul Eluard entitled, The Earth is Blue Like an Orange. They wanted the name of their business to reflect their environmentally-friendly ethos.

So how’s business? Blue Orange is doing okay, thank you very much, having sold more than a million copies of Gobblet (just for instance). They’ve actually got a catalogue of more than 40 games by now and these are sold in more than a dozen countries across the world. You’ll find Blue Orange in more than 3,000 game stores in the United States, and that’s not counting the big chains like Toys”R”Us, Barnes and Noble, and Target.

But Denoual and Mayot don’t want to lose touch with their original mission of people getting face to face around a game or even just in general. To that end, they repeat their original road trip all over again each year. But they’ve expanded.

Board Games Games Gurus

Today, the game makers have a team of assistants they call “Game Gurus” and they visit every single retailer carrying Blue Orange Games throughout the United States. In 2013, that came to 2,000 visits in 47 states, while covering 136,000 miles. Why do they do it?

Blue Orange believe in creating strong relationships with its retail partners and customers. It is these face to face talks that lead to product improvement and inspiration for the creation of new games. Blue Orange likes to say it’s bringing “Hot Games to a Cool Planet.”

Thinking about what you can possibly buy your kids this season that they don’t already have? Looking for something durable that will keep them happy and learning and off those screens—perhaps something you can do as a family? You should totally check out the selection at Blue Orange Games and get in some quality family face time. Because connecting face to face?

It’s what the holidays are all about.

What family board games are your favorites? Do you have a Blue Orange board game your family loves to play?