Children’s First Games: Hisss and Go Away Monster! by Gamewright

Hisss and Go Away Monster! are educational, entertaining, and make perfect first games for preschool children.

A child playing a game for the first time will have a more enjoyable experience if the game is age appropriate and can keep the child’s attention. Hisss and Go Away Monster! by Gamewright are two fun games which allow preschool children to have an awesome time while learning how to play their first game. They each have colorful, whimsical, and sturdy game pieces. And since game play is exciting and simple, they make ideal introductory games.

Go Away Monster!

Children, as young as two years old, will simply love the elements found in the game of Go Away Monster! With the basic rule for the game being to take turns reaching in a bag for a surprise; it is an attention-grabbing, easy to learn game for any child. Each player receives a game board depicting a bedroom and sets it in front of them. Pictured tiles belonging to the bedroom (lamp, bed, picture frame, and teddy bear) and tiles of cute (not scary) monsters are all mixed together in a grab bag.

Players begin by pulling a tile from the bag. They will grab either an item to place on their bedroom game board or they will grab a monster. If players pull out a monster, they say, “Go away monster!” and toss it aside. This is the highly amusing part for children. They laugh and giggle and yell as they chuck away their monsters. Even though the goal of the game is to fill a bedroom with all four items belonging there, children are not at all upset when they pull a monster out of the bag.

Without any need for reading, counting, or rolling dice, Go Away Monster! is a splendid and wonderful first game. It teaches basic game skills like recognition, taking turns, patience, and completing actions; all while having fun.

Hisss

Hisss is a game where children enjoy creating slithering snakes from cards consisting of snake parts. There are snake heads, snake tails, and snake middles. These are all placed face down and are fanned out in the center of the playing space. Players then take turns picking cards and forming snakes. The game is best played on the floor since building many different snakes will take up a bit of space.

Snakes are pieced together by a head, at least one middle section, and a tail. As players complete snakes, they move them from the center and place them directly in front of them. Once all the cards are used, the player with the most cards wins.

These games are wonderful for beginner gamers. Although older gamers may find them too simple or boring after playing them only a few times, first time gamers love the interaction of throwing away monsters and forming slithering snakes. The uncomplicated and yet stimulating play offers children the chance to discover the primary purpose of any game: fun.