We’re going on a trip to Disney World this month where we’re likely to be standing in a lot of lines waiting to get on rides. Because the kids have such great potential to be annoyed at this, and at the suggestion of a travel book, I have considered what it would take to keep them occupied while waiting. The book specifically suggests notepads and paper for particular kinds of lines, and I got to wondering what kinds of games we could play to stay occupied.
There are a few other games we could play that don’t involve paper at all, and those are fine. I worry that Riley will be inconsolable standing in wait for everything, and that we’ll constantly need to attend to him to keep him appeased. In that case, having some activities to keep Abby entertained would probably be a good idea. So what pen and paper games can we play? What sort of games can you play with just pen and paper?
The classic that Abby likes is Tic Tac Toe. She hasn’t gotten so old that she’s figured out how to tie every time, but she’s getting pretty good at it. We have a long-running series of tied games. I seem to be the only one that doesn’t let her win. But I’m sure that game will run out of steam quickly. So what else is there to do?
I had briefly thought of some enhancements to Tic Tac Toe. My ideas included a variant where you try to force your opponent to win before you. Another is more odd: You take two turns, first your opponent’s, then your own. It’s more challenging than it sounds. But possibly just aggravating. What else is there?
Of course everyone I asked recommended the dot game. If for some reason you are not familiar with the “dots and squares” game, it is played by creating a grid of dots, as big as you like, in a square pattern. Players begin by taking turns drawing single lines between orthogonal dots. When a player completes a square, they place their initial (or something) inside the square to mark it as theirs, and then get to take an extra turn drawing a line. This often leads to cascades of squares being drawn. It’s a fun game, but it has difficulties.
For one, you have to make this giant board of dots before you can play. Creating an even grid of dots is not always as easy as it seems, and certainly takes longer to do than you think. Compared to Tic Tac Toe, the setup time is pretty high.
Another game that is not quite as well-known is a game called Sprouts. I remember hearing about this game in 11th grade during one of my classmate’s math reports.
In this game, you draw three or more dots in any position to begin. Players take turns connecting any two dots with a line. The line can curve and go around and between other dots, but cannot go through other lines. When the line is complete, that player adds a dot somewhere on the line. A dot cannot be added to if it already has three lines coming out of it (so when you add that center dot, it already has two lines coming out of it). The player who makes the last line wins.
I seem to remember something about this game being solved - there’s a way to win every time if your the second player or something like that. So it’s not much better than Tic Tac Toe in that regard. But the different mental challenge might be enough to keep Abby busy. When that runs dry, what else have we got?
Assuming that we have both ordinary paper and pen, we should be able to make cootie catchers. To make a cootie catcher, you get a square piece of paper (easily obtained by ripping the long end off of a regular sheet) and fold it origami-style until it resembles a kind of square paper flower. Then, you stick your fingers inside the “petals” and manipulate the foldings to open and close the top opening, where some symbols are drawn.
There are many games you can play with cootie catchers, mostly involved with telling the future, specifically about little -girl crushes (for which Abby is a bit too young). But it can be useful for simple “random” games. This is a good pick for some interesting fun in line because it can also be reused from place to place simply by folding it up and tucking it into a pocket.
I asked for some suggestions online, and got MadLibs as a recommendation. MadLibs are a great idea, particularly if Abby was old enough to read well on her own. But MadLibs are difficult if you don’t have one of their books handy, and the paper isn’t useful for anything else when it’s got print all over it. Likewise with seek-and-finds and mazes, both of which Abby likes. Still, there are some printables on the web that look fun, if we were going to go the route of pre-printed activities.
A game called Goulash is a set of PDFs that you print that contain game boards. You start the game by placing first aid kits and ghouls around a game board that is identical to a copy that your opponent has. The board consists of buildings with walls inside, kind of like a maze. After you’ve placed your items on the board, the object is for you to make it through the maze and out of danger without dieing.
You manuever through the maze by describing to your opponent which route you take on the map to navigate the maze’s corridors. If you encounter a ghoul - as placed on your opponent’s map - then your opponent tells you this and you try to kill it to pass by. The ghouls have weak points, and when you select the right one to shoot, you kill the zombie. But if you select incorrectly, then the ghoul wounds you. Take too many wounds and you lose. If you encounter a hidden first aid kit, then you are healed.
In all, it’s a pretty neat game for something you play on paper. It’s like a zombie-movie version of Battleship. And doesn’t everyone love zombies? I know Abby does. Still, you’ve got to print it out, which leaves less space for coloring and other games than on double-sided white paper.
Another paper game I found is called Five Sides. The setup puts a big square on the sheet, bisecting it with a line from corner to corner. Players take turns drawing straight lines from one side of the square to the other, with the goal of creating 5-sided areas (pentagons) with the intersections. When you do this, you color in the area with your color, and you get a point. If you manage to surround any polygon completely with pentagons or the square’s edge, then you shade them in, too, and get an additional point.
I’m not sure how well this game plays out, because I’ve never tried it, but it seems like it could be entertaining, provided we can draw straight lines while standing in a moving ride queue.
What are your favorite games to play with just pen and paper?
