Snake Oil--This is a variation on Apples to Apples. It's good for large groups of creative people. We played it on our hotel staycation with Laura's family. All the children are extraordinarily creative, and the problem is getting them to stop talking and give someone else a turn.

Imperial Assault--The kids and John play this one. Both kids don't have to be there for it to work, so Rose can be off making a movie with a friend or David can be at a birthday party. Great for spring break. John wrote a long post about this game over the summer. Basically, you get to be part of the Star Wars story and go on missions.

Pandemic Legacy--I can't believe I haven't written about this yet because we've been playing it regularly for several months. Pandemic is a co-operative game where everyone plays a character with different abilities like the medic can cure more but the dispatcher can move people around. The goal is to cure four diseases. There tend to be epidemics and outbreaks. Ok, that's the basics.

Pandemic Legacy explodes this way open. It constantly changes the game. For instance, if an epidemic happens in Cairo, it might get a sticker marking it as fallen. Well, you can't fly into that city; you have to find another way to save it. Or you suddenly learn that you have a new mission, to build military bases. The game is constantly shifting balance with you getting new abilities but new problems cropping up. Every time you play, you get to open to new boxes that suddenly reveal new rules, characters, objectives. . . It's so much fun and crazy making.

David is intellectually capable of playing the game, but he gets bored waiting for the rest of us to think through all the different permutations for each turn. Rose and John are particularly concerned with running through every option. Sometimes I just want to fly to Essen and cure the blue disease even if it means I missed putting up some roadblocks we needed. David handles this by reading his book when it's not his turn.

The game plays out over a calendar year, and we are currently in November. So, we've almost finished. We lost badly last night, but that just means we'll get some extra support cards next time.