Today I've mostly bin...

[MBH]

Trust me, tilting moving, climbing 11 year olds who were getting up to about 15 feet in the air was TERRIFYING. Still, they all loved it and had a great time.

That's not 'terrifying' - that's BRILLIANT "Hey Kids - want to see how fast it can go?"

Sounds like you had a great day, and I'm sure that lad walking to the archery target balancing an apple on his head was only joking

I also insisted that mine picked 18 OR 21, not both.

I was given that choice - it is a specail birthday for "Coming Of Age" which can only happen once.

[LAT]

Make them pick 21. The chances are they'll organise it themselves.

[giraffe]

Yes I organised and paid for my own 21st. It wasn't a big fancy affair, just a few friends in the house I was living in at the time.

Apparently my grandmother said, when my mum was 21, that a 21st party was like a wedding without the bridegroom! But that may have been because they couldn't afford a fancy party like some of their friends were throwing for their daughters!

[Bunnylump]

My daughter had a bouncy castle, pin the tail on the donkey and jelly and jam sandwiches for her 21st birthday!!

[LAT]

We had a large lunch for family and friends for our daughter's 21st. Mainly because we had all been invited to a fair few family lunches etc in the past and thought this was a good way to pay everybody back. But this was a few months after the day since she was on her year abroad at the time. For the actual day itself we just sent her a bit of money towards treating some friends to a night out in Paris.

We offered to do similar for my son last year but he wasn't bothered so again we just gave him some money to spend with his friends. This time it was only in London though as he didn't have a year abroad.

[Bunnylump]

My son didn't want a party!! We went to Bekonscot model village for his!! Yes, both my kids are big kids. Dibble went out to his girlfriend's the other night armed with "Cleudo"!!!

[MBH]

Thanks for that image - my mind has suddenly developed a full set of rules for 'Kinky Kluedo' Charming!

[giraffe]

Miss Scarlet in the bedroom with the handcuffs?

[LAT]

Brilliant!

[Scurra]

Dibble went out to his girlfriend's the other night armed with "Cleudo"!!!

I will, of course, ask what's wrong with that? Unless you are labouring under the misapprehension that board games are only for kids?

[MBH]

Miss Scarlet in the bedroom with the handcuffs?

A self-description if ever I saw one.

I was being nice and subtle and letting people see things in their imagination - and who comes back with an on-the-forum posting? The Mother of the younger members of the forum

[giraffe]

Thomas is the youngest member! It would go over their heads anyway.

[clvrlad]

at least it wasn't rev green in the...

you know ill leave that one there..........

[LAT]

......getting wet. We're on holiday on Exmoor and it has rained all day.

[Bunnylump]

Dibble went out to his girlfriend's the other night armed with "Cleudo"!!!

I will, of course, ask what's wrong with that? Unless you are labouring under the misapprehension that board games are only for kids?

How often do you play Cleudo, Scurra? (Mind you, I expect that if there was a Miss Scarlet with her handcuffs you might be more tempted... ) I did actually offer him "Key Market", but he looked at the instructions and ran away. However, he did think the playing pieces "looked really cool".

[Scurra]

I was going to say that if you can track down a copy of Lost Cities I think he - and GF! - might rather like it. It's one of the most popular "couples" games - very simple rules and cleverly balanced (it feels like a classic card game but with an extra suit to complicate things a bit.)

I actually last played Cluedo about three months ago. But I suspect the version we played isn't one you would necessarily recognise (we used quite a few variants because the game as it stands has various problems - at least, they are problems if you are a serious gamer. )

[Bunnylump]

Much to my horror he had some of his male friend round two weeks ago, playing poker. I was really cross - I feel very strongly about gambling being a bad thing. Even if they were playing for pennies!! So after my adverse reaction, last week they played Risk instead. Silly beggars were up until 5am playing the game. They got progressively more idiotic and loud as the night went on (inventing new "rules" as they went along) So I'm reluctant to encourage him at all...

[clvrlad]

(we used quite a few variants because the game as it stands has various problems - at least, they are problems if you are a serious gamer. )

ooh do tell

[Bunnylump]

He doesn't have the key to Miss Scarlet's handcuffs...

[Scurra]

The first big rule is to kill the dice. In the current version of the game you play with 2 dice which actually overcompensates for the the problems in the original, which only had one. There are much more interesting alternatives.
I like using a card replacement system (everyone has a hand of cards of the same values, and each turn you play one until everyone has run out; then you pick them all back up again) because it means you have to choose what to play when. Another alternative is to simply let players move to an adjacent room - although you may have to ban the secret passages in that version as it can make movement too easy!

There are other changes that can be fun. For instance, there is a larger version of the game (called Master Detective) which has more suspects, weapons and rooms. However, playing on the standard board but with the extra suspects and weapons is quite entertaining.

(I think my favourite variant of all the ones we tried is, unfortunately, the hardest to do. Which is that if someone makes an accusation that turns out to be the actual solution then they lose and everyone else wins. Alas, this requires all the accusations to be tracked which is a bit tedious. It does makes the accusations part a lot more challenging though.)
(edit: Hmmm. I think I mean "suggestions" rather than "accusations" there. The "accusation" is the bit where you think you have the solution.)