Don't Forget The Children.
At Squark Games, believe that playing non-electronic games are an essential part of development in children. The experiences of playing games with their friends encourage social interaction and promote the understanding of each others' actions. Playing these games also teaches children to follow rules, distills lateral and original thinking and respect for other players. In Europe, the playing of non-electronic games are important family activities. This promote family bonding, awareness and improves family ties. These parents don't just buy a computer game for their children and hope the children stay in front of the computer the whole day (very unhealthy) and not bother them while the parents watch TV. Instead, they gather the family together and play non-electronic games. This is evident in the the attendees of the biggest non-electronic games convention in the world: Essen Spiele. This convention is held annually in the month of October in the German city of Essen. The attendees are games enthusiasts and games enthusiasts and their families. They are mostly from Europe as well as from US and a few from the rest of the world (including Malaysians). The important point is that for gamers with families, this is the show they would want family members to participate in.
In Malaysia, we have mostly grown up with the usual staple of the usual games that are readily available from mega toy stores. Although these now-traditional games are fun to play with for a while, they tend not to mellow with age and gets a bit repetitive after a while. As for the educational values, apart from learning to count money, and learning trivial words in order to score that triple score, they are quite limited. We aim to change that with our new range of children's games which have educational values.
A game in the Bright Idea Games series which encourages counting and memory is Sherlock Deluxe. In this game, players move a cute plastic Shelock figure around clue cards. As Sherlock goes round, the players must try to remember what cards Sherlock reveals. If the player remembers a faced-down card that Sherlock reveals correctly, he continues with moving Sherlock. If Sherlock reaches a faced-up card, that player keeps the card. This simple and intriguing game is suitable for children from 5 years old to adults. It encourages counting, directions, object recognition and, most importantly, stimulates memory retention.
Another game in the Bright Idea Games series with high educational value I would like to highlight is Time After Time. This is a card game suitable for children from 6 onwards. The game setting is that someone keeps changing the clock. In this game, each player must think how they can put their clocks in sequential order while keeping a sharp eye on the mischievous mice which keep turning the clock's hands. This game encourages children to tell the time, develops the notion of sequential chronological order as well as task planning and thinking ahead.
Another good educational game in the Squark Blog entry is Gopher It! Each player plays a gopher gathering food for the winter. The goal is to collect exactly six apples or exactly six carrots or exactly six nuts. But, players shouldn't get too greedy. If a player collects the same food twice in a row, that player will lose all the cards that are stored. This wonderful game encourages Basic Addition Skills, introduces simple strategy, develops social interaction play.
At Squark Games, we do not forget the children. We nurture them through our games and we encourage all families from all walks of life, to play non-electronic games together. This is our social mission and we are very committed to it. So much so that, together with Berjaya Books Sdn. Bhd. which operates Borders Bookstores in Malaysia and Starbucks Malaysia, we are planning family Games Meetup sessions in Borders Bookstores and selected Starbucks stores in Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya and Penang where we can teach families new educational games like those above as well as other family-oriented games from our catalogue. These sessions will start in the month of October 2009 onwards. The first Games Meetup will be held from 2 pm to 6 pm on Sunday 4th October 2009 at Borders Bookstore in The Curve, Petaling Jaya and in Starbucks Coffee within the Borders store. Participation is free, so why not come and play a game, and don't forget to bring the children.
