My kids have never been ones for toys, not the girls at least. The Monster, especially, has always preferred things with a strong element of human interaction - make believe, wrestling, painting together, long conversations, and games. But even games and our interest in them come and go. They are definitely a winter activity and with an extremely precocious toddler in the house we have to manage our time and space around games. The games that have, without a doubt, captured all of us in the family are the ones made by Gamewright.

And when I say captured all of us I mean even my husband enjoys playing them. This is a man who likes to say, "There is a reason they are called BORED games." But he will happily sit down and get his butt kicked by a 7 year old who mastered the numbers game Rat-a-Tat Cat from the first time she played it a year ago. That child is a ninja at that game. And The Evil Genius has an eye for strategy on Too Many Monkeys.

The games provide the opportunity for strategic thinking in the midst of a pretty fast pace. My kids do not get bored playing these games. Frankly, neither do we. And with a full range of games I expect they will grow up with our family.

We purchased ours at a local toy store, but they seem to be available everywhere, including the major online retailers.