Hi
I have developed a family board game. At the moment I am stating " for ages 9+ " on the box. The rules may be a bit challenging for a player aged nine, however, they are all on a double sided A4 . I also state "family game "on the box. Should I up the age stated ( and lose out on 9+ sales) or assume purchasers will understand it is meant to be played as family? Thanks in advance. super-ape.
Players ages on a board game.
Thu, 03/09/2006 - 03:15
Thu, 03/09/2006 - 05:27
#1
Re: Players ages on a board game.
It would be fine to use that label. Age 9+ would normally be the same as age 9-99 (9+ is more common).
If you want you can write: A family game from 9 year (or something like that). That would also indicate what type of game it is.
// Johan
Thu, 03/09/2006 - 10:34
#2
This is a really tough one!
I've found the age question to be a really, really tough one.
My theory when starting out was that the minimum age should be the age of the child that you could give the game to and have them enjoy it. For example, if a person bought your game as a present for a child, how old would that child have to be to enjoy it?
This approach hasn't worked terribly well.
For example, in Ice Lake (a gamily board game), we listed the age as age 9+ because that's what our testing revealed. However, we subsequently heard from parents that they loved playing with kids as young as 5.
For SiegeStones, we got a little more aggressive, taking the approach that the minimum age as the minimum age of people who enjoy the game. Since 7 year olds played it fine, we put the minimum age at age 7. Unfortunately, this is a game that is enjoyed primarily by teens and adults, so we've had to fight a perception battle and convince people that adults will enjoy the game. As a side note, ToysRUs.com says the game is for ages (8-8). How frustrating is that?
So... I guess my answer to your question would be to set the age according to who you think would enjoy the game, and then use the illustration and copy text to explain that it's not designed for 9 year olds to play with each other.
- Patrick Matthews
Live Oak Games
www.liveoakgames.com
P.S. Yes, "Age 9+" works fine, but we've had better reaction to "Ages 9 and up"
Thu, 03/09/2006 - 23:25
#3
Players ages on a board game.
I find it very hard to evaluate the age unless you play test heavily on kids of different ages. There can be many factor that influence the age rating :
Theme : Some themes should be good for certain age range. Other theme can raise restriction (ex: violence)
Rule Complexity : Games for kid are generally easier to use. Whaile adult can manage a larger amount of rules. Consider that normally kids does not need rules to play, so the rules must stay really light.
Components : Some game component could be dangerous for very young people. For example, in Emmerlaus, they call it 3+ because a young kid can shoke himself with the dices. But on my point of view, 3 years is still too young to play this game.
Object of the game : Some kind of games will attrack people of different age categories. There is not really a way to know this, you must test and see who is interested.
