Board and card games for 11-year-old (kids, better, play)

[SnazzyB]

There's always Rummy, and Hearts. All you need is a deck of cards. :-)

[Stagemomma]

Trouble is fun and easy

[DubbleT]

Hey OP
I was out and about today and noticed a game called Monopoly: Rivals Edition, a shorter version of the classic meant for only two players. I saw a few other 'rivals edition' games too, I think maybe Life and Sorry. Thought it might be worth looking into.
https://www.amazon.com/Monopoly-Riva.../dp/B08P31LT62

[USNRET04]

My family loves Spot-it card game. It's for young and old.

https://www.spotitgame.com/

[goldenlove]

Wow, I am a female and grew up playing Risk with my dad. I didn't know that it was supposed to be aimed at males only.

I think Rummikub would be a great game to play with her. Double solitaire is an option, too. We play Scrabble occasionally and Yatzee, too. I did love this card game (Spit) when I was her age: https://bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/spit/. Do you do crossword puzzles together?

[loves2read]

My almost-10 grandson was over today while his mom was finishing up at her school and we played Shut the Box
Very simple, fast moving, dice game that involves more luck than real strategy
The box is clunky but doesn’t have lot of moving parts like Monopoly (which I hate) and would be good for almost any age group
Can play with a points count for four and just win/lose if you choose
And every game is over quickly so you can play best of 10 or something like that

[bus man]

Originally Posted by WalkingLiberty1919D

I’ll be honest, I’m a bit surprised by the resistance to strategy war games for a girl.

I am absolutely not opposed to girls playing strategy war games. It's just, at least in my experience, they aren't interested in them. When my son was younger, he and I would play Risk and Carrier Strike a lot. When he got a little older, we'd play the Avalon Hill game Midway. But then he was drawn in by the allure of electronic video games, and we don't play board games any more. Meanwhile, I don't think my daughter ever played any of those games. I offered, but she just wasn't interested.

[NC~Mom]

At that age we played a lot of chess, rummy, and war.

[Coney]

Our go to game at home has always been Chinese Checkers. I learned that there was a trick to starting it out, which everyone in my house has learned so it starts very fast. But later, you need strategy.

The other game that we played a lot was mancala. It's a good game for just two people and it also has a fast pace. 2-3 games of Mancala might last 30 minutes.

[Riley.]

Originally Posted by Tzaphkiel

Mastermind
Super Mastermind (even better, and harder, if she likes regular master mind)

Backgammon

Jigsaw puzzles, let her pick a design she likes when you take her shopping; Hallmark store has (or used to have) great jigsaw puzzle designs, high quality.

And then as another project, for completed puzzles you can paint them with Mod Podge, and mount on foamcore to hang on the wall.

Boggle (if you both like word games)

Krypto (a math card game)

i absolutely love Dominion, and you can keep adding different sets and it is never the same game twice and is always interesting.

I also love the card game Set, it is challenging and fun. It was years before i finally was able to beat my son, he was really good at it.

Uno

I am envious you have a kid to play games with! My kids are in their 30s now, so we only get to play games occasionally on visits. I miss it a lot.

I was also going to suggest adding jigsaw puzzles to the list. They are fun and absorbing and, I think, use a different part of the brain than strategy games. The key is to set up a dedicated table for the puzzle, so you can return to it again and again until it's finished.