Happy Birthday, Samantha

This is Samantha in September of last year.

And here she is when she was five.

Back then, she and I played lots of games of Max.

This is the second game I bought from Family Pastimes. (The first one was Mountaineering which I bought at a nature conference.)

Since Samantha was often the only grandchild at our house, she didn't have other children to play with. I was her playmate.

I never liked most of the beginning games my children played because the losers were always upset.  In co-operative games there are no losers.

It was Max, the cat, or the little animals he was hunting who were the winners or losers.  Samantha and I took turns rolling the dice.  Black meant Max moved, green meant the little animals moved.

The goal was for all the little animals to make it safely to their homes in the tree.  Samantha and I could distract Max and send him back home by putting a treat on the porch...kibble or milk or cheese or catnip.

Samantha loved the game.

Later, I learned something about certain eight year old grandsons.  They liked to play the game to HELP Max catch the little animals.  Nevertheless, this is a game I highly recommend for young children.

For more information about this game and others, see Family Pastimes.