Yes, we have them.  We love them and even sometimes play games with them. Here is what we have discovered about gaming with and sometimes in spite of our children:

GAMING WITH KIDS I
A TIMETABLE FOR GATHERING ON FRIDAY NIGHTS

While many websites talk about how you can get your spouse to watch the kids while you game, or give you  more eye rolling advice about hiring babysitters, here is a timetable that has worked for our weekly gathering of up to 4 couples and 6 children:

6:00 pm.  Group Dinner (Optional).  Sometimes we order ‘za.  Sometimes we get some take out Chinese.  Sometimes we grill.  Sometimes we skip getting together for dinner altogether.

7:00 pm.  Gather, set out a potluck group of snacks, pull out gaming materials for the evening. Oh, and get caught up on real life stuff that happened that week.

7:30 pm.  Begin playing.  This is the typical time for rule explanations, questions, bringing newbies up to speed. The kids at this point are ramming around either outside, downstairs or in various bedrooms, playrooms or living rooms entertaining each other with only occasional minor injuries.

8:00-ish pm.  All kids get into jammies. Brush teeth. Go potty, put on pull-ups, do their whole bedtime routines.  An approved (not too scary for the youngest ones) DVD goes into the machine in a nearby room.  Kids are often camped out on the floor in blankets and sleeping bags. We play our game in relative peace, only briefly needing to alternate leaving the table to mediate disputes and handle tired kid meltdowns.

10:00 pm.  (Or whenever the DVD ends.)  A complete gaming break is called. Kids are divided up into the places where they are supposed to sleep. Tucking in occurs with hugs and kisses.  Last minute potty trips and glasses of water and medications are dispensed. Once all the kids are down in their appropriate bed or sleeping bag, lights are out.  Adults take this break opportunity to use the bathroom and refill beverages and snack bowls. Kids being too noisy, turning on lights, or doing anything besides going to the bathroom after this point in time are read the riot act or the magna carta, (which ever is longer. )  Once all is relatively quiet on the bedroll front, we get to do some serious game playing.

11- Midnight (Or whenever the game ends).  Parents start cars to warm them up (especially in the winter) and gather up all of their random stuff and stash it in their cars. Once everything is gathered and the parents coats are on, the (hopefully now asleep) children are carried in blankets or sleeping bags to their cars for the drive home.  (Note: once your child is too big to carry, they are old enough to be woken up to put on their coat and to briefly walk to the car. )

Once home, the children are tucked into their own beds, and the perishable snacks are placed in the fridge.  The rest of the stuff can be sorted out later.

Hopefully there is nothing going on Saturday morning, and everyone can sleep in to make up for the late night gaming the night before.

This schedule typically works for us, and the kids are making some great friendships and building some awesome memories from their weekly get together.

 –Of course, if you have a sick kid or family coming in from out of town or other important engagements on Friday evening, this entire plan can dissolve like cotton candy inside a sticky kid.  We try to have a sense of humor about it and console ourselves that the holiday season and vacations are only for a few weeks, and that soon we will be gathering together for our weekly games again.

GAMING WITH KIDS II
(The VBGG- SKYPE METHOD)

While we get together in person for face to face games on Friday nights, Wednesday evenings are for our virtual gatherings, and include people who simply live too far to drive to join us in person.

On Wednesday afternoon, an email usually goes out to remind people of the gathering and ask their potential availability. People respond to all in their replies.

8:00 pm.  It is a school night, so homework needs to be done and bedtime stuff needs to start by 8 pm to be completely done in time. After the books are read, prayers are said and the required stuffed animals and special blankets are located and penned in the appropriate bedchamber, lights are out. Parents go to their computers and log into Skype, changing their status to show that they are available to chat.

9:00 pm.  Someone with a beefy computer and internet connection begins a Skype session and calls all of the others in the group who are currently online.

9:15 pm.  By now we typically have figured out how many people we have for the evening, and have chosen a game or two and divided ourselves up into one or two groups. Login commences into Brettspeilwelt, or Days of Wonder or any number of other online gaming sites that allow private games.

9:30 pm.  Typically the games begin.  The parent who has the most time before their next turn is typically the one who would handle a child out of bed problem. We typically start a second Skype session if we are divided into two groups.

11:00 pm.  Fairly strict endtime. It is a work and school night.  Occasionally a couple of die hards will play until 11:30 pm. —Especially if there is a grudge match involved.

Virtual gaming like this has a lot of potential, since it is a great method through which we can play and table talk through Skype even though we are all at our individual homes.  But sometimes there are frustrations too.  Computer problems are the most frequent culprit. You have to be sure to keep on top of your Skype and Java updates and have a good headset with a mike.

 It can also be difficult to teach someone a new game using this method, since you can’t point to things on the virtual gaming board and will have to resort to saying things like, “Do you see that greenish-brown box on the lower right side of the board?” Taking the time to teach someone a new game during a short two hour gaming slot is also sometimes a problem. Sending people an email link to the rules of a new game ahead of time is a great solution to this.  In that way, people can read the rules and look at the board hours or days before logging in to the virtual gathering at 9:00 pm. With all that being said, online gaming is best when it is a game that everyone is already familiar with.