Offline Games

Each summer my family goes up to stay with my in-laws for about a month. I don't have that kind of vacation so I usually go up for a week or so and then work the rest of the time.

This time my kids took their favorite stuffed Pokemon and the latest Pokedex book from Prima publishing ( http://amzn.to/p3Dqdf ). When they were not actually playing Pokemon on their Gameboys, they came up with a way to play it with their stuffed animals.

The Pokedex book is very complete and contains the stats from the game for each pokemon as well as the possible moves and the chances each would be successful. My kids took the dice out of a Monopoly game and were rolling for initative and the whole deal. It was a proud moment when my daughter described their game to me on the phone.

I always am afraid that future generations will never look for games beyond the nearest "app store". For the first time I see that there is less of a distinction for them between video game, board game or RPG -- they are all just fun games. So game designers out there, take heart! The next generation loves games, and a RPG can compete for the attention of even the most connected young mind!