Parlour Games for Modern Families

Book excerpt: WINNER OF THE 2010 AUSTRALIAN BOOK INDUSTRY AWARDS BOOK OF THE YEAR FOR OLDER CHILDREN (AGE RANGE 8 TO 14 YEARS) Parlour Games for Modern Families sets out to revive the tradition of indoor family games: push aside the consoles, turn off the telly, and bring some mental stimulation, silliness and laughter, joy and connection back into your living room. This book is bursting with games of logic and memory, wordplay, card games, role-play, and rough and tumble. Not a single game requires equipment that you won’t find in your average home: a pack of cards, a dictionary, an hourglass, dice, paper and pen. Games are organised thematically and referenced for age appropriateness. All are set out with clear rules and instructions. There are games that will challenge and stimulate you, and games that will have you in fits; games that can last all night, and games to fill that empty half-hour before tea; games for adults and older children, and games for your four-year-old’s birthday party. Parlour Games for Modern Families, a book for fun-lovers aged four to 104, winds back the clock to remind you of games you’d forgotten and then a whole lot more. Whether you dip into it as the urge takes you or read it from cover to cover, a very good time is guaranteed. PRAISE FOR MYFANWY JONES AND SPIRI TSINTZIRAS ‘In this day and age, it's hard to prise the kids away from their electronic equipment (TV, computers, game consoles and on the list goes), not to mention you, the parent from your chores. But this little corker of a book should help you out. Written by two mothers, it's packed full of fabulous games that families used to play years ago ... Gather up the clan into one room, choose a game (Farkle, Pontoon, Flip the Kipper or Picture Consequences, perhaps) and have a bit of genuine fun, and family time.’ The Herald Sun ‘Wink Murder, Memory, Charades, Twenty Questions - the authors of this book sat musing over all the forgotten parlour games they used to play as children and decided they wanted a book of games, so they wrote it. With a passionate introduction that calls for the reintroduction of parlour games into family life, the authors put forward a case for family members connecting with each other via old-fashioned unplugged fun.’ The Sunday Mail