I tried some children’s games with Johanna. These are always pretty hard to evaluate when you don’t have children to try them with. Both games are not very good for adult use, so they’ll end up in storage, waiting for Nooa to grow up.

Das kleine Gespenst is based on a classic children’s book by Otfried Preussler. I haven’t read it, but I really, really liked Krabat* so I suppose it might be good. Anyway, it’s a fairly basic memory game with some dexterity game elements (well, it may start as a guessing game and then evolve to a memory game, depending on the setup) with fantastic components. It’s really, really very cool, one of the prettiest games in my collection. So, I think this should be good, if the ghost theme manages to draw the kid in (I loved ghosts as a kid).

Geisterwäldchen is the sequal to Geistertreppe. It’s roll and move — children are trying to escape the ghost tower. There’s some cute twists, like the giant dwarf that escorts the kids. Early in the game the dwarf is a threat, as players who cross the river with the dwarf will return to the start. After the river, dwarf carries the players to safety. Pawns attach magnetically to dwarf, so after you move to dwarf you must continue with the dwarf — and all the other pawns that move with the dwarf. Ghosts are used to take off unnecessary parasites from the dwarf. Cute game, but nothing for adults as such. Should be fun with kids, though.

* Krabat is also known as The Satanic Mill — but who would let their kids read a book with a title like that? Anyway, the black magic and devil-worship theme was the thing that drew me in. And you shouldn’t be scared, as the story has a moral, too. It’s been translated to 31 languages and it has won many awards, also in the States.