The Dark Imp Blog
6 reasons to start playing board games on holiday
I’m on a mission to get more families playing board games. Board games have the power to bring families closer together and strengthen relationships. As our children get older, they naturally become more independent and as parents we begin to crave more time...
Video: Why Letter Market is a perfect activity for English lessons
Ellie explains why the coaster game Letter Market is a perfect activity for teachers and tutors to use in English lessons. Letter Market can be played with any number of people. It's quick and easy to get started. It helps with word construction, spelling and...
Alfie reviews… Hare and Tortoise
Alfie Dix, 17, reviews board games that he plays with the family and subsequently with groups of friends. Here’s his review of Hare and Tortoise. Animals, Racing and …. Carrots? That’s right it’s a race like no other and one that I was never expecting to partake in....
Video: The benefits of playing board games
Ellie gives 13 benefits of playing board games: Social skills, learning skills, time away from screens, learning from failure, shared experiences... and lots more. Please note: This video was created for the 2020 EdChat Conference and is largely aimed at teachers and...
Update: Loads of reviews (and some impish stickers)
Board Game Barrage Podcast Doughnut Dash was the first game talked about on this week’s Board Game Barrage Podcast. Board Game Barrage is a well-known and very popular board gaming podcast based in the US. This week, their guest was Richard Simpson from We’re Not...
Drew Murray’s Eight Games
In Eight Games different board gamers share the eight games they’d select in eight different situations. The links are given to Board Game Geek listings for you to find out more. This month Drew Murray, chooses his eight games. Drew is a British professional Games...
Video: Top 10 games to play via Zoom
In this video, Ellie shares her Top 10 games that can be played via Zoom. Following a couple of months of lockdown gaming, these are the ones that work best and that she returns to time and time again. https://youtu.be/EMtn6i-SKQw Games featured in this video also...
Update: Reviews and a sieve game
A Doughnut Dash Review We’re Not Wizards has reviewed Doughnut Dash… and it’s a great review. Here’s the summing up. “I like Doughnut Dash. I like Doughnut Dash a lot. I like how the game teaches directions and spacial awareness, I like how it forces the player to...
You can play… Word Mastermind
Mastermind is a classic two-player game that has a special place in the memory (and cupboard) of many people. The satisfyingly tactile coloured pegs that you can pop out from the back of the board, the triangular screen that you kept knocking over by accident... even...
Video: Building your family board games collection
In this video, Ellie chats about different kinds of games that could make up a family board game collection. Making sure you have different games for different situations will mean that the family plays more often. https://youtu.be/pflMKQKiL1E
Update: A podcast, some new coaster games and a load of videos
Tabletop Gaming Magazine Podcast Tabletop Gaming Magazine has resurrected their podcast and episode 1 is… “Family Games with Ellie Dix”. Hooray! In the interview we cover: Teaching new games to your family Choosing the right games for the people Aspects of gaming...
Board games in lockdown
One of the positive impacts of lockdown has been the increased time available to spend as a family. Normally, evenings are filled with sports practices, rehearsals or clubs, so it’s harder to carve out time together. Despite the greater time available, it’s still been...