What Phase 10 has taught me about my kids

I love game night with the kids.  Sometimes we play Rumikub.  Sometimes we play Toy Story Yahtzee.  Sometimes we play Blockus.  Sometimes we play Dance Party on the Kinect.  Or Adventure Sports.

Tonight we played a few rounds of Uno Flash (a major favorite that I recommend to families with kids of all ages).  We played that for the sake of Mac being able to play.  Then we moved on to Phase 10.

Jason and I have a long history with Phase 10.  When we were dating, engaged and then newlyweds, we played this game all the time with Charlie and Amie and Philip and Sarah.  Every extra evening was spent with these two couples and we played this game A LOT!!  Our next phase of life, with five little kids, we had Dusty and Rachel over every Sunday night for dinner and a round of Phase 10.  We even wrote "Rachel" on all our Skip cards because she thought we always skipped her.  :)

So, tonight we taught the kids how to play.  It is a slightly complicated game to understand at first, but the kids did fairly well to pick up on it.  And each of their personalities were brought out, just a little bit more...

Mollee - Moody - she didn't want to play, but didn't want to be left out.  At the beginning of the game, she was doing poorly and in a bad mood.  But as we moved along, she did better and better and her mood improved greatly.

Tavis - Scattered - he had a hard time following the game.  And he couldn't figure out how to hold his cards in a fan.  He had cards laying on the table and kept dropping cards, etc.  I was beginning to see why he can never find his homework.

Daegan - Over-Achiever - he understood immediately, played intensely and strategically.  When he lost a hand, you could see his disappointment, but you could also see his determination.  And he ended up winning - the little turkey!!

Capps - Systematic - he understood and worked out his own strategy in his head.  He had a plan, even though it looked like confusion in his corner.  He had cards laying face down on the table (which drives me crazy), but he could tell you exactly what was laying where - and exactly what he needed.