My family loves games. We love to take a break from school just to play games. When that game can include learning, like math, I love it even more! We had a chance to check out two games from Grandpa Beck’s Games, Cover Your A$$ets and Antiquity Quest. We were impressed from the moment we got our package in the mail!

Both games came in durable packaging with easy to understand instructions. And if you or your child does not like reading instructions, there is a video of the instructions for each of these games, and all the games from Grandpa Beck’s on their website. Not only that but for games that have scorecards, you can print up more on the website if you need them.

After reading and watching about both games, we decided to start with Antiquity Quest. I played this game with my 11-year-old son. This game is for 2-8 players and you can even play in teams. It is recommended for ages 10 and older, but as we started playing, my 8-year-old was interested in playing with us. 

This game can be played in one round or extended to three rounds. Each round takes about 10 minutes to complete, so you can make this a fun short game or a longer game night game. The game comes with scorecards, playing cards, and rules cards. The playing cards and rules cards are durable and will last for many years of play!

To start the game, each gets two hands of ten cards. One is to play the second is the cache hand. Taking turns, we go through and try to make collections of antiquities. The first person to get five collections wins that round. Each card has a value. At the end of each round, you tally up your points and subtract points from the cards that were not played.

This was a truly fun game that my son and I were able to enjoy. It was also easy enough to teach to my 8-year-old daughter and have her join in with us.

The second game from Grandpa Beck’s Games that we played was Cover Your A$$ets. The playing cards were the same high quality, but this game was a little different. The goal of this game was to reach $1,000,000 first.

While it is recommended to have 4-6 players for this game, they do give an option for two or three players also. This was a great option for us, mainly because Dad and big brother were hit or miss to play with at certain times. This was also nice for the times when just one kid wanted some alone time with mom and a game.

Dealing out four or five cards, depending on how many people are playing, is the start of this game. We took turns trying to find matches and totaling up our assets as we laid them down. The favorite part of this game is the chance to steal someone’s top asset, and that means the one on the top of the stack, not the most expensive. The kids learned early on to lay their most valuable asset down first because the “nest egg” could not be stolen. 

To win this game, you keep a total of your assets each round, and the first person to reach $1,000,000 is the winner. This was a fun and competitive game. The kids loved trying to challenge and steal assets from each other and mom. They took the instructions very seriously when it said to challenge with a smirk or a sweet smile. This made for a lot of laughs during our game!

These games were a blast and a much-needed change to our normal games. Not only that, but we were able to add in math and history. History was added when my son wanted to know more about the antiquities on the cards, I was the mean mom, and said look it up! He walked away and had a great time finding the information and having the knowledge to tell me about them the next time we played.

With all the extra time at home, these are games you should check out! Your kids will thank you, and you will know that they are learning while they are playing!

-Product review by Amanda Hopkins, The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, LLC, May 2020