I am really itching to try this game, and am wondering what the experience has been when playing with the younger audience. I'll let the 5 year old help me, but my eldest daughter, 11, is who I am really interested in getting hooked on this things So, it'd most likely be a 2 player format, unless by some magic I convince the wife to play as well. Thoughts on this one? I was also considering Descent (another I must try) but thought that might be a bit of a stretch at this point.

Well, I played the 2:th edition for the first time when I was 10, so I don't think there should be any problem.

Try to start small without the cornerboard expansions and with the regular Crown of Command-ending, if the rules seems to be to compact for new beginners.

Two players is okay, 3 is better, and 4 is really good. After that it begins to bog down, and you'll need to be prepared to treat it as shared activity amid socializing. I've played with players as young as 7 and as old as 71. Talisman is very much a game that can be learned as you play if you take the time for a quick overview of the rules and leave the nitty-gritty until later. You're going to miss some of the details and maybe run into one or two conundrums, but seriously, you can just jump right in!

I've got a 9 year old son who can play it ok, but he runs his characters into the ground because he doesn't quite understand that staying alive requires some thinking ahead about when to keep fighting and when to try and get healed. My Wife will play Talisman if her friends play as well. We've had as many as eight people play at a time but usually it's four to six of us using all of the expansions. We do use a house rule that makes it so the game moves right along (look at my other posts for that info) when there is four or more playing.

My other two sons that are six and seven can't handle the game for more than 20 minutes before wanting to do something else. I think it's all about what interests them mentally...my five year old daughter loves to play Carcassonne, but my two younger boys loose interest half way through. I have a fifteen year old daughter that will play Talisman occassionally, but she loves to play Citadels way more.

Descent would be out of the question, try Runebound instead, it's less complicated.

Good luck, and be patient.

Blackalliance said:

Thanks, I have Carcassonne around, but never thought about digging that out for the girls. I'll have to fix that. I'll also look into Citadels and Runebound. I'll probably pick up Talisman and just go rules light for a bit. I look at some of your house rules.

My daughter is nine and can play full rules, all expansions. She isn't rough and tough PvP but that's not everything.

Settlers of Catan is a pretty good one for kids that age if you don't want something quite as mind-frying as Talisman.

I just played a game the other day with my 5 year old daughter. We used some of the speed play rules from the rulebook, and I just skipped telling her you could fight other players, but it went very smoothly. In fact, due to some horrific rolling on my part and really fortune events on hers, she won. Sigh.

If your child has a decent grasp of basic math, it shouldn't be a problem at all, but you might have to skip or exclude certain bits just to make it fast enough to play with them. For example, we used the rule that the first to reach the Crown wins. Additionally, we used 3 trophy points for each point of STR/CFT. I also chose the characters, giving her the Warrior. Still, she drew a Talisman and then got teleported to the Inner Region, defeated Death, scoffed at the werewolves, and simply walked into the Crown. If I can't be good at Talisman, maybe I can be the dad of a good player.

J

My friends 11 year old and 7 year old love playing Talisman with our group. The 7 year old can get a little bored when you are playing with 5+ players and it isnt his turn. And you do have to remind him that he needs to start moving towards the ending at certain points. But other then that they love playing the game. Also, the 7 year olds favorite thing to do is attack other players, he just thinks its the greatest part of the game.

I play with my 10-year old boys and they absolutely love it. The first few games took a bit of patience, but now they are quite confident and make sound strategic decisions.