My daughter has been asking me about A Game of Thrones lately. Obviously the Show and the Books are off limits, but is there anything in the card game that would be considered inappropriate for a child of 10. She is an avid reader and a bright kid, she has read the hunger games books and the harry potter series if that helps.

Thanks

Eh. The art itself isn't really that bad. I'm sure there are some images that might seem inappropriate, but if she's read The Hunger Games then it's nothing worse than in those books. Honestly, if she read the Hunger Games then I feel like the books really aren't that much worse. I think you'd be fine letting her play the game. Especially if you just get the Core Set since it functions a lot like a board/card game you'd pick up at Walmart.

Agree with Staton, nothing bad about the game itself at all, and actually is very challenging and will be good for working on problem solving skills

Thank you Staton and Magichacker for the input. I will pick it up and see how it goes.

Let us know! I'm curious to see which house she picks. I'm thinking Targ, because, well…Dragons!

Staton said:

ktom said:

The sexual violence (in all of the books) is totally inappropriate for a 10 year old, IMO.

Yeah, wasn't really thinking about the sex part. Touché on that one guys. Was really only thinking about the violence. Yeah definitely inappropriate for a 10 year old.

The only thing in the game that touches on that is the pidgeon-holing of women in some of the artwork as creatures of seduction and prostitution. I'm thinking of Shae, the Brothels, Art of Seduction. Not major, but present.

It's a good thing he said the books and the show are off-limits to her.

The card game does not have any explicit sexual images. There are a few card titles that may reference sex like Seductive Promise or X Brothel for example. I have not read much of the flavor text on most of the cards to know if there is anything as sexually detailed as the book, but I'm thinking no.

Unless the daughter figures out that "kneeling" in a lot of cases means "going to a brothel or sleeping with shay" then she will be fine, lol.

I remember that there was a family of 5 (kids in 6th, 5th & 3rd, IIRC) in the old Glen Burnie meta (Son of Starfall, etc.) who played, and the father was reading them the books in a bowdlerized fashion. To what lengths parents will go…

ktom said:

I never understood how you can have graphic depictions of murder and violence and it's great for kids, but as soon as you introduce sex it becomes inappropriate. I mean, If I had to choose, I'd rather have my kids sleeping around than killing people. I guess that's why I'm not a parent.

MarthWMaster said:

MarthWMaster said:

Oh, I wouldn't go so far as to say the depictions of violence and murder are "great" for kids - only that the depitions of violence and murder are not much more graphic than what you find in some books that are firmly set in the Young Adult genre. (And it's not like all YA is approrpiate for 10-year-olds, either. Personally, depending on the specific 10-year-old in question, I think Hunger Games pushes it.) I was just pointing out that there are elements other than violence in ASOIAF that are very far removed from anything even remotely considered YA.

Some depictions of violence in the books might not be graphic, but they're disturbing all the same. I'm thinking of the cut-off heads and what happens to "Reek" in book 4. Not to mention people burned alive. Much of the sex is definitely inappropriate, too (isn't Dany 13 when she's married?).

The card game's art only alludes to seduction (the brothel cards have no flavor text, including the guard). Shae's art has her in a pretty suggestive position, but still nothing beyond PG-13.

Yes the game is totally appropriate for a 10 year old

I first introduced my son to Thrones when he was 10 (he is 15 now). For card games he had only played Naruto CCG before Thrones and found it extremely challenging and much more complex. However that was excellent to develop his critical thinking skills.

The one thing that might be a little discouraging for kids that young that are playing games is if your daughter starts playing games people in your meta who run competitive decks. My son has always preferred miniature games to card games and when he was really into Heroclix we ran into some very annoying power gamers. IMO any adult that runs some top meta build against a 12 year old's fun build on a weekday gaming night is a punk-a**. That really turned him off to Heroclix.

Thrones however, at least out here in California, has really super cool players that are very nice to teenagers they play against. Having played all sorts of games since the 1980s Strategicon conventions in Los Angeles, I can say I never met such an amazingly awesome group of gamers as I have through Thornes and that goes back to games like Car Wars in the 1980s. It is a MUCH better choice than playing Yu-Gi-Oh or something that might have more teenagers playing but the community is just awful in comparison. If you have a great meta (like we do in California) I would definitely bring her out after she gets used to the game and rules.

Oh and the other skill Thrones really helps develop is reading comprehension. My son used to just kind of skim the cards when was 10 (he always read above grade level but didnt always read carefully). He has now learned to read much more carefully when looking at cards. Recently I have been impressed that he has started really thinking about combos and such and really reads carefully now (probably better than me hahaha).

So in conclusion, if your daughter is interested, definitely introduce her to the game. As your kids get older and become teenagers its really great to have shared hobbies that you can both enjoy no matter how old they are or how "uncool" you become as parent

best of luck to you Ser

Thanks everyone, I have the game now and will most likely start playing this weekend.

Keep us updated, I'm really curious as to how she takes to it! Also Im in my twenties and have only started reading Hunger Games last week, is that sad? >.>

UPDATE: Games have been going well. Regarding Shea, I think that the idea of a woman distracting a character from their duties is firmly within her grasp.

As a side note; she was invited to see Brave with a friend and her family. She elected not to go after seeing the trailer on AppleTV and finding it too scary.

I'm in two minds about introducing it to my son, too… I just don't want to have to explain what a 'brothel' is! Maybe I can just hide those particular cards. ;-)

haha That's a good call. Maybe you can just explain that it's a place that only grownups go to? Like a grownups playground?

Staton said:

I'm not sure if Jason wants to give his son the idea that it's something to look forward to…

haha oh good point there. Man, parenting is hard!