Eva enjoys playing games. We have many games for her age and many for us. The one thing about every game that we have is that there is a winner and one or more losers. Sure, I loved playing monopoly and crushing the other players but that is certainly the type of game that can end in a fistfight or even begin with one. I don’t think I’d heard of a cooperative board game before. Luckily, game play has evolved.

Eva and I spent the late morning playing quite a few rounds of Lost Puppies. Lost Puppies is a cooperative game from Peaceable Kingdom. Game play is pretty simple but with enough twists that the outcome is not set in stone. Players either win as a group or lose as a group. Eva picked it up really quickly, all except for the fact that after you use certain pieces they are no longer in play.

Players try to get six lost puppies back to their homes before dark. There are cards that block the puppies from getting home and there are some that help the puppies. Players can share game pieces and work together to get the puppies home. We played a number of times and lost the game only once. When Allison came home we played together as a family and it was one of the most enjoyable family game play that we’ve had in some time.

Peaceable Kingdom has five new games that are now in stores. And I’ve got the opportunity to give one of those great games away to one lucky reader (Reader’s Choice).

Ways to Enter
(Leave 1 SEPARATE Comment for EACH Entry).

• 1 Entry – Mandatory to Enter – To enter the contest visit the www.peaceablekingdom.com site and tell me what your favorite childhood game was and did it ever cause a fight. Leave this as your FIRST comment.
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• 1 Entry – Subscribe to BenSpark’s Giveaway Newsletter
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• 1 Entry – Tweet about this Peaceable Kingdom giveaway… something like
  @BenSpark wants you to cooperate while game playing. Win one of 5 Peaceable Kingdom board games. http://bit.ly/lPT8p5 Pls RT
  (Leave a comment with a link to your tweet. Here is how to get that link to your tweet)

I will not respond to any comments so that I can run the Random.org numbers correctly. Any trackbacks are unapproved while I select the random winner and then re-approved after. Only legitimate entries are counted. You have until 5:00pm EST on June 17, 2011 to enter. Once 5:00pm EST rolls around (or as early the next morning as possible) I will close the comments. The winner will be notified via e-mail and will have 48 hours to reply with a U.S. Mailing address so that we can send the winner their prize. Contest is open to U.S. Only. Please do not use multiple names to enter. Make it fair for everyone and don’t stack the deck.

Disclosure: I received my own copy of Lost Puppies to play with at home with my family. We love games and this was no exception, this was lots of fun. The opinions about the game are 100% mine.

NEW GAMES INTRODUCE THE CONCEPT OF ‘WE’
Toy Stores Now Stocking Five Cooperative Games By Peaceable Kingdom From ‘Count Your Chickens’ & ‘Hoot Owl Hoot’ To ‘Mermaid Island’

Berkeley, CA (May 10, 2011) – Typical games, from checkers to cards, manage to have one player win and everyone else lose. What’s the fun in that? Sharing, giggling and cooperating (plus no hurt feelings) are the wonderful concepts behind Peaceable Kingdom’s rollout of five delightful board games where team effort is the bottom line, not winning or losing – a life lesson that will carry youngsters into adulthood.

With appealing names like Count Your Chickens and Hoot Owl Hoot, kids quickly learn to play against a common obstacle – like the fox in the hen house – instead of a playmate. No longer will sensitive children be reduced to tears after losing a board game. Playing cooperative games allows youngsters to work as a team: sharing, strategizing and building healthy relationships. The bonus comes if the whole team wins. If they lose, the defeat is shared amongst the players. And then they’ll shout, “let’s play again!”

“At Peaceable Kingdom, we’re not educators or therapists,” says company President Donna Jaffe, “we are moms and aunties, caregivers and game players. We created these particular games because we believe games are a wonderful way to teach and we want the kids in our lives to learn that working and playing together can be empowering and fun!”

One mom who has played the games and happens to be a school psychologist heartily agrees. “The games’ ability to stimulate compassion in kids,” explains Dr. Leslie Striar, a mom of three, “is one of their best assets. In a cooperative game, when one player has a small defeat the others feel empathy. When you are all in it together, compassion comes naturally.”

Creating a habit like cooperating, especially among children, takes practice. Preschoolers immersed in helping Mother Hen find her baby chicks in Count Your Chickens or aiding the stranded mermaids before the Sea Witch finds them in Mermaid Island help them internalize a habit of cooperation. The positive lessons of any one of these games makes cooperating second nature! Best of all, they can be played in 10 to 20 minutes, perfect for the youngest members of the family.

Peaceable Kingdom, makers of award-winning children’s games, stickers and activities since 1983, takes cooperation one-step further by manufacturing their cooperative games using soy-based inks on FSC paper. Game parts are made with corn-based plastic. The 100% green ingredients are the company’s way of co-operating with the planet. Available now online at www.peaceablekingdom.com and at specialty stores and online boutiques, the five new board games allow children to play with respect and compassion and of course, have fun! Three of them were invented by award-winning, professional game inventors and the other two were developed by the company’s in-house product developers. A plus for parents and gift-givers — each of the cooperative games offers learning skills like counting, taking turns, color recognition, linear thinking, problem solving, memory and shared decision making.

Count Your Chickens!™ • Ages 3+ • $14.99
The baby chicks have flown the coop! All players work together to help Mother Hen collect her chicks and bring them back to the coop. The object of the game is to get 40 baby chicks back inside the coop before Mother Hen gets to the last space on the board. But watch out for the fox! If the spinner lands on the fox, a baby chick is removed from the coop. Players take turns, but work together – players count aloud together, collect the number of chicks together and, if they collect them all, players win together! No reading required. Ideal for 2 to 4 players. Game play runs 10-15 minutes.

Hoot Owl Hoot!™ • Ages 4+ • $14.99
This hoot-larious game gets kids to move all the owls from start to the nest before the sun rises. Players take turns, but work together. Children are given cards, kept face-up in front of them, so they can work together to strategize how to move. If an owl “flies” over an owl on a space of that color on its way to the next open space, all players make a hooting sound! The game can be made more challenging. Because Hoot Owl Hoot! is a cooperative game, kids play any of the owls – no one player has a single owl s/he is trying to get back to the
nest. Color recognition, simple strategy and problem solving are among skills honed. No reading required. Ideal for 2 to 4 players. Game play runs 15 minutes.

Stone Soup™ • Ages 5+ • $14.99
From the classic tale of cooperation comes this simple game where players work together to “cook” a soup by making matches of ingredients. Match all of the ingredients before the fire under the kettle goes out and everyone wins! Peaceable Kingdom adds a twist to the game – one magic stone card can turn any Fire Out card face down again on the board. Players decide together when to use the magic stone card to help keep the soup cooking! Ideal for up to 6 players. This memory game takes about 15 minutes to play.

Lost Puppies™ • Ages 5+ • $14.99
Woof! Can you find all of the lost puppies before sundown and bring them safely home? Be careful, the road is blocked and night is falling! Players alternate turning over cards, one at a time, to find the puppies and open a path home. Night cards, flashlight cards or take-a-peek cards allow players to develop a strategy, but a little bit of luck never hurts! Includes 3 instruction versions for a variety of play levels. Linear thinking and strategy are learned in this game. Ideal for 2-6 players. One game lasts about 20 minutes.

Mermaid Island™ • Ages 5+ • $14.99
Watch out Mermaids, that Sea Witch is on the move! Players take turns at the spinner and move one of three mermaids or the Sea Witch across the board. Mermaids move 1 or 2 spaces at a time and can take the bridge short cuts. The Sea Witch moves only 1 space at a time and always goes the long way around. Players decide together when to use the wands and which mermaid to move at a time to keep all three mermaids going. Looks deceptively simple, but is a lively and strategic game of chase! This game introduces children to shared decision making and aids in emotional development. Ideal for 2 to 6 players. One game lasts about 20 minutes.

Peaceable Kingdom happily points out that other manufacturers such as HABA and Family Pastimes offer cooperative games. Now fear of losing, tears and bad feelings can be eliminated when setting up the board game.

To order online, see other products or see a video of children playing cooperatively, visit their website, www.peaceablekingdom.com.

ABOUT PEACEABLE KINGDOM
Peaceable Kingdom was founded in 1983 with a single product – a children’s poster based on the artwork from the classic children’s book Goodnight Moon (printed by the son of the book’s illustrator). Twenty eight years and more than 5,000 SKUs later, the company has grown to be a leader in juvenile stickers and greeting cards and is just this year expanding their product offerings to include cooperative games.

Peaceable Kingdom’s mission is to make good, do good, and be good. Which means: to create fresh, fun, award-winning products that educate, inspire, and tickle funny bones, to donate to charitable organizations that support the well-being of children, to remain committed to socially-conscious manufacturing practices and sustainable and eco-friendly materials, to maintain integrity in all business relationships and to support the people who support us! The Peaceable Kingdom philosophy – come into the kingdom and join the fun! Visit www.peaceablekingdom to learn more.