Designer games and games as shared experience

Roloff recommends designer games like Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, Carcassonne, and Fluxx, and shares a house rule for Candyland — draw three cards and choose the play order — that turns a luck-only kids' game into a thinking game. A host reflects on staying up late playing Aggravation with his grandmother as a kid and why tabletop games stick in memory in a way apps cannot duplicate. Roloff illustrates the difference with Carcassonne, which his five-year-old daughter plays and wins, versus the family playing the smartphone version alone.