I need to tell you something before we get started. There are affiliate links in this article that will link you directly to the Grandpa Beck’s Games website along with a couple of others. These affiliate links mean that we get paid a small commission, but you don’t pay extra. . .Win-Win! And, here’s the really cool part, if you would like, you can use our discount code on the Grandpa Beck’s Games website to receive 15% off your entire order!! So, what’s the code? It’s gameadventures. (all lowercase and no punctuation)
These are my honest opinions of the games and our experience as a family of playing Grandpa Beck’s games. I don’t say it if it’s not true. So with that, let’s explore. . .
What Are Grandpa Beck’s Games?
Grandpa Beck was already officially a grandpa by the time he started his game company in 2012. So, it’s not just a name, but a real grandpa who started this game company. Far from an overnight success, Brent and Tauni Beck played their hand, rolled the dice, and came up with a winning game plan to sell family games that is wildly successful and bringing people together. With over 2 million games sold, Grandpa Beck’s Games are fast becoming a household name for the top pick during family game night.
From Cover Your Assets to their newest game, Toil and Troublez, you will absolutely love the beautiful illustrations that adorn not only the cards in each game but the game boxes as well. Apryl Stott is the illustrator behind the most beloved characters such as the Uniquehorn, the beautiful dragons, the mischievous little gnomes, and even the Skull King who is modeled after Grandpa Beck himself.
The Becks are a multi-generational game-playing family. Tauni and Brent both came from families who loved playing games together and continue that tradition with their children and grandchildren today. As a matter of fact, they love games so much that Brent proposed to Tauni during a game of Scrabble where he spelled out, “Marry me” on the board. Tauni said yes, and now over five decades later, games are their business. . .although, their main objective is to have fun and help others to come together and create family memories of their own.
What Are My Most-loved Things About Grandpa Beck’s Games?
- First and foremost, the iconic Bowler hats that Brent and Tauni wear are so much fun! (Since our family last name is Bowler, this might come as no surprise.)
- The illustrations on the game cards and boxes are EXCEPTIONAL (not kidding) and make me appreciate each and every one of the Grandpa Beck’s games as a piece of art. I find myself looking closely at the details on the cards, game boards, and yes. . .even the boxes! I try not to miss anything, because I truly appreciate the creativity.
- There is a Beck family recipe inside each game box to help with planning your fun family game night. And, they are sooooo good! How fun is it for them to share such a special part of their family with the world?
- Did you know that Grandpa Beck puts his personal cell phone number inside each game?? That way, if someone has a question about a game, he can answer it directly – no middle man. Ha ha!
- One of my personal favorite things is that the games are mostly cards and come in small, compact boxes. So, when we’re hauling our games on vacation, camping, or to someone’s home, they fit easily in our small game tote bag.
- Last. . .and most importantly. . .the games are So. Much. FUN!!
The Back Story of Grandpa Beck’s Games
Let’s talk quickly about where Grandpa Beck’s games started simply because it’s a great story. Grandpa Beck has not been doing this his whole life. He and his wife have started a whole new career during retirement! Brent spent more than 40 years as a commercial airline pilot. He even flew with his son as a co-pilot and his daughter as a flight attendant! How many parents can say they have worked with their children in that capacity?
While we celebrate those wonderful people who safely fly us from place to place, that’s not what prepared Brent to start and run a successful game business. While I’m not sure about the business end of things, the game part of this business came from decades of playing together as a family and making those special memories that have kept them close over the years.
So for Brent, retirement has not been sitting around in his rocking chair watching TV. Instead, the Becks took a gamble by going to a New York toy fair to see if they could get some recognition for their first two games. After not drawing any attention and thinking that maybe they had made a costly mistake, it wasn’t until the 2nd to the last day of the convention that some magic happened. They finally got the break they were looking for. After putting so much money, time, effort, and love into these couple of games, they just needed someone to be interested in their brand to get them started. After all, they were anxious to share their games with the world.
Their first two games, Cover Your Assets and Golf (now rebranded as Gnoming-A-Round), were what got the ball rolling, and they’ve never looked back. Their love of games and quality family time are what drives them to continue to create beautifully illustrated card games. Grandpa Beck’s Games is now a family-run business and quickly becoming a worldwide brand. Their games have been translated into nine different languages and feature 13 of the family members in the beautifully illustrated cards. What a family legacy!
Let’s Play Some Games
We’ve rated each game according to our experiences with the games. Some of them agree with Grandpa Beck’s assessment and some are a bit different especially when it comes to age suggestions. Keep in mind that we are a big game-playing family, and our little people catch on pretty quick. If your little people don’t play games often, that might not be your same experience.
With that in mind, let me introduce you to some of our family’s favorites: (I guess that’s just about all of them!)
Cover Your Assets
- Players: 4-6
- Ages: 6+
- Difficulty level: Easy
- Duration: Our avg. is 20-30 min.
If you love a quick and challenging card game, Cover Your Assets is a must-try. It’s totally addicting! It’s a great game for a party or a lazy Sunday afternoon. This game involves collecting and protecting assets while also trying to steal your opponents’ assets. Players use strategy as they attempt to become the wealthiest person in the game. You can do this by accumulating the most valuable assets by outsmarting your opponents. Honestly, this game is really easy to learn, and the rules are simple enough for children to understand. As always, one of my favorite parts is the illustrations. They truly are amazing!
There are two versions of the game – the classic version and the updated one. The difference is that there are a few different types of assets in each game (although some are still the same), and there are a few added twists and some new artwork with the updated version. We love both!
*Just a note about the other 2 games that are similar to Cover Your Assets – Cover Your Kingdom and Cover Your Cookies. Both of these games have the same basic play as the original. However, there are small differences that make them separate games. The best part is that makes them both super easy to grasp if you’ve played Cover Your Assets. I guess what I’m saying is that if you’ve played one, the other two will be easy to learn and understand. And trust me, once you’ve played one, you’ll want to play the other two as well! And. . .Cover Your Cookies is a collaboration with the yummy Crumbl Cookie Company. It features their cookies and the iconic pink box. How could a game get any better than this??
Skull King
Photos courtesy of grandpabecksgames.com
- Players: 2-8
- Ages: 8+
- Difficulty level: Intermediate, strategy skills needed
- Duration: Our avg. is 30-40 min.
While we love Cover Your Assets, it’s kind of a new favorite for us. However, Skull King was our very first introduction to Grandpa Beck’s games back in about 2013, and it’s still our family’s all-time favorite!! This one is a trick-taking card game with some wily pirates that can be a real challenge and will test your strategy skills (or “strategery” as one of our little ones calls it).
The game is designed for 2 to 8 players, but we prefer to play with at least 4 people. The more people playing, the more challenging it is. And, we’ve figured out how to play with even more people, because we love to play with the lots of family and friends around the holidays.
So, the goal in this game is to predict the number of tricks you will take each hand. If you’re right, you earn points. If you’re wrong, well. . .too bad, so sad. So, if a game of trick-taking, bidding, and strategy is your desire, Skull King is an excellent choice.
Our difficulty rating is based on the fact that you must be able to predict how many tricks you can take while employing some strategy to outwit the other players. This takes some critical thinking skills that little ones just don’t have yet.
This game is similar to classic games like Hearts and Spades, but with a twist – it’s got these awesome pirates and includes special rules that make the game a lot more fun! The expansion cards in the deck are really what make it so much better than just a regular deck of cards. (I heard a rumor that they have updated this game with some more of those special cards, so I think I’m going to have to hop over to their website and grab the new version. Wait, what. . .a great white whale??)
Gnoming-A-Round
- Players: 3-7
- Ages: 6+
- Difficulty level: Easy, but some strategy involved
- Duration: Our avg. is 15-30 min.
This game is like the Golf game that we have played over the years with regular playing cards and Uno card decks. However, Gnoming-A-Round is way more fun to play because of the theme of the game. After all, it’s mini-golf and gnomes. Can you really go wrong here? Ha ha!
Gnoming-A-Round has thrown in some additional rules that we have never played with, so it makes the game more challenging than our version of a similar game. I know you’re dying to know what my favorite part is of this game. . .the Mulligan cards, of course! You will find two sweet gnomes on an outdoor swing. These two are Brent and Tauni. They’re adorable! Oh, and yeah, they function as wild cards. . .who doesn’t love that!
It’s pretty easy to learn and play. It’s just getting the hang of how the cards are scored so you can get the lowest score. Why? Because the lowest score always wins in golf!
Nuts About Mutts
- Players: 3-8
- Ages: 4+
- Difficulty level: Fairly Easy
- Duration: Our avg. is 15-20 min.
Nuts About Mutts is a card game that has the most adorable dog pictures. The game is designed for younger players to be able to join in the fun. Although the game box says it’s for ages 7 – 99, we’ve played this with younger players as young as 4 and 5 with the simplified rules. During the game, you are a dog walker who is trying to get the dogs back home. You make matches and runs to try to get the lowest score by the end of the game. The illustrations are so cute and colorful and make it easy for even the little ones to play. It’s a great game to involve younger family members in family game night!
The Bears and the Bees
- Players: 2-5
- Ages: 7+
- Difficulty level: Easy, with some strategy
- Duration: Our avg. is 30-40 min.
The Bears and the Bees is a tile-laying game that is kind of a combination of doing a puzzle, playing dominoes, and definitely employs some strategy. Even though, I agree with the Grandpa Beck’s games website about the age assessment of the players, we like to involve the little ones by letting them team up with older players and letting them put down the tiles. This makes them feel like they are part of the game. As they continue to team up, they begin to understand the strategy and may be able to play on their own earlier than age 7.
The goal of this game is to create the most honey-filled beehives by strategically placing your own tiles while trying to interfere with others building their own hives. The tiles are very durable, and the rules are easy to understand. Again, you and your family will love the game’s adorable theme and artwork. It makes the game super engaging and fun to play!
Toil & Troublez
- Players: 2-6
- Ages: 5+
- Difficulty level: Pretty easy, has a little bit of strategy
- Duration: Our avg. is 20-25 min.
So, this is our newest favorite of the Grandpa Beck’s Games’ library. It seemed at first like it was going to be difficult to learn, but it turned out to be really pretty easy. There is a little bit of strategy involved, but not too much because our younger ones were able to pick up on it rather quickly. So, our age recommendation is a bit lower due to the fact that we don’t take the competition to the highest level in this one. We keep it family-friendly so we can play this one with the little guys. Having said that, it’s still challenging for adults. Yes. . .I’ve lost a few times to the kids!
This game involves building a magic forest with the cards. . .oh, did I mention the gorgeous artwork!! (My personal favorites are the Summon cards. Every time we play, one of us is commenting on our favorite color of Summon magicians.) You collect Talismans in runs or sets while trying to keep your opponents from doing the same. It’s pretty easy peasy to understand.
One of the best parts of this game is that we tend to be doing a lot of cooperative play while each player is building the magic forest. This was a bit unexpected and was an added bonus in my book. The other thing is that this game is not super strategically intense so we could easily laugh and have conversation during the game.
Other Games
I’m going to just a say a few words about the other two games that I haven’t mentioned above. As we play these ones more, I’ll give them each a separate write up so I can provide more insights than I have right now.
Reign of Dragoness and Antiquity Quest are more involved and take a bit longer to learn. Having said that, there are videos on the the Grandpa Beck’s games website that will help and of course, you could always call Grandpa Beck himself. I’m sure he’d be happy to guide you!
I’ll just give you a quick overview. Antiquity Quest is a lot like the old card game Hand and Foot. We love Hand and Foot, but if you’ve ever tried to learn it, there is a bit of a learning curve. After you have it down, it will become a family favorite.
Reign of Dragoness is played in tournaments (rounds) as you build on the pattern that is set. I’m not sure if I can compare it to any other game we’ve played. Again, I have to say that the dragon illustrations are to die for! Hats off to Apryl Stott for her creative and beautiful artwork.
So, What’s the Bottom Line on Grandpa Beck’s Games?
WE LOVE THEM!! There are just no two ways about it. Grandpa Beck’s games are a go-to for our family game nights. I’ve already said it many times, but I’ll say it again. . .I love the artwork! It is unmatched in the game world in my opinion. I also love the portability of these compact games. The games are family-friendly so you don’t have to worry about running into something that you wouldn’t want your children to see or hear. The rulebooks are all clear and easy to understand. Plus, they have videos on their website to help you set up and learn the games quickly. We have not run into a boring game yet.
P.S. Hey, did you know that they even have Grandpa Beck’s gear to make your game night even more fun. (Personally, I’m waiting for an official Grandpa Beck Bowler Hat! Ha ha! I’d be absolutely giddy to have one of those!!)
Oh, and if you like pie, check out Grandma Beck’s pie crust recipe and pair it with the blueberry pie recipe you’ll find in the Skull King game. It’s an amazing dessert!