*All opinions are my own. This is not a sponsored post.
Take a break from the election year drama on social media. The former co-workers and random acquaintances trying to convince each other through condescending memes isn’t helping anyone to be more informed. It’s just a lot of noise and heightened emotions!
Instead, take the opportunity to play a game while also learning about how the US election actually works. I’m all about games that also teach something (read more here)… In my house we call it “hiding the vegetables.” The kids think we’re just playing a game, but they’re really learning strategy, higher ordered thinking, or even… math skills!
Today we’re reviewing the board game Election Night as the timing is apropo.
Quick Synopsis
The game is recommended for ages 8+ and is for 2 players or teams. Using specialized dice, math skills and strategy, teams fight for “electoral votes” in each of the states. The first person to reach 270 electoral votes wins!
The deluxe edition has the addition game on one side, the multiplication game on the other side. The basic edition has only the addition game version. I would recommend spending the extra $10 to exercise a broader set of math skills. Personally, I prefer to get a lot of value out of our homeschool resources.
The Mom’s Perspective
The concept of the game was easy enough for our kids to catch on and start developing their own strategies. It’s also a great lesson in civics and how the electoral college works. Our older kids definitely saw why there is so much focus placed on “swing states” in the real life election.
Learning math facts and committing them to memory can seem boring and laborious for most kids. Mine are no exception! So I look for ways to make it fun or at least more enjoyable than filling in pages of worksheets (GAG!!). Election Night has proven to be a really fun way to learn and reinforce addition and multiplication math facts as well as US geography and state abbreviations.
The only drawback I’ve found is that there are certain number combinations that are not utilized on the multiplication side and although there are cards to create other math (add/subtract instead of multiply or change a number), I failed to see the usefulness of most of them due to the product numbers. For example, 56 cannot be achieved by adding/subtracting four numbers 1-9, but only by multiplying.
Overall, it’s a fun game with tons of learning opportunities… to the point my kids forget they’re actually learning! Mission accomplished in my books! I’m eager to try the expansion packs as well.
The Kid’s Feedback
12 yo: “I really like dice games. The excitement of trying to roll the right numbers is fun for me. I learned a lot about how the electoral college works which was interesting. It was also interesting to note that the game isn’t over until all the “votes” are in… We had one game where I was so far behind and thought for sure I was going to lose, but all the little states added up and I ended up winning!
Math can be really frustrating for me, but I have so much fun playing the game and looking for ways to win that I am able to press through and find tricks for ways to remember the less common multiplication facts. It’s definitely helped me lock in my math skills and locate all 50 states on the map.”
5 yo: [Although technically younger than the recommended age, we find ways to include him like rolling the dice, adding the combinations with fingers or counting bears and coloring in the maps for his team.]
“I like WINNING! I like coloring in the points our team gets with the dry erase marker. Adding the numbers to get states is fun. Sometimes the game takes longer than I like to sit.”
Dad: “Math is not my favorite, but I’m glad the kids love this game so much! I like to help with strategies and which states to prioritize. Dice games aren’t my favorite because there’s so much left to chance.”
Our Vote
We give this game an 8 out of 10 for learning made fun and easy game play. Election Night is on our Christmas/homeschool wishlist along with the expansion packs, so I’d say we’re fans. The game is fun and easy enough to catch on to. Oftentimes learning games try so hard to be educational that they miss the actual fun part, but Election Night delivers on both while leaning into the real life election process and multiple layers of learning.
What board game would you like our family to review?
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