I'm finally addressing one of the biggest questions for modern parents at @crossplayblog.bsky.socialpatrickklepek.substack.com/p/when-is-a-...
Critics are praising the new—but still chaotic—installment, though it's unclear how many options families will have available to tweak the game to their liking.
All I gotta say is do not let a 7- and 10-year-old play Smash Bros., it leads nothing great. Only begets more violence
Check out Dan’s review for Gamespot—he goes into some detail on a mode you can choose that reduces some of the random elements
Mario party about to get rated t for teen.
Also, *please* share some of your Mario Party stories with me, whether it's your own experiences or with your children!
My sisters and I would always shake on it before we started playing that nobody could get angry if they were losing! It didn't always work but it helped. Also, we agreed the computer controlled characters went down FIRST.
I think the board game Candy Land is most kids' earliest introduction to "sometimes you just lose for random reasons you can't control" but it's good that Mario Party is picking up the torch
Only child here that's too old for Mario Party to have existed before I was effectively an adult, but in hindsight I think playing more of something locally competitive and NOT purely skill-based like it might have resulted in someone with better tools for convincing others to play games with him.
My son had a real hard time with losing or even unfavorable results until he was probably 8 but loved the games otherwise. The co-op modes were very nice. Especially teaming up in the ally mode in Super Mario Party. But even the I hd to make sure he didn’t miss out on having enough allies.
Subjecting any child to Mario Party is abuse. Mandatory reporting to Child Services required.