Journal pythorlh's Journal: Ask /. - Christmas Gifts for Geeky Boys 19
It's that time of year again. This year, I'm trying to avoid buying nothing but video games for my boys, and my budget is too constrainted to allow for a PS3 or Wii. In case you don't already know, I have 4 boys. Ages are 13, 12, 10, and 6. The 6-year-old will also have a birthday in December, before Christmas, so that's fair game if you've got ideas. They are all video-game / computer game junkies. Right now, the oldest 3 are hooked on Runescape, and Puzzle Pirates. (I am also hooked on Puzzle Pirates. They take after their Dad.
The oldest, Joshua, is currently reading the Dragonlance Chronicles trilogy. Unfortunately, he knows that I've already bought the Legends trilogy for him, so I can't use that. He's a dragon fanatic, and also likes generic fantasy. He has specifically asked for one or more of the Settlers of Catan expansions, so he's likely to get that.
My second oldest, Caleb, is just finishing "Belgarath the Sorcerer," after reading the entire Belgarion series, Mallorean series, and "Polgara the Sorceress." He's the one least into video games. Frankly, I'm at a total loss for him. He wants a laptop, but that's not going to happen. (They all want laptops. I can't afford 1, much less 4...(make that 5. I want one, too.
My third son, Seth, hasn't really gotten bit by the reading bug, yet. He's currently learning flute, and just finished up the youth football season. He's the most outdoors oriented of the four. Last year I got him a pair of binoculars that had a built in camera, but he hasn't used it. He's begging for a Nintendo DS, but that's a little out of my price range, and as I said, I'm trying to avoid video games this year.
David is the youngest. Obviously, he's not into reading yet, either. Video games are his thing, with Sonic the Hedgehog games topping his list. He enjoy's Settlers, too, but he's a little young for it. I'd like to find something more his age range.
Suggestions? I went looking the other day, but I found nothing, other than a Marvel version of "Scene It!" which might be worth getting for one of them. Given my lack of ideas so far, I'll probably resort to video games by the time Christmans rolls around. They're in my price range (about $75 per child, plus another $50 for David's birthday). I'm debating pooling their gifts. I've done that before, buying a X-box that was for all four of them at once. If I do that, it'll be either a cheap laptop or a portable game system, PSP or DS. Then I have to find some small gifts to hand out individually.
Edit: Man... My grammar sucks some days. And I should pay more attention when I preview.
Legos? (Score:2)
The only other thing I can think of would be books.
Depending on your total budget, you may actually be able to swing a Wii, but the controllers are $60 for a Wiimote and Nunchuck each. My parents used to do 'big gifts' to my brother AND I, so we shared them.
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Model Railroads (Score:2)
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Slow Down Cowboy! You actually had more than one thought in a 2 minute period. We don't allow that here at Slashdot! Go take a nap or something, and come back later.
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Sid Meiers Pirates! (Score:2)
Remade, so good graphics...
Sid Meier history game, so educational, and not violent (sword fights end with the guy falling off the ship or surrendering)
Sid Meier, so incredibly addictive.
Pirates, Civ3/4, etc... all worthy of puzzle-types, with adventure and strategy built in... best of all? They can all share!
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Thanks for the suggestion.
Slow Down Cowboy! We refuse to except any comment that hasn't been considered over a full 24 oz. bottle of Mountain Dew. Since it takes us at least 2 minutes to consume that Dew, you'll just have to wait.
AD&D GOLDBOX WOOHOO! (Score:1)
Old though. Still very fun.
Re:AD&D GOLDBOX WOOHOO! (Score:2)
Re:AD&D GOLDBOX WOOHOO! (Score:2)
Re:AD&D GOLDBOX WOOHOO! (Score:2)
Re:AD&D GOLDBOX WOOHOO! (Score:1)
microscope (Score:2)
http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/electronic/8493 [thinkgeek.com]
The USB one is easier to use (especially smaller kids) than a regular microscope; I loved my cheesy old microscope as a kid. You could probably get a regular microscope, but for the price of a USB one (shop around) you would be hard pressed to find a decent regular microscope. For the life of me I can't understand why intel stopped making the USB
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Settlers of Catan (Score:2)
A good choice. If he's into German style board games, you can't go wrong with Puerto Rico [wikipedia.org]. It really is outstanding. Settlers is a fine game, and has done well by being an early mover in the market, but it has since been surpassed by several others. Also recommended are The Princes Of Florence [wikipedia.org], Power Grid [wikipedia.org] and Tigris And Euphrates [wikipedia.org][1]. Given that he's asked for the Settlers expansion, then I'd get him t
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Well, that's true. He could be an avid reader, but he's not. Stories he likes are out of his reading range, and what is in his range bores him. I'll take a look at your game suggestions. Any suggestion for which of these is best for the younger boys? I'd rather not pick a game that can only be played by Josh and me. The younger boys, even Cal
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Hmmm... wikipedia lists them all as having medium rules complexity (the same as Settlers), but high strategy depth (Settlers is medium). Thinking about it, I'd probably agree with that. If you want something a bit less taxing that the younger ones can play, then I'd suggest somethi
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