I just finished playing Train Party with Captain Jelly Belly. It’s a game that his five-year-old cousin invented, based on the video game Mario Party. The Captain “learned” it on our last family visit.

Here are the rules:

1. Choose two trains to be your team. Tender engines are NOT ALLOWED! (But they can watch if they like.) Form your team with one train in front and one behind and line up at the starting line.
2. Get a die and roll it. Then move your engine team an arbitrary amount representing your roll. Movement is made in a generally forward direction but branching off to the right or left is allowed at your discretion.
3. Occasionally, after moving, announce that you have a “fireball” or a “spikey.” Both of these are good things.
4. When you get tired, declare the end of the game and the person who is “ahead” wins.

We played to a tie…we were even in distance and he had one fireball while I had one spikey. Next time, grudge match!