Family Pocket Gamer: Families that play together...

Once upon a time… In the first of a new regular feature set, busy dad Paul Govan tells us how the thought of writing about the experience of video gaming with the whole family came about.

As I've said many times in my usual Family Gamer column, when you have kids it is immediately apparent that they need their own games. Everything from the size of their hands to the development of their motor skills to the sorts of stories they enjoy means that they take to a certain type of game.

But also, so I'm often told, when you have parents it is just as obvious that they're not going to enjoy the same games as you. Everything from their available time to their gaming history to their faltering senses means that they require something tailored to their needs.

Our families bring these varying expectations and desires together in the same pot. When these different demographics – if you'll forgive the injection of marketing terminology – spend their free time together they can so easily pull in different directions and end up enjoying entertainment in different rooms of the house. But as I've discovered writing my regular Family Gamer article, there are some games that tend to unite rather than fragment the family unit.

Most interestingly for us pocket gamers, many of these games are played on handheld and mobile devices. Something about the low cost, simplicity of design and accessibility means that a wider variety of family members are happy to pick them up and play together than equivalent experiences available on home consoles.

My Eureka moment came the other day, when my four-year-old daughter wanted to have a go on my DS. Being a Modern Dad, I handed her Mario Kart DS and sat back to see how she'd do. Needless to say, about 15 minutes later the DS was flying across the room and Ellen was somewhat frustrated. Not the ideal introduction to my childhood hobby I had imagined her enjoying.

Thinking the best thing to do would be to get back on the horse, I had a little chat with her about "not throwing Daddy's toys across the room" and thumbed through my games collection with her. "That one Dad, with the Moon Man," she said, picking up Pac 'n Roll. I'm not sure whether it was something familiar about the Pac-Man character or if she just liked the bright colours; either way, the choice was inspired.

It turns out that while the D-pad and buttons required for Mario Kart were beyond her, the simple stylus interface of Pac 'n Roll went down a treat. The direct mechanic of stroking the touchscreen to control Pac's rolling, combined with the absence of other buttons, led to many subsequent hours of happy gameplay for Ellen. She had made the crossing into the weird and wonderful land of video games.

But this got me thinking about why no-one had told me about this game's suitability before. And what other games might I be missing out on that would be great to play with her, or the rest of the family. With this in mind, I figured the time had come to type up a column that collected together my thoughts in order to share these hopefully valuable stories with other like-minded family gamers.

Every other week, then, I'll be talking about some of the best pocket family games, devices and experiences to be had. Brothers, sisters, mums, dads and even grandparents will be found here, playing the latest games on our favourite pocket-sized devices.

Along the way I'll be liberally sprinkling my family's pocket gaming anecdotes and experiences. But I want to include yours as well, so we can learn from each other. To that end, you can leave a comment here. But you can also get to know me by friending me on Facebook and in between weeks you can read my mini-blog on Twitter. You can even watch the Govan mobile gaming antics on our Flickr page. One way or another, get in touch and let me know about how you play games with your family.

I'll be back in two weeks with the next instalment of Family Pocket Gamer. Be good until then, won't you?