Video Games for Seniors

[Correction]

Last year my dad got Peggle as a quickie gift from my brother to celebrate his new laptop (having upgraded from a laptop he bought at a flea market for 10 bucks), and he won't stop playing.

He's bugging me to help him find new games, but I'm at a bit of a loss. He's retired so there's lots of free time to be had but I think the most 'twitch' game I've ever seen my dad play was Arkanoid. I at first thought of Plants vs. Zombies but that gets pretty twitch (particularly the mini games and the harder levels like fog) so I'm really thinking I need to find games that let him take his time between turns.

He has a laptop and an iPod Touch (which he uses mostly for Pandora). I'm probably not going to buy him a DSi XL unless there's something totally gangbusters on it.

How about it BG, have you ever bought your elderly parents video games as presents? Success, failure, what did you see them grow into if you've ever seen them play the vidya?

[Ohemgee]

LA Noire

[Atreides]

sudoku games, or crossword puzzles. My mom and grandmother love both. My mom was a huge fan of brain age, since that had quizzes and sudoku too

[Ksandra]

when my mom got a laptop she got addicted to like bejeweled n' stuff. But what she really likes are those hidden picture games. You can find a bunch of them at best buy for like $15. You can see if he likes those at all.

[Elesirdur]

Maybe turn-based strategy games like Civ? Free Civ will run on just about anything these days, and it's pretty polished (for Civ 2).

Grand strategy games might be good, thinking of something like Hearts of Iron or Eurpoa Universalis. Those games have a hell of a complex learning curve, but it's all about your strategy and doesn't rely on reaction speed. Paradox Interactive has a good thing going with well-reviewed grand strategy titles, and if he's into history at all he might enjoy them.

[Hiryo]

To be honest, most of the older gentlemen I see coming in pick up stuff like Operation: Redpoint, Rainbow 6(and other Tom Clancy games), and even Call of Duty. Like the other poster, sandbox games seem to be pretty cool, and LA Noire is even better than a lot of those.

Then there's racing too. (Edit: oh yea, PC), Forza, and now Nascar(yeah, I've seen guys buy that and enjoy it) might be entertaining too. Just have him try out stuff, even if you think he may not like it. Chances are, he'll get hooked on some of the weirdest games lol

[Lucavi]

Minesweeper and solitare.

[shidobu]

if he has a smart phone. Try some Texas Holdem or other types of poker apps or something of that nature.

[Gryffes]

My dads 63, he plays brood war.

He's a fuckin boss.

[Vandole]

angry birds.

[Seanr]

bejeweled 3, that shit is crack

[miokomioko]

World of Goo!

[Isiolia]

My mom loved adventure games back in the day - doesn't play them much anymore. Plays puzzle games though, even bought a ds for thing like Brain Age. She's bought the Professor Layton games for it since I bought her one as a gift too.

Puzzle Quest maybe?

[Zeb]

My 65 yo mom likes the Professor Layton series on the DS and my 75 yo dad likes rpgs like Final Fantasy and Suikoden. >.>

[ronin sparthos]

Harvest Moon

It's simple, it's addictive, it's fun.

[Pirian]

My grandmother loves Wii Sports


edit: I'm honestly surprised to read I'm the first one mentioning this. Her whole community gets together to play, lol

[Kaisha]

angry birds.

I made the mistake of putting that on my parents' PC. Did not think physics puzzler would appeal to them both.

[rezn0r]

a bottle of gin & the leisure suit larry collection

[Nitsuki]

My grandfather loves the variety solitaire games, mahjongg(sp?) tiles (the puzzle game) and tetris. He's always on his laptop playing those games. I guess that would be something to consider.

[Shojin]

RapeLay, a bottle of lotion and a box of Kleenex.