With summer here and in full swing, the heat sometimes requires children to be indoors. With them indoors, they will need to be entertained by something else other than the television. By now they have probably played every board game until they are bored with them, and how many times can parents take their child's favorite video before going completely mad. So in the spirit of family unity and sanity, I'm offering some ideas to keep you and your youngster(s) entertained for the rest of the summer. This is the first part dealing with some collectable card games that you can play with your child.

What is a collectable card game you might ask? Well a collectable card game (ccg) is a kind of game where instead of being played on a game board; it is played on a table with special kinds of cards. The special cards are used to build decks that you can play versus another person. The customizable element comes from the fact that you can buy separate packs of cards called boosters so that you can modify your decks to make them better. Two ccg's that are out right now, Pokemon and Young Jedi, are geared to the younger crowd.

Pokemon, in case you have been out of touch for the past few months, is a card game based on the Japanese video game called Pocket Monsters. In the game you play a character called a Trainer who captures and trains wild creatures to combat against another Trainer's creatures. The card game is similar only you do not have to catch them. The objective of the card game is to defeat all six of your opponent's Pokemon, with your six Pokemon along with special trainer cards. The great parts about this game are that it is relatively simple to play and there are a lot of choices for decks that you can play. You can play a water/fire pokemon deck, an all-fighting pokemon deck, and many more.

The game comes in handy pre-constructed decks so all you have to do is purchase two different pre-constructed decks and read the rules and you can get started. The cards in the game are vary colorful and eye catching so the pictures of the creatures are appealing to younger children. Some of them are even downright cute in their pictures, like Evee and Butterfree from the new expansion set Jungle. The only drawback to this is that Pokemon is extremely popular right now, so finding the pre-constructed decks may be a bit tough. If you really are having a hard time at local game stores, try somewhere like a local chain bookstore like Borders or Barnes and Noble, you just might find some.

Young Jedi is a ccg based on the new Star Wars movie. In this game you must pick a side, Jedi (good guys) or Sith (bad guys), to play. The objective of the game is to battle your opponent for control of two of the three planets in the movie. There is also a simpler version of the game you can play were to win you must control only one planet to win. The cards are photographs of the characters from the movie. They are not as colorful as the ones in Pokemon, but they look good, none the less. The games are really short compared to some of the other ccg's. Young Jedi games generally do not go over about 20 minutes in length. The rules are fairly simple to master and reading the rulebook should not take you more than half an hour. As with Pokemon, Young Jedi comes in a pre-constructed deck format, but there is only one version to Pokemon's 7 different pre-constructed decks so it leaves vary little variety in the games, but it is good for starting out. They should be available at your local game store, and some of the larger chain stores like Toys R Us.

If you need to read more about some of these games, here are some links to web sites that might be able to help you:

http://www.wizards.com/pokemon

This is the official Pokemon page at the Wizards of the Cost home page. It is colorful and loaded with information about the cards in the game, and has the rulebook on-line so you can read it before you decide to buy.

http://store.wizards.com/

This is the address to the Wizards of the Cost online store. If you are having a hard time finding Pokemon in your area then you can order it online from them. Credit cards only.

http://www.decipher.com/youngjedi

This is the official Young Jedi page at the Decipher site. It has links to pictures of all the cards from this game, and the rules to the game in various formats for you to download and read.

http://www.bots-shop.com

This is a vary reliable on-line store that you can order Young Jedi from for a reasonable price. Checks and Money Orders only.

Meanwhile be sure to check out my other Summertime Fun column that is about some of the video's that you can show your kids when you get sick of "Raffi's Greatest Hits" or the seven billionth time of "101 Dalmatians."

[As always this work is mine and is only to be posted on Collectortimes.com and no where else without my permission. If you do, you're going to find something in a flaming brown paper bag on your porch.]