Rush Hour is one of my favorite go-to games for family sessions. I use this game as an introduction to exploring communication styles of assertive, passive, and aggressive.
Rush Hour is one of Think Fun's top ten selling game that has won various toy awards. It is a tactical game with the purpose of strategizing to retrieve the red car out of the "rush hour" gridlock. The game comes with 50 different puzzles from 4 levels. It is nice that is has levels, making it easy to use for various ages and cognitive abilities. It is lightweight, comes with its own travel bag, and easy to travel with. The pricing is affordable and I love that the game is travel friendly.
During a family session I introduce the game, the purpose, and encourage the family members to complete a low level round. During the first round I observe family dynamics, their team work ability, personalities, and communication styles.
I then introduce the different communication styles and I ask the members to identify their communication style. Occasionally, this is when blaming and arguing occurs because family members will disagree with another member's perspective. This is a great learning opportunity where I remind family members that it is important to not become distracted with identifying a problem but completing the task at hand, identifying their personal styles.
I then have family members play one round with no verbal communication and another round with only one member touching the board and everyone else verbally communicating. I then explore their thoughts about the different rounds, their perspective of the game reflecting an accurate current family dynamic, and begin to explore improvements family members are willing to take to improve their communication.
Rush Houris a brilliant game that should be in every therapist's toolbox.