Friday, August 8, 2008

Bored or Board?

We are board game people. Are you? We have them all. You name it. We have it. And we play them together all the time. Beginning last spring, we started playing a game after dinner every night. Right now our game of choice is Sorry! My 6 year old son used his birthday gift card from Mr. Tar Jay last week to buy it. He passed up all the other stuff in the toy section because he was adamant that that was what he wanted. He had never played it. He had no idea what it was. He had only seen it at the beach house we rent in the Outer Banks and was intrigued by it. Well, ok then. So he bought it, and now, we can't get enough of it. Wanna know what else we're playing? Oh, I thought you'd never ask....

Yahtzee - We finally got my son to realize that you can't roll for a Yahtzee everytime, as many times as it takes to get it. He still likes to go for it, though. We just limit it to three rolls. Game rules you know.

Monopoly Junior - Yes, my son has channeled his inner Donald Trump because he does not usually lose. And does not like to lose if he ever does. And he takes all your money. And your properties. All while laughing. Heartless.

Trouble
- This game is addictive. We played this almost every night through the spring. Thus, it was time to move on. Still love that popper thing, though.

Blokus - This is a new one for us and does require some spatial reasoning. Reasoning I don't have. It is really fun though and makes you think. Hard. Sometimes, too hard. Especially when you are sipping wine and playing it.

Sequence
-
We have the original version and the Junior version which is way too easy for the kids right now. Time to introduce them to the grown up version. "The Man" and I played this all the time before the kids were born.

Scrabble Junior - My husband and I love regular Scrabble but just started the kids on the Junior version. They love it.

Phase 10
is a card game that my husband and I played along with Scrabble and Sequence before kids. Love it. Addictive. Now I need to get Little Red Riding Hood into it. Well, not because it's addictive. Because it's fun.

We also went through a Clue Junior stage with Little Red Riding Hood several years ago and haven't played it since. But that might need to come back into the rotation as Clue is one of my favorite games ever. I still think Professor Plum had a thing for Miss Scarlett. Or was it Colonel Mustard? We also have OPERATION which I loved as a kid, but the buzzer scared the patooties out of Hunka Hunka when we first got it. As a result, "Sam," the patient, has been in the morgue for two years waiting for his "funny bone" to be replaced. Might need to try it out again. Can't live with a "wrenched knee" and "butterflies in the stomach" forever. Oh, oh wait. I played Battleship with my nephew recently. I can still hear those commericals, "Oh, you sunk my battleship!" So, that's what I ALWAYS have to say. Head slap and all.


I could go on and on, but then you would get bored, hearing about our board....oh that was bad.

So, do you play games, and if so, what do you like to play?

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45 Comments:

Mrs. Jones said...

I loved Clue, too. All the little pieces made it so fun.

We have been having a lot of fun playing a card game called Ruckus. Ziggity is fun, too.

Some favorites from my childhood that I have just started playing with my kids are Othello and Mastermind.

Julie said...

I cannot believe that I am number 2 in comments! I am usually in the 30+... you must have just posted this. Ha ha...

We don't have any games here. I need to get some next time I am home on furlough. I did buy at a garage sale here "shoots and ladders" and "candyland" but it doesn't have all the pieces. So, we need to invest in them!

Gramma 2 Many said...

We have hosted several exchange students over the years. We always introduce them to Sequence. It is fun and easy to learn even if there is a language barrier. Have sent many to Japan as gifts. Stan likes Cribbage and Chess. I do not have a math brain, so never got the hang of either game. He also likes Scrabble. I do not play that with him anymore, he never lets me win.
We also like Boggle, Upwords, and Balderdash. Like you I could probably go on, but these are our top choices.
Gina will probably tell you that I do not play them. It is not that I do not like them, I am usually tired. She is always challenging her dad to Upwords. They are both word nerds and I do not have a snowballs chance in H against them.

Gina said...

Set. It is cards laid out on a table. It is a brain training game that is much easier for teens than kids or adults- 'cept me. I like to play cribbage with my dad- if he lets me figure out the points for myself. If he starts to count them for me I get frustrated and quit. I do let him tell me what I missed. I'm nice like that. Sequence. Mexican Train Dominos. Word Games- Boggle, Scrabble, Upwords. Mad Libs- do those count? Phase 10, Skip-Bo. Farkle. Quitch.
I don't get to play games enough. Maybe we could aim for once a week.

Meagan said...

I am impressed that you play games with your kids so often! That's something I need to do more. As a family we like Sorry and Parcheesi. The kids really like Zingo (esp. the girls), Monopoly Jr., Uno, and Clue Jr. Micah has Electronic Battleship and that is fun. I'm with you...I always have to say, "You sunk my battleship!" just like the commercial! Micah thinks it's pretty funny!

I love games we can play with a large group of people...Apples to Apples is my very fave right now. Cranium is fun too.

Cards are great~ Skip-Bo, Phase 10, Hearts, Spades. When I was a kid I used to play Pinochle with my dad, but I have no idea how to play that now! Same with Cribbage. We definitely need to play more games around here (other than Zingo and Candy Land)! Thanks for the reminder!

Unknown said...

At this point I really love Uno Attack...I love that you could easily have uno...and then have 20 cards...Love that...one night we played nearly 2 hours, with each one of us having Uno at one point...I think DH won...he's a butt!

Unknown said...

At this point I really love Uno Attack...I love that you could easily have uno...and then have 20 cards...Love that...one night we played nearly 2 hours, with each one of us having Uno at one point...I think DH won...he's a butt!

Laura Marchant said...

Love "Settlers of Catan" Best game I have played in a while.

I even blogged about it one day :-)

Unknown said...

WOw - all these ladies already named my favs!!!

Mr. B got a game for his birthday and we played it when I was down there - it was called Khet. VERY fun. But only a 2 player game.

My family has always been a big card playing family. Pounce (nertz), Hand & Foot...

Another one I loved growing up was Stratego.

The girls love Uno attack right now, and Clue, and Life... though Gert just plays to have babies. Usualy we have to break out a second mini-van for her to fit all her kids.

Lauren W said...

Oh man, we are totally game people! I'm really into Monopoly, and Josh and I both really love Risk (we're apparently really into the epic games that last forever).
We're totally Phase 10 people too. Really, I love all kinds and types of board and card games. Love them. Man... maybe I can convince Josh to play Monopoly tonight... :)

S'more of my Thoughts said...

We have an entire bookshelf full of games, but we don't take the time to play them nearly enough. Need to fix that!!!

Melissa said...

It's a real toss up between Fill or Bust and Dominoes(Mexican Train version!) When we lived in SD and we were snowed in we played lots of games! Living in FL, people don't get together like that. I miss it!

Keys to the Magic Travel said...

We don't do family game nights nearly enough. It's hard when Michael doesn't get home till 8 most nights. Sometimes I'll get him to play the DVD games with the girls - like Nickelodeon Scene It - which is funny because he's never seen the shows. But sometimes, he still wins!

We like trivia a lot. We usually go on Wednesday nights to a local bar/restaurant to play...and sometimes we'll take the kids with us. They can usually answer some of the questions - and were most helpful when we were asked "what color is Sponge Bob's tie."

Board games we like: Blockus, Equate, Life. And the girls love to play Uno.

Connie said...

The most popular game we play around here is ice hockey. No kidding. Then football. No...I don't participate...after all, I'm on coumadin. It wouldn't be pretty. But these two sports consume our lives. My sons play and coach both sports...my husband coaches high school hockey.
On our downtime sometimes we play card games or chess.

Tracy P. said...

You named most of ours! The regular Clue is fun, and easy to modify if the real rules are too hard for the kids. We ride the Mexican Train (dominoes), too, and my personal all-time favorite is Taboo. But not everyone gets to be on my team, so it's not really fair.

A couple of fun Bible trivia ones are Bible Do-You-Know (like UNO except with trivia ?s on the wild cards), and Bible Baseball. A great way to sharpen up while having fun!

Sue Wilkey said...

We have a gazillion board games, none with all the parts. My 7-year-old likes to play with the pieces as "people". So she's got a village of Clue suspects, chess pieces, dominoes and marbles. What is it about that Trouble popper that's so alluring???? I could just pop that thing all day.

Piggy said...

Balderdash, Cranium, Scattergories, and Taboo are also fun. As I got older, I transitioned from board games to card games. I played Spades all through high school and college. Now it's Texas Hold 'Em Poker, although I haven't hosted any games or been to a casino since Piggy was born. Sometimes my husband and I play Jeopardy and Trivial Pursuit on our PS3. :)

Jennifer said...

We SOOO love games, my man gets a little frustrated with the inevitable bickering but they are getting better. Anyone got any ideas there?

Anyway, we LOVE Apples to Apples (the Jr version is good, even for grown-ups the only diff. is that the Jr version has no PG13-R rated adjectives and no famous people for the "red" cards. If you play you know what all that means and if you don't, just start with the Jr. version and you'll be set.

Whoonu is a cranium game that is a great get-to-know you group game, our shepherd group plays it a lot.

We also enjoy the classics, some others are I SPY Snap (all 4 like it, age 10-3!)

Mancala is a great 2 person game and the kids just call "I've got winner" if they want to play.

Ziggity is another fun Cranium game, it's what those crazy people do to Uno.

Enjoy!

Lula! said...

Clue was my favorite as a child--and I ADORE the movie version of it. (Tim Curry--oh, swoon!) My girls play Hi-Ho-Cherry-O a lot...and that's fun. But my favorite ever? Sequence! We love having Sequence marathons when friends come over to "play!"

Lindsay said...

Hey Debbie, thanks for stoppin' by! I can't wait until my little twins are big enough to do this too..or maybe I can! Anyway, I LOVE Nerts (a card game). At Christmas at Grandma's house all of the people that are married get to play and we buy a $30-$40 gift that we exchange too. You pick a gift for each round that you win and if you win again you can trade (can only trade a gift twice) or keep your gift. We play until everyone gets a gift. It's way fun. Here are the instructions: http://www.pagat.com/patience/nerts.html

Anonymous said...

I haven't played games in sooo long. We usually just play dominoes now...

We could never play monopoly as a family...we took it much too seriously.

I liked playing Clue, Connect Four (my sister and I fought about this once though too...and Uno....

I like pictionary and games like that too. When I was little I loved Candyland and Shutes and Ladders...I made my mom play those with me all of the time.

Marie said...

I love families who play board games! We are a big card playing family... my kids are 9 and 12 so they have some skill now and have been known to whoop the pants off of their parents on more than one occaison. Our favorites are Canasta and Phase 10, but the board/card game Sequence is a huge hit!

Elena said...

Love board/card games! Before we moved we have some friends that would come over about twice a month for Canasta night. It was so much fun. We need new Canasta buddies. Phase 10 and SkipBo are our favorite camping games.

Kori said...

We love the new UNO spin. It's alot of fun.

Every friday Night is game night at our house. We have pretty much all that you listed.

Sometimes we sit and play outside just to get out of the house.

Lynn - the piggy bank painter said...

Welove UNO attack and Tripoly (remember that?) We've also started playing Apples to Apples and Imaginiff. Parcheesi and sequence are faves too.

DD made a lord of the rings clue game which is a lot of fun. We love to play games. It's good see so many other families out there playing too.

* It's the last day to enter my CONTEST! Do you need a piggy bank??? *

Anonymous said...

Hi Deb - "Christine NJ" here :)
I am SO NOT a Boardgame player. UGH! I used to play cribbage with my Dad when I was little and 500 rummey (spelling?) with my friend's family. Also liked Clue and Life when I was younger... notice, the games need to be quick. Oh, sometimes played monopoly with Bob, and of course never won, never had the mind nor cared to be strategic. Also attemped battleship a few times with him... totally lost! Even now, if the boys want to play, DH usually does. In fact, I have never played chutes&ladders or candyland. Also don't really like puzzles, yes DH likes to work on those with kids too. I'm not good at sitting still for extended periods of time. Have a need to be in motion. -- Christine

Laural Out Loud said...

We're still stuck on Candyland and Shutes and Ladders. I can't wait until my daughter is older and able to play more complicated board games!

Hillari said...

I love to play games...hubby will play when I ask (just as long as it's not too often!). We both love Phase 10. We played Jenga when my 8-year-old nephew came over recently too. We like to play Mancala as well. In a bigger group I love to play Catch Phrase and Taboo. And my m-i-l introduced me to Pit...which is another fun group game. Yeah, I love almost any game.

Jennifer P. said...

We love all the Cranium games---Family Fun and Balloon Lagoon are fun (but have a lot of pieces!). Love Apples to Apples (even if they can't read---they can always guess :)!) and Who Knew? Also I find Chinese Checkers very addictive! We just bought Phase 10 and all I get is a lot of grumbling that there are too many cards to hold! Ah well :)!

We'll have to give some of yours a try! We're a bored board game family too.

And thanks for the sweet comment. I can remember that one week when I was one of your only commenters---and now.....well let's just say I'm very good at spotting talent ;)!

Melissa Lester said...

My in-laws joke about how my husband could deal a stack of Uno cards before anyone knew what hit them get his family to play with them after dinner. Our older kids love that game, and even our 4-year-old can match the colors and numbers. (And the little ones always seem to get dealt the best cards.) We also like dominoes for incorporating everyone into the fun. When we lost power for several days during a hurricane a few years ago, we ate peanut butter pie from our melting freezer and played dominoes by candlelight, and the kids treasure that time as one of their favorite memories. Making every night a game night sounds like great family time!

Anonymous said...

My daughter is 4 and we're just starting Uno.

Carrie Thompson said...

My mom just last night bought my kiddoes a game from Target, it is called Castle Logic. We just played it tonight. The kids loved it! You are challenged to build the castle like the picture, and it gets harder and harder!

Lee Ann said...

Love the idea. I'll just be glad when we can move past Memory and Candy Land. They drive me crazy!

Michelle said...

Oh Debbie, I so so love board games. And I bet I have one that you've never heard of but that you (and your kids) would LOVE if you could find it: The Farming Game (picture something like Monopoly but involving more chance based on the business of a farm but not so boring as that sounded).

We've started in the board games with the wee ones, but at 3 and 4, we're still on the Hi-Ho Cherry-O, Candyland, Chutes & Ladders and the like.

So what's Phase 10? That one sounds intriguing!

Unknown said...

Amongst the games that we have ... Yahtzee, Aggravation, Monopoly (the Lord Of The Rings version), Mancala, Scrabble, Dominoes, Checkers, Chess, Risk, Boggle, Trivial Pursuit, Upwords, Backgammon....

That's the ones that I can think of. I love games!!!

Missy said...

I love that you have a family tradition of playing games! Good, clean, fun - which is difficult to find these days.
We love Scattergories and Imaginiff. Imaginiff is a great thing to play with people you know well, and those you hope to get to know better. Most of the questions would be challenging for kiddos, but it could work.
Operation? Ok, this is a personal hang up, but the whole operation process ranks right up there for me with nails on a chalkboard, epidurals and someone poking something sharp in your eye! No joke, it makes me shudder thinking about it! Who's weird? Me! Me!

EEEEMommy said...

We love board games too, and I've been meaning to blog about it myself, because after becoming board with most of the ones you listed, we've really gotten into European games. I'm surprised that only one of your readers mentioned any (Settlers of Catan). Ticket to Ride is one I'd highly recommend. For others, visit funagaingames.com. They have lots of list that you can browse of recommended games for new gamers, families, etc. etc. One of these days I'll blog all our favorites and maybe even have a giveaway....

~Trish~ said...

I have taught my 9 yr old how to play backgammon, only cuz it's on the other side of the board from checkers LOL Hey if I will sit and play checkers forever, she can learn to play a game I like right??? haha!! She also loves Battleship but for some reason I am totally lucky at it and she thinks I cheat!

Anonymous said...

Sorry is my favorite! I love it when I win, but hate when I lose, do I sound like a child? Ha.
We also play Disney monopoly, but my son can only stand so long of that before he is ready to figure out the winner. This weekend we played scrabble, my other favorite! ha

Anonymous said...

Sorry is my favorite! I love it when I win, but hate when I lose, do I sound like a child? Ha.
We also play Disney monopoly, but my son can only stand so long of that before he is ready to figure out the winner. This weekend we played scrabble, my other favorite! ha

Anonymous said...

all about scrabble

Amy said...

We played UNO for a while. But all the cards got lost, so it got chunked. We don't do so well with games but it's good that you are all playing as a family :)

All these comments you have, I wish I was so popular...heehee!

Heathahlee said...

I love playing board games but my absolute favorite game to play is Pit. I. Love. That. Game. I turn into a wild woman (not that far a drive) when I play it.

Mama Dawg said...

You name it, we play it in our house.

Gretchen said...

My absolute favorite is Taboo. If you haven't tried it, you must. However you need at least 4 players and they all have to be able to read. Well, try it sometime!