Games ~ What are you giving? Any new discoveries? What are you hoping to receive?

[plansrme]

Update on my game quest: My exchange student ("ES") is home for Christmas (with his actual family, not his wannabe family, i.e., us), but I announced family game night last night and pulled out, first, Tenzi. Lots of fun, but I see why my husband won't play with my 20 yo any more. I wish I could pit the 20 yo against ES. ES has great reflexes and vision; I think he could give her a run for her money (their schedules here just rarely overlap). Anyway, Tenzi will be a keeper.

I also found a game no one remembered that we had: Anomia. We were just learning to play, and I think this one will work, too, but I had to call a lid on game play for the evening because--and I may have mentioned this before--one family member (not me) was too grumpy at having lost every round of Tenzi. But we'll try it again tonight with some rule modifications. Even though it is essentially a word game, I think I can make it work for ES.

After reading the directions to Avalon and even Exploding Kittens, I am giving those to my 23 yo rather than keeping them for family game night. I've read the directions to Concept and think it will work for FGN, and I threw Pit into the cart with it, so we'll try those soon. Poker is still on the table as well. I personally have never actually gambled, but I can see how small stakes would make it interesting.

Thank you to everyone for the recommendations. Your recommendations and comments really helped me flesh out what I'm looking for. 

[EmilyGF]

I bought the kids Peptide a few weeks ago to "practice" some DNA-related things and we're really liking it as a game. I can play nice with dd12 or ds15 can play cutthroat with DH. 

Emily

[plansrme]

On 12/10/2020 at 2:16 PM, rebcoola said:

Our newest game that we are giving everyone is Poetry for neanderthals.  A guessing game where you can't use any words with more than one syllable or you get bonked on the head with an inflatable club.

I just came across this at Target and added it to the list of games my 20 yo is picking up for us. It looks perfect for our exchange student, especially since my most often-repeated admonition to him is, "Use your words!" We also pulled out Five Crowns, which will work, but we have to replace it because our cards are so worn out that they can't be shuffled any more, and we are replacing Catch Phrase because, despite the fact that it has never been played, a piece is missing. I haven't played games with my kids in easily 10 years. It was something my husband did while I cooked dinner or cleaned up. Plus, our kids were always at gym or swim or some sort of practice. Going through this list and our game closet (which is fairly well stocked despite the fact that no one plays anything but Catan), and trying out games, has been very fun for all of us.

Again, thanks, everyone, for contributing!

[Kareni]

My adult daughter recommends the game Marrakech “if you like angrily shouting at your friends while they ruin your plans and then getting revenge by stabbing them in the back on your next turn.”

I just realized this game is produced by the same maker as Quarto, a two person game I highly recommend.

Regards,

Kareni

[EmilyGF]

DS15 loves loves loves Wingspan. It is an engine-building game. The illustrations are beautiful and accurate. Sometimes the younger kids (8, 12) don't want to play the whole game, though we have gotten faster as we've played it more, and then we let them each play a round and rotate through.

If anyone in your house is slightly interested in birds, I highly recommend it!

[Kareni]

An enjoyable games focused gift guide from the SBTB site:

Gift Guide 2020: Game On!

And a post from Real Simple with some fun (and pricey) games:

These Stylish Board Game Sets Double as Decoration

Regards,

Kareni