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Summer is officially here! Sunshine, swimming, fun and games…

I have always loved games. Board games, card games, word games, strategy games, physical games like tag, badminton, HORSE, I’ve always loved them!

I love family game nights. We did not have designated game nights in my house growing up, so when we did have a night of games, I was really excited. For good or for bad I am a highly competitive person, I also have a reputation for dominating Monopoly so my family hates to play that one with me.

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My top 10 games:

(Some you may have heard of, some you may not…ALL are fun!)

SKIPBO
This was always a favorite of mine as a kid. We would play it with my grandparents (and yes, Gma and I made a great team who happened to win nine out of ten times). It is a sequencing card game – great for kids learning numbers. I’ve known my numbers for years and still love it!

CHESS
Learning to play chess was on my list of goals for 2015. So I read Chess For Beginners, and my sister gave me this awesome chess set made from nuts and bolts. A traditional board like this one does the job too. The great thing about chess is the thinking that is involved – the strategizing! I can talk my mom into playing with me occasionally and it is interesting to see how we each strategize and how frustrated we get when the other doesn’t fall into our traps. I think chess is a great game for everyone to learn how to play, but I also understand it seems complicated and can seem intimidating. My advice would be to get familiar with how each of the pieces move and find somebody to play with. Learning to play is half the fun.

CHECKERS
Checkers was classic in our house growing up. I remember playing with a friend when we were about 7 years old and he informed me that “Your move isn’t final until you take your fingers off the piece”, allegedly that is in the official rule (if you didn’t know, now you do). Checkers is kind of a gateway game to chess.

MONOPOLY
Aww, my old friend. As I already said, I have a bit of a reputation for monopolizing Monopoly. And I’m talking about the traditional one, not credit cards or fancy battery-operated parts, just the good old fashioned colorful paper money one. In fact, I’m so good at this game a few years ago my dad had to make a $1,000 bill.

BLOKUS
I got this game for my mom for Christmas last year. We did not play it until Mother’s Day. After that we were asking ourselves why we waited so long! It is a game of strategy. It is a lot like Tetris, but the goal of the game it to get all your pieces on the board – which is harder than you’d think. Players each take a turn laying down one of their pieces (there are four different colors – each player has tiles in their color). The catch is each of your pieces has to touch the corner of another one of your pieces. As the other players spread their tiles across the board this gets more and more difficult. It is loads of fun, even if you never win (like me)!

SCATTEGORIES
This one is a great word/letter association game. You have to think of and write down answers that fit the categories on the card…the catch is that they have to start with the letter that is chosen by the roll of a die. This can be played individually, or you can team up to play with larger groups.

CATCH PHRASE
NOTHING adds pressure like the buzzer with this game. Word play mashed up with hot potato! Get your partner or team to say the word in the window as fast as possible…you don’t want to be the one holding the unit when the buzzer sounds.
I have the old paper disc version, but I just discovered it is very pricey…the newer electronic versions are cheaper.

TABOO
Get your partner or team to say the word on the card…without saying all the other word on the card, because they are taboo. No buzzers just plain old-fashioned frustration as you race to give non-taboo clues. I’ve played this one at a large family reunion and it was a hoot!

MAD LIBS
MadLibs have always been a favorite of mine…they are great for kids learning parts of language (verbs, adjectives, nouns, pronouns, adverbs, etc.) and they are always good for a laugh! Mad Libs make for a good way to pass time during long car rides.

SCRABBLE
I used to hate Scrabble as a kid, but that was before I became a reader. My mom dominates scrabble every time we play as a family. Scrabble is a good way to build spelling and word skills with children, but it is a fun way to test friend and family members’ vocabulary too.

Side note on Chess: After I read the book I mentioned, I made notecards for the basic game rules and how each piece can move.

Does your family have a favorite game that is not listed above? What is it? I am always open to adding to my game collection.

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