games people play

Our family loves to play games. Usually. Since our 3 boys are all 5 years apart, it was harder to find games ALL of them could play during their early years. I mean, a 12-year-old can tolerate "Elefun" only so many times :) But now that my youngest is 17 we have a great time. And more often than not a really WILD time..... or more like, a very LOUD time. Especially when Davy is involved.

My friend Bev asked if I could recommend some good games that our family likes to play. We have a LOT of games/puzzles/cards to choose from, but today I'm going to stick with our 6 most favorites - and 2 honorable mentions. Most of our favorites are word/trivia games - games that are super fun but require at least a bit of thinking and creativity.

1) SCRABBLE (above) is a classic favorite. We go in phases with this one. If you can form a three letter word than you can play! The downside to Scrabble is that there can be a long wait time for your turn. Sometimes we use our laptops or phones to pass the time if it's slow going.

2) BANANAGRAMS is best known as a lightening fast version of Scrabble. I love this game! It needs no board - you can use a table or any flat surface. Every player starts out with 15 tiles and forms connecting words as fast as possible. No down time - it's fast paced and fun!

3) BALDERDASH is another personal favorite of mine, and the more players, the merrier! One player writes down the real definition of a lesser-known word, the other players make up their own official sounding definitions, and players guess to see which definition is the correct one. Creativity is at it's best here, and that makes this game all the more enjoyable (and hysterical).

4) SCATTERGORIES is a game of words..... and lists..... and lists of words! You toss the special letter die, and players have a designated amount of time to write down as many words as directed, that start with that letter. There's a list you follow, but beware of blanking out cuz it happens! It can get quite competitive as you try to sway others that your word IS a real word!

5) BOGGLE has been around in many forms for a long time, and it remains one of our favorites. Make as many words (4 or more letters) as you can by connecting attached letters. You can go vertically, horizontally AND diagonally, but a letter for each word can only be used once. 

6) TABOO is a popular game and our current favorite. Played in teams of two, the more teams the better. Kind of an updated version of Password, if you're familiar with that game. Team members try to get each other to guess a word or term WITHOUT mentioning several key clue words. No actions, no "sounds like"..... can be super frustrating in a fun and funny way :)

HONORABLE MENTIONS:

UNO

The one game you can always rely on for a fun time. 

We make our own rules and then yell and scream at each other.

APPLES TO APPLES

Another super fun game - the more people, the merrier!

Raucous, loud, funny..... but we've played it so many times we're done.