My family has been enjoying a long Christmas season. One of our favorite pastime is playing Dixit. The game is fun for both competitive types and laid-back jacks of all kinds. There are several extension sets, such as Quest, to offer change and variation.
What family games (as in party games) do you play?
I like family games that:
50 years ago we played Monopoly. Looking back it was a terrible choice. :smack:
The game could last hours; players could be knocked out early; it often came down to luck who won.
So I recommend Pandemic.
All the players work together to avoid the game winning; it doesn’t take too long; adults and children can play together; there’s just a bit of luck (which makes each game different.)
Cards against Humanity
Cranium
Apples to Apples
those 3 keep us busy. More the 1st two, actually.
We’ve had fun with SUPERFIGHT! Starting pointless arguments is kind of the point of the game and it’s not for everyone but with the right crowd, it’s a blast.
PICTIONARY and SCRABBLE are family favorites.
RUSSIAN RUMMY is a favorite card card among my family.
DOMINOS may be old fashioned but it’s a pleasant game that work well across many age groups.
we’ve been playing The Game of Life, bookshelf edition. Fun with money and obligations, some opportunity knocking, chances to lay some money down on the stock market, get presents for adding babies to your 6 passenger vehicle. Cards of chance, revenge and promissory notes. fast paced, arond the bends and curvesballs of life. wither millionaires or poorhouse bound a good time is had by all.
The classical board game in my family still is our German 1983 edition of Trivial Pursuit. We’ve played it hundreds of times, but there are still always enough questions which seem new and unasked before to make it still entertaining. Of course you have to take into account that it’s pre-fall of communism and many questions are about states that no longer exist like the USSR and the GDR. Our in-joke is that you’ll almost never go wrong with the answer “Ronald Reagan” :D. My sister has two more recent editions, but they’re not as good as our vintage version from 1983.
My kids like Coup. Short, easy to pick up, sufficiently tactical to be interesting, game of lying
Scrabble.
My mom gave me Azul for Christmas, and it’s a big hit in our family. Our six-year-old can play it just fine, our ten-year-old can win it sometimes, and it’s complex enough to keep the interest of the adults. Plus, it’s gorgeous, and it plays pretty quickly.
One of my favorites from last year is Gizmos.
Many Thanksgivings ago, we played Word On The Street with my ninety-something mom. She loved it, took it back to her retirement home… and now there are a dozen Church Ladies hooked on it.
I mentioned this to a friend of mine, who said “I helped make that! (he helped start Out Of The Box Games) … but we’re discontinuing it.” As I said, an ex-friend of mine…
Try to find a copy. It really is fun.
We just got Deception:murder in Hong Kong or whatever it’s called. It’s pretty fun. Nice and quick. 15-30 min per game. Dunno if it’s for small children families though. I was the youngest playing at 44.
Cribbage
Backgammon
Monopoly
And something like pinnociole??? I’m not having luck googling it.
ETA: I recall trading pennies…
I like Pandemic, Sagrada, and Azul (and its expansion Stained Glass of Sintra). I own a ridiculous number of board games, many of which we’ve never even played yet. It’s kind of embarrassing.
I love Pinochle. When I was in college, my gaming club basically had a running Pinochle game going in the University Union. People would tag in and out depending on who had to go to class, and it wasn’t at all uncommon for the game to continue throughout the day every weekday, from early morning until dinner time. I miss those days.
Phase 10.
Dominoes (“Chickenfoot”) long-standing second place.
We played 5 Crowns on Christmas Eve. Played Azul, Transamerica, and Dirty Hearts (2 decks) on Christmas Day. Qwirkle and Reef have gone well. Wingspan was a bit too complicated for most of my family.
Brian
Pandemic has been our go-to for a few years, along with “no thanks” and “sushi go”, this year we got “exploding kittens” and “ticket to ride (europe)” and they have been great fun.
Hearts.
Spades.
For two people, Gin Rummy.
For large groups, Liverpool Rummy.
Several people have attempted to teach me Pinochle, but it goes in one ear and out the other.
Monopoly, Scrabble, and Sorry.
“No Thanks” and “Sushi Go” are both excellent games. The former is a weirdly big hit with my fourth-graders on indoor recess days: you’d think they’d want to avoid math during recess, but this game pulls them in.