We don’t often play family board games – we tend more toward curling up on the big brown sofa with the big brown dogs and watching a movie together. But my friend Kim and her family are board game experts, and nearly all our favorites games have been Christmas gifts from the Rhineheimers. Their daughter is a senior in high school and their son is in eighth grade, and they still play board games all the time, and invite friends over to play board games. I think that’s pretty spectacularly cool. I asked Kim for her ten favorites and she rattled them off pretty quickly. In fact, she couldn’t narrow it down to just ten, so we’re going a little over the limit today! If you’re looking for activities for upcoming sleepover parties or even thinking ahead toward Christmas keep this list in mind. As we move into the holiday season the classic games seem to go on sale pretty regularly.
Sorry
Clue
Othello
Husker Du
Pit
Phase 10
Scrabble
Apples to Apples
Jacks
Balderdash
Password
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
My favorite were Jacks and Clue. Plus we played Old Maid and Fish. Some of those are really old games. I should know! What great family activities. What about Checkers, that was my grandfather’s favorite.
Mamaw used to play Checkers with Randy, but she always let him win. Maybe that’s why he still has “entitlement issues”
I loved jacks as a kid and was surprised that kids don’t play it anymore.
I was thinking about that this morning. I was waiting for an x-ray, and a mom was there with two school-age kids who were bored out of their minds. The stained-concrete floor would have been perfect for them to play jacks, and a set wouldn’t have taken up much room in the mom’s purse. I say we revive jacks as a popular kids’ game!
What a good list! Balderdash is so fun for word people, especially when you get together with people you don’t know very well.
I have to add two railroad-related games: Rivers, Roads and Rails (ideal for grade-schoolers, yet I’ve seen college-age kids and older stay interested for an entire game), and Ticket to Ride (various versions are available; we own the Nordic countries version and the U.S. version). If Kim hasn’t seen these, you might have a good Christmas idea for her!
Dulcie, you are now officially my go-to person for Christmas gift ideas!
Oh wow, we love many of those games!! I grew up playing many of them, in fact my folks sort of made up a version of balderdash
Never heard of Husker Du, will have to check that out!
I know I’m a day behind, but that’s because I was with some little dumplings yesterday getting spit on, kicked and head butted. Anyway, Balderdash is one of my favorites. I also love Uno, Mille Bornes and for a great geography lesson, Across the Continent. Yahtzee is always a good game.
I need to play Across the Continent. The only subject I’m worse at than History is Geography – it’s downright embarrassing.
Mille Bornes – love that game. We used to play it all the time. A current family favorite of all ages is Dominoes. We play Mexican Train or Chicken with them, grandparents through grade school.
I grew up playing board games and now that we are all grown up and have families of our own, we still get together for family dinners and play board games afterwards, bringing the next generation in to the fold! Out of Kim’s list, we often go to Phase 10 and Apples to Apples, but my personal favorite that our family goes to quite often as a last resort when no one can agree on anything else is Scattergories! Another word game we love is Boggle.