There are plenty of nights that we hold “Family Game Night,” opening our closet and taking out kid game after kid game after kid game. And that’s fun. But when the moms and dads get together for a Game Night… then it’s really fun!
We recently had some friends over for dinner, and while the kids played in the basement, we tried out a few games made for the 10 and up crowd.
Every new game usually starts with a few nervous giggles as you figure it out, but there was no question that Balderdash was a ton of fun once we got the hang of it.
We played that for a while, finally agreeing that we would stop playing categories by the roll of the dice because not all of the categories were fun for us.
Our favorite categories were Incredible Initials, where we were given initials and had to secretly make up what the initials stood for. Our suggestions got more and more hilarious as time went on.
We also loved the Laughable Laws category.
Did you know that in Provincetown, Massachusetts, it used to be illegal to sell suntan oil afternoon on a Sunday? So… you can imagine that a few glasses in, this game got a little silly.
Also silly, though, is the scoring system. We finally quit their scoring system because it was just way too confusing and created our own. That’s part of the fun of playing a game with adults. You can break the rules and change the rules… and no one screams or has a tantrum.
Dabble – The Fast Thinking Word Game is an award-winning word game. It’s for wordies, so if you’re a fan of Scrabble or Words with Friends, grab this game for the next time you entertain.
There are various levels of skill, from building words to building words within categories.
It was created for ages 10 and up, but it’s easy to adapt to younger children who are adept at spelling and reading.
This can be a seriously competitive game when you play it with the right people. Be warned. Wear your sweat clothes and settle in for a big game night with this one. *I received this game as a sample.
As you know, I love attention. And I love to be onstage. So whenever we pull out Guesstures, I’m ready and set to have a good time. Guesstures is a game of timed charades where you’re given a limited time to act out 4 words, and your teammates need to answer correctly.
As the game goes on, you’ll find yourselves becoming either silly or competitively serious. Or a combination of the two.
This is the game we play when my non-wordie husband picks… and I’m always happy he pulls it out. (A little Just-Precious trivia: this is the game I was playing when I told my family I was pregnant with my Big.)
Synonyms – The Word Game That Gets Your Mind Racing! is another word game that I’m enjoying.
In this game, we think of as many synonyms (obvi) for a word as the game directs.
If your conversational words are beyond 12th grade, this game may be simple.
But if you’re like me, and the word you want to use is always on the tip of your tongue but never rolling off, you’re in for a bit of competitive frustration.
Which, of course, usually leads to laughter and fun once you’ve loosened up. It’s a great game for working on your vocabulary because it makes intellectual fun.
