Fun with Family Games

Why start playing games with your family?

The world is becoming more fast-paced; with new technological advances every day, people have started moving literally at the speed of light. Technology is not the only thing pushing the world into a faster pace: the length of work days are increasing, the amount of travel is increasing, the number of activities that people perform everyday is, as always, on the rise. In this fast-paced world, it isn’t often that family members get to sit down and spend some time together. A good way to do that is to play board games together.

What are some classic family games?

Most classic board games have been around for decades, and can be found in stores or online. Parents can usually easily pick up any classic game they can think of: Sorry, Boggle, Clue, Dominos, Candy Land, Trivial Pursuit, and, of course, Monopoly. Some other games that have grown in popularity, and which are also easily found, include Apples to Apples, Operation, and the Game of Life. However, the board game industry didn’t just sit still while the rest of the world sped up. The various board game companies now offer many different versions of their classic games, updated for a new decade. For example, Hasbro offers many different editions of Monopoly; there are Monopoly games for specific cities, such as Monopoly Chicago Edition or New York Edition. They also offer Monopoly games based on different movies or TV shows, such as the Star Wars Edition, My Little Pony Edition, or the Spongebob Squarepants Edition. They offer Classic Monopoly, if you want your game without frills, or Junior Edition for houses with young children. 

What are some new family games?

In addition to new editions of classic games, in recent years board games have moved from the board to the silver screen. You can now buy games that come with their own DVDs to supplement the game boards. Scene It? is a popular new trivia game that provides video clips that the players need to identify in order to obtain points. There a many different editions of this popular game, such as the Movie Edition, TV Edition, and Sports Edition Powered by UPN. There are also editions for families with younger children, such as the Jr. Edition, Disney Edition, and the Harry Potter Edition. The classic game Trivial Pursuit also now offers many editions that come with a DVD, a line called Trivial Pursuit DVD. Families can buy the Pop Culture Edition, Star Wars Edition, or Lord of the Rings Edition, for example. There are also several games that have come on to the market more recently that strive to get families laughing together, such as Pie Face and Watch Ya Mouth. 

What are some strategy games the family can enjoy?

Many families, especially families with older children, enjoy playing board games that require a little more strategy. The Settlers of Catan was one of the first strategy games to break onto the scene and gain widespread popularity with families. This game also has many expansion options, including Seafarers of Catan and Catan Cities and Knights. Some other popular strategy board games include Carcassonne, Dominion, Puerto Rico, Sequence, 7 Wonders, Ticket to Ride, Pandemic, and Agricola. And of course there are also more classic strategy board games such as Risk and Chess that are always good places to start. Some of these games can be enjoyed by pre-teen kids, and some of them even have separate versions that are easier for younger kids to play. You should consider your children's maturity level and capability when introducing them to these games to ensure they don't get too frustrated by the complexity or time involved.