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Home > Blogs > Adventures in Motherhood > Archives > 2010 > April > 30 > Entry
Game Night recommendations
My whole family loves Game Night. When it’s announced, we all enthusiastically pitch in to clear the clutter from the dining room table (which is a rarity!) and have at it with gusto. It’s a great bonding opportunity, plus we usually laugh ourselves silly.
We have a stable of old standbys that we trot out regularly: Monopoly, Life and Uno Attack (which is a lot less violent than it sounds).
If we’re vacationing with my side of the family, someone always breaks out Stratego, at which point I usually make myself scarce for about 5 hours, which is apparently how long it takes to achieve world domination.
One gather-‘round-the-table game I do love is Tripoli. Doing a little Internet research, I found out that Tripoli, aka Tripoley or Michigan Rummy, is a modern version of a 500-year-old European game called Poch.
The game has quite a history in my family as well: We have been enjoying it for decades, usually after a big Sunday dinner at one of my Italian aunts’ houses. (See the European connection?) Those little ladies didn’t mess around. Card games were Serious Business. Even as kids we had to stay focused or relinquish our seat.
Betting is involved, folks, so kids can practice their math skills. I can remember counting out pennies at my parents’ elbows before I could see over the edge of the table. And now we keep my own little one busy with a pile of coins and a cup to clink them into while the rest of us put on our poker faces. Why, there could be a whole 13 cents at stake in each hand!
OK so maybe it’s not Monte Carlo, but we really get into it. My mom has had the same decorative tin can reserved for her Tripoli pennies since at least 1974. That’s the year I got in trouble for plastering a huge “National Hunting and Fishing Day” sticker on top of the lid (it’s still stuck there today as a running family joke). The rest of us use recycled purple felt Crown Royal bags to hold our loot.
Last Christmas, my 11-year-old joined the big leagues, winning her first big Tripoli pot — something like $2.50. She was never so pleased. We’re all about cheap entertainment!
Always in the market for a new Game Night selection, we sampled the card game Loaded Questions, which arrived in Adventures in Motherhood’s mailbag recently. A gaggle of sixth-grade girls gave the Junior version a spin at a birthday party, and I heard lots of giggling and animated discussions going on.
The game tests players on how well they know each other by posing a set of questions, then having the players guess who answered what. I asked my 4-year-old a few:
Q: If you were your school’s principal, what is the first thing you would do?
A: “I would say, ‘Go Play!’”
Q: If you could be a member of any TV family, who would you choose?
A: “The Baker Family.” (That’s us. And I wasn’t even aware we were being televised!)
Loaded Questions Parenting 101 (which retails for $11.99) is the company’s latest release, just in time for Mother’s Day. Sample question: “What is the worst way to tell your children that Santa Claus is not real.” My answer: “Wait … He’s not?”
Euchre is another family favorite. Hubby and I started playing back in college, when there would be an all-night euchre tournament at every frat party. Those were the days.
Speaking of golden oldies, I recently revived an old favorite of mine: backgammon. As teenagers lounging around the pool on hot summer days, my friends and I played backgammon endlessly. I dusted off my old board and challenged Hubby to a game one Saturday night after the kids had gone to sleep. Now it’s Our Game — no kids allowed! It’s really relaxing since neither of us cares too much about winning; it’s all about spending time together.
One couple keeps trying to get us interested in cribbage, but I can’t keep the scoring straight and feel like a goof having to look at a cheat sheet all the time. I did pick up a cribbage board at a yard sale for 25 cents, so maybe that big investment will give me extra incentive to learn.
Another great garage sale deal: Tripoli boards. Usually they go for no more than $1, and it’s nice to have an extra on hand when ours starts to look tattered.
And speaking of Santa and shopping, it’s never too early to think about Christmas, right?
That’s why I recently hit Amazon.com to purchase Mattel’s Apples to Apples Party Box. My 14-year-old son has been raving about it, saying it’s the greatest party game ever, so it should add some fun to our gaming repertoire.
Apples to Apples is a card game based on word comparisons, using actual parts of speech such as nouns, adjectives and gerunds. Hey, who knows? It could accidentally build the kids’ word power.
It’s on son’s short list for Santa, and since it was marked down to $16.54, I plunked it into my virtual shopping cart. (I’ve seen it for around $25 elsewhere.)
And because the game is “Eligible for Free Super Saver Shipping” with orders over $25, of course I had to do some more shopping to get the deal.
My youngest has been asking for a Pillow Pet since last Christmas. I couldn’t bring myself to buy one, partly because of the stick-to-your-brain jingle, “It’s a pillow. It’s a pet. It’s a Pillow Pet!” — but I’m getting soft in my old age (no pun intended), so there will be a Buzzy Bumble Bee Pillow Pet under our tree this year.
According to the Original Pillow Pets As Seen on TV website, the “plush folding stuffed animals are so soft you’ll think you’re hugging a real fur coat!” So maybe I should put one on my list too? Could bring a whole new meaning to Game Night.
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