But still, if I have only an hour or two with someone, I’d rather just talk than play games. If I have more time, then games are fine. But I do prefer Rook to something like Candyland.

I also like board and card games, too. I’m not a snob about it, I’m happy to play a good game of Risk or Scrabble just as readily as I pick up one of the Euro games. It’s all about the companionship and passing the time, anyway.

And yes, I’m a total nerd.

There are really some great games out there too. Red Dragon Inn is one of our favorites, as is Pitt.

Local board gaming groups are also great for this.

Also, for those who live in areas without great access to fellow gamers, you might check to see if there are any board gaming conventions held in nearby areas. They’re not terribly cheap entertainment if you need a hotel, but highly inexpensive if you live close by. Like, $25 for a weekend full of fun, with potential to win games/game store gift certificates as well.

With the standard video games you still have electricity as a constant cost, and the bigger the TV, the higher the cost! Finances aside, board games also provide human interaction which appears to diminish continually as technology advances. I never thought I would see 4 people sitting in the same room trying to accomplish similar tasks and be so far apart until I watched 4 people play a video game together.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to disparage those that play video games, but I definitely see the hidden value of board games. Great post, thank you!

Sincerely,
Timothy
A Wealth Artisan Team Member

The best part is that the game board itself changes (random variation) as opposed to Monopoly.

I had never even heard of it, but then read an article on the top 10 board games. I had played most of the others (Monopoly, Risk, Stratego). Catan has been by far the best.

I agree that Monopoly is a horrid, soul destroying game. And also add my vote for Ticket to Ride, Settlers and Bohnanza.

We have recently been blessed in Reading, UK, with a fantastic games shop. (Eclectic Games) They are happy to chat for half an hour and would rather you walk out with nothing than with the wrong game. Old fashioned service, up to date product.

Whatever happened to sitting down with family or friends and playing a good old board game like Monopoly?

My husband and I have a few standard travel games that don’t take up a lot of room in luggage and keep us entertained …

Cribbage = Get a travel set that has 3 tracks and you can also play 3-player and 4-player versions (most rules should include these options.) Plus you also have a deck of cards for standard card games.

Lost Cities = A great 2-player game that I can’t recommend highly enough! We took the cards out of the box (you don’t need the board that the piles go on – just make your own piles) and printed off the rules online. Snap a rubber band around cards and folded up rules, and you’re good to go!

Farkle = An extremely compact dice game “for 2 or more players.” Six dice and the rules. I would imagine that most game stores sell the “pocket Farkle” boxes = 3 inches by 2 inches by 3/4 inch. This lives in my purse.

5 Crowns = 2-7 player card game. Everyone in my family likes this one. Easy to learn.

Skip-Bo = 2-6 player card game, from the makers of Uno. A nice feature is that it’s easy to make the game play in a shorter length of time, if desired. Also easy to learn.

San Juan = The largest game I’m recommending, although it would be easy enough to take the componants out of the box and back them into zip-lock bags. 2-4 players. The box itself is 9 1/4 imches by 7 1/4 inches by 1 1/2inches. Despite the relatively larger size of the box I’m still recommending this because my husband and I LOVE this game. There are many strategies which can lead to winning, and we’re pretty evenly matched.

We play a lot of card games around here, too.

My boyfriend and I are tentatively discussing a wedding. One thing we’ve definitely decided on: instead of dancing at the reception, we’ll have board games. While we like dancing just fine, our extended families are not big dancers. But we are all huge board game/card players. I imagine we’ll have old classics like cribbage, go fish, checkers, shoots & ladders, and connect 4 intermingled with some newer games that are fun, easy to learn, and don’t take too long to play. Our intent is that people get to know each other through playing.

@S #86: I’ll take your games! Seriously! Maybe I should get on my local freecycle and start building up games now. I never even thought of that.

And a frugality tip here. If you buy the game+all the expansions in one big box, it costs like 3 times less than buying separate.

San Juan could likewise be shrunk down for travel (though the box is pretty small already).

My wife and I have a few of the Euro-style board games mentioned here: Agricola, Thurn and Taxis, Railroad Tycoon, Settlers of Catan. Our first, and still favourite, is Carcassonne. It’s really easy to learn, fairly inexpensive, and a great two player game. There’s a travel version of the game as well, which wouldn’t take up much room in a suitcase. There is no ‘board’ – the tiles you draw make up the map. You can play on a table or the floor. We’ve introduced this one to many friends and everyone has gone out and found their own copy.

We have a stack of unused board games received as gifts that we can’t even Freecycle away.

I say board games rock!

I was so excited when my sons started being interested in board games (they’re 4 and 6 now). I think Candyland and Chutes and Ladders are evil — games intended for preschoolers should have a 15 min limit and no possibility of endlessness.

My older son and I both love Quirkle — we’re spatial reasoning people and he and I can both trounce anyone, but I can’t help but show people when there’s a great play to be made, so I don’t get too competitive.

They got Monopoly Jr for Christmas and even the 4 year old can play that one with a little assistance with the money. They have a Disney version, which I thought would make me crazy, but I was impressed with how it was designed. It’s straightforward but is a good introduction to the full game.

Other games for the kindergarten and younger set that I like — The Orchard Game (sort of a German Hi Ho Cherry-o). Lots of edible pieces if you’ve got a grabby baby, though. Dwarves and Dice is different from other games — a speed game that’s easy for parents to cheat on if their kid needs to win. We’ve got an old board game called Lego Creator that my Lego-obsessed kids could play all day. It seems like most options for young kids are variations on Memory and that gets boring.

For adults, our extended family divides into super-competitive and just-let-us-chat-while-we-play. The chatters like Apples to Apples and Bananagrams. The competitive ones like Settlers and 500 (the card game). We’ve been known to play Spoons with everyone age 3-90 where the youngest kids get spooooon before they’re out.