Board games

I'm a big fan of board games. I remember playing marathon Monopoly games with my cousins when we would go visit where we'd play until we got tired of it, just leave everything set up while we went to do something else and then came back to it later. For days we did this, and I'm not sure that anyone ever actually won - but we didn't care, it was just fun to keep playing. I remember playing Yahtzee and dominos as a very young child. Tri-Ominos was one that I liked to play with my grandma. I remember playing Scrabble and Scattergories in high school and Outburst and Pictionary in college. Balderdash at my parents with my siblings or with our good friends is an absolute great time with lots of laughter.

I'm going to include card games in this genre as well, because these play a huge role in my memories of growing up too. I remember my grandpa teaching me cribbage when I was barely old enough to add and multiply. Of course, we played Go Fish and War (can someone remind me why we loved this game so much? I really don't understand now - it's just a pointless mindless game). Then there is Spoons: blood was drawn (not sure whose idea it was to play in the aisle of a charter bus with people and their fingernails diving over and under seats grabbing for plastic spoons but accidentally gouging ankles instead) and kitchen tables broken (yep, we really did break my friend's kitchen table in high school) playing this game - and it's now one of my kids' favorites. Untold hours have been spent at my parents playing Hand and Foot and Spades. And my mom many times has a new card game to teach us when we see her, especially if she's been to visit my grandparents recently. I am however, no good at poker, and sheepshead makes my brain hurt.

Now that my kids are old enough to play most games, I have started buying them again here and there. I've discovered that Clue has been updated and rules changed a little. Monopoly now comes in 1273 different versions (I went with the classic one that I grew up with). Uno has been fancied up too. Some great new games have popped up - Apples to Apples anyone? Risk is still eternally long, but it can be worth it to conquer the world. And if you want to find out if your family can spell a word backward with each person taking turns saying a different letter or how well you do drawing a picture with your eyes shut while everyone else tries to figure it out, then try the Family Fun Game.

I wish we played more often because it's so much fun. How did life get too busy for such simple pleasures? I believe it's time to get serious about reviving family game night...can someone Pass the Pigs, please?