Since last week was National Game and Puzzle week, I’m going to be talking all about why  playing games is the SECRET INGREDIENT to any awesome family Thanksgiving gathering! Ok, not really… but I had to think of some cool title about games that went with Thanksgiving week. And last week REALLY WAS National Game and Puzzle week. I actually just found that out the other day and will be celebrating it YEARLY now. 

Ok, I want to preface this WHOLE post by saying that we’re a super competitive family. Football, playing HORSE in the driveway, Battleship, cornhole, Jenga, Dominoes, Clue (by the way: NEVER play Clue with Abby. Just don’t… that’s all I’m saying about that.)

That being said - we do LOVE to play games as a family...board games, strategy games, trivia games, cards, building games, balance games… we love games! Every Christmas we try to add at least 1 new game to our overflowing game cabinets (yes - “cabinets” plural. Moving on now).

Abby even packed some of her favorite games to go with her to her college dorm. 

I grew up playing games with Mom and Dad (only child here)... and I remember sprawling out on the floor playing games on the weekends. If I was playing with Dad, it was probably Rummy. I  LOVE a good game of 500 Rummy. Steve says I’m a risky player, but great risks lead to great rewards! AMIRIGHT? We also loved to play Monopoly. Mom always mysteriously had something to do when I got out Monopoly though. She would play with us occasionally, but somehow washing her hair always took precedent. As a Mom, I feel that DEEPLY! 

Some of our favorite games to play when family is in town for the holidays are Farkle, Dominoes (our favorite version is Mexican Train), UNO Attack (that game is both stressful and fun), Yahtzee (Maggie and I will THROW DOWN a Yahtzee game any night of the week), Scatergories, Spades, and of course - Rummy. They’re all games multiple people can play together and for most of these (except Spades) you don’t really have to worry about how big your dinner table is - you can spread out! 

After family leaves and we’ve cleaned up the house, Steve and Maggie and I will usually bring out the more elaborate strategy games (read: the games that take a little explanation and Thanksgiving isn’t the time for testing your patience. Ok - I’m not kidding anyone… I don’t want to test MY patience). We LOVE Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride (we have several versions) and Labyrinth. And Steve just bought me a new Choose Your Own Adventure game for my birthday that I’m DYING to try. Do you remember reading those books in middle school? I used to LOVE reading and rereading them until I figured out all the different scenarios. 

What are some of your family traditions (like playing games) for when family visits during the holidays? 

What types of games do you like to play? 

How competitive are you from 1-10? (Just as a benchmark, I’m at about a 13…)

Is there any game that you have that we should be playing? Drop me a comment in the box below - we’re always looking for new suggestions! (not that our game cabinets can hold much more…)

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving!