Game Night!

This time last year we hosted some friends for a game night, and tonight we plan to do the same!

I just love the holiday season, for many reasons, but mostly because it's the one time of year where I get to be around a lot of family, friends and people that are generally (finally) "in the mood" for my crazy game addiction (or at least will put up with it).

My new favorite game of the year is The Game Of Things sold at Target & Amazon.

So far I have played this with 4 varying groups of people: Friends for fun, my immediate family at Thanksgiving, our extended family of all ages at Christmas and my brother in-law and his in-laws at NYE and... everyone agrees it is really fun! It is great because you can play with numerous players and it's very interactive. Plus, it has no definitive "end", so you can play as long or as little as your group desires. Highly recommend.

I have heard from a coworker that Loaded Questions Adult is entertaining, so we bought that for a family gift exchange, but have not purchased it for us or played it ourselves yet.

And as I said last year, Apple to Apples and Scattergories are always a hit and I also like Electronic Catch Phrase, but I'm in the market for any new games people might also suggest.

I like games that aren't necessarily party games as well. Is there an interesting new Trivial Pursuit version out there I might be missing? Scrabble is all time favorite, and my mom gave me Scrabble Slam for Christmas which I have yet to try. Any other suggestions in that realm to play on more of a quiet night in? I'd love to hear them!

Kitschy Kool: Volume 4: Board Games Old & New

Last night we hosted a game night at our house for around 10 of us. These are my favorite kind of nights, filled with good food, good friends and some good healthy competition ;-) (Seriously, whomever says the can play games just for fun, is a total liar… I play to win!)

So last night, since we had so many people, we played a few rounds of a newer favorite Apples to Apples. What a great party game for young and old, 4 players or 14 players. We love it and so did our guests. 

Later after a few guests left, 6 of us stuck around to play Scattergories. Now this is a classic game from the 80's that I literally have never lost when I played it; thus, it never gets old (at least for me)!

This game night made me reminisce on some favorite games from my childhood. Every year at Christmas, I used to go through the no defunct Service Merchandise catalog and fill my Christmas list with tons and tons of game, literally every game in the book!

Some of my favorite off the top of my head were...

Ker Plunk:

Similar concept to Jenga, in Ker Plunk you were supposed to slowly and carefully pull out each plastic stick, making the least number of marbles fall. The player with the least amount of marbles at the end wins!

We gave our nephew a more modern and childlike version of this game for Christmas, called Tumblin’ Monkeys. Same concept, just monkeys instead of marbles.

Next we have, Guess Who?:

I loved this game! Here’s a photo of the old-school version we had as kids. (sidenote: I think I had a crush on the boy on the box when I was a kid, lol.)

This is the game where you flip over a collection of faces with different color hair, eye color, hair, hats, glasses etc. to deduce who the secret person is that your opponent has chosen, by asking a serious of “yes” or “no” characteristic questions. It really honed my detective skills, which I thought might come in handy if I were to become a detective ;-)

And oh how I loved, Electronic Talking Battleship:

What can I say, except that the original Battleship was full of cheaters. See below:

Who did not move their ship a little to the left or the right when your friend called out a coordinate that landed on your ship?

Well, with Electronic Talking Battleship you could cheat no more! This thing KNEW where your ships were.

Press in the coordinates with your little red and yellow buttons and then just wait for the board to say "Destroyer Hit!" or better yet, “Battleship Sunk!”. Sweet Victory.

There are so many other games over the years that I loved, but I’ll leave you with this somewhat creepy, very kitschy and oh-so random game we also owned, Mr. Gameshow:

Mr. Gameshow was a plastic, electronic talking gameshow host that led you thru the game. As the box pointed out, it was "Just like a real game show in your home!" The game played in Mr. Gameshow resembled "Wheel of Fortune". Players earned money for correctly solving the puzzle. Most money at the end of the game wins. Classic! I loved ( and still do, love) gameshows, so this was quite a cool game in it’s day.

And she’d kill me if she EVER read this, but one time we caught my baby sister “making out” with "Mr. Game Show"(what a creepy guy) ...

...in the game-closet in our basement, so of course this holds a special place in my heart, lol.

Well, that is my latest edition of Kitschy Kool, featuring board games of past and present. Feel free to comment on some of your favorite games as well, I love being reminded of those blasts for the past!