Our Favorite Games

We love playing games!! Board games, card games, tile games, word games…you name it, we love it! We grew up playing family games all the time. Every Christmas, we would get a new family game, and then play it all night and the rest of the year! We are all pretty competitive so it always made for eventful nights 🙂 And, now I have married someone who loves playing games as much as I do, and is even more competitive! Ha! Here are a few of our favorites!

Card Games

1. Gin or Gin Rummy (2-4 players)- This has definitely become our go-to game for breaks from Ashkon’s med school studying. It’s fun, quick, and can be played with 2 people!

How to: Deal 7 cards. Flip over first card from the pile to begin the game. Pick a card from the pile at each new turn. You must discard with each turn. Place your discard card next to the card that is already down so that each card in the discard pile is visible. If a player wants a card in the pile, you pick it up with all the cards from that spot to the end of the pile (the most recent card put down). The first card (the one that you wanted) must be played in that turn. The Point: You are trying to make groupings of 3 cards minimum — Runs of 3 or more of the same suit or 3 or 4 of the same card. You can add to other people’s runs by placing the card that matches their grouping or continues their run by placing the card on your side (as a stand alone) with the rest of your groupings. To End the Game: You get rid of all your cards. However, you have to discard to end the game. So, if you have 2 tens in your hand and you pick up a ten, you cannot just put the 3 tens down and finish the game. You would have to discard one and then pick it back up your next turn so that you would have a card to discard. When you finish, count up your points. Whoever still has cards in their hand when the game ends, must subtract the cards in their hand from what they have down on the “board”. The point system is as so…2-9= 5 Points; 10-King = 10 Points; Ace (can be high or low) = 15 points.

2. Oh Heck (3-8 players) – A game of bidding and trumps!

How to: Deal the highest number of cards that you can depending on the number of people in your group so that everyone has the same number of cards. If you are playing with 7 people, deal 7 cards. If you are playing with 5 people, deal 10 cards. Every new round, you will deal one less card until you get to one and then you will go up one each round until you get back up to the number you started with. From the pile leftover, flip over the top card. This will tell you the suit of the trump for that round. After looking at your cards and the trump, you bid on how many “tricks” you think you will win. Left of the dealer begins the bidding. The number of bids CANNOT add up to the number of cards that there are in that round. For example, if the first round is starting with 7 cards and the bidding ends up at 6 with the dealer still needing to make their prediction, they cannot say 1. The person who bid first begins the round. You cannot begin a hand with the trump suit unless it has been played already. You must play whatever suit is started in each hand unless you do not have that suit. The trump suit “trumps” the suit that was started. If the trump suit is hearts and someone starts the hand with an Ace of diamonds and someone plays a 5 of hearts (because they did not have diamonds)- the 5 will trump the ace. Whoever wins the hand, begins the next. So let’s continue with this example. Now that the trump suit has been played. The person who just won that hand can toss out a heart to begin the next hand. (This can be a tricky strategy because it makes people use their trumps that they maybe were planning on using at a different time and banking on winning for their bid). If someone plays a high card that is not the starting suit or the trump suit, it does not beat a lower card. If someone plays diamonds, and everyone else plays diamonds except one player who puts down an ace of clubs, the highest diamond will still win that hand.

Point System: If you get what you bid (You bid 2 and you won 2), you get 10 points + the number that you bid. If you get under your bid (You bid 1 and you won 0), you get -10 points. If you go over your bid (You bid 1 and won 2), you get the positive number of however many you won. If you bid 1 and won 2, you would get 2 points. Whoever has the most points at the end of all of the rounds (If you start at 7, you go down to 1 and back up to 7), wins!

3. Butthead (2-5 players) – Rachel and her husband, Ernie, taught us this game and we have been hooked ever since. The name can also be “altered” if playing with a younger crowd and don’t want this word thrown around your house 🙂

How to: The dealer can deal however he or she may please in terms of order. They must deal 3 cards face down, 3 cards on top of the face down group and 3 cards that will be in each player’s hand. The idea is that you cannot move on the next “3” until the one before it is gone. So, you can’t play the face up cards until you have no more cards in your hand and you can’t play the face down cards until you are done with the “face up” round. You can adjust your cards from your hand and the face up cards, only before the game has begun. Once the first player puts down the card, your cards are set. If anyone has the 4 of clubs (or diamonds, whichever you prefer to be the suit), they start. If no 4’s are out, the person with the lowest card begins. You then continue playing as long as each of the next players can beat the card that was played the them. (For example, the first player puts down a 4, the next player puts down a 6, the next player puts down a 9, and the next player puts down a King. If the next player cannot beat the King, they pick up the pile and the person next to them starts again.) If you have 2 of the same card, you can play them in one turn. The strategy is to make sure that you don’t get stuck on any of the rounds not able to beat what is played before you. Once you get rid of your first hand, you can pick up your face up cards. Once you get rid of your face up cards, you move on to the next round. DO NOT PICK THESE CARDS UP! The fun part is you do not get to see them before you turn it over. When it comes to you, choose one of the face down cards and hope that it will beat whatever was played before you! The player who ends up with all the cards (while everyone else has none) is the BUTTHEAD 😀

Special Cards (Have a specific role but cannot be played anytime in the game) — Must be played in order) 7 – The next player has to play a 7 or lower; 8 – Skips the next player.

Wild Cards (Can be played at anytime) — 2 – Starts the hand over (lowest card of the game) — If a player puts down an Ace, and the next player puts a 2 down, the next player can put down a 4…; 3 – Mirrors the card – If a player puts down a Queen, the next player can put down a 3 which would mean the next player has to beat a Queen; 10 – Wipes the deck – If a player plays a King and the next player puts down a 10, you discard the pile and that same player gets to play again, starting with whatever they want.

4. Golf – Golf can be played with playing cards or Skip-bo cards. My explanation will be with Skip-bo cards.

How to: Deal 10 cards to each player. Leave them face down and put them in 2 rows of five. Choose 2 to flip over. The object of this game is to get the cards in the same column to be the same.  If you achieve this, they cancel each other out to make 0 points. If you end up with a 12 on top of a 9 that is 21 points. If you get a “block” of the same card – 4 of the same card next to each other – it is -20! To begin, the first card from the pile in the middle is flipped over. The first player can either take that card or choose the top card of the pile. With the card they choose, they replace one of their 10 with the card in their hand and discard it into the pile. The next player can do the same. If a player decides that they don’t want the card they picked, they can discard it but a turn passes for them to see what one of their cards will be. A player can end the game when they turn over their last card only if they have 0 points or less. After that happens, each player has one more turn. The risky part of letting a turn go by where you don’t replace one of your cards is that you can end up with more face down when a player goes out. You still get your last turn but you may end up with 1 or 2 cards that you have to flip and you cannot change them! Add up your points at the end of the round. You can play this for multiple rounds and keep score to see who ends up with the least amount of points at the end!

For more rules on card games, go to http://www.pagat.com/alpha/

Non-Card Games

1. Rummikub – Probably our all-time favorite game! Rummikub is a game of tiles with similar rules as Gin. You must make groups of 3 (all different colors) or runs of 3 of all the same color. To start, you have to put out 30 points on the board- this doesn’t have to be in one group or run, you can use as many tiles as you can, but it has to equal 30 or more. Once you play your 30, you are free to add more groups and runs, as well as playing off of other people’s groups and runs. You can move tiles around as you please as long as each group of tiles is 3 or more. A group cannot have more than one of the same color in it so only a maximum of 4 tiles per group. A run can go from 1-13 no problem! But, if there is a group of 4 fives (one of each color) and you need a black 5 to make a black run of 5,6,7 you can take it from the group (only if you have played your initial 30 points to start the game). If you cannot play (or choose not to), you must pick up one tile per turn. Whoever plays all of their tiles first, wins. Those who still have tiles on their rack, add them up. The winner gets the total of all the tiles the other players had while each individual player gets the negative of their added up total.

There are 2 jokers in this game that are identified with smiley faces. A joker can be played as any number and any color. If you can replace the joker with a tile in your hand, you must use it on the board in the same turn that you replace it. You cannot rearrange a run or group to get a joker to stand alone and use it unless both of the tiles it is identified as are out on the board. For example, if a joker is taking the place of a black 11 and the 2 black 11s are in two different groups of 11s, then you can break up the black 9,10,(joker (11)) run if there are places on the board for the 9 and 10 so that you can take the joker and use it elsewhere on the board.

2. The Game of Things – I love this game and is sure to bring a night a laughter! The reader grabs a card and tells everybody what it says – Each card will have a category like the example below: Things that Very Old People Shouldn’t Do or Things You Wouldn’t Want to Find In Your Sandwich…You then write your answer on the given paper, fold it and put it in the pile. The reader reads all the answers at once — The reader cannot be guessed and the reader does not guess. The person to the left of the reader begins. The group goes around trying to guess who said what! You continue guessing until you do not get one right. Once your answer is correctly guessed as you, you are out of the round and do not get to guess. The round ends when only one player (besides the reader) has not been matched with their answer. The person who makes the most correct guesses at the end of the game wins!

These next 3 are oldies but goodies. Most people have played these games, so I won’t go into the specific “How-to” details, but just wanted to add them to the list because they are so fun! But, if you haven’t ever played them, they are a must!

3. Scattergories – So fun, but takes some brain power-creativity so be on your thinking A-game for some good answers and being able to think while an annoying buzzer continuously gets faster and faster as your time gets shorter and shorter!

4. Sequence – If you have played this game before, try playing it with partners! Adds a different type of strategic thinking, but may cause some “arguments” if your partner can’t tell exactly what your cards are. 😉

5. Yahtzee – A great game when you don’t want to have to think! It’s all in the wrist to roll those dice! 🙂

New Games I Want to Try:

1. Telestrations – A few years ago, “Telephone Pictionary” became one of our family favorites, due to the non stop laughter that came with it! Telephone Pictionary is the game where everyone begins writing with a phrase. You pass your stack of papers (the number of people who are playing) and the next person draws the phrase. And, the next person, writes a phrase from what they see in the drawing. You continue switching from drawing to phrase until everyone gets each stack. It can be pretty hilarious based on the “artists” you have in the group! So, now, a board game has been made based on the “telephone pictionary” game, so I am excited to try it out!

2. Settlers of Catan – This game has become quite the trend. A lot of friends in Grenada loved this game, and then when we went home for break, we kept hearing about it there as well! However, we still have yet to actually play. I do not know much about how the game works, but it is all about strategy and trying to develop your settlement. You are rewarded points as you grow your settlement and the player to get to a certain number of points wins!

What are you favorite games? Any games on this list that you haven’t tried before? Can you add any input on the games we have not tried yet? Worth a new game purchase?