What week-long games / competitions can we play on our family vacation?
June 21, 2011 7:08 AM Subscribe
What week-long games / competitions can we play on our family vacation?
We're taking a week long vacation with another family, and I'm looking for fun, ongoing games/competitions we can have during the week. I'm looking for ideas like, if someone says the word home, they have to immediately jump in the pool. Or, holding a week long catch-phrase or corn-hole competition. Things like that to keep the week fun and lighthearted.
Week-long drinking game ideas are good too, but I need something the kids can participate in as well.
More information:
Ages: 55, 35, 34, 33, 32, 12, 9, and two toddlers.
House: Beach house with a pool and hot-tub
We're taking a week long vacation with another family, and I'm looking for fun, ongoing games/competitions we can have during the week. I'm looking for ideas like, if someone says the word home, they have to immediately jump in the pool. Or, holding a week long catch-phrase or corn-hole competition. Things like that to keep the week fun and lighthearted.
Week-long drinking game ideas are good too, but I need something the kids can participate in as well.
More information:
Ages: 55, 35, 34, 33, 32, 12, 9, and two toddlers.
House: Beach house with a pool and hot-tub
Best answer: Have everyone but the toddlers draw up a list of five things that no one--or almost no one--knows about them. Personal idiosyncrasies, things they love or hate, things they've done or want to do, etc. Then everyone person gets one long list jumbled with those 35 items. Now spend the week trying to match each person to the correct five items. Person who gets the most right, wins.
posted by Yoshimi Battles at 7:34 AM on June 21, 2011
posted by Yoshimi Battles at 7:34 AM on June 21, 2011
Oh, also, my family recently wrote a communal story during a reunion, with each person able to see only the last sentence of what the previous person wrote.
posted by Yoshimi Battles at 7:35 AM on June 21, 2011
posted by Yoshimi Battles at 7:35 AM on June 21, 2011
Sjoelen, or some other variant. Takes days before it gets old.
The evenings: Scrabble with customized rules and liqueurs.
posted by Namlit at 7:36 AM on June 21, 2011
The evenings: Scrabble with customized rules and liqueurs.
posted by Namlit at 7:36 AM on June 21, 2011
Have a running game of some card game where big wins and losses are possible. Keep a tally for everyone for the week. (We play Oh Hell, and we score "0" for people who miss a hand.) A game like gin or rummy would work for the young players even if they're not up for learning trick-taking games. Cribbage.
If you're up for buying a game special, Bohnanza is a card game that would work for everyone but the toddlers.
Dexterity games like Jenga or Crokinole are also good for mixed-age crowds.
Set is another game - more like a puzzle - that would work.
It's also fun to have a big jigsaw puzzle out that everyone can pick at during idle times, if you have the table space.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:24 AM on June 21, 2011
If you're up for buying a game special, Bohnanza is a card game that would work for everyone but the toddlers.
Dexterity games like Jenga or Crokinole are also good for mixed-age crowds.
Set is another game - more like a puzzle - that would work.
It's also fun to have a big jigsaw puzzle out that everyone can pick at during idle times, if you have the table space.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:24 AM on June 21, 2011
Dominos have been a hit with family vacations. Older folks can play the game, younger folks can make tracks to knock over.
Something like Monopoly or Risk that takes forever to play, but you can walk away and come back to.
Bocce is pretty portable, easy to learn and can go back and forth to the beach, if you want.
posted by goggie at 10:27 AM on June 21, 2011
Something like Monopoly or Risk that takes forever to play, but you can walk away and come back to.
Bocce is pretty portable, easy to learn and can go back and forth to the beach, if you want.
posted by goggie at 10:27 AM on June 21, 2011
You could also play a variation on hot potato. Pick some unwanted object (relatives of mine used to do this with a big rubber ring attached to a scrap of squirrel hide, no idea where that came from). The goal is to sneak the object into the other person's room/car/stuff so that they end up with it at the end of the weekend. You can play in family teams if you have several families together. Note, this can create a level of paranoia that might be un-fun for some, so depends on the group.
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:28 AM on June 21, 2011
posted by LobsterMitten at 10:28 AM on June 21, 2011
Response by poster: All great suggestions. Thank you!!!!
posted by Arbitrage1 at 5:37 PM on June 21, 2011
posted by Arbitrage1 at 5:37 PM on June 21, 2011
Best answer: Attention: This is the best extended-game ever. I think I first saw it on AskMe but I don't know for sure. The one thing it takes from everyone is commitment. It only works if everyone is playing.
Here is how it works:
1. Each person chooses some non-obscure word, preferably a verb or noun. These words will be off-limits for the entire trip. Examples from the last time I played: "Magazine", "Dance", "Time", "Seagull", "Umbrella", etc.
You have 7 people, which should be a nice amount of words, but you can throw one or two extra ones on there as well.
2. Whenever someone says one of these words, they lose a point.
3. Whenever someone tricks/forces/"gets" someone else to say one of these words, they gain a point.
This game will--ideally--take over all conversation, and you will spend the entire time devising subjects and conversations with which to lead your family members down the path to saying "umbrella". Conversely, you will be suspicious of any topic you are discussing with anyone else.
It's fantastically fun.
Ah ha! Found the original comment! A great
posted by milestogo at 6:16 PM on June 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
Here is how it works:
1. Each person chooses some non-obscure word, preferably a verb or noun. These words will be off-limits for the entire trip. Examples from the last time I played: "Magazine", "Dance", "Time", "Seagull", "Umbrella", etc.
You have 7 people, which should be a nice amount of words, but you can throw one or two extra ones on there as well.
2. Whenever someone says one of these words, they lose a point.
3. Whenever someone tricks/forces/"gets" someone else to say one of these words, they gain a point.
This game will--ideally--take over all conversation, and you will spend the entire time devising subjects and conversations with which to lead your family members down the path to saying "umbrella". Conversely, you will be suspicious of any topic you are discussing with anyone else.
It's fantastically fun.
Ah ha! Found the original comment! A great
posted by milestogo at 6:16 PM on June 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
My friends and I use to play the "Mine" game all the time. The premise is pretty simple, but the execution can get complicated.
The rules are:
When a person says the word "mine" in response to a question then that person must stop what they are doing and do 10 push ups (this of course, can be amended to almost anything). For instance:
Me: Who's moutain dew is this in the cooler?
Vic: Oh man, dont drink that, it's mine.
Victim would then have to stop whatever he/she is doing and do 10 push ups.
The caveat is usually that the person asking the question must also be playing the "Mine Game". For instance, a waitress asking who ordered a ribeye and grandpa saying "mine" wont require him to drop on the floor of the resturant.
The fun comes in catching someone saying "mine" in public, like a resturant, or the supermarket, or possibly a museum, and in coming up with creative ways to trick participants into saying "mine".
I havent played that game in years, but to this day, if some one asks me a question and the answer is "Mine", I hesitate just incase they are going to make me do push-ups!
posted by GreatValhalla at 8:55 AM on June 25, 2011
The rules are:
When a person says the word "mine" in response to a question then that person must stop what they are doing and do 10 push ups (this of course, can be amended to almost anything). For instance:
Me: Who's moutain dew is this in the cooler?
Vic: Oh man, dont drink that, it's mine.
Victim would then have to stop whatever he/she is doing and do 10 push ups.
The caveat is usually that the person asking the question must also be playing the "Mine Game". For instance, a waitress asking who ordered a ribeye and grandpa saying "mine" wont require him to drop on the floor of the resturant.
The fun comes in catching someone saying "mine" in public, like a resturant, or the supermarket, or possibly a museum, and in coming up with creative ways to trick participants into saying "mine".
I havent played that game in years, but to this day, if some one asks me a question and the answer is "Mine", I hesitate just incase they are going to make me do push-ups!
posted by GreatValhalla at 8:55 AM on June 25, 2011
Response by poster: I just wanted to post a follow up, that Warewolf was a HUGE hit! It was equally popular among the adults as it was the kids. We played a number of games throughout the week, and extended the gameplay, lynching people at 5pm, and then revealing who the wolves ate in the morning when all woke up.
posted by Arbitrage1 at 5:53 AM on July 22, 2011
posted by Arbitrage1 at 5:53 AM on July 22, 2011
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posted by empath at 7:12 AM on June 21, 2011