New card or board games

July 3, 2006 4:11 PM

Help me come up with new card and/or board games for a family vacation.

There will be 4 kids (18-22 years old) and 2 parents (way older). We are looking for a new game or games to learn together.

We enjoy cribbage, euchre, poker, Trivial Pursuit and Backgammon. Anyone have any games they love?

posted by Jandasmo to travel & transportation (24 comments total)

Hand & Foot, which is related to Canasta but I found Hand & Foot easier to learn. I learned it at my in-laws' church and is always fun at family get-togethers.
posted by rhapsodie at 4:21 PM on July 3, 2006

Mille Bornes?
posted by Lucinda at 4:37 PM on July 3, 2006

Apples to Apples is a big hit in my family.
posted by xsquared-1 at 4:40 PM on July 3, 2006

second on the apples to apples.

i could list a whole ton of stuff, but a lot of it is what kind of stuff you would find interesting. i suggest you check out http://www.boardgamegeek.com/. They can be a bit much for the not too serious gamer, but if you look at the side of the main page they have a list of "hot games", pretty much everything on this list is a great game. Just browse through those and see what catches your eye. If you have the time and interest, the site as a whole is a great resource to search through and get ideas for new games to play or to see if whatever game you may have heard about or seen in a store is a good fit for you.
posted by teishu at 5:03 PM on July 3, 2006

Cranium is pretty cool. My whole family (8 to 45+) enjoys it, works well with teams, etc. I'd bring it to high school get-togethers.

I've also heard lots of good stuff about Apples to Apples.
posted by fuzzbean at 5:10 PM on July 3, 2006

Michigan Rummy. A card game that you play for pennies. My Mom always kept a jar of pennies just in case.
posted by Gungho at 5:17 PM on July 3, 2006

Texas Hold 'Em poker. It's what all the cool kids are playing these days.
posted by frogan at 5:17 PM on July 3, 2006

Kill Doctor Lucky from Cheapass Games.
posted by donajo at 5:19 PM on July 3, 2006

The group of game geeks I play with weekly has taken a liking to Tichu, and I recommend it. It works well in both 4 players and 6 players, and you can make your own deck out of 52 cards and 4 extra cards you write things on. It's a team game, which is generally fun in families.
posted by JZig at 5:46 PM on July 3, 2006

Flux--fabulous game.
posted by Raspberry at 6:06 PM on July 3, 2006

Try Pit.

It was always a big hit at my family gatherings because it is loud and chaotic. Good times.
posted by utsutsu at 6:18 PM on July 3, 2006

Apples to Apples, Taboo, Chez Geek, Scattergories, and Loaded Questions are my favorite group/party games (AtoA has never failed to go over well with anyone I've run into). Falling and Kill Doctor Lucky from Cheapass Games are also great.

My father, brothers, and husband really enjoyed playing San Juan (card game) when I gave it to my brother Xmas a couple years ago - it's part of the Settlers of Catan/Puerto Rico group of games, all of which were highly recommended to me.

Defective Yeti's game recommendations are an excellent place to browse. I am always looking for group games that are accessible to non-gamergeeks (my family is rather picky to play with) and I have made quite a useful wishlist reading through his reviews.
posted by Melinika at 6:23 PM on July 3, 2006

One of my favorite relatively uncommon card games is Dai Di (Big Two). Don't be intimidated by the size of the ruleset. It's incredibly easy to learn. A commercial variant is Tichu, though I like that less.
posted by majick at 7:36 PM on July 3, 2006

my brothers and i enjoy playing spades. could be an issue, only 4 can play at a time (though they have ways to play with just two or three)
posted by jessica at 7:50 PM on July 3, 2006

Sequence is a board game and a card game. Sort of. But it's fun!
posted by handful of rain at 7:51 PM on July 3, 2006

Try Set! (here are the game rules) You can even practice it online.
It's fun because you don't have to wait for your turn, and you can play it with 2 to infinite number of players. It's kind of geeky and looks like a mensa test, but it's fast and fun and I recently played it with someone who later went and bought the game for himself.
Judging by the games you listed, you'll probably like it.
posted by easternblot at 8:49 PM on July 3, 2006

I second xsquared-1's suggestion of Apples to Apples. Super easy, funny! We love love love that game.
posted by dog food sugar at 9:02 PM on July 3, 2006

I will second the card game Big Two, and many other games listed here (Cranium, Apples to Apples). I have played Big Two for hours on end with my husband and friends. It's fun! I love Spades also.

I also love Electronic Catch Phrase (there is a second version out if you can find it), and Electronic Guesstures. They are fun, because you don't have a lot of pieces, paper, or parts to deal with.
posted by LoriFLA at 9:22 PM on July 3, 2006

Let me add to the big Apples to Apples pile-on. I've played this game with a group that ranged from 10 to mid 60's and it went quite well. If you tend to be more competitive, though, it may not be for you. There is a clear winner, but it's far more about the fun. It is the perfect party game for a group with a big age range.

I also second Fluxx - that one is a card game, and very quick to learn.

Personally, I find Cranium annoying. If y'all are into charades and Pictionary, you may find it less so.
posted by booksherpa at 9:49 PM on July 3, 2006

DIY Pictionary - the game is actually a lot more fun than the genuine set, which is badly designed. You need paper and pencils, that's it. Form into teams (two teams of 3 is good). Normally we have an odd number of people and someone is Evil Dictator, leaving even teams. The dictator's role is to dream up the most devilishly difficult words/concepts to draw, and oversee the competition, rule on any disputes, clarify rules (and possibly be bribed with goodies to look the other way from intrigue and espionage between teams, and generally rule with an iron fist however s/he sees fit. :)
Each turn, one person on a team draws the word the dictator has secretly told them (both teams are drawing the same word at the same time), the others guess the word the drawer is trying to draw. First team to guess gets a point. There is no time limit - a turn does not end until a team has guessed correctly. Each turn, a new person on the team draws and the others guess. Sneak peaks at the drawings of the other teams are an unsporting advantage, but it's more fun to let it fall to the team to protect their drawings from enemy spies :)
If you're serious about visual communication, then all symbols are banned - including the evolved pictionary symbols for things such as "sounds like" and "this many syllables" :-)
posted by -harlequin- at 3:09 AM on July 4, 2006

Do you have a dominoes set? "Train" is fun and very addicting. We play with a double 15 set. Some call it Mexican Cardinal Train, I think.
posted by redwinger at 8:03 AM on July 4, 2006

Some simple games for those times when you can't whip out the board/cards (in line!):

Name 5: one person comes up with a category; the others have to name 5 things in the category. It's shocking to admit your gaps in knowledge - can you name 5 major cities in Brazil? Or 5 Australian politicians? Or five tropical fruits or vegetables beginning with C?

Actor Movie Actor: One person names an actor, the next in line names a movie they've been in, then the next person names someone else in the film, ad infinitum.

Abbreviations: One person thinks of a phrase (or any set of words which goes together like a slogan or a common saying) - for example, "Disneyland: The Happiest Place On Earth," or "We the People of the United States of America, in order to form a more perfect union" and offers to the group, "DTHPOE" or "WTPOTUSOAIOTFAMPU." The abbreviator can only acknowledge the presence of words in the phrase by saying "Y" or "N," and cannot indicate word order.

I love the "evil dictator" Pictionary hack above, harlequin.
posted by mdonley at 8:07 AM on July 4, 2006

Do you like word games? We love Quiddler. We usually start with 5 cards (instead of 3) and build up to 12. Aim is to make words from the letter cards - trying to balance the chance for a quick low scoring hand (which could potentially leave opponents with penalties if they can't play all their cards) against holding out for higher scoring cards if you don't have any.
posted by valleys at 8:48 AM on July 4, 2006

I Nth these; read their boardgamegeek reviews for more info:
Apples to Apples
Cranium (though not as universally loved)
Guillotine (might have to buy used)
Scattergories
Taboo
The Totally Renamed Spy Game (from Cheapass Games)

Unsolicited: I have had good experiences buying from cardhaus.com.
posted by Sprout the Vulgarian at 11:16 AM on July 5, 2006