Anyway, I think board games are a great way to get to know people, because they provide a kind of structured socializing. Just sitting around talking can be hard if you don’t know people well yet, but doing something like a movie doesn’t really allow you to get to know them. Board games are a nice medium there, I think. And of course they’re just fun–it’s one of my favorite activities to do with my siblings.

Also, I must confess that I like playing board games with my nephews because I find it somewhat easier to play a game in which I at least know the rules than a game in which the nephew makes up the rules as you go.

These days when my family gets together, if we play a board game it’s Apples to Apples or Cranium. However, what we typically do now is that we all get on our computers and play prolific and noggin (two on-line boggle games) together. It’s really funny when we’re all sitting around my parents’ kitchen table playing word games with each other on our computers.

I grew up loving to play games. We played four on a couch (it’s a memory, people moving game) at family parties.

My husband likes to play games, but we can’t play together. If we’re on the same team for Pictionary for example, he’ll swear that I’m drawing badly on purpose so we’ll lose.
Or, if I’m on another team, and somehow harm his player, he’ll swear that I’m picking on him and not other players. It’s ridiculous.

We do love to play some video games (Rock Band, DDR, and Wii Sports.)

My two year old is started to regularly request playing Backgammom with us, which would just make his grandpa (deceased) proud.

For my thesis on play in families (with a focus on play between married couples) board games were one of the most frequently reported play activities for married couples. I loved reading what my participants said about why play was meaningful to them.

I love Settlers and Ticket to Ride, but I’m very bad. I always lose. (Strangely, this seems to make people enjoy playing with me. ). I’m better at word games–anyone ever played Perquackey?–but my husband doesn’t like them so I don’t get to play as often as I’d like.

One type of game I particularly like is the ones that can be excuses to sit around and say silly things, particularly late at night, until everyone collapses with laughter. Apples to Apples falls into this category, I think, as well as Boggle if you play with certain of my sisters who are very good at making up words that evoke laughter by their very sound. Balderdash is another good example.

My wife’s family also plays lots of games, although probably more cards than my family. But it’s been a good thing for us–we play lots of games just the two of us, and have fun inviting other people over for dinner and games. And our older son is getting just old enough to start playing some of our more fun games (Settlers of Catan, Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, etc.) with us.

I have a friend who says games are the way Mormons go to the bar …

I like strategy games (Settlers of Catan) and word games although in reality I don’t play that much.