Mr G and I have loved hosting game night ever since we started dating. We are both pretty competitive and one of our first dates was spent playing Monopoly at a bar, and my getting my butt handed to me. Now that we have a kid who is getting big enough to really get into playing games with us beyond Go Fish, we have made Friday Fun Day a thing in the Gutz household!
I thought now would be a great time to share all of our favorite games. We are all pretty over being home, and adding a few games has made the weekends a little less dreadful. From family friendly for before bedtime to the best games for grown ups and date night!
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GAMES TO PLAY AS A FAMILY
- CATAN JUNIOR – Do I need to say any more? We LOVE Settlers, and have loved teaching M Catan Junior. Can’t wait for him to be ready for a full game!
- ZINGO – My oldest loves this game! It is one of his favorites, and I love it too! It is fast paced, so you can get through a few rounds in a short amount of time.
- DROP IT – Tetris meets math meets so much stress. I love games where you are all on the same team, more or less. It makes everyone a whole lot more invested.
- BOP IT – I have been playing Bop It since I was a kid. It is so fun and the competition is real!
- SIMON – We play Simon round robin style, so everyone needs to be paying attention the entire time. And once you get far into the sequence, the stakes are VERY high! I love the immediate gratification from games like these and having everyone involved instead of waiting turns.
- WATCH YA MOUTH – This game is hysterical. So much drool. So many bad words said mistakenly. And it is just so freaking funny to see everyone’s mouths open wide.
- KINGDOMINO – This is another strategy game, similar to Catan Junior, but there can be a lot more involved for the grownups playing, and is even fun without kids.
- TICKET TO RIDE FIRST JOURNEY – Ticket to Ride is one of our favorite party games, and First Journey is the perfect challenge for my oldest. It was easy enough for him to get the hang of, but still works his brain to maintain a strategy and focus.
- SCRABBLE JUNIOR – Scrabble Jr is awesome, because it has two sides. One board with premade words and one side that is traditional Scrabble. We just moved onto the standard side and it is fun to see my oldest have to work for his words!
- LIFE JUNIOR – While this probably isn’t my favorite game in the world, my oldest loves it. It is fun to see what kids’ choices are and what they prioritize in the game of Life!
ADULTS ONLY
- THROW THROW BURRITO – OK, this game is super random, but you will have so much fun playing it! Speed, throwing burritos at each other, matching. I love that this games is easy to turn around. Just because you are winning in the beginning doesn’t mean you will take the cake! You can play this with kids, too. But we like to keep it for after bedtime and get ridiculously competitive.
- PHASE 10 – Classic card game that is easy and fun. You can chat through the game, turn it into a drinking game, or even play strip Phase 10. You lose a round, you take it off!
- WATCH YA MOUTH ADULTS ONLY EXPANSION – Just do it. You will be in stitches playing this with your spouse.
- DIRTY MINDS – This is a game best played with a group of people, and they need to have the right sense of humor. The goal is to guess the CLEANEST word from the DIRTIEST clues. The things people shout are gold.
- TICKET TO RIDE – This is a great game to play when you have another couple over for dinner or if you have older kids. It moves quickly enough, but allows for time to mingle and relax while you play.
- CATAN – Just a classic strategy game. If you enjoyed Risk as a kid, you will love Catan as an adult. We play HARD and things get intense.
- WIZARD CHESS – Because we are nerds. That is all.
- CARCASSONNE – I guess we have a type! Strategy games are our favorite, and this is similar to Catan and Kingdomino.
