It's Got Action! It's Got Noise! It's Got Color!

Aren't board games fun? Not everyone thinks so, but we enjoy them. We used to have a 'Family Game Night' every Friday and we all had a great time. We even got Daddy in on the fun! We don't do the family game night on Friday's any more, but we really should. It was a great time. Now that Doodlebug is a little older, he could join in as well. Maybe it's time to reinstate it.

Some of our favorite games are:

Candy Land - I usually surreptitiously leave out the worst cards that send you back to the beginning. It NEVER goes well when someone gets one of those cards. One of the downsides to this game is that it makes you want to eat sweet stuff. How can you look at all that candy and not eat any?

Chutes and Ladders - This one can be touchy. The ladders are a lot of fun, but the chutes - not so much. It can be difficult to keep little ones from stomping off in frustration when they are sent to the bottom of the game board again.

Shrek 2 board game - Again, I usually leave out the worst cards that send you back to the beginning, but all in all this has been a great game! We've played it a lot and always have fun with it. It's one of those games where no one stomps off in frustration (at least not often), where you don't have to say lines from the movie if you really don't want to and where you can play to the bitter end to see who comes in second place, and third place and last place. (Well, Daddy usually begs off this part and leaves, but the rest of us drag it out to the bitter end.) We usually laugh a lot in this game, unlike some others that involve a lot of yelling.

Monopoly Jr. - This one we usually all enjoy and can drag out to it's bitter conclusion without any loss of limbs, or any screaming, biting, yelling arguments. There is always that hope, that as long as you have at least one dollar, that somehow, someway, you may be able to win eventually.

Trouble - This is a favorite if only because it has that cool dice-popper in the middle. It's got novelty, it's got action, it's got noise, it's got color. How can you go wrong? It's usually a very long game though, but with relatively little bloodshed.

Uno - We all really like this one. (I know, it's not technically a board game since there is no board involved. It's really a card game, but I'm lumping it in here anyway.) The biggest challenge with this is the shuffling of the large deck of cards. It either involves cards scattered all across the table/floor/room, or it involves oohs and aahs of wonder and delight as Mommy rifles, shuffles and snaps the cards through her fingers like a magician (OK, not so much, but the kids think it's cool). Once the shuffling is done the game usually goes along pretty well and no one gets upset, even if they end up with half the deck in their hands. (I said 'usually', not 'always').

Mousetrap - Of course the fun part of this is the building, and even more so, the running of the trap. Everyone gets a little bored with the trip around the board, and can't wait 'til the end where the mice get caught. And everyone gets very grumpy when their mouse is caught. Usually, we all have a lot more fun if we just sit down with the pieces and build the trap and just run it over and over and over again without actually playing the game.

Clue Jr. - We haven't played this a lot, but when we do we have fun. Not much to say about this one. No bloodshed, no fights. Just a regular ol' game that we enjoy.

And our most-recent one - Stratego. Snickers especially likes this. I think he enjoys the challenge of a game that involves strategy. Where you have to think a little bit and plan ahead. I like it too, but strategy isn't usually my strong point. I'm more of a 'lets-wing-it-and-see-what-happens' kind of person. But Sweet Pea enjoys it too. And Doodlebug, although he hasn't played yet, seems interested. I'm just waiting for the hundreds-of-game-pieces-scattered-across-the-room 'thing' to happen, but so far so good.

Next up is Scrabble. They may not be quite ready for this one, but with a little help, we can do it! I know we can!

Quack!