recomend me family games for xmas

Conroy Bumpas

(sorry about the spelling)

i always used to get a new game at xmas for my family to play. in years gone by i got classic stuff ie monopoly, scrabble, cludo etc...

last few years i tryed with xbox famly quiz things ie sean it. problem was im a bit of a film buff and trashed them twice and the wouldnt play again.

so can you recomend me fun games for a family (all of use are grown up now youngest is 19)

games that arnt too complicated so i dont have to spend all day teaching them and that dont take to long.

dont mind if recomendations are bord or video games. i has ps3 xbox 360 i dont have kennect do not have the room to play.

probubly wold prefer somthing bord game wise as the consel games didnt go down to well. (the old folkd just dont seem to get them new-fangles xbox's)

Dirtmuncher

Boardgames:

- Ticket to ride
- Carcasonne
- Catan
- Machiavelly
- Who / what am I? (you take a sanitary pad



and write an item/ important person on it, next you stick it to the forehead of the person sitting next to you.
You start with someone, he may ask questions that can be answered with yes or no, untill he gets an question wrong (no), then the next person is up. This goes on untill everyone has guessed their person/thing.
Hint rounds can be done if some persons things are to difficult.)

The_Glad_Hatter

Ticket to ride
Settlers of Catan

either of these is perfect for a very very wide audience.

Conroy Bumpas

umm ..... wouldnt that be cheeper/ abit more savory if you used say i dunno a "post it note"

Dirtmuncher

Conroy Bumpas wrote: »

umm ..... wouldnt that be cheeper/ abit more savory if you used say i dunno a "post it note"

Nope sanitary pads stick better than post-it notes, but less so then ducttape.
Post-it notes fall of when I think and wrinkle my brow, sanitary pads dont.
And you have more room to write.

But any writable sticking surface will do. Be creative

Conroy Bumpas

i can see it now


"hey sis let me have one of your jam towels, im gonna wright myra hindley on it and stick it on grans head"

Kistra

Does anyone in the family have a wii? Wii sports and wii play have gone down extremely well with my family, even the technically challenged ones as there are minimal (none in some games) buttons to push.

Cranium is fun too, you can play in teams with unlimited players and let people add in and leave as they have time.

SmallLady

http://www.amazon.com/Wizards-Coast-5511160-Betrayal-House/dp/B003HC9734/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1293046294&sr=8-1

BAM!
Betrayal at house on the hill. GREAT game and really easy to learn. Also, on sale for $20 on amazon right now.

Niceguy Myeye

If your family isn't very nerdy, I'd suggest Apples to Apples.

If they are nerdy, but aren't into games, I'd suggest Balderdash.

If they are both nerdy and into games, I'd suggest Carcassone. Bang! will also work here.

apricotmuffins

Carcassonne, settlers of Qatan etc are great nerdy games but may take a bit too much to learn the rules. Here's some I love that aren't to difficult to learn and can be really entertaining as they encourage out peoples creativity and sense of humour, with descriptions from boardgamegeek.com:


as mentioned before, Apples to Apples ( A personal favourite):

Apples to Apples consists only of two decks of cards: Things and Descriptions. Each turn, the current referee selects a Description and players try to pick, from the cards in their hands, the Things that best match that Description. The referee then chooses the Thing that appeals most and awards the card to the player who played it. The unusual combinations of Things and Descriptions are humorous to the extreme, and will quickly have the entire room in an uproar. Once a player has won a pre-determined number of cards, that player wins.

Mad scientist university:

Mad Scientist University is a storytelling game where each player in turn takes on the role of an evil genius Teacher's Assistant (TA) at the Mad Scientist University.

Each TA holds a class challenging the students (everyone else) to come up with a way to meet a goal given certain elements listed on distributed cards (Create Perpetual Motion with Lawn Gnomes, for example). Each student brainstorms and then gives a short presentation detailing their plan, and the TA awards the card with the goal to the 'best' plan by whatever criteria the TA wishes (evil geniuses get to be snarky, after all). The winner is the student with the most won goal cards after everyone has led a course.

Gloom:

The world of Gloom is a sad and benighted place. The sky is gray, the tea is cold, and a new tragedy lies around every corner. Debt, disease, heartache, and packs of rabid flesh-eating mice—just when it seems like things can't get any worse, they do. But some say that one's reward in the afterlife is based on the misery endured in life. If so, there may yet be hope—if not in this world, then in the peace that lies beyond.

In the Gloom card game, you assume control of the fate of an eccentric family of misfits and misanthropes. The goal of the game is sad, but simple: you want your characters to suffer the greatest tragedies possible before passing on to the well-deserved respite of death. You'll play horrible mishaps like Pursued by Poodles or Mocked by Midgets on your own characters to lower their Self-Worth scores, while trying to cheer your opponents' characters with marriages and other happy occasions that pile on positive points. The player with the lowest total Family Value wins.

Printed on transparent plastic cards, Gloom features an innovative design by noted RPG author Keith Baker. Multiple modifier cards can be played on top of the same character card; since the cards are transparent, elements from previously played modifier cards either show through or are obscured by those played above them. You'll immediately and easily know the worth of every character, no matter how many modifiers they have. You've got to see (through) this game to believe it!

and, if you really like word games, a good quickfire alternative to scrabble is Bananagrams. It comes in a banana shaped case, too!

kneelingyak

It you are going to have a largish group Wits and Wagers has gone over pretty well at my family gatherings. It is better with 5 or more players but can still be fun with 4.

It is a trivia game but if folks don't know trivia that's fine because you don't necessarily win by getting the right answer. Everyone writes their answer on a card and all the answers are laid out. Then you place bets on what you think the correct answer is. All of the answers are in the form of a number so even if you don't know the exact answer you can make an educated guess, estimate or if you know someone is an expert on the subject you can just bet on their answer.

The game can usually be found in stores like Target or Walmart if you don't have the advantage of a game store near you.

The_Glad_Hatter

Dixit won Spiel des Jahres 2010 at the Essen game convetnion and is great for groups up to 6 (i thinK..). easy rules, nobody gets killed, and requires only a bit of imagination PLUS keeps all the players occupied throughout the entire game.

Napalm Donkey

Dixit is really fun and clever.