We play mainly Backgammon, Cribbage, Gin Rummy, Scrabble, Catch Phrase with a larger group, Kings Corners, and Mexican Dominos.

DH is a chess master and although I learned how to play it's not my cup of tea. We loved board games when the boys were home, mostly Risk, Clue, and Life. Hated Life, was the Clue Queen, and Risk became our go-to game, lots of fun and laughter!

However, Sorry is one of my favorites with little kids. :)

Yes and yes. I'm from a family of game-players. I learned to play chess when I was young... before the age of 8. I haven't played in a long time though because I also learned that guys don't like to play with girls that can beat them. BF and other friends play a lot on-line! Try chess.com -- basic play is free and they calculate your rating.

My family loves to play pinochle! When the group is larger and more diverse in age and skill-level, we play things like Password, bingo, Michigan rummy, etc. etc.

As BF says, there are games of skill and games of chance. Chess is the former. BF's 8 year old niece will be getting a traveling chess set and the book 'Chess 101 For Kids' for Xmas this year. :)

ETA: Oakley, impressive -- Congrats to your DH!

I have never enjoyed playing games (except Scrabble!) but try to do it for my kids. DH is much better at this than I am.

There is a restaurant here where the food is secondary, it really is a big game store. the walls are lined with games and you pay a small fee to come in, choose a game(s) and the staff will even help you figure out the rules. I got my DDs a gift card to go together over the holidays.

As a teacher, I really think this is so important for you to do with your kids. I send home math games weekly with my students (and play them in class constantly) and find they learn waaaay better playing games than doing any amount of pencil/paper work (I really wish I enjoyed games more).

We liked a lot of the Cranium games when my kids were younger. Blockus was a big favorite, too. And Yahtzee! First a Disney version, til they were old enough for the "regular" version.

Our family seems to play games only at our beach house or around Christmas. I got my kids a couple of new games for Christmas so we'll be playing those next week while everyone is home. We have a bigger assortment of games at our beach house than we do at our FT house.

We play Quiddler a lot in the summer. Also Racko, Monopoly, and LCR. I like Scrabble but no one else in the family likes to play with me because I was an English major in college. ;-)

DH tried to teach me how to play chess years ago but I just wasn't into it. He did teach me cribbage, and we used to play quite a bit before we had kids. I don't even remember how to play now.

We are a Scrabble playing family. When the girls lived closer, we would have dinner nights and play various trivia games afterwards. Our favorite was Mindstein because it has a luck component that evens out the advantage that trivia masters have. My father’s family loves to play dominoes. I think the game is called 84. I’ve never played it.

I grew up playing board games. Of course I love Scrabble. When the kids were younger they loved Battleship, Parcheesi, Sorry, Life. Those all still get played but more often we start games of Milles Bornes, Settlers of Cataan, or Ticket to Ride. We also have Yahtzee, Blokus, Pictionary.

I too learned chess very early, too. Haven't played in ages because I don't know anyone else who likes to play. Playing online just isn't the same for me. I played a lot of Canasta as a kid, but I don't know anyone who plays that either. Cribbage isn't bad. I love Scrabble.

We are old school gamers, chess, backgammon, bridge, cribbage, scrabble, and trivial pursuit are favorites. We have family game night weekly and family movie night only every few months. My kids learned chess with " no stress chess" which helped them learn how to move the pieces at three and they develop the skill of thinking three steps ahead from there.

Sorry I haven't been back to this thread. I'm recovering from a very nasty virus.

I'm making a note of games on here. Since I've never been a big game person I've haven't played many of the ones listed but I really would like to change that. Besides this and sports related things what do families do these day? I'm being serious with that question. It can't be all internet/phone/tv/gaming.

Online chess is a great idea that I will be trying!

Roarah I will be looking into the no stress chess thing!

Thanks and hope everyone has a great Christmas!

We play games often. A lot of them are mentioned above. Chess, cards, Scrabble, Trivial Pursuit, Monopoly, Bingo, Battleship, Pictionary.

We also really like Taboo, Masterpiece, Name Five, Scattergories, Bananagrams, and Charades. Hands down favorite, we just finished playing about an hour ago, is Apples to Apples. Great laughs and you don't get bored with it. Also Balderdash if you like Scrabble.

How else do we spend time together other than sports/games or walking or swimming? Cooking (unusual things like homemade ravioii, which is esp nice because you really need to work with someone to do it, cookie decorating, homemade tortillas - the kind you roll out, etc). Watching movies. Jigsaw puzzles. Coloring. Scavenger hunts.

I played backgammon and chess with my Dad until he couldn't anymore and he taught me as a child. He was very good and I never beat him at chess ever.

My favorite family game is scatergories and we'll play that after dinner tonight.

The first year my Dad moved in with us in 2000, for a solid year, the three of us played card games together every night until my husband said enough! But that was so fun and I could do that all the time, sitting around the table as a family playing games.

Bumble, I forgot about Backgammon. In college we played it all the time, and of course Bridge. Then we moved here and no one plays Bridge. :(

Well I foresee many games of Uncle Wiggly and Candy Land (original version) with my 4 year old GD.

Totally into Chicken Feet now. (dominoes)

I played checkers when I was four, but switched to chess when I was about 10. There are some great looking chess sets, and I always wanted an onyx one from Mexico. I haven't played chess since I was a child. In college I played bridge, but my family mostly played canasta and dominoes (42). I also like pinochle and have a cribbage board but seldom play it.

For Christmas a few years ago, I gave my niece the game, Black Card Revoked, not knowing whether she would like it, but we had fun playing it with her husband and my brother. I did not win - my niece is very competitive.

I hate playing monopoly with people who are overly competitive. I used to play Trivia Pursuit with my family at Christmas, and I was pretty good at that. I have a Jumanji board game in my closet here that I have never played. I bought it after watching the movie (I think on eBay) but I would have to watch the movie again before playing it, I think.

In Canada, I used to play Crapola with friends that I visited there. It requires six dice and was pretty much fun.

My family won't play Scrabble with me because I get a tad bit competitive. We do play a lot of Banagrams at our summer cottage, though.

I love playing games, but only have a chance with my grandkids. I grew up playing card games. One my father loved we called Oh Hell (because he couldn't remember the name of it). First round deal 10 cards, then 9, etc until each player gets only one card.

As young adults we played a lot of Perquacky -- I'd like to get someone to play that with me again -- letters on dice and one is timed to make 4, 5, 6 etc letter words.

Scattergories is fun. One grandson -- who I call my game boy -- really likes Chinese Checkers played with marbles. He also likes Monopoly. Mostly my seven year old granddaughter and I play Sorry and Connect 4. She takes no prisoners with either game!

I've always been fasincated by Mah Jongg recently learned how to play. It's a fun game but was a bit challenging to pick up and I still have a lot to learn. I've never played bridge but that is another game I'd like to learn.

I've been sporadically trying to teach my daughter to play Pinochle. Sporadically because I don't have anyone locally that plays, so I only play when I get together with family. So we are bringing a Pinochle and standard deck along on a camping trip this summer. We'll be playing James Bond with the standard deck, which I learned a couple years ago from my daughter and is really fun.

My Trivial Pursuit game is the original version from the 80s. I do great at it, but there are so many questions about pop culture from the 60s that were oldies when I was first playing, and are hopelessly obscure for my daughter. She make me give her a generous handicap.

Munchkin and its relative are card-based games that appeal to the Dungeons and Dragons set. They are really funny to play.

Oh, and I'm obsessed with Wordament on my phone (the multiplayer version). It's like Boggle for really competitive people, since you are competing in an endless series of 2 minute tournaments against 2 or 3 hundred people around the globe.