Planting Chums - Fun Games

I missed last week's topic on Hannah's "Planting Chums", which was "Food Loves" (that's good anyways, because I have so many it would be hard to chose!)

This week, the topic is "Fun Games." Now I have to tell you, my family is really into games. It all started with my dad: he loved to play board games with his friends when he was a kid, and his love of games has continued as an adult (he still gets together once in a while with a friend and plays this really complicated World War II board game). He enjoys buying us the games he loved as a kid, and we usually really like them as well.

Needless to say, we have a lot of games. And not just the traditional games you see like Monopoly or Scrabble or Uno (though we have those too). We have games like Kingmaker and The War of the Ring (from LotR) and Wooden Ships and Iron Men (which I'm sure you've probably never heard before). And we also love to make up our own games as well.

So, I have a lot of favorite games. In this post I will try to limit myself to five. (Ack, this is hard!)

First off, I love Settlers of Catan:

We recently got this game for Christmas, and have been playing it with my dad every chance we get. It's kind of hard to explain if you've never played me, but trust me, it's a lot of fun. You're trying to rule the board by having the most settlements, cities, and roads. It relies both on chance and strategy. The awesome thing about it is that it's never the same twice!

Second (really more of a tie) is Dutch Blitz:

This fast-paced card game is so much fun - and the more the merrier! The first time I played it, there were like ten people playing. I was so lost as everyone frantically was putting down cards all over the place. I've gotten much more speedy now!

This one you probably haven't heard of: Landslide.

This is one of those oldies-but-goodies. My dad played this game as a kid, and he introduced it to us. In the game, you are a presidential candidate, and your goal is to win the most states (by a landslide). It's a whole lot of fun!

Fluxx. The wackiest card game I have ever played.

There's really no way to describe this game. It's hilarious and completely random, and will have you sometimes groaning with frustration as you try to follow all the rules that are laid down. The winner is often the person who looks like they're losing (and you usually can't even tell that). And it makes some hilarious inside jokes!

Last but not least is good old Apples to Apples!

This is one of my all time favorites, and the one our family most frequently agrees to play (we're all pretty picky when it comes to our favorite games). We've developed quite a few versions of this two - blind, put down two, opposite... always loads of fun.

Ah, now I'm raring to go play games with my family! :)