<p>Ooooooh - I have not played Risk in many, many years! Great game!</p>
<p>I add my vote for Cranium! I’ll never forget watching someone try to make a “golf course” out of that clay. ;-)</p>
<p>It is not a board game, but still a family game…Mexican dominoes, our families second favorite is Scrabble and third is UNO</p>
<p>We still like the old game Clue. It’s silly, but fun, especially if you have 5 or 6 people playing. Goes quickly, there is <em>some</em> thought involved, you can talk while playing, good for all ages.<br>
Favorite game of all for our family (2 parents, 2 sons)- Spades (not a board game though).</p>
<p>
Ah, yes. The golf course. My one and only memory of Cranium… I made a perfect clay golf course, if I do say so myself, and my father–the golfer of the family, who is horrible at games–couldn’t guess it. He got so angry that he threw a tantrum and refused to ever play again! Lesson: Beware of playing Cranium with uncreative players who are quick to anger!</p>
<p>RISK with 5 players, a case of cold beer, a bottle of tequila, some other stuff and an empty evening.</p>
<p>Great evening at U of M in 1971-1975.</p>
<p>Try to go to Philosophy 202 at 8:00 a.m. the next mornng after an evening like that. Logic? I don’t need no stinkin’ logic - it didn’t help me last night!</p>
<p>UMDAD – That was sure some long evening, 1971-1975!!! </p>
<p>In our case, it’s DS2 and a bunch of 16 yo guys, many liters of Code Red Dew, nachos, brownies, ice cream and their general desire to rule the universe. Occasionally girls are allowed into the realm.</p>
<p>This is the same crowd of kids who make Uzis out of cardboard, ducktape and hangers, wear camoflage hats, read Sun Tzu for fun and have deep military/political discussions until 6 am. And that was when they were 12.</p>
<p>Mootmom, Big Settlers Players here. Of the games you listed, which one is your favorite?</p>
<p>corranged & gymeni – my funniest Cranium memory is trying to figure out my then 9-year old daughter’s drawing of a convent. First, she can’t draw. Second, she only had a vaguest and only partially-correct idea what a convent WAS.</p>
<p>There are four categories of board game (yep, that’s all – just four):</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Games to play with small children. Candyland. Snakes (or Chutes) and Ladders. That sort of thing. Who cares? Most kids outgrow them by age 7.</p></li>
<li><p>Friendly games that take less than an hour. This is what you play when friends come over and you want something to *do *while you chat. Some of these that we enjoy are Clue, Pictionary, Balderdash, Cranium, Apples to Apples, and charades (you know, the old-fashioned kind that just needs some scraps of paper and a willingness to act foolish).</p></li>
<li><p>Games that are deadly serious and can be played in a couple of hours, and that you would rather have an eagle eat your liver than lose at. These include *Risk <a href=“the%20mother%20of%20all%20board%20games%20–%20it’s%20what%20teenage%20males%20used%20to%20play%20before%20the%20world%20was%20corrupted%20by%20computers”>/I</a>, *Monopoly *and Settlers of Catan. *Scrabble *also falls into this category, as does *Clue *when played by really serious people. Like me.</p></li>
<li><p>A bunch of games that most of you have never heard of that take 8 hours or more to play. A friend once played a game of War in the Pacific that included a map board for which I built him a custom table, and took longer to play than the actual war lasted. The old Avalon Hill classics like Battle of the Bulge, France 1940, Afrika Corps, and Midway. Those were the days…</p></li>
</ol>
<p>But if you want a real game – a man’s game – a game that really matters you need to play with cards, and it’s not poker. It’s bridge. There’s a game that counts for something.</p>
<p>Yes, if we expand to card games, I’ll go with Bridge. I never really “got” Poker. Although DS certainly does.</p>
<p>Second Cribbage as a fabulous 2-person game, which can also be a 4-person game. DH taught me cribbage during out “courtship,” so I guess it always be on my favorites list. It is great to play with young ones just learning arithmetic, as well.</p>
<p>Forgot about Backgammon! Another great 2 player game. </p>
<p>Have to agree with the Risk description - that is how the boys (young and not so young) in this house have always approached that one. Nothing pleases H more than a heated battle at the kitchen table. I will play Settlers and enjoy that one very much (and win on a very rare occasion) - but gave up Risk once the boys got old enough to give Dad a decent run. D refuses to play either of 'em!</p>
<p>I love that Katliamom. We had that happen all the time at our house while playing Pictionary since neither my brother’s wife nor my oldest sister’s long-term boyfriend spoke English as a first language! They would always get animals confused, I remember, like draw an ostrich when the word is “otter.”</p>