<p>We laugh so hard at Apples to Apples. Good for any and all ages. Only caveat - if you have younger kids, make a rule that if they don’t know who a person is on a “thing” card that they get, that they can put it back and take another card. There’s a lot of old movies stars (“Who is Cary Grant? Never heard of him.”)</p>
<p>Our ultimate Apples to Apples moment:
The adjective card was “Touchy-Feely”
My daughter submitted as her noun card: Michael Jackson.</p>
<p>We’ve played a lot of the games mentioned above – Apples to Apples and Wise or Otherwise are favorites, but the game the cousins always insist on playing when they get together is dictionary – where one person picks a word out of the dictionary that no one knows and everyone writes definitions and then tries to pick the right one out of the pile. All you need is a dictionary and scrap paper.</p>
<p>Another Apples to Apples fan, but it feels like cheating not to make some other suggestions. Stare has you staring at a small bit of artwork for 30 seconds, then you have to answer questions about it. Set is a card game where you have to find “sets” of cards that either all have the same or all have different shapes, colors, and numbers of objects. Really, it’s easier to play than that makes it sound, and adults do not have to hold back when playing with children, let alone teens.</p>
<p>Fluxx can be played with 7 year olds and 17 year olds at the same time.
The learning curve is fairly short- which is a plus for some of us 
[Fluxx</a> - Looney Labs](<a href=“http://www.wunderland.com/LooneyLabs/Fluxx/]Fluxx”>Fluxx | Looney Labs)</p>
<p>Our family likes Cranium and the different versions of Scene-It (Disney, regular, etc.)</p>
<p>I still don’t understand how Apples to Apples is so great, but maybe I’m just too competitive lol.</p>
<p>We play Apples to Apples, Dominoes, and good old Clue. Clue gets pretty cutthroat around here and is not a children’s game the way my kids play it (I don’t know what they’re writing on that little sheet, but whatever it is, they figure out the crime before I even come close to an educated guess :(). Also, Scrabble, occasionally.</p>
<p>erh, I wasn’t going to say anything, but I don’t get Apples to Apples either. We have it because my second son said how great it is and how much fun he has at his friend John’s house when they play it, but whenever we play it, I don’t get it. Maybe we’re doing something wrong, or we’re not playing with enough people or something.</p>
<p>another Apples to Apples fan here. It is best played with 4+ people. The game requires out-of-the-box thinking and a willingness (dare I say passion) for bull>>>>ting and silliness. A perfect family game! </p>
<p>I’ll give a nod to Bingo, SET, and poker.</p>
<p>Amoung the less popular ones that I like are Miles Bourne (overly complicated rules that are fun once you get it down) and Plague and Pestilence (who knew the middle ages were that fun?)</p>
<p>Scrabble - Duhh!!</p>
<p>Scattergories.
Pictionary. But don’t male v. female cause the girls get mad when they lose.</p>
<p>With Apples to Apples, you have to have about 5 - 6 or more people. And you need people with a sense of humor, and people who are willing to argue in favor of the card they threw, no matter how ridiculous.</p>
<p>My D has a habit of throwing whatever card is at the end of her hand. Then she makes up the most ridiculous stories in support of them. The prompt card was “Fast” and my daughter threw “Oranges.” When the judge read, “Oranges?” D replied that when someone knocks down a display of oranges in the grocery store and they roll everywhere, they go really fast.</p>
<p>if you like quiet card games, look up how to play solitaire for multiple people. i learned it at work the other day and it’s a blast.</p>
<p>i agree with apples to apples but also LOVE catchphrase. my friends and i actually play it quite frequently, and it was one of the things that i forgot on my first few trips to college and was actually quite annoyed when i wanted to play it and realized i didn’t have it.</p>
<p>of course, catchphrase is infinitely better when the adults have been drinking a little and the kids have no idea what some of the words are.</p>
<p>favorite catchphrase moment:</p>
<p>word: antennae
lindsey’s clue: those things, that, uh…deer have on their heads!
answer: ANTLERS! ANTLERS!
lindsey: uh…maybe i meant…bugs?
me: antennae?
lindsey: if that’s a-n-t-e-n-n-a-e, then yes! you win!</p>
<p>Texas Hold-em. I just got done (first time I’ve ever played) - my D beat me. We played for Hershey kisses - different colors have different denominations.</p>
<p>My3girls, you would love Balderdash, as it involves both guessing and creating definitions for uncommon words. We love it.</p>
<p>Pop 5, another Cranium game, was the big hit this year after Christmas dinner.</p>
<p>Scattergories is my two college daughters’ favorite game when they are home over breaks. It can easily be played by large numbers of people at a time.</p>
<p>Santa delivered Apples to Apples for Christmas, but it hasn’t made it out of the box yet. Perhaps tonight. My kids have played it at friends houses and LOVE it.</p>
<p>We love Rummikub, Scrabble, Rook and Uno</p>
<p>I brought a whole pile of board games to my SIL’s for the holiday. Not one was opened. My SIL had gotten Rock Band for Xbox. All day long. My oldest sister had to retreat to the bedroom with the door closed. I went to sleep with songs repeating over and over in my head!
My sister said that with the demise of playing board games and the tendency of gifts being gift cards that Christmas was not quite the same.</p>
<p>I had a Christmas with four boys ages 14-20 and two of the boys got new computers and all got several pc and video games. Guess what they spent quite a bit of time playing? Apples to Apples!</p>
<p>I second Texas Hold 'em. Or a little 7 card stud poker is always fun. (We’re a family of card sharks…we start the kiddies young. 
)</p>
<p>Another oldie but goodie is Sequence.</p>