<p>D2 loved playing LCR with the dollar bills when she won the kitty and got $33 in one round! We also had a guest who we didn’t know (friend of a niece) who also was thrilled to win a round. It was very fun!</p>
<p>Mathmom: Could you be thinking of Mille Bornes?</p>
<p>No definitely not Mille Bornes. Poked around a bit - I think it might have been this: <a href=“10 Days in the USA | Board Game | BoardGameGeek”>10 Days in the USA | Board Game | BoardGameGeek; (That’s Ten Days in the USA) Thanks for the gamegeek link!</p>
<p>Borders has games at 33% off now. We bought Mexican train and Settlers of Cataan, ready for Christmas.</p>
<p>I can’t wait for Christmas!
Thanks to this thread, I’ve got Fluxx, Dizios, Anomia, Quirkle, Word on the Street, and Wits & Wagers ready to give.
Just have to decide who gets which ;)</p>
<p>Let me toss out one more-- I’m ordering Lost Cities for DS (and his GF). Reviews say it is addictive and great for two people.</p>
<p>Nice to see this thread still going during the holiday season. I just ordered Wise and Otherwise, Bezzerwizzer, and Anomia thanks to y’all. We usually take a trip over Christmas but are staying home this year with hardly anything on the calendar. Let the games begin!</p>
<p>Pandemic is on sale on Amazon for $20, an excellent price. I’m tempted, but we’ve been playing “Forbidden Island”, another cooperative-type game.</p>
<p>Apples and Apples was a game S wanted & bought for his godfather. He had a 50% off one item coupon for Borders he used for the purchase. I saw it at BB&Beyond for 75% off (Jewish edition) & bought it for him to play or sell or I will return. At $7, I figured I couldn’t go wrong. I guess the buyer overestimated the channakuh interest/demand around here.</p>
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<p>Absolutely buy Pandemic. It’s the co-op of choice in my group. The expansion is also good, but I don’t really like the Bio-Terrorist.</p>
<p>I just wrapped Forbidden Island for my son. Good to hear it’s a winner.</p>
<p>It’s a little late for Christmas, but we had a great time (now yesterday) playing Battlestar Gallactica. The game seems impossibly complicated, but once you start playing it really works quite well. The fun is how similar it feels to the TV series. Disasters every other second, you don’t know who the cylons are, it’s often not really clear what the best move is… Don’t get it if you aren’t a fan of the show.</p>
<p>We also got the Monty Python version of Fluxx. It’s extremely well done. I was at somewhat of a disadvantage as unlike my husband and his sister and my nephew I have not seen every show multiple times, but I’d seen enough to get most of the jokes (“no one expects the Spanish inquisition”, “Strange women lying in ponds distributing swords is no basis for a system of government,” Dead Parrots, Killer rabbits… The silliness of Fluxx marries very well with the silliness of MP.</p>
<p>Last night we played Apples to Apples until 2 AM. What a marathon! :)</p>
<p>Bumping this thread for holiday family game ideas.
Especially looking for things with short learning curve for a small group ( 3-4)</p>
<p>emeraldkity4 - Have you tried Mexican Train Dominos? It is really a fun game. We play it with as few as three of us and as many as eight.</p>
<p>Seconding recommendations for Balderdash and Wits and Wagers. Most of our fun with Wits and Wagers is trying to bet on the correct answer rather than having the correct answer. We’ll never look at the game the same way since my college-aged nephew taught us how to “cover the spread” in our betting.</p>
<p>Also, a long-time favorite our our family is Who, What, Where? It is a drawing game in which your drawing has to incorporate one item from a Who, a What and a Where card. (Think Prince Charles ballet dancing in outer space kind of nonsense.) You get points if the other players can identify the Who What and Where elements of your drawings. From personal experience, it doesn’t matter if you can’t draw – you won’t win, but you will still have a lot of fun! We have played this with as few as 3-4.</p>
<p>Love this thread; I’ve been coming back to it during the year for ideas for presents.</p>
<p>I got D1 “Anomia”, and we’re all fans. I’ve even brought it in to work. It’s fascinating to see the different dynamics in how different groups play. At home, D2 just outshouts everyone else. ;)</p>
<p>D2 keeps telling me we must get Bananagrams, so I’ll pick up a set or two or three when some pre-holiday deal pops up.</p>
<p>For all the “Settlers of Catan” fans, feast your eyes on this absolutely gorgeous laser-cut tile-holding board that raised a ton of money as a business venture on kickstarter: [Boardcrafting</a> by sjbrown — Kickstarter](<a href=“http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sjbrown/boardcrafting]Boardcrafting”>http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/sjbrown/boardcrafting) OMG, I am so, so, so tempted. 
Instead, I might make this version over on Instructables [Custom</a> 3D Settlers of Catan board from scrap plywood](<a href=“http://www.instructables.com/id/Custom-3D-Settlers-of-Catan-board-from-scrap-plywo/]Custom”>http://www.instructables.com/id/Custom-3D-Settlers-of-Catan-board-from-scrap-plywo/) There’s a link in the comments to a file that will allow you to generate laser-cut tiles…and uh-oh, I can see this could grow into a full-fledged obsession…</p>
<p>Ahem. As I was saying, if you’ve got a “Settlers” fan on your gift list, there are some really neat options out there.</p>
<p>For those with a short learning curve (and I likely mentioned this earlier in this thread cause it’s a family/friend favorite…) Whoonu? (Cranium)</p>
<p>[url=<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Cranium-102040001-100E-Whoonu-Tin/dp/B000AK9E66]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Cranium-102040001-100E-Whoonu-Tin/dp/B000AK9E66]Amazon.com:</a> Cranium Whoonu (Tin): Toys & Games<a href=“though%20that%20Amazon%20price%20seems%20WAY%20expensive%20-%20check%20Target”>/url</a></p>
<p>We have bought this game for several friends/families - it’s the most requested game to play when people come over. Simple, quick, fun, ages 8 or so (if they can read some) and up - no skill involved. :)</p>
<p>Happy to see this resurrected now that the holidays are approaching. FWIW–I bought several of the recommendations last year and enjoyed all of them. I’ll re-read to lay in a few new ones this year. Thanks again to all!</p>
<p>Love Mille Bornes. Picked it up at a garage sale once and our family is hooked.</p>
<p>My latest game is Quelf. The family moans when I bring it out, and by the end of the game, everyone is in stitches. Highly recommended!</p>