Favorite Five - Board Games

I've mentioned before that I like to play board games. Part of our Christmas Eve celebration is pulling out Holiday Bingo followed by other games once the gifts have been opened. Each New Year's Eve we gather with two other couples and play Trivial Pursuit and Pictionary. Occasionally we try a new game, but always come back to those two.

Here's my list of favorites. Note I'm not including any card games. That will be for another time.

1. Masterpiece - The Art Auction Game - I was amazed to find this game listed at Amazon and even more amazed at the price! I guess it's so expensive since it's out of print (according to Wiki). I have the original 1970 version which features paintings from the Chicago Art Institute. I visited the Art Institute while in college just so I could see the paintings from my game!

2. Scrabble - I've played this game since I was a kid. I remember what a thrill it was to beat my mother for the first time. Thanks to a marathon evening of Scrabble on one of my sister's visits, my kids hate the game! I'll admit, she was pretty vicious and cut-throat.

3. Pictionary - My strength lies in the drawing rather than the guessing part of this game. Either part is fun, though. Of course it helps to have a good partner!

4. Pente - I love this game so much that I devoted an entire blog entry to it here.

5. Hey Pa! There's a Goat on the Roof - This was my favorite board game as a kid, but unfortunately mine got lost or given away at some point. I would have enjoyed playing it with my kids when they were growing up. I could probably find it at E-Bay if I really wanted it, but it wouldn't be the same. Mine had a tin can stuck under the well. Sentimental value.

Worth mentioning: Facts in Five, Clue, Acquire, Trivial Pursuit.

Pente

Algernon made an entry recently about teaching a couple of the kids at his school how to play chess. In my comment I mentioned that I preferred to play Pente. I know I made an entry about Pente on my 360 blog, but I can’t find it! I just wasted a half hour clicking through my “Tag Cloud” there looking for it. Actually, I shouldn’t say it was wasted time. I had forgotten how many fun links I included in many of my entries there and thoroughly enjoyed revisiting some of them! Maybe I should repeat a few of them here…

Back to Pente. I discovered the game in the early 80s and was instantly addicted. Several of us had boards and we spent countless hours playing! You can tell from the wear and tear on the game tube in the photo that my set was well used. (Yes, that’s Alice, hoping I’ll look away for a moment so she can nibble on the board or swipe a stone)

My family members never really enjoyed the game so it was a thrill to find it available online. I keep about fifteen or twenty games going at all times, most of them with one of my original Pente partners. I prefer playing with people I know, so I don’t keep my username public. If you’d like to set up an account (it’s free!), let me know your username and we can play. Come on… I dare you!