Board games were always some of my favorite things when I was a kid.  It started when I was fairly young after the first time I played Candyland.  I was completely sold on playing board games after I won.  From there it led to more difficult and thrilling games like Monopoly and Trivial Pursuit.  Now, as an adult, I still love the excitement that comes from breaking out a game and playing with a group of friends.  Of course, Candyland is not on the agenda.  There are many games out there that are created for adults to play and enjoy.  Once a month a group of friends gets together for a night of games that keep us boding and laughing the whole night.  If you often reminisce about the good times you once had when you would play games and want to experience those feelings again, as a grown up, here are some games for you to consider for your grown up game night.

Apples to Apples

This game is designed for four to ten players.  It is an easy game to play, but it does not lack in the fun department.   Apples to Apples is a game of comparisons.  Basically the cards are dealt first.  Then the judge plays a card and you choose the one in your hand that you feel like best describes the judge’s card.  If the judge chooses your card, you get the point.  It is silly and the cards feature people, places, and things that make the comparisons almost silly at times.

The Game of Things

The Game of Things also says “Humor in a Box” on the box.  That is entirely true.  This game is never a let down every time we play it, it seems to get even more funny.  The more the merrier is key when playing, and it makes it much more challenging and exciting too.  The rules for The Game of Things is not quite as simple as Apples to Apples, but once you play it you will pick it up easily.  The instructions can be found here:  Instructions for The Game of Things.

The Newlywed Game

It is always fun to test your knowledge of your partner no matter if you have been married for one year or forty-one years.  Occasionally this game makes an appearance when we add a new couple to game night.  It is created for two to four couples, and the questions and answers are sure to give couples a challenge and even a laugh.

Next time you are feeling reminiscent about the fact that you used to play board games as a kid, break out one of these games for a night of seriously good times and lots of laughs.  You will have a whole new appreciation for board games and nights in after you get a chance to bond and share good times with goof friends.

You could also look at it the most logical way.  Instead of it being a case of humans wired for gaming, how about gaming designed to provide us with safe and nonessential means for exercising the instincts we were born with but no longer need to use on a daily basis in today’s world.  We certainly don’t have to play games for our survival, but the survival instincts that lie dormant within us all scream to be let out.  Many scientists and doctors realize that the body under tremendous pent up stress produces more of the stress hormone cortisol, which can increase risk factors for a wide swath of deadly chronic diseases such as severe anxiety, stroke, and the entire cardivascular disease spectrum.  By playing video games, we are able to exercise that part of ourselves that was once always ready to enable the fight or flight reaction, even though we seldom need that extra burst of adrenaline and energy in the modern world.

Games that involve aliens landing in Rhode Island or South Beach can trigger an artificial fight or flight response that can help relieve the build up of cortisol hormone in the blood, thereby helping to reduce the negative impact it might have on the body and cardiovascular system.  Not only that, but gaming can be great for the imagination.   It’s also just plain fun, so the next time someone tells you that game of Minecraft is just a complete waste of time, tell them you’re releasing the pent up stresses of 21st Century life  in a way that is fun, harmless, and rejuvenating.

The thing about this graphic that really strikes me as interesting is how in 1989, the first GameBoy was monochrome.  We’ve been used to color GameBoys for so long now, it’s hard to believe Nintendo ever sold a colorless handheld system — especially since Nintendo was one of the first really excellent implementations of true color graphics in its flagship system, the NES.  Click on the image to read the fine details.

For those of you wanting to take advantage of Wal-Mart’s Black Friday generosity, you’ll be able to snag a $199 console bundle of your choice on Black Friday. Here is what you can choose from:  an Xbox 360 4GB unit with Gears of War 3, 3 months of Xbox Live and a $50 Wal-Mart gift card; an Xbox 360 4GB with Kinect, Kinect Adventures, Gunstringer/Fruit Ninja download, and a $50 Gift Card; or a 160GB PlayStation 3 with Ratchet & Clank All 4 One, LittleBigPlanet 2, and 3 months of the Sony Plus membership.  All of these are terrific bargains, so once you decide which console you prefer, get in line early. Once you get it, arm your adt security between now and Christmas to avoid someone making off with your prize.

Check out this infographic for stats on the various consoles:

Unfortunately, Adrian doesn’t take his training as a MechWarrior, or the duties it entails, seriously — not until the day his entire family is wiped out because of the war. Ironically, Adrian only survives his family’s massacre because he is stuck making up a test he missed during his MechWarrior training.  After learning of the fate of his family, it changes his entire perspective and he begins to devote himself to his training, and his responsibilities as successor to his noble house.

The storyline is tight, and the game should be more than enough fun for everyone.  Now, check out the latest gaming news from IGN Daily Fix:

Players begin with 15 million monopoly bucks. On your turn, roll the dice and move the indicated number of spaces. Upon landing on a space, read directions on that space to see what can happen.

The winner is the wealthiest player at the end of the game. The user interface is straight forward and easy to understand, and people familiar with the game will certainly recognize what to do as soon as the app starts up.  It’s a little different from the board game but that is to be expected from an app based on a game that traditionally was played on a board.

Your character token is a great looking and well designed 3-D object that has animations, making the game at once more engaging and fun. One fun character is a Sumo wrestler who runs when moving from space to space.  All in all, we recommend this game to you.

In Great Britain, checkers is referred to as draughts, in much the same way as cookies are called biscuits.  Checkers are played on an 8×8 board in Great Britain, the USA, Canada, Australia, Ireland, and a limited number of other countries around the world, but he most popular version of checkers takes place on a 10×10 board, typically  in Eastern Europe. That version  is usually called Polish Checkers by people in the US, while elsewhere it is called International Draughts.

One very popular misconception about checkers is that it is a dead game.  Some believe this to be true, since the game  is “solved,”(meaning  that a super-computer can play perfect checkers without issue, in much the same way that the ship’s computer plays chess in Star Trek.  While it is true and can be proven that chess is impossible for any computer smaller than the entire universe to solve, basically the same is true of checkers, despite its evident limitations when compared with chess.

People have loved playing various versions of checkers throughout the whole world in varying times.  With celebrated World Championship Matches in both styles, there is plenty for serious fans be enthusiastic about.  Of all the championships, one called the  3-move World Championship is the most prestigious. Enthusiasts also participate in local tournaments, district wide and state wide ones, and even national tourneys.

The U.S. National Tournament is the current largest and most sought after tournament in the whole world.

To learn so much more about checkers competitions in your area of the US, visit the American Checker Federation and sign up.  Membership fees are not very costly for an annual expense, and will allow you to network with others who share your passion for this venerable and entertaining game.

The objective of each player is to move all four of his or her pieces completely around the board once in a  counter-clockwise pattern before their opponents do so.  In order to determine who goes first, each player throws his cowires.  The player with the highest score from cowrie throws starts the game.  Gaming continues counter-clockwise around the board after this point.  Each person’s first piece may leave the Charkoni (or the starting point of the game, in the center of everything, where pieces begin to move from) on any given throw. Players move their pieces down along the middle column of their respective arm of the board, and then move them counter-clockwise around the outside columns.

Once a piece has made its entire trip around the board, it has also moved back up the center column in its own arm of the cross shape. Pieces that are returning from around the board are sometimes placed on their sides in order to show they are different from any pieces that have just entered the game.  No piece can return to the Charkoni except by a throw that is direct.

This game, rich in history and tradition, makes a fine accompaniment to a mahogany study with luxury cigars and brandy.   As with anything, it depends on where you purchase your set and what you are looking for in it from a decorative standpoint;  just as there are masculine looking wooden sets, there are also pretty and child-like cardboard boards decorated in soft blues and pinks, suitable for childrens’ playrooms or trips out of town during summer break or other holidays.    It’s a lovely game overall, and people have been playing it since at least the 1600s, although it is believed to be far more ancient than that.  Give Pachisi a try.

It is permissible to consult a dictionary if there is a question about the authenticity of a word a player is attempting to use. Certain reference works such as The Official Scrabble Players Dictionary and the  CollinsScrabble checker can be used to check if a word is allowed as well.  The use of dictionaries and reference materials during the game is limited by the penalties that almost universally apply to a player whose word use is successfully challenged.

Club and tournament Scrabble is played by hundreds of thousands of competitors around the globe. For many casual players, the seriousness of play, strange and exotic nature  of words, and the unbelievably high scores in tournament games may seem shocking. All tournament games are played using a game clock with set time control. Although private and home games are mostly played with unlimited time, competitive players must be ready to form words on demand, using as little time as possible and scoring maximum points. Nearly every tournament game is limited to 2 players, with each game lasting 25 minutes. For each minute a player uses past his allotment, a penalty of 10 points is assessed against him.

That is some serious gaming.

In recent years, some electronic versions of Scrabble have been immensely popular on mobile phone and tablet platforms.  According to localtv-satellite.com, the official Scrabble app was a latecomer to the iPhone and iPad, and was beaten in its arrival at the app store by the more popular Words with Friends app — a Scrabble clone with similar rules, that can be played against either a random or socially networked opponent.