BONUS: Family Gaming July 2021

 
We've had an extended time with extended family, involving four generations staying at our house, so obviously a lot of gaming has taken place.  We started with Mind the Gap, which some of us northern California folks REALLY like and thought would be a particularly appropriate game with which to start the family visit -- a generation-based trivia game.  Not everyone was as much of a fan, but that's OK, as we certainly have plenty of other games from which to choose!  Below is a picture of family members who were gathered together; the group ranges in age from 0 to 85.

Next game is one that is a time-honored tradition in our family: Rook.  EVERYONE likes Rook!

Qwirkle is a favorite of Al and Jo, our Michigan guests, and do they ever know how to maximize their play!!

Then a card game called Dutch that our middle son learned in Thailand, ironically enough.

The next one, Skull King, is a favorite of David's.  This game is very similar to the games Up and Down the River and Oh Pshaw that are played with a standard deck of playing cards.

While I was cleaning and organizing the house for the arrival of our guests I found a non-empty booster box of MTG Dragons of Tarkir cards in a cupboard.  The set was released back in March of 2015, and we drafted from the booster box but had 8 unopened booster packs that we left for the future.  Well the future is here! Eight boosters wasn't enough for a draft, but enough for me and Anthony to build a couple of decks and see what we could manage.

Here we are building decks in the middle of the living room floor.

And then came the party game Just One, which was also a crowd favorite.

At some point later we circled up for a home-made word game, Fish Bowl.  Play consists of two teams, each of which is trying to identify the most words (or phrases) over the course of three rounds.  The set-up involves each player submitting 4 words (each word on a separate slip of paper) and then splitting into teams.  During the first round players described words, one at a time, to their teammates.  In the next round players may say only one word to try to get their teammates to come up with the word on the slip of paper.  The third round involved using physical actions (and no talking) to get teammates to come up with as many words as possible.  It becomes a bit of a memory game, as by round three you are using all the same words for the third time.

We had quite a variety of words/terms, including: monsoon, self-propelled, Einstein, shoed, baby, Mountain Dew Baja Blast, chop, cloud, Starbucks, set, K'Nex crossbow, minesweeper, steps, wingspan, Oregon Trail, monster, Frozen, suction, somersault, Smokey the Bear, etc.  I think for the final score we were within 4 points of each other, so it was a pretty competitive event.

I don't know if the next one counts as a game, but my dad types up trivia questions for us each week, and, not being ones to buck tradition, we did that as well.

On another afternoon someone brought Hey That's My Fish! down from the shelves and into play.

We follow up Hey That's My Fish! with No Thanks! (a game that always makes me think of Professor Adam Glesser who introduced me, David, and Jacob to this game at a math conference in Monterey a few years back).

I won the first round with a low score of 7, even though I felt a bit forced to take big numbers.  I didn't do as well in the second round when I was able to take smaller numbers. Go figure  .  .  .

Later that night it was time for Code Names Pictures.

Mostly we are about board games and card games, but video games happen too - just not as often and without ability to take decent pictures of them.  You'll just have to take my word for it that we were playing the game Split the Room on Jackbox TV here.

On our last full day together Declan and I made time to play chess, a game his father started teaching him a little while ago.  This grandma just had to get in on that action!!

Above we are setting up the pieces  .  .  . row of pawns first  .  .  .

He seems to like the knights best.

There was more Magic action off to the side with others playing with the Dragons of Tarkir decks that had been built.

As with trivia, I'm not sure I can count the following as game -- more of a puzzle, really, but I'm gonna go ahead and include ColorKu.

Two days before guests arrived, we northern Californians took on Wingspan again, the game from my previous post.  I feel like we're really making some good discoveries here regarding strategy, and we are continuing to really enjoy this game.  I was happy to have filled my whole board this time, and I thought I might win, but I misunderstood the goal for round 4, but it was fun nonetheless. 

It's so nice being part of a family that values gaming!  Good times!!