Fun 'n Games

Parties aren't only about food, you have to actually do something too!

We and are friends are big into "game nights" lately, so I thought I'd share some of our favorites in case anyone is looking for a new, fun game.

1. The newest addition to our repertoire, thanks to R & C, is Wits & Wagers.

R&C randomly found this game in a store and, since our group likes betting on things (yup, big group of gamblers), they decided to bring it to the New Years Eve party to give it a try.
In this game you respond to trivia questions and then bet on who gave the best answer.  All questions have numerical answers and the game follows "Price Is Right" rules of closest without going over. 

Good times!

2. A great game for a large group, whether they know each other well or not, is Things.

The website for this game gives you an idea of how it works.  Everyone answers an open ended question like "what shouldn't you keep in your pockets."  The moderator then reads the answers and people take turns trying to guess who wrote which answer.  The person who guesses right the most winds.  You get some interesting insight into your friends new and old! 

3. Apples to Apples.
This is an oldie but a goodie.  Another good one for larger groups of people. 

Each player gets seven "red apple" cards; on each card is printed a noun or noun phrase.
The "it" player for that round draws a "green apple" card which has an adjective printed on it., and places it face-up on the table for everybody to see or reads it out loud.
Then each player chooses a card that they think is the best match for the green apple card, and places it face-down. The judge shuffles the red apple cards, reads them aloud, and decides which noun is the best match for the adjective based on whatever criteria they want.
This one is a bit easier if you know each other but can be played by groups of new friends too.

 4. A simple, but effective, game - again good for groups (the bigger the better) is Left Right Center.

 
Each player receives three chips (we usually use dollar bills to make it more interesting).
Players take it in turn to roll the six-sided dice, each of which is marked with "L", "C", "R" on one side, and a single dot on the three remaining sides.
For each "L" or "R" thrown, the player must pass one chip to the player to his left or right, respectively.
A "C" indicates a chip to the center pot.
A dot means you keep that chip/dollar.
If a player has fewer than three chips left he is still in the game but his number of chips is the number of dice he rolls on his turn, rather than rolling all three.
No player is ever "out" (even when they have no chips) because one of the other players may have to pass their chips to them bringing them back in the mix. 
The winner is the last player with chips left.

These are the games we've been playing most often lately.  There are others we like (Cranium, Jenga, dominoes, Taboo) too, but for whatever reason we haven't played these much lately.

What are your favorites?  We're always up for some new games to try!