Article: Plan a Family Game Night

Article taken from iVillage.

Step 1: Get a Game Stash

Planning a great game night means having games on hand for every mood. Build a base of classics before you branch out to newer games and look for games that work for two to four people, or a whole crowd.

A few essentials for low-key nights:

• The absolute must-have classics: Monopoly, The Game of Life, Chutes & Ladders, Candyland, Sorry! and Connect Four.
• Banagrams, a new anagram game packaged in an adorable banana-shaped bag, can be played solo or in groups. It’s small enough to tuck into your purse or a glove compartment and simple enough to play in a restaurant, if you need to distract a hungry group.
• Enchanted Forest, a matching game with tiny trees hiding fairy tale-themed clues, is a great pick for your own Disney Princess, but it won’t offend boys, either.
• Have packs of cards for old-school card games: Go Fish is great for the youngest family members. Whether it’s Gin, Hearts, or B.S. (which stands for “Bologna Sandwich,” of course!), every group should have a card game.

—Kate Flaim

Step 2: Be Prepared for a (Loud) Crowd

If you’ve gathered a crowd or everyone is feeling a little rowdy, here are a few upbeat options:

• Anything with lots of rattling pieces will be raucous—think Yahtzee or Boggle.
• Playing to an older crowd? Go for the hilarious Taboo, which includes the most annoying board game buzzer ever invented.
• Once kids hit middle school, Balderdash, in which players make up definitions for words and then try to convince everyone that theirs is real, is always a hoot.

Step 3: Set It Up

Decide whether you want to use the dining room table or the living room. Some games, like Monopoly, require a whole lot of pieces and cards, and you might be happier with a big table and comfortable chairs. If you do use the living room, a supply of comfy floor cushions are a big plus, since most people will end up kneeling or sitting around the coffee table. If you are playing a team-based game, think through the arrangements beforehand. Trivial Pursuit might divide everyone into two sides, but a game like Taboo requires that partners aren't seated anywhere near each other.

Step 4: Get the Menu

Classics like snack mix are great, but why not make game night a weekly “nontraditional dinner” and do something fun? Whether you try pancakes or DIY nachos, clear off the dining room table and eat during the first round of the game. One easy option: white pizzas, with no sauce. Buy raw dough from the grocery store and shape individual pizzas, then cover them with cheese and let everyone add their own toppings. Leaving the sauce off means fewer stains and a much more portable snack.

Step 5: Pick the Night

A weekend night is always a great choice, but if your kids don’t get too swamped with homework, it might be nice to hold your game night on Wednesday or Thursday, as a break in the week or an early kickoff to the weekend. If you know a weekly game night just isn’t in the cards (so to speak), how about the second Friday of every month, or another regular appointment? Put it on the family calendar and don’t let it get pushed aside.

Step 6: Make the Choice

Ok, everything is set up and everyone has an appropriate snack. How to choose what to play? Try rotating, with a different family member picking the game each week. Keep track in the front cover of your scoring notebook (which you will learn about shortly), or write out all of the games you own on pieces of cardstock and keep them in a jar, ready to pull one out at the beginning of the night. You can choose the name out of a hat or go all out and find an old bingo cage. Repaint the balls with game names and choose at random each week.

Step 7: Make the Rules

There are two kinds of board game rules: The official rules and the “house rules.” If you’re playing a game for the first time, read the basic rules aloud, and then read any applicable section out loud when issues arise during play. If the group does develop its own additions or changes, write them either on the directions (if there’s room) or on another piece of paper that you staple to the directions. When an outside player joins you, explain the house rules to them so they aren’t confused. (Or furious.)

Step 8: Keep Score

Designate an official scorekeeper and keep an official score notebook. Write the date and the game you’re playing at the top of a page each week—by the end of the year you’ll have official records to settle those arguments about who has the longest-running winning streak. (That notebook is also handy for keeping track of who chose the game, if you decide to rotate—just add it to the date line.)

Step 9: Avoid Conflict

If you follow the rules and keep score properly, you can minimize any knock-down, drag-out fights. Still, you probably can’t avoid them entirely. The resolution often depends on the problem. Did Sally roll the dice off the table and now she wants to keep that pair of sixes? You might need to make it a policy that wayward dice don't count, then let her roll again. If Jimmy is peeking at Sally’s cards, you might need to give a lecture about the consequences of cheating—and then skip his turn. Stay level-headed and resolve conflicts fairly. Bitterness over cheating incidents (whether real or perceived) can really poison the well-meaning fun of game night.

Step 10: Crown the Winner

Assemble a big jar or box full of funny dollar-store prizes, and let the winner of the game draw one. Or make all the prizes something wearable—goofy party hats, little masks, joke glasses. For a prize that creates less clutter, find the silliest hat you can (try thrift stores or costume shops) and let your kids decorate it. The winner of one week's game gets to wear the Winner Hat the next week. Treat it like a trophy to be won and cherished. If you end up getting hooked on a game that lends itself to a running tally, set a "tournament" deadline and keep track of scores for a couple of weeks or months. That winner might deserve a bigger prize—maybe they could pick out the perfect takeout dinner for the family (and you have to play along if they decide on ice cream and fries).