Board games have provided family fun for thousands of years. Besides having a fun time, playing board games can help a family bond and the interaction can help family members get to know one another better. Children can also learn or practice skills such as counting, eye-hand coordination, reading and dexterity. They also can learn about healthy competition and how to focus their attention.
Studies have also shown that participating in board games can also reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s in seniors. Numerous studies have also shown the academic benefits of chess playing. Apparently playing chess increases reading performance, math ability and IQ.
When I was young, I use to love watching my older brothers, cousins and their friends play Monopoly for hours. I was too young to play but I would site quietly by the side and dream of taking a ride on the Reading Railroad. Or passing Go and collecting $200. Eventually I became old enough and wise enough to play and play I did. For hours. There were a few nights we did not even go to bed (something my mom never knew.) 
We never did keep track of the length of our games but it is reported that the longest MONOPOLY® game ever played was 1,680 hours long. That is 70 straight days!
Twister was another game that we loved to play and would bring us hours of fun and laughter especially if my mom or dad played. I also played Twister with my kids and their friends and provided them with hours of laughter at my expense (it was always my pleasure.) Scrabble, Operation and Checkers also bring back great memories. It did not really matter what the game was as long as family and friends were together and enjoying each other.
The goal of board games is to have a good time. A fun time and social interaction should be more important than strategy and tactics. The success of a game should be measured more by how much you laugh than how well you do.
How about you? Does your family enjoy board games? If so, which ones and what are your favorites?
Tags: Board Games, Monopoly, Operation, Twister
I love them. I still love Clue and Guess Who- I have an excuse to play them bc of our little one. I don’t mean to brag but I’m a Connect Four champ, no one can beat me. …. just sayin’. I played a cranium game with my family during Christmas and oy vey- sadly my sister and I cannot play on opposite teams. We’re adults. Sad. 1) We’re both very competitive 2) We’re sisters and 3) She’s a stinkin’ CHEATER. That’s right sis, I went there.
I loved playing board games when I was growing up and passed the love on to my daughter. We had many a night together playing Clue, Guess Who. Monopoly,( she has 4 or 5 of the specialty monopoly’s) . My family used to play a card game called Raceway Rummy ever weekend. Great memories!
Had a friend who got mad at a whole group of us when we were playing Risk. She was losing, got upset and overturned the board. Such a sore loser.
I never got much of a chance to play board games growing up; occasionally, my parents would let us play Scrabble with them (they played all the time), but being kids we couldn’t quite keep up. Later we played Trivial Pursuit as a family but it was my dad who was too competitive: he had the most wins, which we all knew because he posted a sheet on the kitchen wall with everyone’s tallies.
I used to love playing Monopoly but I could never get anyone to play with me. Sniff.
Now that my Grandson is getting older he loves to play board games, Chutes & Ladders, Candyland, Checkers, Sorry, he loves playing trivia pursuit, not so much the game itself but just asking him random questions to see if he can get them right…We also play alot of card games, Uno, Old maid, go fish, Jacks, played spoons one night and it was the best time ever… Never laughed so hard!!! My whole Family gets into it, growing up we played most of these games too, best entertainment ever!!!!!!
Love board games!!
Jennie, I loved playing Trivial Pursuit as a kid and my family stopped playing with me because I always kept winning.
My kids are getting at the age to play games and we have this bug game we play all the time. It’s the only game we have that our 2 and 4 year old can play.
We have the someday games waiting in our closet when the kids get older like clue, etc. We just picked up Trouble for the kids. The son doesn’t talk but we tell him where to move his pieces and that’s fun for him.
he had the most wins, which we all knew because he posted a sheet on the kitchen wall with everyone’s tallies.
LOL thats the funniest thing I’ve ever heard Jennie!
Pam
I wish I had a little one to play games with. You are lucky. I do play board games with my 7 year old nephew (his birthday is today, Happy Birthday, Noah) when I visit back in the midwest and we have a blast.
Another thing that we have done in the past in crossword puzzles. Especially in the summer when I have some time off. I will set a table up that we can just leave up and buy one with some difficulty and both of my sons and my husband will work on it with me. We actually have a great time and it really promotes family bonding.
Paula,
Was that an adult friend? If so, wow.
Sam,
You are too funny!
Pam,
Yes we were in our late 20’s. I don’t no way it sticks with me, maybe because it was so out of character. She really is a fun loving easy going kind of gal. Or we could blame it on the alcohol! lol
Paula, that’s funny, of course it was the alcohol!
I am from a family of board game players, and we still enjoy them at holidays or weeks at the Jersely shore. Scrabble is a favorite. We’ve played Balderdash, Pictionary, the one with lists (Scattergories?) No one can beat me in Boggle. I know every single acceptable three letter word in the English language and can write them faster than any one else around.
Jennie, I love your dad’s obnoxious method of savoring his victories. Should I ever again pull seven Scrabble tiles to spell M-A-R-I-N-E-S, with the S creating another plural noun on the horizontal and landing on a triple word score, (99 points!!) I will get a photo on my cell phone and post it on the refrigerator for all to admire in awe, lol!
Please weigh in on this years-old Scrabble debate: Is “scuba” and acceptable word?
Jennie, I love your dad’s obnoxious method of savoring his victories. Should I ever again pull seven Scrabble tiles to spell M-A-R-I-N-E-S, with the S creating another plural noun on the horizontal and landing on a triple word score, (99 points!!) I will get a photo on my cell phone and post it on the refrigerator for all to admire in awe, lol!~Ann
I too love that about Jennie’s dad. Ann congrats on the great and memorable Scrabble points! I would feel the same way.
Board games rule! This is a fun read. I grew up playing games, we played monopoly and cards, and my dad and I played chess. W/my own family, it was the same. We loved games. We played lots of Risk when the boys were teenagers. Among themselves, they loved the game Magic The Gathering, which I tried to learn, but decided that was their thing. We were big campers too which meant games at night and when it was raining. I love Scrabble and haven’t played it in so long. Nowadays, we always end up playing Farkel. It’s easy to talk when you’re playing and a fun game.
My little one got SpongeBob Operation for Christmas. We all decided that they have made it much easier to get the pieces out. They also made the buzzer different. It used to be so loud. Lol, I remember when we had to disconnect it for one of the kids because he was about 3 and it would startle him so. We made it just the light. With the new ones, it’s more of a zzzzzzzz instead of ZAPPINGBUZZZZZ.
Mary, my little one and I play lots of Candyland. She has a Tinkerbell game she loves where you spin and go around to collect the things your fairy needs.
Paula, wow! Over Risk? Glad I wasn’t there. I remember some intense game of spoons where some chairs got broke and someone actually bent a silver ringer I was wearing trying to get me to drop the spoon. In this case, no one got mad. It was how that family played, there was lots of adrenalin and it was part of the game.
What is “spoons”? I don’t know this game, but if it incites that reaction, I want in!
Santa brought my kids Operation and they HATED it because of the loud zapper and light. They would not play it. On New Year’s my husband and I opened a bottle of wine and started playing eachother with the kids looking on from a distance, hands over their ears, to show them it was harmless fun. I learned something that night: Never operate drunk.
Ann, Spoons is a card game and like musical chairs. There’s one less spoon than there are people and they go in the center of the table. Everyone gets four cards, the dealer starts by drawing a card and discarding to the left. The next person can draw or keep it and discards to the left. As soon as you get 4 of a kind you can get a spoon. I think the funnest way is to sneak one and see how long it takes for everyone to notice one is missing.
No spoon and you loose and you’re out. It’s really fun. That’s funny, about your kids and Operation. It seems like my niece didn’t like the buzzer either.
I just re-read my comment about Operation and want to add that this was many years ago. I *think* my teens could handle Operation now.
Please weigh in on this years-old Scrabble debate: Is “scuba” and acceptable word? – Ann
Of course! Who was saying it wasn’t?
My parents actually had the official Scrabble ‘bible’ that declared which words were acceptable. That helped to avoid (some) arguments!
Ann – way to go. 99 points is awesome. Makes me wants to me to play Scrabble right now. I think you can play online these days – ?
She’s a stinkin’ CHEATER. That’s right sis, I went there. – Samantha
LMAO.
I play Scrabble on-line EVERYDAY!
I love board games, especially word games like Scrabble and Boggle!
And I still enjoy ‘Shoots and Ladders’, ‘Go To The Head of the Class’, and ‘Candyland’ with my grandkids! And I love Monopoly!
Our family has ‘Game Night’ once in awhile, usually it’s Trivial Pursuit (which I am horrible at, I have no head for keeping facts and figures!), but it’s fun anyway. And then we’ll play a game where we all throw five names into a bowl, pass the bowl around, grab a name out and try to get your team to guess the name by giving clues, usually it’s guys vs girls and the guys are always throwing in Sports names that the girls don’t know, so we throw in Fashion Designers that they won’t know!
And I love card games too!
Fun article! Thanks!