May 23: Three Games in One Night!

We had nine people at Sunday Night Game Night, which was delightful, and I was able to play three different games: Blokus, Dixit, and Wingspan (none of which I won, but all of which were incredibly entertaining). I especially delight in having so many people over to play games, because there are some games that just don't work with two people, so I literally need more than my husband and I to play games like Blokus and Dixit. 

Dixit especially is WAY better with more people; it's supposed to be a max of 6, but it is super easy to add more people to the game, and play with 8 or 10 people.  In case you've never played it (and I highly recommend you do!), each player gets a hand full of beautifully illustrated cards (I keep buying new expansions to get more and more cards). Each turn, a different player is the storyteller and says a clue based on one of their cards; it could be a word, a phrase, a sentence, even just a sound or gesture, and puts that card face down in the middle of the table. Each other player selects a card in their hands which best matches the clue and puts it face down in the middle. All the chosen cards are then shuffled up and shown face up in a random order, and every player votes for which picture they think was the storyteller's. If nobody or everybody finds the correct card, the storyteller scores 0, and each of the other players scores 2. Otherwise the storyteller and whoever found the correct answer score 3. Players score 1 point for every vote for their own card. You play until someone gets 30 points (or you can play until whenever you want!) It's like of like a picture form of Apples to Apples or Cards Against Humanity (though not nearly as dirty), and works with all kinds of different groups of people (young to old). 

Blokus ONLY works with 4 people. We do own a two player version called "Battle" but it's just not as good. Board Game Geek calls Blokus "an abstract strategy game" with transparent, Tetris-shaped, colored pieces that players are trying to place onto the board. The only caveat to placing a piece is that it may not lie adjacent to your other pieces, but instead must be placed touching at least one corner of your pieces already on the board. It requires spatial reasoning and thinking ahead and hoping that other players don't f*** with you. I like that it is a quick game, and works well as an intro game to start off the night while we are waiting for more people to show up.

There are SO many delightful things about Board Game Nights (seeing friends, trying new games, socializing, having fun, strategizing) and I am so thankful we are starting to host them again!

With delight,

♥Jamie