If you live in the Pacific Northwest and you don’t have a winter hobby like skiing, snowboarding, or snowshoeing, you may find yourself hitting the winter blues right about now. The holidays have passed, and yet we’re still not even a third of the way through Winter, and the weather forecast these days calls for clouds, rain, and frigid temperatures. To help conquer these hard months, here at Latah Creek we like to play games while sipping on a glass of wine in the evenings! We cannot stress enough the importance of knowing your limit, so please drink responsibly, but here are a few fun games we like to play 1v1 or in groups while enjoying a yummy Latah Creek beverage!
One on One Games
Spite and Malice–Block your opponent to slow them down and win by playing all the cards from your own pile before your opponent does! Also known as Cat and Mouse or Skip Bo.
Gin Rummy–Be the first to reach 100 points! Also known as Gin.
Speed–Play as fast as you can and don’t take turns. Be the first to play all your cards into the middle and shout “SPEED” to win!
One on One or Group Games
Monopoly Deal–Collect 3 complete property sets but beware of the Debt Collectors, Forced Deals and Deal Breakers!
Bananagrams–Race against each other to build crossword grids!
Phase 10–Be the first player to complete 10 varied phases with two sets of three, one run of seven, or seven cards with the same color.
Group Games
Uno–In a race to deplete your hand, match one of your cards with the current card shown on top of the deck by either color or number.
Telestrations–No drawing skills required; stick figures and sense of humor are welcome in this play off of “Telephone”!
Codenames–Work together to contact all of your agents before the other team!
Group Games that are Free!
The Game of Things–All you need is scraps of paper, pens, and your phone! Have a reader read a topic from this free flash card collection. All players, including the reader, will write a response (for example: if the topic were “things dogs are actually saying when they bark”, your response could be “feed me!”). Have the reader read each response aloud two times through. The first player will try to guess who wrote which response. If their first guess is correct, the person they guessed is out and they get to guess again. If their first guess is incorrect, the next person gets to guess. Continue until there is one player remaining and everyone has been guessed. Whoever wins the most rounds, wins the game!
Signs– (For larger groups, 10-20 people.) Have everyone stand in a circle with one person in the middle. Each player needs to create their “sign”–for example: thumbs up, clapping, jumping on one foot. The players forming the circle will “pass the sign” while the person inside the circle will try to guess where it is. To start, the player in the middle will close his/her eyes while the circle players will determine who will start. Once the middle player’s eyes are open, the fun begins! Players send the sign by doing the receiving player’s sign. To accept the sign, the receiving player does their own sign. Keep passing until the middle player correctly guesses who has it! (This one can get a little rowdy!)
Happy gaming!
Cheers,
Natalie