I've always been a huge fan of games, and I'm not talking strickly video games here. I'm talking board games, card games, table top games...you know, the stuff that didn't require a TV or a console.

I was playing a game of checkers with my fiance a couple nights ago and it just reminded me how much I enjoyed playing games that didn't involve a console or handheld. I usually would have a bad memory when it comes to "Stuff I did as a kid", but I can easily and fondly remember playing numerous games sitting down in front of a table top and didn't require that we "plug in" something. All you had to do was gather up 2-3 other kids, shimmy off the box top of the game, setup the pieces and have at it.

From the two player showdown in battleship to the family fun in Cranium, sitting down for a game with friends and family never got old. And, may I add, was a good way to connect with the group.
And we would play any game we could get our hands on..so instead of listing every game I can think of that we played, here are a few that were old time favorites:

Life
Monopoly
Cranium
Checkers
Chess
Yatzee
Boggle
Stratego (loved it!)
Battleship
Any card game
Battletech (the tabletop game)
A couple pen and paper RPG's
Clue
Magic the Gathering
Chinese Checkers
Jenga
Risk
Connect 4
Go (Never really learned how to play, but we had the game!)

And the list goes on....

I'm sure I'm not the only one that loved playing these games growing up or that still enjoy's a good group game with family and friends. So do you guys have any classics or favorites that you still play or remember playing back in the day?

A little bit of an edit

Did a little research last night and this morning, and I saw that there is a game for the Nintendo DS called Clubhouse Games. After reading a few reviews this looks like the perfect companion to DS owners who love board games.

I think I'll be picking this game up tonight and playing countless games of Reversi/Othello and Stratego...I'm sure you'll be hearing my comments on this game soon!

I play monopoly on my PocketPC all day at work, and get paid to do it. Always was a big board game fan, nice thread IS.

by far though, touche was one of my other favorties...

I played lots of domino's, and no not just knocking them over. Rummy Q, scrabble, pictionary, trivial pursuit, Chinese checkers. Man the list could go on for pages.

chess was always a favorite time killer, rook was my favorite card game, and playing the table top football w/ the diy paper football.

Monopoly was the game as a kid though everyone refused to play with me as i always got mayfair and park lane and dominated them!

Pente, a lot like GO. Easy rules, but hard to master.

Backgamon was the game to play when I was in college.

Nertz is a fun card game for two or four people. It's like competitive speed solitaire.

My parents always get board games for Christmas and the whole family sits down and plays. It's a Christmas tradition for us.

Spades was my card game of choice , and for pen & paper games

Quote: Originally Posted by HigHTecHReDNecK Spades was my card game of choice , and for pen & paper games Dungons & Dragons !!! The game of the UBER NERDZ

AMEN Brother......Since I was hooked on Spades, I also played alot of Hearts too.

You guys should check out the game Spinner. It's a take on the game dominoes, but you know, not boring.

Our family plays it all the time. It's great fun.

stratego and Chess, i loved setting up a bomb in the middle of stratego and my brother would always march his number 1 and two pieces up the middle and watch them die... then couldn't figure out why i always stationed my number 3 piece behind them to clear out his middle

ha the joys of outwitting your older brother time and time again only to have him pick up the board and throw it across the room

i always loved magic the gathering, that was my game of choice for a long time, but as for board games, i like monopoly, but we usually get pissed at it and quit after the 3rd hour heh... all i play now is scrabble..
other favs would have to be pictionary, life, cranium and battleship... and mousetrap!

Chess, warhammer40.000, oh and strip blackjack! couldn't get the hang of poker lol!

Never really been a fan of board games, although me and my sister had some mega games of Monopoly as kids.

Hold'em is probably the only non PC, non Wii game I play regularly. Not too bad at it

I waste countless hours on my phone playing Backgammon.

As to real cards, Euchre and Hearts.

man, the money and time I sunk into Magic: The Gathering. Two binders chock full of cards. I used to play the Swamp Thing board game quite regularly before I lose it in a move, outside of that.. Skip-Bo is a darn fun game, but I'll always be a chess lover.

Quote: Originally Posted by musclecars&computers chess was always a favorite time killer, rook was my favorite card game, and playing the table top football w/ the diy paper football.

Hah I remember those...once you learn how to make those footballs you never forget!

And since monopoly was mentioned a couple times...I saw a commercial for the new monopoly that automatically counts and keeps track of your money. Kind of interesting, but I think part of the fun was having all those paper bills everywhere!

Krimson - you mentioned scrabble. We picked up the scrabble DS game last weekend. It's awesome. My wife and brother in law play it against eachother all the time when we get together. Of course he has to borrow one of his son's DS. But the wireless play is pretty cool.

I also picked up the Clubhouse games for the DS a couple days ago. Great game for any DS owner. 42 games in all, and it has stuff like Stratego (which I haven't unlocked yet), chess, checkers, reversi, mah jong, all kinds of card games...great games to pick up for a quick 5-10 minute playing session! Plus it taught me how to play Shogi!

Just about every saturday night, me and my girlfriend goto her parents house and we all play risk and drink a ton of beer lol. It gets unruly after a while haha

The wife just brought this up the other day.. I'm much more of the 'plug it in' gamer, but to connect with the kids we're going to spend a day a week playing board games in the evening. It should be fun and good for them to learn. Our kids are 7 and 10, both boys.

Great thread.

Monopoly Modern times edition, I think is the name (don't get it! the numbers are 1,000,000 this and 200,000 that.. holy cow what a pain to make change!!) nice idea, but taken too far to the point it badly effected the playability..

Battleship - gotta luv this one..
War - card game where 2 people battle, highest card wins
Uno - an all time favorite in our family, going back a couple gen's now
Yahtzee - haven't got this one right now, but it'll be under the christmas tree for one of the kids
Sorry - boring
Stratego - too much for the kids, and man it takes forever
Boggle - gets boring fast, but is good for the boys to learn from
Crossword & word-search games - printed on newsprint in magazine-sized volumes, these are great to throw in the car to keep em busy on long trips. Remember to bring along hi-lighters tho, pencils could impale ya if ya wrecked..

I would love to find someone to play Dominoes on yahoo with me. You can set up a private table or play anyone in the world. I used to play a girl from India all the time but she quit for some reason. We were both good and pretty evenly matched. I miss her.

mom