Your holiday plans are finally set. You know what is going to happen each of those days, including that bit of extra downtime that no one knows what to fill it with. If you’re like my family, you like to find some games to play in the evening. It’s something to do, but you might need evening, you might need all day, what are some good games for the family, kids, and whatever groups you might have.

Games to Play with the Kids

Ice Cool – This is a dexterity one and I’m going to lean in that direction. A lot of kids games aren’t that fun for kids because they are very simple. But Ice Cool is a great dexterity game that works with kids of a lot of different ages. Who doesn’t want to make a cool shot as you try and get a penguin around a high school? Probably some people, but they’re wrong, and this one because that’s mainly what the game is, is really simple to play.

Beat the 8-Ball – Another one that works well with kids. Beat the 8-Ball is a simple game as well, most games for kids should be. But it’s also one that’s fun for adults. The game is basically a big game of chicken. There is an 8-Ball coming down a funnel, you want to be ahead of the 8-Ball but not the first person ahead of it. So how long can you wait? If you’re the first person ahead of it, no points, but if you’re after it, negative points.

Games with the Whole Group

Deception: Murder in Hong Kong – The young kids are in bed and now you want a big group game. But a lot of the big party games are not that fun, like your classic Taboo or Catch Phrase. If you want something with a bit more on it and a lot of fun, try Deception: Murder in Hong Kong.

This is a game of figuring out who the killer is. But one person is helping the murder to throw suspicion in other directions. Another knows who did it but not how but they don’t want to get caught. And someone is sending up reports to try and help point everyone in the right direction. It’s really a bit social deduction game, but with more going on because you always have a stream of real information.

Wits & Wagers – If you want a more classic party game, Wits & Wagers is a great choice. This one plays a pretty high number and is a trivia game. Now, normally I don’t recommend trivia games. But this one works. Two things that make it work are that it’s a numbers based game. So every answer is a number which everyone is guessing. So that automatically helps set a range. Then you bid on whose number you think is right. If you’re right, you win money and you want to win the most money. So even if you know nothing about, let’s say baseball, if your uncle does, you can bid on their answer.

Games with Family

Sagrada – Again, the young kids are in bed. You want to play a game, but you don’t have enough for want to break out a party game. That’s the type of game I’m looking at here. Sagrada is a good choice because it’s pretty but also it has some choices to it. You are drafting dice to make a stained glass window. But you can’t have the same number or same color next to each other, except diagonally. So can you make the best stained glass window?

The Crew – A lot of the older generation, so into their 60’s and 70’s now, or older, grew up with some of the more common games being trick-taking. Well, The Crew is going to give some trick-taking without them having that much of an advantage at it because it’s cooperative. Each round objectives are given or drawn depending on the version you have. You need to complete those, and generally a specific person needs to complete them.

So using trick taking knowledge you now need to figure out how to empty out hands the right way so that all the cards are played out. But I might need to not take a trick with pink in it. You might need to take the first trick, how can that all be set-up?

Happy Holidays from Nerdologists

With those suggestions, I just want to say a big Happy Holidays to everyone. Thank you all for reading and joining with me. There are more articles queued up and ready to go next week as I start to look ahead to 2024.

Do you find you have any family traditions that are nerdy that you love? For my family, it is board games, we generally play an evening or two around Christmas and New Years. But let me know yours.

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