(I realize Mother’s Day can be a difficult holiday for many of you so I understand if you will not read the blog post this week.)
This weekend we celebrate Mother’s Day here in the US, and I want to thank my mom for starting my lifelong passion for games. Growing up, she introduced me to lots of traditional card games including Go Fish, War, Rummy, Crazy 8s, Hearts, and Euchre, and specialized card games including Uno and Skip-Bo. We also played lots of board games including Monopoly, Game of Life, Bonkers, and Payday.
We still enjoy playing games when we get together, so I wanted to share some of her current favorites that make it to the table when the family gathers. Really looking forward to spending time with family again soon!
I introduced Diamonds to my parents because I know how much they enjoy playing other trick taking games like Hearts and Euchre. We always play the teams version of Diamonds, as we enjoy that aspect of working together while still competitive. Big bonus is it plays six people, so we can play with my parents, my daughters, and my wife and I all at once.
Rummikub has been a staple game for us for a long time. I play this with my family and my wife’s family. Growing up playing Rummy the card game made this game an easy transition for my family. You are still building sets and runs, just doing it with tiles instead of cards.
I will be honest, Sequence is not my favorite game as it can frustrate me at times with its randomness, but it is a game my mom really enjoys playing. Again, being based on card playing meant it was a quick jump for my family to get into. It has quite the take that element, which can get your competitive side going.
Tsuro was a more recent introduction to gaming with my family and my wife’s family, but it quickly became very popular. It is a very relaxing game that allows eight people to play and is really simple to teach. So we love how easy it is to pull in other family members at large gatherings to play it. It has player elimination, but the games are so quick you just jump back in for another game.
Word games are my wife’s favorite style of game, so Upwards was a hit for her when we started playing it with my family. My mom and step-dad play this game often and I occasionally hear about their games. It was one of the first games I sought out my own copy of when I moved away from home.
Did you play games with your family growing up? What games did your mom introduce to you? What games do you play with your mom now?