my favorite game

I am addicted to board games. I heart them, love them, covet them, etc. They come in fancy forms (Scene It?) and very basic forms (Taboo) but they all provide a fun competitive atmosphere that usually stretches your brain in some way or another.

When I was thinking about my favorite game and forcing myself to narrow it down, this is what made Pictionary the winner across the board (pun definitely intended):

You don't have to draw well to be good at it.

You can play a slightly altered version where every single round is an All Play so that no one is bored for even a second, which is very important.

There's no advantage among any of the players. Ever. I've seen some artists draw very poor pictures and those with no real drawing talent draw one well-placed line and win the round.

It's a race against the timer AND the other teams. Time limit = frenzy = fun.

I'll also give shout-outs to Taboo, Scrabble, and Loaded Questions.

For some reason, I really want to be good at Taboo. The best ever. I don't know what that's about. Taboo is the perfect example of a game with profound advantage possibilities - if your partner in the game is your parter in life (or a really close friend) there are a million inside jokes to utilize for faster answes. Of course I love the advantage when I'm playing but I hate when someone else has it. That's why Taboo didn't win.

Scrabble is a word dork standby. I've been playing it with my dad since I was little, and let me tell you, he never let me win. Oh, no. My dad is so geeked out on Scrabble he memorized the wood grains on the back of the letter set when he was young. When we played, the Britannica three-volume dictionary set was always fetched and used by my dad as he verified that something like MARYZL is in fact a word. (He also never let me win at Rummy.) Now I can beat him every so often and it makes him mad, but I know secretly he's proud of me. And maybe a little worried about the Alzheimers.

Loaded Questions is a game best played with 3-5 close friends. The questions are hypothetical, and each person takes a turn asking the question to the other players who then write their answers down. The asker guesses the written answers and gets to move one space for every correct guess. It's totally a bonding experience, and you always learn something you didn't know about one of your darling friends.

----In Other News----

I'll post some pictures of the party AS SOON AS I GET SOME. Because we didn't hire a photographer, I'll be the last to see the pictures. Must get my hands on those twenty disposables PRONTO.

Now, back to this contest.

This one is kind of a repeat and you might hate me, but be nice to me. I've had major homework to catch up on today and little time to scour the interwebnet.

What do you call a group of giraffes?

(shut up! I really liked reading all the animal group names!)

1. a canopy

2. a tower

3. a blend

4. a spot