Talk to me about board games

[ronx]

DH has got it into his head that we should play more parlour games rather than watch tv .

I want to make him put his money where his mouth is and buy him some board games.

So far I've got Scrabble and Connect 4.

Any others I should get?

Stratego is a good two man game. I like Chinese chequers (although it's better with more than two) and there is a German game called Octagon that's quite similar.

Bananagrams is great, like scrabble but you don't have to wait for your turn

Logo game (and Best of British) are great.

As are Pass the Bomb, Topix, Taboo, charades and 'Don't panic' (yes it is a kids game but great for adults too)

Zombies!!! is quite good - looks like it's similar to Carcassonne but with a race to a helipad (or to kill 30 zombies on the way) thrown in. You can also get expansions like zombie clowns, a school pack etc. Maybe not one for the littlies though!

We just got the His and Hers version of the logo game - that's good.

We also like Rummikub and Boggle but they are a bit thinky/silent so not very sociable.

Butting in, I'm also on the hunt for board games - I want the ones that make you laugh the most playing them, fray your nerves, involve biffing things or deceit...

UNO extreme is fantastic fun. My just turned 5 year old can play it with a bit of help, but the rest of us enjoy playing it too. It's like UNO only you have a machine that randomly spits cards out at you ... It really is great fun and only £16 ATM in Argos

Oh UNO extreme sounds great, we had thought of UNO, bananagrams, don't wake dad and hungry hippos - but I'm sure there are some board games out there that make you piss yourself laughing whether you're 4 or an old person and that's what I'm looking for!

Would any of these (or anything else) be entertaining to play with a 12 year old but doesn't involve me having to concentrate on it too hard - fun not strategy, laughs but not frayed nerves please

(she liked cadoo when younger, though that's better with more than 2 people - is cranium that kind of thing?)

Penguin pile up
the kids love Looping Louie

Mancala is a great two person game. We play Boggle too - short but ultra competitive.

Scattergories, Pick up a 2nd hand one on ebay for a few quid. Hours of laughter and competitiveness (is that a word)?

Another vote for Carcassonne.

For your little one to join in with:

Guess who

Dominos

Kerplunk

Some of the Orchard Toys games are good for small children (if not that great for adults!)

What about jigsaws?

For the two of you:

Trivial Pursuit - you can get different themes question cards now, like 80s, telly addicts etc

we loved Coppit from a very young age (3) to quite old (teens)!

lots of fun, no thinking involved and I reckon you could even turn it into a drinking game if you really want

have just bought it for our christmas as our families don't speak the same language....

Settlers of Catan (there is a 2 player as well as 3+)
Cribbage
Bezique

Also loved Coppit - and how about Mousie Mousie for post-dinner hilarity (OK you need more than 2 people)

Taboo, The Big Taboo, Outburst, Scattergories, Pictionary (especially great if there's a few of you and you can pilfer borrow a whiteboard from work :)), Mexican Train

But aren't 'parlour games' things that you play without many props eg. Charades and 20 Questions?

I forgot Rapidough :)

toutlemonde if it's more than the two of you, Apples to Apples can be v silly :o

I've got Carcassonne but have never been able to work out the instructions.