What’s Your Family’s Most Memorable Gaming Moment? - £200 voucher to be won

[EllieSmumsnet]

We all know how special it is to spend quality time as a family, and gaming can be a brilliant way to bond, encourage problem-solving and teamwork. From navigating different worlds to friendly competitions, playing together can create memories that last a lifetime.

Nintendo games are great for this, offering something for everyone—from little ones just starting out to parents (and grandparents!) reliving their own childhood gaming days. Whether it’s a quick race, solving puzzles, or teaming up for a big adventure, there’s plenty of fun to be had.

We’d love to hear from you: What are your favorite family gaming moments? How do you use gaming to bring everyone together?

• Post your stories in the thread below to be entered into a prize draw
• One lucky MNer will win a £200 VEX voucher for a store of their choice.

About Nintendo:
“At Nintendo, the mission is to bring a smile to everyone’s face by creating new surprises that can help connect people from around the world. The company first started in Kyoto, Japan back in 1889 with hanafuda playing cards and now shares their exciting visions through the world of entertainment and video games.”

Racing cows the first Christmas that Santa brought the family a Wii. I’d never really been a gamer before but it was a lovely way to have a family game night.

lots of great memories from holiday Monopoly mammoth games competitions lasting several days - with Dad sulking in the shed when he went bankrupt. This was when I was a child.

Most recently Mario at the Olympics and we've started a family league starting on Christmas Day - unfortunately I'm not winning - but its bringing the family together.

Anyone remember twister ? We have many a moment playing this - especially over the festive season after a snowball or three.

For us - it's Uno - but with a difference - the pick up cards have been changed for multiple pick ups- and we have also changed the rules slightly to make the game last a long time.

We play fortnight together - the kids on their switches, and me and hubby on our laptops. It’s great fun!

We've always played games as a family and it's obviously rubbed off on the girls. We play board games and console games. Great fun and more than a little competitive.

DD took the Wii to uni with her and it really bonded her shared house.

People still think gaming is an individual or isolating activity but it really doesn't have to be. It's very sociable.

We always loved to play trivial pursuit - the easy edition, it was really good for general knowledge and the children learned so many facts when playing this game - we don't play board games enough now, this thread has prompted me to change that - put your phones down and get around the dining room table.

We have good memories around playing herd mentality as a family, although with smaller children the answers can take a judges override as to whether we allow it 😅

We always liked guess who as a family, especially when the children were smaller, took a while and lots of frustration learning my DC's the rule as it was a while before we had guessed.

We loved the simple game - don't know what it's called - but you are allocated a famous person - and this it stuck to your head (we used post-it notes last time) and you have to guess who you are with the minimal number of questions (I am I male - am I alive or dead....)

One of my favourite gaming moments is my kids unwrapping a Switch a few years ago at Christmas having had no idea they were getting one - there were actual gasps of delight! We love a bit of Mario Kart but it's a rite of passage when your kids start beating you!

When we played guitar hero on the PS2 - the more we did it the better we became - absolutely loved this game - it's in the loft now sadly.

We have a small collection of pinball machines, the DCs played on them from when they were old enough to reach both flipper buttons. DD was the UK junior pinball champ when she was about 10 (though there weren't all that many opponents, LOL).
We played board games with them as soon as they could count; so did their grandparents, Consequences, card games etc. Dungeons and Dragons by the age of 8...
Megadrive when it came out. We still have it - replayed 'Light Crusader' recently 😁
DCs and I started DGS9 and DGD6 on a proper D&D game last summer. About to restart this week via Discord remotely.
So best gaming moment - this summer - running into a dungeon entrance with DCs and DGCs while escaping from a giant and very angry penguin. ("Temple of Elemental Evil" (AD&D) played with 5th ed rules for the cognoscenti)

I remember playing a card game called 7 with my nan, it was a swap and pick up game where you had to have a combination of cards 1 to 7, it learned counting and taking turns from a very young age for me and my sister.

Our most memorable gaming moment was playing Wii ten pin bowling - we had hours and hours of fun playing this - interactive games are just the best.

The pong computer game - or is it called ping pong - when you have a slider and have to return a ball and defeat the other player - a frustratingly good game i remember playing with my mom and dad.

My favourite memory was playing super Mario 64 with my siblings, and dominoes with my grandparents.

Our favourite game we played as a family when I was at home was Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - we had hours of fun playing as each charactor.

My kids are grown, but we still play games as a family when we get together. At Christmas we were playing wavelength and codenames, both excellent board games.

When the kids were young, we all loved Rocket Power Beach Bandits for the PS2. I truly think that the family that game together remain together - whether it's board games or video games.

Could you encourage the correct use of punctuation instead?

Apologies wrong thread!

Playing Pie Face with the whole family on Christmas day - the kids LOVED it - not sure my DMIL was overjoyed with the experience.

We play Crash Team Racing against eachother with the screen split into four. We race against each other and get so hyped-up. My son always wins... but one time, I was like a silent assassin on one of the challenges, and I pretty much went undetected to take the win! My son, who hates losing, was so proud of me!

We loved our Wii! DH and I bought one when it first came out and everyone who came to visit us over the years had to create their Mii. We had a whole gallery of family and friends - always fun to spot who was in the crowd watching you play tennis or Mario Kart. I remember when BIL who lives on the other side of the world sent us a little Mii of DN when he was born... DN has just started uni😱

When the DCs were old enough, we started the family tradition of the Easter Mario Kart tournament, where we play ALL the courses in a row after Easter lunch (while eating chocolate of course!). Over the years the DCs have gotten better and although we parents are still the current reigning champs, I'm afraid it's only a matter of time.

Our old Wii finally gave up the ghost last year. We really miss it. We've had a Switch for a few years and it's nice too, but it's not the same - no Rock Band, no Wii Board and Mario Kart is not quite as fun now that you can't run off the road as much!

We all play games and do sometimes play together. The last was Overcooked 2 which is a cooking game and my poor DH was getting so flustered, it was really fun. My DS and I have played competitive games together. One thing about gaming especially with teens is it keeps lines of communication open and chat about fun stuff and not just have you done your homework and tidied your room!