I love the Idiot and Dummy series of guides. I admit when both series first hit the publishing world, I tried to stay as far away from them as possible. After all I didn’t want anyone to think I was a dummy or an idiot. Then one day I picked up one of the guides and found that they are some of the best written, easy to understand guides around. The funny title was a great marketing ploy and both series have gone on to publish guides that cover just about any topic you can imagine and some you wouldn’t even think of!
If you are looking for family game ideas, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Family Games, is a great guide.
I admit, I can’t remember how to play many of the games we played when I was a kid, so this guide was a great find for me. It also introduced me to games I was not familiar with.
The guide is broken down into types of games. Parlor games, for instance, covers table games including chess, checkers and backgammon. Many of my old favorites from my childhood are there. Remember Pick-up-Sticks? How about Tiddlywinks?
There’s lots of card games in the guide. This was a great thing for me because the only game I knew how to play was Old Maid! Rummy, Bridge, Poker— they’re all there. You will also find road trip games and outdoor games. There’s a section on party games in case you forgot how to play Red Rover or Red Light/ Green Light. There’s team games like charades and sports games like volleyball. There’s even picnic games like Freeze Tag.
Playing games is a great way to bond with your family. If you have run out of game ideas, check this book out for a little bit of inspiration. You’ll be glad that you did.
See also:
Game Night Doesn’t Have To Be Complicated