Farkle

This is my new favorite game for large groups. It was introduced to us by our "blue" cousins at our family reunion over the weekend. Here are the rules. It is fabulous!

Other games we love for semi-large groups:

The Name Game: Everyone writes a bunch of names on little pieces of paper and throws them in a hat. You then take turns drawing them out of the hat and getting the group to guess as many as possible in 2 minutes.

Pit: Classic game of shouting out to the other players to trade commodities and corner the market.

Speed Scrabble: Using only the Scrabble letter tiles, each person starts with 7 or so, with the rest of the tiles face down in the center of the table. The object is to form connected words using ALL of your tiles, just like on the Scrabble board. The first person to use all of his current tiles, yells "TAKE TWO" and everyone takes two more tiles. This continues until the tiles in the middle of the table are gone or there aren't enough for everyone to take 2 more. Add up points just like in Scrabble. If you're playing with someone prone to making up words, make sure you keep a dictionary nearby or agree on rules ahead of time (eg. majority vote on whether the word is a word or spelled correctly). TRUST ME, it can get ugly.

Apples to Apples: Cute board game where each person takes turn being a "judge". The judge draws an "adjective" card, and the other players choose a "noun" card from their hand that they think is best described by that adjective. The judge gets to decide which noun fits best. You can also mix it up by racing to lay your cards down or using the opposite of the adjective. Perfect for all reading-age kids.

Mafia: Great game of deception and bluffing. Pretending to be townspeople, mafia, or a detective, you work together (or against each other) to determine who the bad guys are before they kill everyone else. Pretty simple, but not simple enough to explain here. Call for the rules, or check them out here.

Quelf: My kids love this game. Not my favorite, because you have to be demonstrative (as my dad would say). One to check into if you enjoy a little randomness.

Train Domino Game: Simply put, you build a "train" of dominoes by matching up colors. You need the multi-colored domino set with at least 12 dots on a side. There are other little rules, and some strategy, but overall a very simple game for all ages.

I'd love to hear of any others. We're always on the lookout for new games.