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A life-long board game nut, I love to open a bottle of wine, put on some groovy background music and get my game on with some good friends. I play to win, therefore I don't have too many people that like to play games with me (they get bored because I always kick their Boggle booty!). On the rare occasions when I can sucker some poor soul or souls play with me, we usually pull out one of these three games.

Cranium - This game is a blast if you are playing with a group of people. It always gets everyone involved and playing together. The game requires you to complete different tasks including answering trivia questions, humming songs for people to guess, acting out people and clues like charades, sculpting actions and objects out of clay (try sculpting "spank"!), spelling words backwards, and even drawing clues pictionary-style with your eyes closed in order to advance in the game! It's loads of fun. You can play as individuals or team up and play in groups. You'd be surprised how difficult it can be to identify someone humming "Born To Be Wild" at the top of their lungs. Difficult, and hilarious.

Scattergories - Name an actor, a fruit, and a country that start with the letter "C". Chevy Chase, Coconuts and Cameroon. In this wordy game - you have cards with lists of categories on them and a 20-sided die. When a letter is rolled on the die, you are required to name an item in each of the categories that begins with the chosen letter. The more unique your answers, the better you fare in this game. If you answer "Big Black Blood-Sucking Bug" under the Insect category, you will definitely score more points than if you answer "Beetle". You have to be quick in this game... because the time keeps on ticking... and it's harder than you think to come up with a sport starting with "U"!

Trivial Pursuit - With so many variations, this classic is always engaging for groups or simply one-on-one. Brush up on your useless knowledge, and get ready to answer a variety of questions on topics ranging from Science, Nature and Sports to History, Geography and Entertainment, Since the late eighties, dozens of special editions of the game have been released. Battle your wits with trivial aplomb in any one of 1980s, 1990s, Book Lover's, Star Wars Saga, Masterpiece Genus, Disney or Pop Culture Editions. They even have DVD versions if you hate fiddling with lots of cards and little pieces. Never fear, if you haven't busted out your original box from 1979, you're still in for a solid hour of not-so-trivial fun.

Although these three games have endured the most wear and tear in my house, there are so many more great games out there, I wanted to mention more than three. If you fancy yourself a word-smith, grab a dictionary and thesaurus and try Scrabble, Boggle or UpWords. If you like card games, Uno and Rook are always fun to play. If you're looking for a mental workout, pull out the Go board, Risk, or Reversi . On those amorous nights when you and a fond one are feeling frisky, there are tons of "adult" games out there like Dirty Minds and the Kama Sutra dice game.

And lastly, for a nostalgic night gathered around the kitchen table, travel down memory lane and play the Game of Life. As an adult, it's not often that you get the opportunity to start over and try out a different life. Let your imagination wander and be a fireman, with four kids, who wins the lottery and buys a McMansion on the lake . Plus, Life is always good for a laugh when you spend half of the evening trying to keep your little pink peg man in your little pink car. Ah, the memories.

Learn more about this author, Kathy McCabe.
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