I prefer playing games on the floor because there’s plenty of room to spread out, but I’m only 47 and have no trouble with that. And I don’t have any pets or toddlers.

My friends and I often have game nights, but run into problems because some of our favorite games only allow 5 or 6 players while we have about 8 people that regularly attend. We end up not getting to play some of the best games unless we split up, which feels kind of antisocial and depending on who is hosting and one group ends up playing on the floor because most of us only have one table.

Also, did you know there is a carcassone app for iphone and ipod touch. It’s amazing.

My 8-year old boy is old enough to play as long as the game isn’t too word-oriented so he usually plays with us. Otherwise, he’s in another room with the Wii/a new (library) DVD. Flux is another good game (as mentioned above) for beginners because the rules ARE the game and change every time its played. It’s a good game for when someone has to check on the kids or pop into the kitchen to refill the chips and make more guacamole since finding a time-space in the game is usually easy. I also like Chronology and Robo Rally.

Ajtacka (#17) That person would quickly e uninvited to any party of mine — unless they had other, very sterling qualities. I’d probably be very rude and invite them into the Wii/TV room with the other children.

The most important thing is to know your group. Our group does fine with cooperative games and really competitive “muck with your neighbor” games without any hard feelings. However, we’ve occasionally included other friends who’ve not had the same attitudes, which can really put a damper on the game night.
Only one of the couples participating in our game night has kids, so we almost always game at their house and start around the time the kids go to bed. Occasionally we will start earlier and play a game, like The Adventurers, that the kids can play as well. It works out well.

* Pandamic (good but is similar every time you play)
* Shadows over Camelot. (my favourite to play with non gamers, it has the option to have a traitor too)
* Lord of the Rings coop game: good, but very difficult when adding the expansions.
* Battlestar Galactica: very very very good game, but not so easy to teach people. The theme also puts a number of people off. Also: traitors (cylons in this case) aren’t optional, so it’s not a real coop game.
* there’s also a Chtullu coop game whose name escapes me. A lot of gamers seem to really like it, but for me, it’s too convoluted and upward of 4 hours is a bit much, even for me.

eg. Monopoly has knock-out rules: it’s possible to be ousted from the game and turned into a spectator, which is not fun unless the game takes only a short while.

An example for the newbie trap: most traingames start you off with no money but the ability to sell shares. Selling too much shares is a thing that looks good, but is usually a newbie trap.

Boggle is another winner and now, since it’s on the net at http://www.wordsplay.com, we team up and compete (often guys against girls) on two computers.

Much hilarity!

As for games, Scattergories and Yahtzee are big hits around here. I’m hoping for a big Uno game one of these days, though!

The latest thing we’re trying is a themed game night – one of our friends has brewed an Oktoberfest beer, and so we’re making October’s game night “Oktoberfest”. We’re each attempting to make a German dish of some sort.

One game I didn’t see recommended that I would strongly suggest is Bohnanza. It’s pretty easy to get the hang of, and the game play involves a fair amount of player interaction. And the cards are cute. Also, Time’s Up is really fun, particularly for couples or people who know each other fairly well.

@Kathy, I’ve been out of the Magic scene for a while, but it used to be that it was played one-on-one. Not as much problem there, because one person can’t be picked on by two or three people. As for DnD, the point of that game involves cooperation, so if there was mucking with someone, I’d say y’all were doing it wrong. But, it benefits from having mature people as participants. Having a jerk for a gamemaster or a player can set the whole night wonky and leave a lot of feelings hurt. My last game had some juvenile antics on the part of the characters, but the players have always been quite respectable to one another.

Also, Pit is an awesome, affordable game!