Funglish

This is another guessing game, with the twist being that you can only give clues using a limited number of words found on cardboard game tiles. You place the word tiles on a display board that designates the word as Definitely, Kind Of or Not. 

One downside of this game is setup time. Not like it takes hours, but it does take a moment to lay out all the word tiles; you can't just dump out the box and jump right into gameplay. Also, the game is a bit frustrating due to the selection of words (or the lack of the words you really want to use) and because of the difficulty in finding the specific word in the rows of tiles all over the table. However, that frustration is what makes it challenging, and the challenge is what makes it fun! But it was also more fun when we switched to a 5-minute timer instead of sticking with the 3-minute timer that comes with the game.

Verdict: I wouldn't want to play this game very often, but it's fun enough that I want to keep it. Though, come to think of it, if we did play more often maybe it would be less frustrating, since eventually we would learn which words are options, and we would probably get faster at finding them on the table.

SceneIt! Friends edition

I don't know how many years we've had this game, but we had literally never played it until now. Like, we actually peeled shrink-wrap off the box in order to play. I'm not sure why we'd left it so long, since we all love Friends. (I mean, doesn't everyone?) 

Obviously a trivia game about a TV show would not be very fun for someone who has never seen that show, or someone who doesn't like that show (if such a person exists). But for those who know and love a TV show, a trivia game about it sounds like a great idea. The only problem here is that the thing that makes this game the most unique (you play on your TV, using a DVD, which is fun because the game includes video clips from the show) is also probably the worst thing about it, because the transitions bog it down and make it feel more slow-paced than it should. 

Verdict: Finn enjoyed this game the most, and didn't want to stop playing. Sam enjoyed it less, but still had fun. Will we ever play it again? I don't know. We have a totally separate Friends trivia game that is played using cards only, and I would probably reach for that first.

I won, by the way. My cousin Lori would not be surprised. 

Boggle

Bo

Boggle has been a favorite of mine since childhood. (Probably because I'm, ahem, pretty good at it.) I even love the loud noise it makes when you shake up the letter dice (although I simultaneously feel bad subjecting others to it).

The concept of the game: after randomly rearranging the letters on a 4x4 grid, you have three minutes to find as many words as you can. Words can go in any direction, even in crazy zig-zagging patterns, as long as you don't re-use any single die and you don't jump over any letters. If you find a word that no one else finds, you earn a point.

Verdict: Ah well. Finn didn't enjoy it very much, and Sam agreed with him, saying, "It's kind of like Bananagrams with no fun." Guess I'll just have to play by myself from now on . . .

Oh, Really!

We all love this game, and always have so much fun playing it. The concept is that when it's your turn, you get 6 cards, each with a word on it. Those words are random objects or concepts, and you have to rank them in terms of most to least importance *to you*. The other players know what's on the cards but can't see your ranking, and they each have to guess what order you'll put them in. The more matches between you and other players, the more points you get. 

Verdict: we really should play this game more often. 

Guess in 10 Marvel

Very similar to the previous game, but instead of guessing animals (which was relatively easy), you're supposed to guess Marvel characters. Finn loved this and was a master at it. But it was not much fun for me or Sam because we don't know the characters at all. I mean, we know Spider-Man. Everyone knows Spider-Man. But beyond that we were pretty lost. 

Verdict: We'll keep it for Finn. But I hope I never have to play it again.