Games

I enjoy playing board games with family and friends. They're a great vehicle for creating memorable experiences and building relationships.

Here are the things that I look for in a board game:

Play time: The shorter, the better. I would rather play and re-play a game four times in a session than play a single game once.
Strategy: I don't care for games revolve around random events like dice rolls or drawn cards. I want to be able to craft and execute a strategy.
Cooperation: Working together to solve a problem is more interesting to me than competition.

Favorites

These are some of my favorite games, broken down by category.

Sanders of Catan: A variation of Catan that emphasizes game speed and competition
Trapwords: Like Taboo but with a wonderful injection of game theory
Upwords: This enhanced Scrabble is a nice option for family and friends that aren't into the more complex games
Forbidden Island: A cooperative game where players work to discover treasure on sinking island
Concept: We often describe it as "Pictionary, but the pictures are already drawn for you"

Sushi Go!: A card game with a simple premise but lots of strategy. I like it so much that I made an app: Sushi Go Friend!
Egyptian Rat Screw: Apologies for the name! This is a fast-paced game played with a standard deck of cards.
Spot it!: A "find the match" card game that is great to play with kids

Fishbowl: The best game for a large group is three games in one: taboo, password, and charades.

Silent Sequence
A cooperative card game where players must place all of the cards in order without speaking.
Atom Smasher
An educational chemical-compound-building card game
Speed Catan
Speed Catan is a variation of the popular board game Catan that emphasizes game speed and simplicity for younger (or impatient) players.
Sanders of Catan
Sanders of Catan is a variation of the popular board game Catan that emphasizes game speed and competition, with a little bit of political humor.