For inexpensive entertainment, host a game night

By Christina Killion Valdez
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN

Bored with going out? A night in can be fun -- especially if you make a game of it.

Traditional -- and not so traditional -- games provide an alternative way to spend an evening with friends.

"It's a cheap way to spend the night in," said A.J. Gotch of Rochester. "You can be playful and childish. It brings you back to the fun you had with friends when you were kids."

On New Year's Eve, Kerry Much and her husband were invited to go out, but decided to have friends over to their Rochester home to play games instead.

The dominoes game Chicken Foot was the game of choice that night.

"It's easy to play. Anybody can play it," said Much's friend Adam Walters. "My 5-year-old cousin can play it."

What can be a family game turned into a party game by adding their own rules, such as you have to drink if you can't lay a piece, making for a memorable New Year's.

Here's a game plan for hosting your own game night:

1. Keep it simple.

Order pizza or just put out snacks and drinks. The focus should be on the games.

"This is the problem, you forget whose turn it is," said Adam Walters as he, his wife, Jill, and friends played Chicken Foot recently.

"Once you start drinking," added Jill Walters.

"Or start chatting," he said.

"Or stop to make a pizza," she said.

2. Keep it low cost.

Gotch and his wife picked up the classic games Risk, Monopoly, Clue and Sorry that came packaged in wooden boxes, but just about any game or deck of cards will do.

Dust off the old games in your closet. Even kids games can be fun for adults.

3. Keep it fun.

"I'm competitive when it comes to life," Gotch said. "When it comes to games, you lose some and win some."

Of course sometimes it's hard not to brag.

"I gloat when I win," Jill Walter said.

Her husband, however, doesn't let you forget it. Inside their Chicken Foot box is the scorecard that reveals Adam Walters' record score of 30. He plans to keep it at least until someone can beat it.

4. Try something new or different.

The matching game Apples to Apples is one of Gotch's picks.

"It's so much fun if you have the right group of people," he said. "Nobody is wrong as long as you can defend your answer."

Texas Hold 'Em is always popular, but some other card games to try are Hand 'n Foot or Sheepshead.

"It's rather confusing," Gotch said. "You throw out everything you thought you knew about playing poker and start from scratch."

In the drinking game What the F, a player is given a would-you-rather scenario and the other players guess which option that person would choose, said Eric Noble, assistant manager at Games By James in Rochester. A wrong answer means you drink.

In Curses, you place curses on your opponent, such as talk like a pirate or you can't bend your elbow, Noble said. Any time you catch someone not following the curse you ring a bell. If you break three curses you're out of the game.

Bunco, a dice game that women have created monthly events around, is also still popular.

"It's so chaotic and fun," said Annette Olson of Rochester, who played for the first time recently.