Game Night Games

We. Love. Game night!

Whenever we host friends for a dinner party at the Tree House it always ends in game night! Whether it’s board games, card games or dice games it’s such a fun activity to do with friends and family especially to end the evening. I get asked a lot what are my favorite games and thought I would share with you all my top ones. The best is some of these can be 2 player games which Jeremy and I like to play on weeknights or if we’re having a lazy weekend. I note in the playing cards section which card games we like to play. Pro tip: we always travel with a deck of cards to be able to play these games whether during our travels or at the destination. We also started collecting deck of cards from different destinations we go to! All of these games would make such a perfect hostess gift to a friend or family member that loves a game!

Sequence – One of our top favorite games, it’s essentially connect 4 but you’re connecting 5 cards on the board. I highly recommend you go with the “Jumbo” version of the game. It’s quite large but you can see the cards on the board much easier than the regular size game. This one you can plan with 2-6 players so sometimes Jeremy and I will play this one against each other.
Rummiku b – My all time favorite game! It’s a big numbers one and such a fun challenge. I have an ongoing joke with my in-laws that I am the Rummikub champion on the family 😂 I get a little competitive with this one 😉 (This one can be a 2 player game)
Ticket to Ride – This one is a fun leisurely game to play. The goal is the accumulate colored train cards to build the train route you chose. (This one can be a 2 player game)
A Deck of Cards – Highly recommend having a deck of cards with you, especially while traveling! Jeremy and I will play “speed” with each other on our travels. We also are learning “Gin”! But our top favorite game to play with friends is “Spades” – it’s SO fun and very addicting. You can play spades with 2 players however the drawing of cards process is much different. Check out the rules here. Another game we love to play with friends is “Blackjack”! Jeremy is always the dealer – it’s helpful to have someone that knows the game well to be the dealer. Additionally, we play “Poker” a lot too – always betting using chips, not usually real money. For those who aren’t familiar with Poker, this cheat sheet is handy to have out for your to reference to.
Settlers of Catan – This would be my second all time favorite game. It gets VERY competitive (eh hm, Katie…) but is so fun to play with friends and family. The goal is to get to 10 points via building settlements/cities, roads and collecting development cards. It can be a long game so make sure you’re ready to settle in 😉
Poker Dice – I recently was introduced to this game by my husband and find it so fun! It’s one of those that there necessarily isn’t an end game. You bet using chips or real money and can play at your leisure. It’s a fun one to have a conversation around. (This one can be a 2 player game)
Dice – Highly recommend having a pair of dice on hand! I always have a pair in my purse so we can play a new favorite game – Pig. There are a few ways to play Pig, but essentially the goal is to roll to 100 points+. If you roll and 1, your points start back to your score when you started your roll. If you roll double 1’s your points go to 0. If you roll doubles you have to roll again. And if you roll doubles a third time you loose all your points. Once someone gets to 100 or over, everyone has a chance to roll again to try and beat them. If someone beats their score, the dice go around again until you have a clear winner. Another fun dice game we love to play is Dudo or Liars dice! This requires 5 dice for each player (we have played this with 6 players). It SO fun. You can buy the full set or just have 6 dice per person + a plastic cup per person to shake the dice in and hide your roll. And lastly, Yahtzee! You can absolutely just buy the game, however if you have 6 dice on hand you can print out the Yahtzee score cards! We love Yahtzee – we spent NYE playing it after the bars until 3am haha. It is a long game so keep that in mind too. FYI Dudo and Yahtzee coincide so you can play both with the same items.
Phase 10 – Love this game! It’s essentially like Uno, you’re trying to get through each phase per round and get rid of all of your cards. This one is very time consuming FYI, but another good one to play after dinner! (This one can be a 2 player game)
Monopoly Deal – We LOVE this one too! It’s a fast game so easy to play if you only have a little bit of time. Another great one to travel with too. This may be controversial but we always pull out the cards that allows you to steal and full set because it makes the game go a little slower. (This one can be a 2 player game)
Mexican Train – A great family fun game to play! (This one can be a 2 player game)