Family Older Kid Game Night: Games Aren’t Just for Kids
Once your kids get older, they get busier and they don’t always have time to spend with you. Or, let’s be honest, they may just not want to spend time with you. Now that we’re in quarantine, entering week six of stay-at-home lockdown here in California, we’ve had to try harder to make our family older kid game night fun. Thanks to Endless Games, who sent me these two games to use for one of our weekly game nights, it just got easier!
Board games, not bored games. That’s the mantra of Endless Games, founded in 1996 by industry veterans Mike Gasser, Kevin McNulty and game inventor Brian Turtle, Endless Games specializes in games that offer classic entertainment and hours of fun at affordable prices.
With the youngest of the kids turning 20 later this year, we can’t rely on the good old standby games. They’re still a lot of fun, but sometimes we need to change things up. Now we get to add Name 5 and That Was Awkward into the mix!
Name 5 is for the 12 years and older set, a “Can you name 5 things that….” question and answer game. It’s a great game to get to know other people and to tax your brain a little while allowing for some healthy competition as the pawns move along the board. As few as two players can play, or as many as 8, if you want to play in teams of two. Trust me, this one gets harder than you think!
That Was Awkward is not for the under-18 crowd. The questions are adult-oriented, and while not filthy, they do get sexual in nature at times. This can be, however, hilarious for an adult game night and it’s something I look forward to playing with my friends once quarantine is over! (It’s not so bad that you can’t play it with adult children, but you may want to make a PASS rule like we did, where if the card is something inappropriate for even a young adult child of 19, we had a discard pile.)
Essentially, players of That Was Awkward select cards so that they are both saying something AND doing something. There are 155 of each of those types, along with 26 specialty cards that allow things to get shaken up a little. It also comes with a reusable score sheet and an erasable marker.
Setting up an older kid game night doesn’t need to be elaborate. Pick a game (or two); we rotate who gets to select that evening’s game(s). Someone else gets to choose the snacks, and if there are adults over 21, we may have a themed cocktail. None of it’s fancy, because we can’t just zip to the store now to get unique items. Game night snacks can be as easy as popcorn or licorice, and cocktails have been bourbon sours, gin and tonics or something simple as beer. Turn on some music and you’ve got an easy family and older kid game night!
If you’re tired of the regular games and want to entertain your older kids, head over to Endless Games. There are a lot of games available, and some, like Name 5, come in more portable versions that you play only with cards. These games can be great for playing around the fire pit, or packing up into the RV when we can finally go camping again!
Thanks, Endless Games, for the fun!
