Playing Games

We don't have a tv- so there isn't cable to contend with our time. We do, however, have a computer and that can be just as attractive to the human mind. We occasionally watch a show or movie but we have quite the collection of games. A lot of them are games that many families have and some are games that we have found at thrift stores and never heard of or seen before and cannot find online- those are always a blast!
In our old life, in the city, there was a store that was all about games- not video games- not computer games- actual games with boards and cards and all that fun stuff. And this wonderful store, rented games- just like a movie store. For $3 you could rent a board game or card game to try it out for about 3 or 4 days to see what you thought of it.
Seriously, brilliant!

Just imagine- you see a game you think looks good but you just don't know whether it is worth the investment because you haven't ever played it so this store let you try it out first. And, to top that off, the rental feel went towards the purchase if you decided that you did, in fact, like it and wanted your own copy.
We thought this was pretty ingenious.

Well, we did rent:

*Oh Gnome You Don't
*Forbidden Island
*Dominion
*DixIt Odyssey
*Telestrations (3 times!)

and many others that I have quite forgotten the names of. We have a couple of them now and are hoping to save up some day for some of the others.
But for now, I must say that Telestrations is one of the most loved games we have played. A little Pictionary type action and that loved game of "Telephone" we all played as kids and WHAM! you are on the floor laughing.
Basically, you have a dry erase notepad and a marker, as does everyone else and you each start off with a secret word that no one else knows. Now, depending on how many people are playing, you either pass or draw a picture of the secret word yourself. Then you pass it on and the next person doesn't get to see the secret word, only the drawing and they have to guess what it is. Once they make their guess and write it on the new page, they pass it and the next person can only see the words that the previous person wrote and then the new person turns to a clean page and draws a picture from the guess of the previous person. When you get your own notepad back, you take turns reading from the beginning and how your secret word morphed and changed- or not.

I know I sound confusing but it is a blast.
The other night, we had a bunch of rounds and I thought, "What the heck, I'll take some photos because that one is pretty funny."