My family loves board games and the title of this blog is a play on the classic bluffing game called ‘Balderdash’. The beauty of this game is that people of all ages and interests can play. You only need to be a good bluffer to excel. One person picks a card and reads what’s on it – an odd word or 3 initials or a movie title, etc. Everyone else writes down a phrase that could match the card. In my example, if the initials were FFA, you could write down Flying Farmers of America, Fuzzy Felines Association, etc. The best part is that the real answer is always some odd thing that no one knows, so this is not a game that requires knowing the “right” answer. The way to win is to bluff well so that people choose your answer. You get a point every time someone does. If you wrote down Fuzzy Felines, and three people guess that’s the real answer, you win 3 points, even though the correct answer is actually Flying Farmers. It’s a lot of fun because you’ll get many hilarious answers and it’s also a good game for a large group. And even the strangest answer will find at least one taker.

Another game we enjoy is Scattergories, which can be played individually or with partners and is also good for a large group. You get a list of categories such as: things found at the beach, book titles, items in a suitcase, etc. Then you roll the dice to get a letter. Let’s say the letter is ‘F’. Then, within a time limit, you write down answers to each category. For example: Fins, Frankenstein, Flip-flops. It’s great fun when people have creative answers, such as ‘fannies’ for things found at the beach.

There are many, many enjoyable board games, and sometimes I think we have them all!
Some of our best family memories include winter evenings (usually after skiing – another great family activity) sitting around the fireplace with a large group of friends or family and tackling these games. The main thing to remember (and some don’t) is that you’re playing for fun, not to win. My rule is to give everyone, and especially children, the benefit of the doubt. Is Fiction a novel beginning with F? Not really, but I voted yes! As the (admittedly inebriated) guy argued, it is something you see when you enter the bookstore. So what if he was technically wrong – we had a lot of laughs.

To keep somewhat on the writing topic, I’m actually writing a novel called The Candy Land Con, which references – guess – which game?

We enjoy cards (Sequence is great) and lots of old favorites like Scrabble and Clue. But I’m always on the lookout for something new. Do you have any favorites?