Our weekly game night

buds.

After our friends got married last summer (with one of them moving here from Knoxville), we instituted a weekly dinner to catch up and hang out. One week we eat at their place, and the next week we eat at ours. This dinner quickly grew to become our official game night as well. We typically play Settlers of Catan, Bezzerwizzer, Pandemic or Ticket to Ride --- all fantastic games you should check out.

On Sunday, our not so regularly scheduled dinner night (we were out of town last week), we played Catan and then were itching for another game. Our friend's birthday is coming up and his wife had ordered a a game off of his wish list. Despite his birthday being in two weeks, he decided to open his gift a little early --- we were all glad he did. His new game, Forbidden Island, was a blast.

A cooperative game, Forbidden Island forces you to think through every move and work together to win (if you have played pandemic, it has similar game play). At the beginning of the game, each player is given a special skill or talent that can be used throughout the game. With tiles that are placed in the shape of an island, the object of the game is to retrieve four treasures (scattered across the board) and then safely escape the island before it is buried under water. The game was a lot of fun --- I can't wait for game night this week!

The ultimate beauty of game night is that we all get to have fun, laugh, strategize, and of course socialize. It is a nice break from the wash, rinse, repeat cycle we are all stuck in.

Check out Forbidden Island, and tell me about the board games that you and your friends play.