A lot of people are making time for “family time.”  We’ve seen an increase in people looking for new board games. Family night in, is becoming just as popular as family night out! What we’re also seeing is a bit of sticker shock. People are used to seeing classic board games at a fairly inexpensive price. When they come to our store, they are amazed at the variety of games that we offer. Then they start looking at the prices and there is another look.

You really have to look a bit deeper than what the sticker says. Yes, it’s going to be some cost outlay at the start up. But is it really all that expensive? Let’s take a look at what you could compare it to.  Let’s take a pretend family of 4, in central MN. They want to have a family night once a month. There are a lot of options on what you can do that night. One option is going to the movies. That looks like this:

2 adult tickets : $25

2 non-adult tickets:  $15

4 soda’s and two popcorn: $30 (yeah, it really is, $15 for the “special of 2 Large Soda’s and 1 Large popcorn, dropping to the medium saves you about  $3)

Total for the evening : $70 Go once a month for family time and the annual total is: $840

 

Bowling looks like this:

Saturday Special at a local bowling is 3 hours of bowling for $15. For a family of 4: $60

4 Sodas: $10

2 snacks to share: $12 (think a large order of rings or nacho’s)

Total cost for the evening: $82, annual total: $984

 

Now let’s look at family game night. The first month is going to be the most expensive, as you’re purchasing a board game to kick this off.  The real benefit here comes in the following months. You can play this game every month.

Initial board game purchase, let’s say Settlers of Cataan. $45

4 Sodas (to get the same amount, you’ll probably need 2 2-liter bottles): $3

Homemade Popcorn for the family: $1

Total for the first month: $49, (11 months, you pay for soda and beverage only) annual total: $93

 

All of a sudden that initial purchase doesn’t look so bad! You save $747 over a monthly movie and $891 over monthly bowling.  There is a lot a family of 4 can do with that savings.  If you want to expand your game library, say a new game every 3 months, you’ll spend another $120 for the year.

There are so many ways to look at the cost/value equation. It’s pretty easy to see the financial gain in purchasing a good quality board game. The other value is in what playing a board game together brings to your family. Not to mention the educational qualities every game has. Sportsmanship, being a good loser and a gracious winner, competition that isn’t personal, and all the sneaky reading and math that happens during most board games! Those gains are priceless. So head to your local game store, and ask for some help. They should be able to guide you towards games that will make this next year a great year for your family.

I've been trying to keep up with the Days of Thanks on Facebook. If you aren't familiar, it's simply posting something that you are thankful for each day. It's a nice reminder that Thanksgiving isn't merely one day. It's an attititude. I haven't found it difficult to find something each day. Some days I need more than one! I do find it difficult to make the time to do it.

Some of mine have included my siblings, my cousins, pull-ups, the art on my refrigerator. Simple and complex things. One day I woke up hungry. It was my own fault, I hadn't eaten much the day before, and I woke up to hunger pains. It really hit home that this was not a normal occurance for me. I eat whenever I feel the desire. What a blessing that is. Even with this year of unemployment, I still go to the cupboard, the refrigerator or the freezer, and there is always food available. So many people do not have that luxury.

That is part of why we are starting our Charity Tournaments. This is the first one. We're hoping that people will really be willing to get out and help support the charities involved. We all have charities that are near and dear to our hearts. We're asking you to spend an additional $5. That's it. So, $5 for normal prize support, and $5 for the charity. We realized that not everyone is excited about the same things, so we thought we'd let the winner decide. That's right. Whomever wins the tournament get's to choose. The donation will be made in their name, along with Paddy's.

We also are accepting unused Turkey stamps. We know that a lot of people don't use them. A lot of people will get their turkey and still have extra stamps. So we're asking that you bring them in to us. We have a collection box on the counter. It's nothing fancy, but it's starting to get some in there. Several local organizations will donate the filled turkey cards collected this way to people that can use a turkey. It may not be in time for Thanksgiving, but I'm betting that they aren't going to turn down the Turkey, even if it is after Turkey day!

To help remind people, we'll be adding another page to the website! Look for our Community Giving page, coming soon. We'll list the places we donate too, the Charity Tournament results, including what charity and how much was donated. We'll be listing how many Turkey Stamps we collected! Check in and see what we are doing as a community to give Thanks for what we have. Share your story of how you give Thanks, and look for it to be published on the page, or in our Guest Blog.

Today I am thankful for the community of friends that we've made through the store!
Happy Thanksgiving!

We run a couple of Fantasy Football Leagues at the store.  We started the first football season that we were open. There were 10 of us. We were going to run a keeper league, so even this first draft was going to be important.  I went in feeling, well, unprepared. This wasn’t a completely new world for me. I’ve been playing ESPN’s fantasy games for years. The big difference being, none of those games were drafts where we were going to be competing for the same players! In the games I was playing, if everyone wanted Tom Brady for quarterback, you had him.

We had some white boards to write draft picks on. Which lasted about two rounds, and then they were full. Many times someone picked someone, only to find out they had not heard when someone else picked them. These days, we have Commish kits from commishkit.com. Big graphs with our team names and logos (yes, we have logos!) and bright, color coded stickers with the players names on them. No more desperately trying to spell Houshmanzadah (?) or even BenJarvius Green-Ellis.  Troy who?? Pala –what-a? Now I just have to remember if he’s a wide receiver (white stickers) or a running back (green) only to sheepishly start digging through the yellow stickers to find him. Who takes a tight end in the 1^st round??

Well that year, it was my Uncle Glen, and laugh at his strategy all you want. He took Jeremy Shockey in the first round of the expansion draft. I do have to admit that his next two picks, Tom Brady and Randy Moss, probably had more to do with his winning the championship that year than Jeremy Shockey did. But it stands in the league annals. The guy that took a tight end in the first round, won the championship.

In the six years the league has existed, we’ve never had a repeat championship. Five years, five winners and last year, it was me!  We have both An individual trophy and one that stays at the store. That way past winners have proof for their trash talking at the draft. Which is all part of the fun. The groans and moans and snickers as the draft continues. We actually have two of them. We have a Dynasty league and we have another league. That league has changed format and will be an interesting draft next year. Each person will be deciding how many they are keeping, but it’s only going to be revealed round by round.  I can’t wait to see how it plays out next year.

The end of the year, we have a party and watch the Big Game. You know which one I mean. The one in February, the one that comes with all the new commercials. We have snacks, and play games during the afternoon. We eat pizza and watch the game.  At half times, prizes and trophies are awarded. 

We have a lot of fun during the year. We chat online during the games. We sweat out scoring changes. We prowl the free agents. All for a silver trophy and our name on the plaque.  And the bragging rights. You can’t forget the bragging rights. Did I mention that I won last year?

This has been one heck of a month.  It has had it’s ups and downs, and unfortunately, we are ending it the same way. We started the month with my getting hired for a full time work at home position. That was great! I’ve been unemplyed since October and while I love being home with Finn, it was time for me to go back to work. Now I get to work at home, and see him on and off the bus every day!

Then we were burgled, burglarized? I’m not sure of the term. I know it’s not robbed, because we weren’t at the store. I’ve been informed that’s the difference. I’m not really hung up on the term right now. Someone broke in to our store and stole stuff. That’s what really mattered.

We had our Fantasty Football Draft on Saturday. That was a lot of fun. I got to spend the day with several members of my family, while the first draft happened. Then dinner with the family, and then I was in the second draft. I have to say I’m pretty happy with my draft. I was the league champion last year, and I think I had a pretty good draft.

But that was overshadowed by the worst news of the month. Our fellow card store owner, friend, and darn near mentor when we opened, Keven Schafer, was battling pancreatic cancer. We got the news on Friday, he was diagnosed last Monday. On Friday he was in the hospital and they were talking Hospice programs. To say we were stunned is an understatement. How could this be? Kevin encouraged us when we opened our store. He helped us find casees to hold the Magic cards. He helped us get shelves to hold the games. He helped us get a base of common and uncommon cards so that we had something to sell. He was always ready with advice and support. If you know Kevin, you know that came with a smile, a grin and a laugh.

Saturday night at dinner, Uncle Jerry got the call that they were going to take Kevin off life support.

That was it. Monday he was diagnosed, Thursday/Friday he went in to the hospital, and on Saturday, he was gone. I hate cancer. It was about fifteen years ago that my Grandfather H lost to stomach cancer. Five years ago, weeks before we found out I was pregant, it claimed my father-in-law with colon cancer. Last year it took my cousin. A bright, beautiful, 17 year old young woman with her entire life in front of her. Colon cancer and brain cancer claimed her. I know it’s claimed many others, but those are the ones that stand out right now. And on Saturday, it claimed Kevin Schafer. Let me say it again, I hate cancer.

He was 54 years old. He loved sports. He was the most outgoing and friendly guy you’d ever meet. He remembered people and really seemed to enjoy everything he did.  He is going to be missed by everyone who’s life he touched.

In a month of up’s and downs, the last day of the month will be no different. Late Wednesday afternoon, we will go to open house for Finn’s preschool class. We’ll meet his new teacher, we’ll see his locker, and get excited about riding the bus again. We’ll rejoice as Finn is mainstreamed this year and we’ll anticipate the progress he’ll make this year. Then we’ll go to Kevin’s funeral and mourn the loss of our friend.  So ends August, joy and sorrow, as life should be. We’re just getting a closer look at those moments this month.

I saw that comment recently. It was in regards to a large company and the feeling was because they were large, it didn't really matter if they lost money, because they could afford it. I've never particularly cared for that attitude. It seems to say that it's okay to take from someone if you think it won't impact their life. I ran into that feeling another time that same week. Only this time it was in regards to me.

Our store was robbed a few weeks ago. I wasn't at home, so I missed out on that 5 am phone call from the police. You know when the phone rings at that time, it's never going to be good. By the time I heard about it, the police had been and gone, the locksmith had been and gone, and everything looked normal.

But normal was gone. We spent time that weekend researching security systems. Don't get me wrong, we did have alarms and a monitoring system. The fact that it works well, the police station is 3 blocks from our store, and well, 5 am is kind of a slow time from them, all worked in our favor. We're fairly certain that it was about 4 minutes from the time the door was broken until the police showed up.

We also have assumed that the reason there was "only" the damage done was because of the quick response. So we looked at security systems, and then had to figure out the best place to put the camera's, so that we can at least have a chance of seeing who it is that cares so little about others they would break in and steal stuff.

There was an outpouring of support from regulars, friends, family and strangers that read about it in the paper. We had at least one person come in to make a purchase because they read about it in the paper. It was a wonderful feeling. and yet....

There is always someone, isn't there? There were a few comments such as, "well you have insurance don't you? so it's not like it really hurt you!" "it's not like you won't get that money back", (actually we won't. but thanks for your concern)

People make assumptions all the time. Some of them I don't understand. Everyone has insurance on their vehicle. They know about deductibles, but somehow they don't think about that with a business. We are out our entire deductible. That's money gone. We'll be able to claim it as a loss on our taxes, but it's not like we don't have to cover that expense. The product that was taken was already paid for, and we have to pay again to replace it. That's a big expense for a business. Your expenses are based on what you assume you're going to sell. To have to repurchase without selling throws that budget out of whack. Most small businesses don't have a huge cash flow. Money goes out just as fast as it comes in!

So we were out product, which means cash off the bottom line. We had to buy a security system and I'll answer another question here, this isn't something available for less than $100. We're not installing a web cam on a shelf. This is a serious system, but you can see for yourself at Sam's Club, they run from $250 - $1500. We had to get product on the shelf. The product that was stolen is the driving force of our sales. It's the reason a lot of people come in to the store. Not having product is the quickest way to drive people away. We needed it today. So that meant a trip to another store to purchase what they could share, and an emergency shipment from the distributor, with it's attendant costs.

Then we can add in the time. The 7 hours before we opened that day with no locking door before the locksmith got there. The hours we've spent with the police officers working on the case. I can only imagine what kind of time will be involved when they catch the person responsible.

And the other cost. The feeling of violation, the broken trust, someone that knew us, and knew the product (based on what they took, they knew exactly what they were doing) felt it was perfectly fine to take from us. The store isn't a hobby for us. It's profit isn't strictly for our entertainment. That profit pays our mortgage, it puts food on the table, and a couple of times a year, it's able to pay for some form of entertainment. We've lost those for a while.

I think people have an odd idea of how much money a business makes. I know I've encountered it before, we've had people ask what a good day was, asking if $75,000-80,000 was typical. I wanted to fall out of my chair in hysterics. I'll let you in a a little secret: a good day is less than 2% of that. Plus there is the minor detail that what comes in is not all profit. There are a lot of expenses that come out of that, and most days are not even "good" days. We don't expect them to be, it's not reasonable to think that all days are going to be high selling days.

So for us to lose most of a month's profit, yeah, it hurts. To have that denigrated because losing it means that we have to give up things, that hurts. I don't really expect people to "poor baby" us, but don't denigrate our loss. That's rude and frankly, a bit condescending. The sad part is those few rude comments stick around longer than the nice comments, and there are far more of them.

When I hear someone say, "they can afford the loss, they make enough" I wonder how much the speaker really understands what a loss can mean

Slacking - That's what I've been doing! The start of summer is usually busy for us. This year we got a few projects in the yard done before Finn's birthday. Then we added a wedding on 4th of July weekend. We haven't gotten much gaming in this summer. We haven't even really had people over to grill as often as we'd like!

Humility - A few weeks ago we managed to do that (have friends over). We grilled and then when the bugs came out, we went inside. I've talked about the issues of gaming with a small child before. But we're starting to run in to a differant situation with a couple of friends. They have kids that are getting old enough to play, and they want to. Gaming with a young child is a bit differant than with full adults. But it's important that kids get that opportunity. It's how they learn and as gamers, we usually feel a responsibility to contribute to the hobby. Teaching people how to game is part of that. Maybe even more so than discussing how to GM, that's refining and improving, but in order to grow the hobby, new people need to come in.

So back to the gaming night! After an adult's only game (not an adult game!) one adult dropped out and the rest of us were asked if we minded if the youngster joined us. It was quite considerate of the parent to ask and it was appreciated. Everyone at the table was a parent and either has started to introduce their child(ren) to gaming or is planning on it once they are of an age. We all said it was fine, and he sat down.

I was very pleased to see that he knew the rules already, mom and dad have played with him at home before letting him play in a group. We were able to simply start the game. In a short order, the adults were praying for the game to be over. Not because he was disruptive, he did need to be reminded it was his turn a couple of times, but frankly, sometimes we as adults lose track of that as well! Nope, it was because we were being soundly trounced by the youngest player. Every term it seemed that he was improving his standing in the game, it was unusual for him to have a round where he just maintained. While the rest of us struggled to survive, he cheerfully trampled us in to the ground. If he had just a touch more strategy and awareness of what was happening, he could have ended the game three or four turns earlier.

Ahh, humilty. It was a good reminder for all of us. This particular group of gamers was made up of people that are used to winning. Which sometimes makes for some pretty competitve games, but we have also all learned to lose gracefully as well. We know that logically you can't always win every game, and losing is going to happen. We generally expect it to be to one of us, not the 10 year old! On the other hand, it bodes well for the future. We're going to have someone else that can give us a run for our money. A game is much more fun when everyone is competitive and driven to win. I sometimes lie to myself and say that playing is the point, but I know that's not true. I had knots in my stomach during the last game I won. It was exhilerating to know that the hard work, strategizing and knowledge of the game was going to pay out. It was one of the closest games I'd played in a while. So I know that I want to play with people that want to win and are enjoying that as much as I am.

The ultimate result of that night, and the future nights when he's allowed to join us, and eventually his brother, someone else's son, and down the line our own son, is a larger group of gamers. So while we lost that night, we won in the long run.

This post really has nothing to do with gaming, but it's got an awful lot to do with life.

Have you heard the phrase “it’s just the internet” or “It’s not like it’s real people” or “what do I care about someone that lives in my computer.” I can only shake my head at this comment. Are you a real person? Do you live in a computer? Where do you think the other mesages come from? In case you’re stumped, let me help you out. It’s a real person, they don’t live in the computer. They have family and friends, they have bills and responsibilities. They have feelings. Those feelings can be hurt. More importantly, those people can be your real friends too.

You may have heard me talk about Babycenter. Maybe more than once! Babycenter is a website owned by Johnson and Johnson. I stumbled on them in the early days of our surprise pregnancy. They have tons of information not only about pregnancy, but about babies as well. But for me, the appeal to BabyCenter is the Community (BBC.) Thousands of people gathering together to discuss everything from trying to concieve, sharing throughout pregnancy and into parenting, and beyond that as well. If there is a topic you like to discuss, BBC has a group that discusses it.

I  found several groups that fit, and found a “home” in the group called July 07. As you may guess, it was for women that were due in July of 2007. Finn’s first due date was actually 7/27, before it was moved to 7/2. By the time we found out we would most likely have a June baby, I had made friends with so many of the women on the board, I didn’t want to start over with June.

We shared a lot on that board. Our hopes, fears, parenting questions, pictures of our bellies, concerns about our doctors, fears of labor for us first-timers. We fought, sometimes bitterly. I’ll jump ahead and let you know that some of those that fought constantly are good friends now. Then we started having babies. The first one that I remember was Kennedy. She was born in mid-March. We checked the boards for updates often, and we all wept when Kennedy’s mom let us know that there would be no more updates. Kennedy is still thought of often, and I hope her momma knows that she’s remembered. There were more losses and then we started to get more survival stories. And in mid-June, I joined the list of happy stories.

By late July we still had a few babies that hadn’t arrived and us early ones were on our six-week check-ups and getting ready to go back to work. One of our mommies, Monica, came back from her check-up with devastating news. Her adorable son, Sawyer, was having issues. The doctor wanted to do more tests, and in late August,  July 07 learned about SMA, Spinal Muscular Atropy. It’s a terminal diagnosis. Information searches checked everywhere and information and love flowed to Monica and Sawyer. We all watched helplessly as Sawyer struggled and we wept with Monica in October, when the SMA became too much.

A year later, Claire recieved news that her little girl, Hannah, also had a serious condition. Hannah had MPS, mucopolysaccharidosis. There is no cure, although there were treatments. Claire and Hannah spent the next six months in the hospital. Once again July 07 rallied with emotional support and even some gift cards to make meals easier for them while they were so far from home. Christmas was sober for July 07 and heartbreaking for Hannah’s family and shortly after Christmas, Hannah’s family made the difficult choice to stop fighting.

It left all of us aching to do something. Something more than the cards,flowers, people attending her memorial service. More than wearing ribbons and remembering Hannah and Sawyer. We loved those babies and their momma’s and we were unable to sit and do nothing.

So we are. We’re doing something every single year. We call it “Mommies Funding Research.” Here’s our page: http://mommiesfundingresearch.blogspot.com  Every year from June 29^th – July 7^th (Sawyer and Hannah’s birthdates) we hold an auction. We donate items and choose which disease the proceeds go to. Pictures are put up and bids are placed. When it’s over on July 7^th, the highest bidders send their donations directly to the linked organization for their item.  When we know that it’s been recieved there, we send out the item to the winning bidder. It’s a simple process but we’re proud that we’re doing something. We want to do more, we want more people donating and more people bidding. Please check out our blog, and if you can, when the auction starts, bid on an item!

These are not imaginary friends, they do not live in my computer and they have suffered the worst pain a parent can feel. When you start to think that the internet is “just the internet, think about Hannah and Claire, Sawyer and Monica, we do.

Over the last 5+ years, I’ve had more than one person ask “why a game store?” To me it was completely logical. Gino and I met at Games Club and it’s been part of our life since we started. Gaming goes back even further than that for me. I remember sitting in the booth at my Grandma C’s house watching my uncles work through the rules for games like Panzer Blitz and Squadron Leader. My sister and I were playing Risk before we could read all the rules. Which was fine with us, we made our own. Cards, dice, board games, checkers with Grandpa H, games were a constant growing up.

It hasn’t gone away either. I went to the lake this weekend. After supper and a boat ride, Carcasonne was brought out. My family loves this game. They’ve bought every expansion, and I think there are two of some of them. But they’ve developed a few of their own rules. Actually what they’ve done is ditched a lot of the expansions rules because they don’t like what they do to the game, but they like the extra playing pieces. They felt one section of scoring was off balance, so they altered it. They’ve changed the game just enough to let it remain a game that they enjoy without completely making their own game.

So what? You’re thinking. We have “house rules” in a lot of games. Take Monopoly’s Free Parking. I’ll bet a lot of you put the Community Chest and Chance fee’s in Free Parking. That’s an optional rule. So is putting a 20 down every time someone lands on Free Parking and cleans it out. Some people don’t use Free Parking for anything other than, well, Free Parking. My family isn’t unusual in using House rules, although they may have quite a few of them for that particular game.

Here’s the point. My family really enjoys that game. They are really good at explaining the House Rules to anyone playing, and they are more than willing to negotiate on which ones they use. Because the point is to enjoy the game. It’s also to enjoy the time you are spending with the people that you’re gaming with. When rules get in the way of that enjoyment, don’t be afraid to alter them. Maybe the rules are a bit too complex for some of the younger players. You can change scoring rules, or victory conditions so that the younger players can be competitive and not feel that there is no point playing because they don’t have a chance. Maybe you team up and play teams instead of solo play. Do what you have to in order to get as many people playing and having fun as possible.

If you aren’t enjoying the game, you are less likely to play. If you are less likely to play, that’s less time spent with people, family or friends, and really, socializing is one of the biggest reason that we play games. We want to have fun with other people. Games are the vehicle for that.

Gaming used to be so easy. Call some friends, clear off the table, and start playing. Maybe order some pizza at some point. It's a lot more complicated now that there's a small boy in our house. Where are we gaming? is it kid friendly, do we need to bring toys? Or should we get a sitter and where are we going to find one on Friday night at 6? In all reality the sitter is either already booked and working, so it's bring him with, game here, or skip it all together. But we want to game, so we're down to where. If it's somewhere else, then we have to pack for the evening. It's amazing how much stuff is needed to entertain him for 4-6 hours in the evening. Diapers, wipes, some cars, maybe a blanket, jammies, a book and/or movie. If we stay home, it's all here, but someone else is probably bringing stuff for their child! Having the youngest child in our group of gaming friends means they're back to the easier years of gaming. Their kids may even be starting to join in the gaming.

So we have our place and now we're going to game. Except a sippy cup needs to be filled, or a diaper changed. Then halfway through your next turn a small one is leaning against your legs, or climbing in to your lap and wants to roll your dice, or move your pawn, or eat some chips. In the meantime the rest of the group is waiting with a varying amount of patience for you to take your turn. The ones that have been there, done that are glad they are past that stage, the ones that haven't been there are wondering why we can't ever just play a game any more and can't you just make him go play in the other room? I've gotten used to the interruptions. I don't ever plan on eating a meal in peace, or watching a show, or going to the bathroom, so why would gaming be any different.

Eventually he's going to get tired, and crabby, and need jammies on, and need to be cuddled. Which brings up another whole category of choices. Do you bow out of the game, something which really bothers me. If you can't finish a game, you shouldn't start it, barring emergency phone calls, etc. Do you try and keep him quiet on your lap, desperately hoping that he falls asleep, relying on your spouse or the person sitting next to you to roll the dice for you, move your pawn, and make change? Try and do it all one-handed, and grant everyone a free concert of Twinkle, Twinkle? Pass him back and forth between your spouse so you can each take your turns?

A while back we were gaming at our home, and it should have been easier. He should have been able to lay on the couch and watch his favorite shows on DVR. But there were extra people in the house, Momma wasn't cuddling with him and there was noise in the other room that meant he was missing out on something. I was fortunate that it was a small group, just 4 of us, and I was able to plan out my next move. I finished my turn, went in to the living room and cuddled him on my lap with his show on. When it was my turn, they rolled for me, told me the results, and I told them what I wanted to buy and where I wanted it to go. By the time my turn came back around, he had fallen asleep and I was able to rejoin the game.

This worked for a couple of reasons. I took the time to plan out what I was going to do for a turn or two. The other players were understanding and didn't get impatient and it was easy to get him down. Gaming as a parent requires a little more planning and a lot of willingness to adjust what you are doing. There are times when it's just not going to happen. He won't play elsewhere, he won't settle down, and our only choice is to stop the game, and take care of him. That might even mean that we have to go home. It may not be what I wanted out of an evening, but it is what I signed on for as a parent. The great part is that I know that in a few years he's going to be big enough and after watching us having a great time, he's going to want to play too, and sharing our love of gaming with him is going to be worth every missed turn right now.

This has become a pretty popular concept recently. For Gino and I, that's been a way of life since we first met. It was a Wednesday night in September or 1985. For the next 6 years or so Wednesday night and Saturday day was Games Club at SCSU. We played role-playing games, board games, miniature games. We forged friendships with people that have lasted decades. For years after leaving college we hosted a game night at our place every Sunday night. We ordered pizza's or we grilled, and we gamed. Those times are some of my fondest memories of the 90's and 2000's.

I want to encourage you to do the same thing! Whether it's a way to increase time with your kids, or a way to spend time with friends, it is time well spent. It doesn't have to be complex, and with a little planning, it can be a success for everyone involved right from the start.

Let's break it down into a few easy steps. First, who is participating? Family or friends? You'll want to choose the games you have available based on knowing those people. If it is you and your children you need to look at the skill level of everyone involved, the last thing you want is tears because the game is just too complex for your littlest participant. Or a teen bored out of his mind at yet another game of Candyland. Do the people like high strategy games, or is more of a "beer and pretzels" kind of crowd. "Beer and Pretzel" games are the ones that are simple to play, quick, and allow for a lot of visiting while playing, Mille Bournes, Liar's Dice, Farkle and Flux are great examples of "beer and pretzel" games.

Next, you'll need to know when you are doing it. Does your family have a night that's free? Or do you need to make one. Friday and Saturday have the bonus for most people that they don't have to be up too early the next day, so if it goes late, it's not that big of a deal. But maybe Tuesday night is your night. Pick one and hold firm, that's what  happens on that night. It's not a night for casual playdates or grocery shopping.

Are you going to be starting early enough that a meal is going to be part of the evening? If so, this is the night for simple meals. Something from the crockpot, or ordering pizza or some style of take out. No one wants to be the person stuck in the kitchen making dinner while everyone else is at the table gaming! On a related note, tonight's the night for paper plates as well. Don't make dishes take time away from game night. Or maybe it's going to be after dinner and you'll just want a snack. Keep it simple, chips and dip, veggies and dip or hummus, string cheese, pizza rolls. Nothing that needs to be assembled or babied in the kitchen.

We don't have a lot of games.....You don't need a lot. You can spend a small amount for some basic gaming supplies that will get you a large variety of games. Playing cards and dice will offer thousands of games! Bored with regular scrabble, try team scrabble, it let's those younger people partner up with someone else and feel great about participating. Yahtzee pads add to those dice. Play single games, play the entire page at once, or play where you start at the 1's spot and go right down the sheet in order, no chance, you roll for the next line and you make it or you don't. A cribbage board is a gaming stock item, but don't forget backgammon for a nice change of pace from checkers. I'm betting you have all of those games in your house! But if you'd like to see what's new, just head to the store. Here's a great option if you're unsure about what might be a good fit, plan your family game night to happen at Paddy's. Just remember that Friday night is not a good night, we have the Magic tournament that fills us up. Stop in and browse, ask us questions. Best yet, sit in the back and pick a game off the library shelves to try before you buy. Make that a regular part of your game night. Decide on a frequency, say every other month, or even once a month, to have game night at the store, order dinner in, and try one or two new games. Then decide which ones you want to add to your library to play again and again at home.

We've answered who, what, why, where, and one of the when's. The second when is NOW! Don't wait until summer, don't wait until school, don't wait until baseball is over, or until the dance recital, or until after that business trip. There is always something else starting or ending. Pick a date in the next two weeks, look at your games, and make the commitment to the time together.