I’m a pretty competitive person—love to play, love to talk trash, and definitely hate to lose.  Here in the District, I’d imagine my kind is a dime a dozen.  So, last night, I decided to host a game night among my friends—an evening when we could bicker, fight, connive, and stab each other in the backs without even leaving the comfort of my own apartment!  Delivery pizza and freshly baked brownies were enjoyed by all.  For an inexpensive, highly entertaining evening in, I strongly recommend you give Game Night a shot.

I set a tentative agenda of three games: Apples to Apples, Taboo, and Charades.  If you don’t have any board games, they can be easily replaced by any number of options!  Much to my chagrin, Charades was voted out and replaced with Mafia.  Overgrown drama kid that I am, I get very upset when people rain on my charades!  (Terrible, Jenny, just terrible.)

Stay tuned for the play-by-play, after the jump:

Apples to Apples: If you’ve never played before, Apples is a great way to start the evening.  Everyone plays as an individual, with alternating judges, so late arrivals can easily jump in without falling behind.  On the surface, it seems like a simple game of word association, but you can never underestimate the importance of knowing how a given judge’s mind might operate.  In the end, first-time player Dave blew us all away with his crafty picks.  I call it beginner’s luck, but only time will tell.

Taboo: An excellent party game, Taboo combines team communication skills with the ability to make obscure leaps from one seemingly random reference to another, entirely different place.  For example, a scene from last night’s game:

     Jenny: Fiona Apple song, “’cause I’m feeling like a—“           

     Paul: Criminal!

Now, if I had not known that my teammate Paul was a Fiona Apple fan, I might have had a difficult time getting him to guess “criminal” without saying any of the prohibited words.  Truly, it’s all about knowing your team.  And sadly, my team lost to the expert “red team” of Mollie, Kristin, Ken and Dave.

Mafia: For the third game of the night, the group selected the classic game of lies, eliminations, and a friendly narrator. If you’ve never played, then most likely you’ve never been on any sort of college-era retreat.  Mafia is another individual game, even though you have to work together as “townspeople” to stop the crime spree.  Paul provided very spirited narration, and Ken schemed his way to victory.

For his grand prize victory (the highest cumulative score from all three games), Ken received a pack of gumballs. In second place, Dave received one gumball.  If you’re going to replicate this night of fun and intrigue, things like keeping score and awarding prizes will surely contribute to the ambience of cutthroat, competitive enjoyment!

On the whole, an excellent time was had by all. And since I didn't win my own "Game Night," you can bet I'll be hosting another one soon.