How to Play Dining Room Table Games

Gathering special people in your life around the table for a meal can be a pleasurable event which will leave your family or guests wanting to come back again and again. Prolong those family or company dinners with some intriguing table games for players of all ages.

Instructions

Be prepared for games

1

Keep a box or basket stocked with items you will need for table games so that you wont have to go hunting for items when the opportunity for a game or two presents itself.

2

Choose games which can be enjoyed by players of various ages. Some games might be played by teams, so that little ones can be helpers.

3

Print out both a list of possible games as well as the rules for any games you wouldnt immediately remember. This way youll have ideas at your fingertips, and youre printed rules can put an instant stop to any bickering about rules.

Play the Games

4

Play Pounce. Pounce is similar to solitaire except that it is played by teams of two. Each team is given a shuffled deck of cards which has ten random cards removed. Player A plays solitaire as normal. Player B, holding the stack of ten cards, attempts to play the ten cards as quickly as possible, playing them on Player As game or on the common Aces which are laid out for all to play in the center of the table. The first team to get rid of the stack of ten cards shouts out Pounce and wins.

5

Play Silent Observation. Pair guests. Provide each pair with pencil and paper. Bring out a bag in which you have put 25 common objects such as a hammer, an apple, a toy car, a ruler, etc. Explain that you are going to dump out the contents of the bag and that everyone must silently observe the items which you will leave out of the bag for fifteen seconds. Then you will put the items back in the bag and each pair will have two minutes to list all the items but there must be no conversation or the pair will be out. The pair accurately remembering the most objects wins.

6

Play Thats Me? Provide each guest with pencil and paper. Ask each guest to draw a profile of the person on his right. Allow a couple of minutes for this activity during which no one can look at any drawing except her own. Artists should write the name of their subject on the back of their works of art. Collect all the drawings, mix them up, and set them out in the center of the table. Ask each player to guess which is his own portrait.