Balderdash: One person pulls a definition card and the others write down what they think the answer is, then they are collected. Everyone then picks what they think the real definition is and points are awarded for those who pick the correct definition. Points are also awarded for those who wrote down a convincing enough answer to persuade others to pick their lie. The more you guess correct and trick others into believing your lies the quicker you win.

Malarky: In this game, you don’t need to know the answer to the quirky questions, you only need to convince the other players you know it. So your powers of persuasion and your poker face will serve you far better than the facts. Learn all kinds of interesting facts while you lie to your friends!

$24.98 and $28.48

Find more games like this at Are You Game’s Lying and Cheating category.

5 reasons why I love puzzles:
*Unlike board games (which are also great fun!), you can leave them out for the night and come back and finish up when you’re in the mood, without forgetting who’s turn is next, who was winning, etc.
*They develop your brain, encourage problem solving skills, and are great for upping your “Tetris skillz.” (haha)
*Nobody technically “wins” so there will never be a sore loser or obnoxious winner. This is great for those competitive types who can’t stand to lose, or teaching kids to learn the fun of playing a game just for enjoyment.
*There is no player number restriction, so you can put your puzzle together with a room full of buddies, or just yourself!
*No directions needed, no rules, no dice, just pick it up and go!

With that being said, the coolest concept of a puzzle I’ve seen lately is this mirrored puzzle from Uncommon Goods. I love a challenge, so I’d like to get my hands on this puzzle to give it a try. With 200 pieces, and no image to help you along, it’s sure to be a tad difficult, engaging and surprisingly addicting! Because it’s mirrored, your finished product’s image will be different every time. It all depends on who finished the puzzle, what room you’re in, etc. You’ll never have the same end result.

So who’s with me? Who wants to join my new BRING THE PUZZLE BACK Club?

The Polarity Game is part skill and part strategy. The skill portion is easy to overcome with a little practice, and then you can delve into the strategy part for some long lasting fun. The goal is to get more of the magnetic pieces to stack in your favor than your opponent. This is difficult to do because of the chaos that ensues when dealing with multiple magnetic fields on the board.

After reading the well written description at ThinkGeek and the user reviews at Are You Game I get the feeling this game will stay in our game closet for years to come.

Every now and then I’d like to play the games of yesteryear partly for the memories, but also for the fun of it. After raiding your game stash and your grandma’s closet for all the vintage board game fun you can find you might want to check out some places online. There is the obvious VintageGameStore.com that sells all kinds of board games, even newer ones, but they don’t have much for product descriptions, so I’d recommend finding the game you want first and then trying them. Finding that special board game from your past can be made easier by checking out the great resources at BoardGameGeek.com. You’ll find pictures, suggestions, and in depth reviews of some classic and new games.

eBay is always a great choice for finding the exact board game you are looking for at a reasonable price. That is why we put a live feed for a search on “vintage boardgames” directly to the right. As of this writing there are vintage games like a copy of Go to the Head of the Class made in 1967, RISK from 1959, Charlies Angels from 1977, and an all time classic Hi-Ho! Cherry-O from 1960. Being the huge Star Wars fans we are here at Mable’s we picked up a vintage 1977 Escape from the Death Star off eBay a while back and played the heck out of it. After finding out it doesn’t have too much replay value, we put it back on eBay and now someone else gets to enjoy it’s nostalgic value all over again.

Vintage board games can also make a great gift idea for a sibling with whom you used to always play a certain game with. Or perhaps another family member and yourself played a board game every Thursday night and you’d like to recreate that. Sending a vintage board game to that unsuspecting person would sure bring a flood of memories back, but actually being there to play it would absolutely make their day.

You might have to fight over the board games on eBay with all the craft peeps who want to take old board games and turn them into something different and useful. Useful like an end table, a purse, or a notebook.

If you have a dedicated game room check out this post over at RacketBoy for a creative idea on setting up some board games based on vintage video games.