The Holiday season has always been a great time to get together with family for fun and fellowship. With our family, we have always enjoyed playing boardgames or card games together.  We are competitive, but the holidays seems to mellow the competitive spirit out for everyone.  For some family members, we haven’t seen them in many months so it is just good to enjoy their company, even if we are sitting around the game table.

This year we spent some time with our favorite board game settlers of catan as well as playing some nice rook.  We started out with a plane ride from one side of the U.S. to the other, and played some 2 handed rook on the way.  2 handed rook become very common for a while, but we have played it much less over the past few months.   It was nice to get reminded of how fun rook can be even with 2 players.

Then, upon arriving to visit the rest of the family, we were treated with some new decks of plastic rook cards from 57 cards that inspired us to play some long hours of rook.  We even tried a game they recommend for groups of 5 or more called 8 up.  It has similarities to rook but also has a phase 10 feeling to it.  They came out with an updated deck recently and it is actually a pretty smooth rook like deck.

Half of the time, we ended up playing without even keeping score.  It was just fun to be with the family.  Our family used to play many hours of games together each week.  The holidays seem to be a perfect reminder of how much fun family game nights are.

If you don’t have a family game night in your family, maybe you are missing out on a time to be lightly competitive yet bond in team unity.  Rook is a great game for a family of four with mom and pop playing with their 2 kids 10 years or older.  Get your family learning games early.  They will likely remember the memories fondly and can keep the activity going for many years into the future.