Do you play card games or board games?

[SleepyWitch]

Hi all,
the other day some friends, my hubby and me were having a games night. I.e. we played some card games together. It's pretty common for Germans of all ages to have games nights and play card games or board games with family or friends. But my English friend did this for the first time when she was taking a year abroad here. So I've been wondering: is it a cultural oddity of the Germans to have have games nights?
As for card games, men in rural areas and also the cities will play traditional ones at the pub, but there's a huge variety of card games with different themes and pictues that are often based on these traditional games. That is, the rules are similar, but the game has a particular theme, like growing beans and selling them, or collecting as few oxen (penalty points) as possible etc.
Please take the poll

[motherhubbard]

We play cards, pitch http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pitch_(card_game) , and we play board games, too. I love to play games with the family.

[pussnboots]

I don't play that often but when I do I like to play the following card games: UNO and Rat Tat Tat.

[Schokokeks]

I don't like board games that much, but I luuuuuv card games!!! I mostly play them in pubs (gets especially interesting the more alcohol is consumed ), but I also battle my brother fairly regularly at family gatherings.

Oh, is chess a board game? Because I luuuuuuv chess as well .

[Virgil]

I used to play chess. Occaisionally when family get together we play some card games. Does poker with your buddies count? We do that. I used to play Italian card games with my uncles, but alas they are mostly passing and the ones that are still alive I don't see often any more.

[Lily Adams]

I can play a mean game of Oji. I am the Oji master, people. I'm a natural at it.

Even though I don't remember how to play it. Seriously, though, I'm good at it...just haven't played it in a long time.

[Terror Firmer]

Play alot of Texas Hold'em as a friend is attending a class for poker dealers.

And during family gatherings, we always always play Parcheesi and Monopoly (classic sets).

[sprinks]

Every now and then our family will do that. Not often enough though!! We do that a lot at school though. It is very very common to walk into the school library before school or at lunch and find various groups playing card or board games, especially poker, blackjack, spit, chess, checkers, etc. If it's a nice day big groups will sit around in the sun playing card games. Also card games get played in class too! One drama lesson our drama teacher had to do something so my maths teacher took us for a while and we played poker and blackjack . Which reminds me of the time in year 7 where we had a casino set up in the classroom. We had fake money and a little 'bank' and we had poker, blackjack, a roulette wheel, and others

[TheFifthElement]

My husband and I played Scrabble last night. We're trying to get the kids more into board games but what we can play is dictated by the age of the youngest participant, who is just 5, so it's Snakes & ladders, Frustration maybe Checkers but nothing more complex than that. I play Battleships and Hangman (which doesn't need a board!) with my son.

We don't really have games nights as such, though it was more common when I was younger. I'm not surprised that your British friends had never been to a games night. In Britain most people are too busy getting bladdered down the pub to play games.

[kilted exile]

I play card games at Xmas/New year with the family - switch, gin rummy, knock out whist, canasta, strip jack naked (also known as Beggar my neighbour or Put 4), My Gran taught me to play bridge but that was a long time ago & I dont remember how anymore.

At college I used to play poker with my buddies about 3 times a month. ($10 buy in, winner brought the pizza for the next time)

[Emil Miller]

I like to play my computer at chess but, once started, the world ceases to exist and I usually end up dashing around trying not to be late for appointments. I notice quite a few contributors have mentioned their enjoyment of poker. OK you may know this already, but recently I heard a very interesting radio programme about the world's best poker player and his contest with a computer. They played a number of games and the result was a draw. When they played again the computer won. It was suggested that those companies that advertise poker over the internet are now using computers. So, if you didn't know this already, be warned.

[Taliesin]

Ah, glad to see that someone uses the mathematical "or" in common text. Now I'll just wait when people start pointing how addition and multiplication are connected by laws of distributivity in "A ring, a ring of roses"

The answer is yes. I play several kinds of things, sometimes chess, sometimes go over the net, when there are three other hands I am forced to play bridge, then there are also games like Saboteur that are a cross between card and board games etc. Also I love Alias.

[weltanschauung]

board games > cards


i like mahjong too, but havent played it in forever also.

[BlueSkyGB]

Usually one night a month with friends.....Samba/Canasta/Hearts/Euchre/
tried Bridge but we aren't that good at bidding
also every 3 months a poker night...
as for board games...very rare, usually holidays with relatives
computer games are the number one at my house