Game Night!

Sure, you could watch a movie or a sporting event on television together. Have a candlelight home-made dinner. Share a bottle of wine. Or ... play a game. Our family has always enjoyed games. From card games to board games to video games, we've played quite a few. We've spent hours playing Scattagories, Nuts, Clue, Scene It, Outburst, Imaginiff, Pictionary, Masterpiece, Uno Attack, Golf, Life, Balderdash, Catch Phrase, Yahtzee, Apples to Apples and Mancala among others. In the younger kid years it was Sorry, Candy Land, Thin Ice, Cheerio and We wore out the box lids of our board games to the point where the corners had to be taped. We'd go through phases where we'd go weeks playing the same game, then one day it would be back on the shelf and another would take it's place. The Zimaneks (and Lauritzens) have always been fans of games. Some of us are more competitive than others - with winning being the main goal - and others of us just enjoy playing. We're the family that sings while we play games (which can drive some of our competitors a little crazy, but that's they way we do it). We've had lots of fun memories playing games.

When you couples marry, while you will have the opportunity to play games with friends, you will spend many a night just the two of  you. And there are lots of games you can play with just two players. So we thought we'd give you a few ideas.

A few were mentioned above already are great for two:

Yahtzee (even with teeny tiny, see-through colored dice from Las Vegas that I keep in a teeny tiny ziplock baggy in my purse, Mancala, Golf, Scattagories and Catch Phrase (ok, well that last one works only when you're traveling in a car and the passenger tries to get the driver to guess the phrase.

But here's a few more:

- Daddy would first say Football. Matter of fact, it was his suggestion for this blog idea after wanting to play football across the restaurant table last night when we were on a dinner date. Whether a sugar packet or pre-made leather or cardboard triangle, sliding it across the table to just hang slightly over the edge to score a touch down, then attempt a field goal, has been around since our early dating years. It's a great way to wait for your meal.

- Scrabble or Upwords: both are word games, which we love, that can be played while watching other things on TV (especially when folks take as long as we do on our turn). We have kept wins and losses for our games on the inside top box lid for years.
- Blockus: It's fun, colorful and strategic.
- Chess or Checkers: The first requires a bit more brain power and strategy, but both are classics and fun.
- Stratego, Hangman, Mastermind, Connect Four, Backgammon, Guess Who and Battleship - all are specifically two-person games and lots of fun.
- Sequence: You can play lots of rounds of this one.
- Mexican Trains: 13 rounds of domino fun.
- Kerplunk: probably one of my favorites. Who could ever get tired of pulling sticks out and watching marbles fall? The hard part was putting all the sticks in the plastic tower in the first place.
- We would be remiss not to mention Monopoly. One of the classics and most popular board games ever. 

There are plenty of others, but those are a few to get your at-home date nights going. Game nights are fun. So find the ones you love to play and have fun keeping track of wins and losses throughout your future marriage. There provide some quality together time! And don't forget to sing.

Discussion: What is your favorite board, card or video game? What is a game you've never played before listed above? What is a game you do not enjoy playing? What is something you enjoy playing as a couple?

Prayer: Lord God, games have been played for thousands of years. We so enjoy having fun together. I pray our couples enjoy playing games together and getting their future families involve in games, too, to make some memories. In Jesus' name we pray, Amen.