Game Face

Imagine Monica Geller from Friends. Think about how her character ruined casual games with her yelling and obsessive need to come in first. She was cut-throat, serious, and in it to win it. Now stick my face on Monica, and you are picturing me on any game night. My friends have quit during Clue and Scattegories because apparently, I take the games too seriously. Teammates become nervous at times when playing Taboo because I might get upset after a bad round. Some may see this as a negative trait, but I like to think I just make things interesting.

My love of board games (and friendly competition) led me to plan a game night with some co-workers. Instead of heading to happy hour after school on Friday, we hopped on the G train and went to Rebecca's house. I was excited to learn that Mike, one of the first grade teachers, shares my love of games and competitive edge. We had our fingers crossed that we would be on the same team and dominate Taboo.

Mike and I started off all smiles...

...but quickly had our game faces on. 

We caught up and reminisced over cheese, crackers, chips, salsa, and pumpkin bread. And then things got a little more serious... and so incredibly fun. We started with Taboo, one of my personal favorites. Names were drawn and Mike and I were on the same team. Yes! (imagine some fist pumping action; I have no shame). Everyone had a great time, except for Rebecca maybe when Mike was ruthless with the buzzer during her round. She received a written apology later in the evening in place of one of Mike's Balderdash responses.

After Taboo, pizzas arrived, homemade seltzer was made, and we took a breather before starting game two: Celebrity. If you have never played Celebrity, I recommend you do at your next get-together. First, each player writes down four celebrities and puts them in a bowl. The game consists of three rounds- During Round 1, one player draws one celebrity name at a time out of the bowl and can use as many words to describe the person in order for the team members to guess him/her. After all of the names have been guessed, they are put back in the bowl and Round 2 starts. In Round 2, you can only use one word to describe the celebrities. Then, in Round 3 you can only act out the celebrities (charades). It is important to listen to the names during each round, so you remember then when they reappear as the game goes on. My best game night performance was during celebrity. Finally, my US Weekly subscription and hours of E! True Hollywood Story paid off. We finished the evening with several rounds of Balderdash. My favorite Marvelous Movie plot summary of the game came from Barry- Standing Room Only: Billy will do anything to get into his favorite band's show- even amputate his own legs. I was the dasher that round and almost peed my pants when I read it.

Before I even walked out of Rebecca's building, I was talking about how much fun I had at game night. Sure, I loved the games and the competition. But most importantly, I loved getting to spend time with such amazing friends. This kind of get-together reminds me that it doesn't take much to have a great time. A few games, some pizza, and seltzer was all it took for twelve of us to have hours of fun and laughs. Some say you are only as good as the company you keep. I feel very lucky get to spend time with such great company.