Three of the Best Classic Board Games

Board games were the best thing to happen to families in a long time. In certain homes, even nowadays, families devote one night a week to a family game night, often using games that are known all over and have been around for ages. There are numerous board games out there, however here are three of the best 'classic' games out there that are worth playing with your family.

Parcheesi

Parcheesi is often times known as the "Royal Game of India" because of its Indian origins where slaves were dressed in either red, blue, green or yellow attire and acted as pawns on a marked out palace ground.

This became a board game based on the four colors - each color a separate team and playable from two to four players. How to play is simple. Your pieces start out at 'home' and to get out the two dice used must either equal five or be a five. Rolling double fives does mean you can get two out and you get to roll again. The object is to move your pieces around the board without being sent 'home' by the other team. How do you get sent home? If a players piece lands on a spot your piece is on and it is unsafe (there are safe spots around the board where your piece can not be sent back to the start) then your piece goes home and the other player can resume their turn.

If you land two of your pieces on the same spot you form a block, meaning no pieces can go beyond it until this 'wall' has been broken.

The object of the game is quite simple, however to get your pieces into the center and at the 'finish' you must roll the exact amount of spaces needed to get in. If you have two spots to go and roll a six and a four, your piece can not complete the game.

There are variations to this game from household to household. Some consider points for sending pieces home, some just play to see who can win the game. How you play, like with all games, is up to you.

Monopoly

Monopoly, by far, is one of the most popular and oldest board games out there. What is Monopoly? Remember in school learning that if someone owned the entire supply of gas or electric in the world then they were owning a monopoly? This game is based off of that factoid. The idea of the game is to move your piece around a square board with various pieces of property (such as Atlantic Avenue, Pennsylvania Railroad and even utilities) to purchase and buy up those you think you want. Getting all of one color creates a small monopoly. While it's quite complicated I'll give a brief rundown of the game.

The game uses play money which is used to keep track of who is ahead. For each piece of property you decide to buy you pay into the 'bank' (ie: a player delegated for this part) and in return you receive the deed to the property. The idea is to continually move around aquiring property to outdo the others playing. There are cards, chance and community chest which can be a benefit to you, meaning you earn money or costing you money. There are also 'get out of jail free' cards for when you land on that one corner that says "Go To Jail" - then you go to jail until you roll a double to get out. As you earn money you can build up hotels onto your property, raising the price of fees for others to 'stay' at your places. This is how others lose money and how you hopefully aquire money.

You can take out mortgages to afford, or sell back properties. There's also the 'bartering' rule where you can give properties over in return to not going bankrupt.

Fair warning, though, I've seen games last up to seven hours if you have many players.

Life

Perhaps the most aggravating game ever created due to the tiny little pink and blue pegs that represent people, life is a game that starts out the moment of adulthood. You can choose a career or go to college, taking you around two routes of the game.

As you progress and your career is ultimately set to determine your salary for the game, you spin a colored wheel and take a number of pieces. There are stops along the way such as getting married that are mandatory.

As you spin you are either paying to the bank for a purchase in life or acquiring money from an inheritance or salary. There are also spaces marked for children. This can be through birth or adoption and can be multiple. That is why the car you choose in the beginning has six spaces - to accommodate children.

Progressing through the game is just like life - you work, buy properties, have setbacks and ultimately reach the retirement age with hopefully enough money to get by. There are two options for retirement, the Millionaire Estates or the second- best Countryside Acres. Each have their pros and cons, so choose carefully.

Also, in the game there are mandatory stops, such as getting married, graduating, buying a house and retiring. Taxes only end up paid should you be unlucky to land on the space.

The whimsical aspect of Life is that once in a while you have the unfortunate soul who keeps having children and adopting children by landing on the spaces. There's nothing more amusing than watching a player move a car that has more than six pegs balanced carefully atop the car.

Whatever games you choose to play with both family and friends, they're sure to leave their mark on you as you go throughout life. The memories made when playing these games with loved ones is something worth sharing with others as time goes by. While these games are only three of the best, there are numerous others out there just as noteworthy as these.