One of my favorite movie moments was the argument in the game closet in The Royal Tenenbaums. Do you know the one? Like many things in that movie, the game closet felt like it was pulled from my childhood subconscious. I have always been pretty nerdy about playing games.

As the youngest of three, I was often begging my siblings to play games with me (to no avail). I thought that when I had kids I’d never say no, but there’s only so many three hour Monopoly matches a mom can endure. We do play our fair share of games around here. I was reading recently that simple board games are pretty big IQ boosters for kids. That’s cool, but we mostly play because it’s fun for everyone in the family. Usually, we get pretty silly, and as my daughter says, it’s ‘almost-pee-your-pants’ fun.

There are some pretty amazing new cooperative and educational games out there these days. We enjoy making new discoveries, but do keep coming back to the old school stuff—dominoes, chess, parcheesi, gin rummy, scrabble,yahtzee. They are so easy to find at yard sales and thrift shops too (the older, often the better).

And while we’re pretty short on closets around here in general, one day I swear I’ll bring that game closet to life.

—SCB