The time has come. You and your family gather at the table, game in hand. What game are you playing tonight? Maybe go with the classic game of “Go Fish” or the family favorite: “Sorry Sliders.” How about a few new ideas?

The Oregon Trail: Card Game: 2-6 players
Based on the notoriously difficult video game, “The Oregon Trail: Card Game” will test players’ ability to survive. The goal of the game is to make it from Independence, Mo., to Willamette Valley, Ore., while making sure the players have enough supplies and at least one person in the party survives. Players can reach the end of the game by placing down 10 sets of “Trail” cards. Players will occasionally have to draw other cards, and one example is the “Calamity” card. The feared “Calamity” card can cause anything from a broken axle to dysentery, causing the player that drew the card to die immediately. Most “Calamity” cards can be countered by players placing the corresponding “supply” cards on their turn. Along with “River” cards, which cause one to lose supply cards if they fail to cross, “Calamity” cards are where the game gets difficult. No matter how difficult the challenge is, the family can still share a good laugh over someone’s death by dysentery and still have fun.

Trekking the World: 2-5 players
A game about “Trekking the World,” players collect colored cubes, map tokens, score tokens, and location cards to try and gather points. This game is more complex in terms of setup and rules; however, after the first game, it can become much easier to play. The game ends when all six continents have been cleared of their cubes, and the winner is whichever player has the most points. Players gather points via two main ways, cubes and “Journey” cards. Players collect cubes of different colors, laying them on their suitcase and trying to complete full columns. Once a column is completed, the player earns that column’s points. “Journey” cards are worth a wide variety of points based on the obscurity or popularity of the landmark. However, there are always two cards that are worth three or five extra points. While helping players earn points, “Journey” cards can introduce a new fact about a landmark to the players. With this addition, players will come out of this game with a little more knowledge of the world.

No matter what game you choose, have fun, avoid yelling at one another, and try not to die of dysentery.