paintball

Paint Ball can be a great family night activity. Although I have never played paintball, I know that my family would love it. My husband has taken some kids from church, and they do get into it! They wear their camouflage clothing and really use all the tactics they can muster to sneak up on each other. It sounds like a game that families with older children and teens could really have a great time playing together.

If your family gets really into paint ball, there is a great online store to get all your paint ball gear. They have everything your family will need for a great game of paintball. Everything from paintball guns, paintball masks, paintball markers and tanks, all of your paintball supplies at one stop shopping. You can find all the top selling guns, including the Spyder Pilot ACS, the Tippmann A-5, Tippmann 98 Custom and the Smart Parts Ion. They have competitive prices and FREE UPS shipping on orders over $200.

If your family wants to play paintball, you gotta head to the Ultimate Paintball shop.

Thank you for reading this sponsered post.

Hearts

Hearts is a card game for families with older children. It involves playing to catch tricks, but to catch no hearts or the queen of spades. The variation that makes this game even more tricky, is that if you can catch ALL of the hearts AND the queen of spades, you win that hand. In this game you are trying to avoid points. In hands where one player catches all the heart as well as the queen of spades, everyone else gets points and s/he gets none.

You can find rules to Hearts online .

Free Ice Cream At Ben and Jerry's

Tonight is Ben & Jerry's night! Today, Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Stores are offering a single serve of their ice cream for free. They will happily accept donations of course! Nothing better for a family night treat than ice cream, and free cones make it all the more sweet! Maybe we'll see you there!

Merry Widow

Merry Widow is a variation on spades, played with three people. This game is ideal for families with three people or when other family members are gone. In this game you deal out four hands, the first hand being the widow's partner's hand. This hand is untouched to begin with. The player to the right of the dealer has first choice to either keep the hand s/he was dealt, or trade it for the open hand. Each player gets the chance to do this regardless if the hand has already been traded. Scoring is also done a little differently than traditional spades. You must catch three tricks to break even. Other than that, play proceeds as in a regular game of spades.

Spades

We taught our youngest to play spades this past year. It is a good card game, but does require four people to play. There are many variations on this game, though many people play some variation of this card game. Rules can be found online . It is good for families with older children, who can listen to the rules, which can be a little confusing when first learning. It does take some patience while the kids are learning, but it's a great way to spend a family night. When traveling it's easy to strike up a game anytime you have to wait. And when the kids go off to college, it's a great card game to get up with friends, often a little more safe than those college poker games!

Uno

Uno is a great all around family card game. It is available at almost any store. It is simple to learn and play. Many people can play this game, so it is suitable for small, medium or large families.

The directions are enclosed in the box. You simply follow the number or color or word directions on the cards. Even the youngest members of the family can play with a bit of help.

This game does allow for many variations on the basic game. This can add more fun and allows the game to never get boring. Be prepared when playing with other people, that they may or may not follow the traditional rules or may use one of the variations.

Uno is a great family night card game.

Go Fish

Go Fish is one of the first card games we taught our kids. If your kids are still small, this is a great first card game to play together. The rules are fairly simple and it helps them learn the concepts of pairs and like groups.

Deal everyone seven cards. Each player takes a turn asking any other player for a card that matches any card in his/her hand. If you get the requested card, you get to keep asking, either for that card or any other that matches something in the hand. Once you do not get the requested card the person from whom you requested it says "go fish". The requester then draws one card from the stack of cards left in the middle. If he/she draws the requested card, the turn continues. If not, then the next player follows the same pattern.

Once you get all four of a like card (all four 5's, or all four Kings) you have completed a book. As there are no more cards in this book, you then lay all four down together. Once all cards have been played out, count up your books. The player with the most books wins.