Best Games (Board/dice/gambling) for Adults

We love: Settlers of Catan (a fun strategy game of settlement); Ticket to Ride & Pirates Cove by Days of Wonder (other strategy games). Found online or specialty game store.

I second the Settlers of Catan suggestion. There are also a lot of additional versions you can add on to the original.

Apples to apples is a great adult game, we laugh the whole time.

Settlers of Cataan, Guillotine, Munchkin, Apples to Apples, ticket to ride
these are all fun games you can find at Barnes and Noble or on line.
We are "Gamer geeks" so we play alot of nontraditional games.

I see Sarah R. beat me to mentioning Apples to Apples! We LOVE that game! It's hilarious!

Mad Gab is another fun one. Or Munchkin if they like that kind of card game (more involved to learn).

Apples to Apples and Pictionary give you a lot of laughs.

If they like to gamble Tripoloy (sp) it is a card game/poker type. My parents played it all the time when we were kids and all the adults brought their pennies to gamble with. I Loved watching them play and wish they still did so I could join in the fun. I think I just might get it for myself and invite some people over to play with us.

I was in a bunco group and that was a lot of fun. We paid money for the top winners vs everyone bringing a prize.

A funny thought... this past week was the cheerleader party for our high school cheerleaders. As they were preparing things, one of the coaches
(a newlywed) brought Twister to play. The girls laughed at her and she laughed and said she asked for it on her wedding wish list. Guess they have fun at home, LOL. Just a thought!

If they like to gamble, (or even if they did not) I would highly suggest FARKEL (sometimes seen as FARKLE too) Do a search on Amazon, and there are dozens of different versions. Pick one - two - or three that match there personality. There is pocket Farkle that can come in an old film canister or a sucrets like pack. There is Full size farkle with a dice roller, and a Party set with like 6 sets of dice for a BIG Group... then there is specialized versions, Spicy Farkle is a slight variation to the Reg game, then there are Wild Farkles with everthing from pigs, horses to turtles or alligators on the dice. I have also seen State Farkles ie: Arizona Farkle...
Bear one is good for folks that like the outdoors... dice are made of wood... Fish one is good for kids- bright colored dice...
It really is a fun game for just about any age.

Also try - PASS THE PIGS... a really cute game - like a dice game but you roll two tiny little pigs and you score depending on how they land... cute. fun. silly... gets a little crazy with adults when drinking at family reunions. :-)

We love "Moods" and "Trivial Pursuit."

Sequence is a good game that involves poker chips and playing cards w/o the gambling (which I do not condone ;-).

BLOKUS is an excellent game and many people do not have it (one of my favorites)

Some good dice games are Farkle and Liars Dice (Love liars dice especially in large groups)

Squint is one of our favorites for family that are not hard-core gamers (my DH is a bigtime boardgarmer)--it's like Pictionary, except there are little cards with drawings that you use to make the picture, instead of having to draw it yourself.

I'm not sure if it would be in your budget, but a buy in to a (no limit) texas hold em tournament might strike their fancy. Alternatively, they might appreciate a personalized poker set. On the less expensive end, a nice card box or automatic card shuffler may be up their alley. (If they don't enjoy poker, none of my ideas will work!)

LCR..fun very everyone!!!

There is a game called Banana-grams... It is scrabble with a twist. It is a lot of fun!

We love Beyond Balderdash. Last time we played we cried laughing so hard. One person has a card with a word, date, acronym, movie title etc. The others have to write down (b.s.) what the definition of the word is, what is important about that date or what the acronym stands for or what the movie is about. The person with the card reads all answers including the correct one. You get points if others guess your made up info. Very fun!

Our family loves games. Our favorites:
Settlers of Catan
Ticket to Ride
Dominion

These are fabulous games. I don't like many games, but these are worth every penny. We have even had periods of time where we played these games several times a day, every day. LOL Settlers is by far our very favorite. Enjoy! Sounds like a great theme for gifts.

LCR is a fantastic dice game that also includes gambling! We play it every thanksgiving night with our family.
Also Catchphrase, Apples to Apples, and Pass the Pigs are great games.

Our standbys are dominos (5up), dice (zilch http://zilch.playr.co.uk/rules.php ). Ingenious, mancala, pinochle, spades, poker (5 card draw).

If they don't already have poker chips & a turnstyle... they need one.

For atypical : check out a spy shop for invisible ink & glasses. Of course, card marking can get you arrested at best or shot at worst... but it's a fun at home thing.

Jenga is fun for all ages-- you stack a bunch of wooden pieces and take turns removing pieces until the stack falls, also Taboo, Scattegories, and Balderdash.

LCR and Farkle are good games that include gambling. I would do those with some lotto tickets.

phase 10 is addictive and very fustrating.