Let the Games Begin!
By Clark L. and Kathryn H. Kidd

In past columns, we have written about “filler” activities that address specialized interests among ward members and that may draw ward members out when traditional church meetings do not.  One of the events we mentioned is a regular game night, which in our ward is held on months when there are no other major activities.  Game nights have been such a rousing success in our ward that we thought they merited a column of their own.

The reason game nights are so successful is simple — they bring in people who may otherwise fall through the cracks.  In any ward, there are probably a whole lot of people who do not have friends, or at least FEEL like they do not have friends.  These people fall in a number of different categories:

All of these people on the fringes need help, because without a social connection it's easy to fall away when spiritual trials come.

But the beauty of game night is that it doesn’t just appeal to the disenfranchised.  People on the ward’s social A-list may just be in the mood for socializing, and may happen to have nothing to do on a Saturday night.  Game nights appeal to a wide spectrum of Saints, who can only help but benefit by interacting with one another in a social setting.

Secrets of a Successful Game Night

There’s a little bit of trial and error involved in having a successful game night activity. Many wards have tried splitting into game groups — somewhat along the same line as dinner groups — but these fail more often than they succeed because their success depends on the reliability of that month’s host.  In our ward, we have found that the only way game night works is to host it ourselves, at our own home.  That way nobody has to think twice about where the game night is going to be.

In our ward, game night is limited to adults only.  Most of our ward activities are planned for adults and children, but this is the one exception that is limited strictly to adults.  We made this executive decision because our home isn’t child-proof, but the bottom line is that if there’s even one child on the premises, the attention will be focused on the child rather than on the interaction between adults.

Nobody has said anything to us about needing babysitters, but if they do need sitters they'll get them just the same way they'd get them if they were going to a movie.  These game nights aren't required activities — they're optional activities for people who want to go to them.  If people want to go enough that they'll get a sitter, that's what they'll do.

There are wards that include children in their game nights, and with mixed degrees of success. The most successful ones we’ve heard about are held in the cultural hall for adults and the Primary room for children.  But this means a lot of planning, because you have to organize and supervise the children’s entertainment.  It can work, but first you should determine whether the goal of your game night is to entertain the ward or to provide quality time for adult members and go from there.

Here are some other attributes of our ward game nights, which you may (or may not) want to incorporate if you decide to try them in your own ward:

Having a game night is an excellent way to reach out to those who are not of our faith.  Once they have spent an evening around Church members in a casual setting, they will feel more comfortable attending Sunday meetings or taking missionary discussions with people that they know.  Make sure the ward mission and the full-time missionaries know about the game nights and have extra flyers to hand out.  They can distribute these to investigators or to people they meet who enjoy playing games.

Game Night Format

For the first 30 minutes or so we just let people arrive and lay out the food that they brought.  People just stand around visiting and eating.  We do have a blessing on the food.  That is about the only religious aspect of the entire night.  After the prayer, we invite people to go through the food line and then to adjourn to the other room with the big table where we play the games.  Make sure the people are invited to return to the food area whenever they feel the urge during the games.

We usually play twp or three games during the evening.  If people are having fun, just keep going with the same game.  If people are getting bored, or some people do not seem to be enjoying the current game, then switch to something else.  You may also have to switch games based on how many people are arriving or leaving.  Expect that people will arrive late.  When they do, just set up some chairs, add them to a team, and invite them to go through the food line.  If a large number of people arrive, you may have to break into multiple groups and play a different game in each group.

There is no real end to the evening, until everyone has gone home.  We don't have a closing prayer or anything that formal.  As the crowd dwindles, you may want to switch games to something that is more fun for small groups.  There always seem to be a few folks who are kind enough to stick around and help clean up.  Put them to work, and you can all be in bed at a decent hour.

How to Select Successful Games

Playing games where the smartest person always wins is as embarrassing for the winner as it is for the losers.  The last thing we need to do with people who may be fragile already is to reinforce their self-image as losers!

Pick games that:

Some Games that Work

Here are some games that have worked for us.  We’re careful to choose games depending on who is sitting at the table.  Facts in Five may go over well with an educated group, but less well if people are not quick thinkers.  Know your players!

Some of these games aren't made anymore, but you can still find the ones that aren't on eBay.  True Colors is only designed for six players, so we have two sets and have altered the identification cards in the second set so that 12 people can play the same game. 

We spend a lot of time on Amazon.com, reading reviews of games before we determine which games to buy.  We take our game-buying seriously!  If you have any other favorite games, let us know.

It’s been interesting to see the game night dynamics in our ward, because even though we almost always have about 16 people show up for game night, it’s never the same 16 people.  We never know how many people are going to make an appearance — or who those people are going to be. 

Parenthetically, 16 is a perfect number because we can all sit around one table and don’t have to break up into groups. 

Nevertheless, it's important to measure the success not by how many people are there, but by who comes and whether they had a good time.  If only one person came, we would count the evening a success if that person was someone who wouldn’t have had anywhere else to go on a Saturday night.