Games and Wine - A Recipe for Friends

"It's only supper and cards, but we shall have some laughs." Pride and Prejudice

Recently one of our friends started having a weekly game night at her apartment.  This is one of those kinds of activities which is useful for two reasons.  Firstly, anyone can play board games.  It's not like baseball.  If my friends wanted to band together and form a baseball team, I simply couldn't play.  I am that bad at that type of hand-eye coordination.  Secondly it requires some time out of everyone's life is scheduled to hang out with friends (in our case, to make more friends).  In a day in age when you have to pencil everything in because of mix-and-match schedules, its nice to have some time set aside to be with people you really like to be with (as opposed to co-workers who you may or may not like).

Beyond the usefulness of a game night, there are other implications.  We are officially late twenty-somethings.  This is an activity I distinctly remember my parents participating in when I was little (which would put them in their early thirties).  Their game nights primarily consisted of Trivial Pursuit death matches.  Ours include a wide swath of games from Apples to Apples, to Uno, to The Game of Things, and we continue to discover new games.  Oh yes, and food, and wine.  Lots of wine.  I think the wine we consume effectively rules out our ability to compete in a game like Trivial Pursuit.  However the hilarity at our antics might be well worth it.

Every stage in life has its set of things people do.  There are reasons why game nights tend to attract late twenty-somethings.  As younger adults unencumbered by babies or children (of any age really) we are able to drop what we are doing at a moment's notice.  We don't have to worry about a babysitter for our cat for a few hours.  It's not necessary.  We're not interested in going out binge drinking or clubbing to pick up random and generally skanky people.  We're happily married.  We just want to hang out with friends, talk and laugh, and enjoy some fun and some food while we do it. 

As a person who is actively attempting to foster friendships and seeing what works and what doesn't, I would suggest to anyone looking to make some more friends to start a game night.  It's low pressure and games give you an opportunity to talk about any number of subjects in a comfortable environment.  It's the perfect friend making environment! What can you lose?! So invite some people, have them bring their games (and invite a couple other people), make some stew or pasta and have fun! You'll be glad you did.  I know I am.