TIL that bringing a board game to Thanksgiving actually stopped my family from arguing about politics

My uncle and cousin were about to start yelling over the election again, so I just pulled out Codenames and asked who wanted to play. It totally shifted the mood for like an hour. Has anyone else found a specific activity that works as a peacekeeper?

3 comments

3 Comments

park.robin1mo ago

Three years ago I brought The Resistance to my family's Christmas dinner and it literally saved the night when my dad and his brother started getting heated about taxes. Now my mom texts me before every holiday asking what game I'm bringing this time. It's wild how fast people forget about being mad when they're trying to figure out who the secret spy is.

jennyp191mo ago

Oh man, board games are a total lifesaver for that! My family used to get so tense over dinner until my sister brought Telestrations one year. Now we're all just laughing at terrible drawings of turkeys instead of fighting. It's like magic how a silly game can just reset the whole room. I keep a couple in my car for the holidays now, just in case.

felix8241mo ago

But what if the game just covers up real problems? Doesn't that just mean you're avoiding the hard talks you actually need to have?