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Good games for mostly non-dancing wedding?

Knottie0839442 Knottie0839442 member
First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
in Offbeat Weddings
My fiance and I aren't really into dancing. We'll probably also have an area for guests who really want to regular-dance, but it won't be a main feature; the major dances are going to be done with Wii dancing or a Kinect dancing game or something similar.

We want most of the focus for the reception to be on something we do love: games. Board games will be scattered at tables to get guests to play together, interact, etc. Lawn games since it's outdoors in June. Things like that. 

Complicating things is that much of his family is from China (grandparents, aunts/uncles), and while most of those attendingwill speak English, it's possible a few won't (there will be a second reception in China so many Mandarin-only speakers will just go to that). So what are some good games wedding that will encourage mingling and having fun (and bonus points if they're good for multi-cultural weddings)? I do have a few relatives and friends who speak Mandarin to varying degrees, and his immediate family is bilingual, so anything with simple rules that translate well should be fine. But nothing that takes hours and hours, either (no Monopoly; probably not Settlers of Catan).

Ideas so far:
Cornhole
Bocce ball
Apples to Apples
Horseshoes
Jenga
Speed Chess
small Go boards
Munchkin
Ker-plunk

What are some other games that would be good?
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Re: Good games for mostly non-dancing wedding?

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    larrygagalarrygaga member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    What about buying packs of playing cards. Those are universal! They makes ones that you can personalize with your wedding stuff. Might be a cool favor!

    Your wedding sounds fun, I love board games. 
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    Knottie0839442 Knottie0839442 member
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    That's a good idea! There's always games we can do with cards. :)
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    chibiyuichibiyui member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Checkers? Yahtzee? Uno? Sorry? Operation?
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    Knottie0839442 Knottie0839442 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its Name Dropper First Comment
    Those are good, too. I can just see his family playing Operation! Heehee!

    (Also, your signature made my morning! We never wanted to play Lana until we found the Summon Cucco...)
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    jkbrownsteinjkbrownstein member
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    Dix It, Monopoly Go (15 mi card game), Spot It, Uno, Hanabi, Red 7, Love letter
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    chibiyuichibiyui member
    First Anniversary First Comment First Answer 5 Love Its
    Knottie0839442 said:
    Those are good, too. I can just see his family playing Operation! Heehee!

    (Also, your signature made my morning! We never wanted to play Lana until we found the Summon Cucco...)
    The summoning gate is hilarious, but that weapon sucks.

    Of course, for me, Sheik is where it's at.

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    Knottie0839442 Knottie0839442 member
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    jkbrownstein said:
    Dix It, Monopoly Go (15 mi card game), Spot It, Uno, Hanabi, Red 7, Love letter
    I've played Uno and Hanabi, but otherwise haven't heard of most of those... I'll look them up! Thanks! :)
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    Knottie0839442 Knottie0839442 member
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    chibiyui said:
    The summoning gate is hilarious, but that weapon sucks.

    Of course, for me, Sheik is where it's at.


    Heh. I primarily play Sheik, too. The FI is the one who spam-attacks with the cucco whenever he gets the chance. Or the Great Fairy, so he can stick Link in a bottle...
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    Knottie67474191Knottie67474191 member
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    Spot it, Phase 10, are all games you can get at Walmart, Target, etc. Have you thought of table tennis, not sure if you would have foosball units available.

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    kellyem2kellyem2 member
    5 Love Its First Comment First Anniversary
    Does his family play mahjong? That's a great social game, though you might want to think about how to deal with the potential gambling aspect.

    You could also go the personalized route. There are a lot of educational websites that will let you make customized word searches, cross word puzzles, mad libs and similar items that you could leave at the tables.

    I saw a Halloween wedding once where instead of having a favor they put dishes of candy at each table and had guests "trick or treat." It was a huge success. Maybe you could set up a scavenger hunt around your venue that eventually leads to your wedding favors to get people up and mingling.
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    Knottie0839442 Knottie0839442 member
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    Knottie67474191 said:
    Spot it, Phase 10, are all games you can get at Walmart, Target, etc. Have you thought of table tennis, not sure if you would have foosball units available.

    Spot It and Phase 10 we could definitely do. Not sure we could do a practical table tennis/foosball...  it would depend on if we could find an affordable rental willing to take the games outside. But that's a good idea!
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    Knottie0839442 Knottie0839442 member
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    kellyem2 said:
    I saw a Halloween wedding once where instead of having a favor they put dishes of candy at each table and had guests "trick or treat." It was a huge success. Maybe you could set up a scavenger hunt around your venue that eventually leads to your wedding favors to get people up and mingling.
    Love it! My parents used to treasure hunts for my brother and me every Christmas in order to find our gifts, so we might could do a variation on that, too. Or bring in the FI's and my hobbies: Call each table an "encounter," and the guests "adventurers," and do a scavenger hunt for loot. Maybe some kind of easy puzzle challenge at each table, and encourage the group to work together, and if they win everyone gets to grab a little loot? (And probably even if they don't win, because it wouldn't exactly be guarded.)

    I'll ask him about the Mahjong and if there are a set of non-gambling rules... or we could let them play with candy, which is always a safe alternative.
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    [Deleted User][Deleted User] member
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    Knottie0839442 said:
    kellyem2 said:
    I saw a Halloween wedding once where instead of having a favor they put dishes of candy at each table and had guests "trick or treat." It was a huge success. Maybe you could set up a scavenger hunt around your venue that eventually leads to your wedding favors to get people up and mingling.
    Love it! My parents used to treasure hunts for my brother and me every Christmas in order to find our gifts, so we might could do a variation on that, too. Or bring in the FI's and my hobbies: Call each table an "encounter," and the guests "adventurers," and do a scavenger hunt for loot. Maybe some kind of easy puzzle challenge at each table, and encourage the group to work together, and if they win everyone gets to grab a little loot? (And probably even if they don't win, because it wouldn't exactly be guarded.)

    I'll ask him about the Mahjong and if there are a set of non-gambling rules... or we could let them play with candy, which is always a safe alternative.
    This is cute, but don't force anything on people.  If they'd rather just sit around talking and eating, they need to be allowed to do that without being Forced into being a Scavenger or Adventurer.

    Sequence is a fun board game that can be played with two people or more.
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    hellohkbhellohkb mod
    First Anniversary First Comment 5 Love Its First Answer
    I think what you have is pretty good! I wouldn't go overboard with the games. It could be a hassle during cleanup. I like the Dixit and Mahjong suggestions.

    What about:
    Trivia games
    Mini bowling
    Deck of cards



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    phoxglovephoxglove member
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    Love Letter is quite good. I'm also fond of Cards Against Humanity, though that requires a certain sort of population to enjoy... Kung Fu Fighting is entertaining, and The Resistance is also a lot of fun (often shouty fun, but fun). None of those are expensive or particularly time consuming. I'm trying to think of more of the board games the FI and I have that aren't hours long... There's a Lovecraftian dice game, the name of which escapes me... and Pictionary Telephone requires nothing but paper and pencils and can get quite hilarious.
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    Knottie0839442 Knottie0839442 member
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    adk19 said:

    This is cute, but don't force anything on people.  If they'd rather just sit around talking and eating, they need to be allowed to do that without being Forced into being a Scavenger or Adventurer.

    Sequence is a fun board game that can be played with two people or more.
    Definitely I'd give them the option to sit around and just talk. The adventuring would be for anyone who would get into it. Which would probably be at good 3/4 of our guests, to be honest. :)
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    Knottie0839442 Knottie0839442 member
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    hellohkb said:
    I think what you have is pretty good! I wouldn't go overboard with the games. It could be a hassle during cleanup. I like the Dixit and Mahjong suggestions.

    What about:
    Trivia games
    Mini bowling
    Deck of cards

    Decks of cards are good. Minimal cleanup, and inexpensive! And I think I have a few mini-bowling games, too, from past stocking stuffers.
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    Knottie0839442 Knottie0839442 member
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    phoxglove said:
    Love Letter is quite good. I'm also fond of Cards Against Humanity, though that requires a certain sort of population to enjoy... Kung Fu Fighting is entertaining, and The Resistance is also a lot of fun (often shouty fun, but fun). None of those are expensive or particularly time consuming. I'm trying to think of more of the board games the FI and I have that aren't hours long... There's a Lovecraftian dice game, the name of which escapes me... and Pictionary Telephone requires nothing but paper and pencils and can get quite hilarious.
    CAH might not go so well for a family affair (there will definitely be a few kids around), though both FI and I love playing it ourselves. I've played a Lovecraftian dice game before, and that was fun. And I like the idea of Pictionary Telephone! That could be a hoot, and easy cleanup. I'll check out the other two, as well!

    We have a ton of board games, but like yours a lot are time consuming. I'd love to bring Xia or Arkham Horror, but those would definitely be too long! 
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    jay788jay788 member
    First Anniversary 5 Love Its First Comment Name Dropper
    Not sure if this is what you mean or not by Jenga, but we had a giant Jenga set at our wedding that my husband made out of 2x4s. I wasn't sure if anyone would want to play it, but it was actually a huge hit.
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    714hbbride714hbbride member
    First Anniversary Name Dropper 5 Love Its First Comment
    edited February 2015
    Skipbo is a fun card game. 

    I second the Giant Jenga!
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    kittenkaboodlekittenkaboodle member
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    I second Dix It, it's a easy game for just about anybody to learn.  I also like Ticket to Ride and Connect Four for board games.  For lawn games Jenga, Corn Hole, Bocci, and/or pinata.
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    Knottie0839442 Knottie0839442 member
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    Great ideas! Thanks! :)
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