Food or gifts? No, the games table is where the party’s at

FOOD? Not for me. Presents? If you are a child or have the money to embrace the joy of giving. Seeing loved ones? Well, yes, in the right context. But for me, the best thing about Christmas is pitting your wits or your skills with those closest to you by engaging in some games.

When else do you get the chance to get everyone around a table with a pack of cards or a game board?

Summer holidays are great for those with lots of energy, but the sports pitch or the swimming pool can end up excluding older family members or those with less mobility.

Instead, the games table is the place where everyone can gather and enjoy a few light-hearted pastimes together.

While children can be bored of the endless chit-chat of the grown-ups, and end up retreating into further investigation of their gifts, games are something which involve everyone’s focus, and provide plenty of fun.

I can – and will – recommend a few here, and inevitably it seems to be the simplest ideas which are the best. Games that involve a deck of playing cards or some dice often end up being the most fun, providing as many laughs as they do thrills.

Even the old classic games like charades can be carried out with just a pad and a pen, or the yes/no game where you are given a character or object which is written on a Post-it note and stuck to your forehead. Finding out you are Margaret

Thatcher or Mickey Mouse has never been so entertaining.

You can buy some games, but many use things you already have around the home.

Indeed, it was surprising to me how tough it was to find a plain old pack of playing cards in the toy shop, between the lengthy aisles stacked to dizzy heights with colourful games.

Even a jar of coins can be turned into a fun game, and I remember my Nan would draw targets on a piece of brown wrapping paper which she would lay on the floor in a game which was a bit like shuffleboard.

Equally, quiz games can be hugely entertaining provided children aren’t too young – or the level of the questions is not too hard. The board game version of the old TV show Blockbusters remains a favourite, if only so you can ask for a ‘P, please, Bob’.

There might be some you’ve not heard much about though.

Mantis is a card game involving different coloured insect cards that you collect in your ‘tank’, which you can turn into points by matching from a central pile by saying ‘score’, or ‘steal’ from others who might have more of that colour.

Or, if you want a game to test reaction times, then the German-made game Geistes – which means ghost – is well worth seeking out, as you grab one of five coloured items based on what is not displayed on the card turned over, unless it is the ghost.

But my favourite has to be a card game which my family always knew as Newmarket.

Fish out the four kings from a deck of cards and give everyone a handful of coins, then deal out as many hands as there are players – plus one ‘spare’ hand.

Each player puts one coin into the pot in the middle, and one or two on a king.

The player to the dealer’s left lays down their lowest black card first – Ace being the lowest – and if anyone has the next card, they must lay it. If nobody has the next card in the sequence, then the pattern switches to the lowest red and so on.

If you have a queen in your hand and you get to lay it, you collect whatever pennies have been put on the king of that suit. The person to empty their hand first collects the pot.

Have a go and you won’t regret it. Happy playing!