Hasbro Board Game Night: Frugal Fun & Games

A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to host a Hasbro Game Night House Party. This came at the perfect time—a few local Twitter friends & I absolutely needed to get together. We quickly put together a girls night in—sponsored by Hasbro!

Of course, even without the House Party goodies, a game night in is great for frugal fun. A few snacks, drinks & board games you already own will be enough to entertain your friends throughout the evening.

Since this was a House Party, though, we had the chance to try a brand new game—the latest Trivial Pursuit game will be in stores later this summer. My party kit arrived a few days before the event and included:

• Trival Pursuit: Bet You Know It
• Taboo
• Catch Phrase
• Wheat Thin crackers
• Triscuit crackers
• Hershey’s Pieces
• Coupons, coupons and more coupons (Do they know me, or what?)

I added my standard party fare of chips, queso and cocktails—Pina Colada Punch in homage to the beach trip I was taking the following week (more on our budget vacation later!). Once everyone arrived, we settled around the table, where I had set out my new Hasbro games. I wasn’t sure we’d ever get around to playing once we started chatting, as frequently happens with my House Parties, but we decided to give the new Trivial Pursuit a shot.

Three hours later? We had played all three games! And, shared more laughs than I’d had all month. Much of that is the company, sure, but Bet You Know It lends itself well to an evening with good friends. Most Trivial Pursuit games leave me feeling a little (okay, a lot) moronic, but this is much different than any other. It allows you to play a bit to your strength, earn chips by knowing your friends well & buy the pieces that stump you with the winnings.

There is still plenty of your typical Trivial Pursuit fare—you circle the board in pursuit (oh, ha ha! I never noticed that before.) of filling your pie with 6 colored wedges. And, the colors & categories are apparently the same as always. Gotcha Baby happens to be an expert at colors & categories so we never even needed to consult the chart. I suppose it should come as no surprise that she was the big winner of the evening!

We also played Catch Phrase & Taboo—these games were not new to me, but I somehow didn’t own them. Both are always good for laughs. Although, the Taboo buzzer is extremely irritating at best. Unless, of course, you get to buzz an opponent! Catch Phrase is electronic—it’s part Taboo, part Hot Potato and a whole lot of fun.

Plus, it’s part of this month’s board game deal at Amazon. Get a free Sorry Revenge card game when you spend $25 on participating Hasbro games. And, as always, you get free shipping with a $25 purchase! There are a lot of great games on the list. What’s your favorite?