Five games to play on holiday

I always look forward to spending some quality time with my family, friends or other half.

But then there we are lying in the sun, or sitting in the car on the longest road ever laid, and suddenly there’s nothing to talk about.

Bicker about the tidying-up or gripe about Dad’s loud sneeze? We can do that. But real conversations? Real bonding? Now that can be a challenge.

The answer is play. Play’s great. A good game does everything a conversation does and more. Games connect us, challenge us and give us chances to grow.

I have spent my life collecting and creating games that make the best of the little moments, particularly when spent together, and here I’ve pulled together five of the best that make vacations that much more joyful.

So get out there, get playful and make the most of that time with the ones you love.

At the beach

Picture: iStock

Once you’ve jumped a wave, eaten an ice cream and buried Uncle Bill in the sand, lay back on your towel and challenge a pal to a game of Yes/No/Black/White.

The goal: make your opponent say one of the above words, while they do the same to you. “Yeah,” “nah,” “hmmm” and the like are banned.

Winning strategies are many and varied, but I recommend drawing your foe off topic with a strange or personal question and then busting them on a follow-up.

In the car

Picture: iStock

Boring road trips begone. A bunch of games use the world whipping by your window as a resource, not least 1-2-3-Spy.

Here, as a team, spot the numbers one to 1,000,000, in sequential order, without creating them yourselves. So look for numbers in licence plates, post boxes and billboards, but no using phones or looking in books.

This game can go on forever, and it never stops being great. I’m a month into a six-month cycling road trip and have played this continuously since leaving New York. I’m stuck on 103.

On a plane

Picture: Lars Leetaru

Flights are tough. You can’t move, can’t cough, God forbid you laugh too loudly.

Pack a pen and paper in your carry on to play a few rounds of Squiggle Challenge.

One player draws a random shape on a page and the other must finish the drawing, turning the squiggle into something recognisable. Colours, details and word balloons are encouraged.

Even more fun: draw the exact same squiggle on a few bits of paper and see the different interpretations from different players.

For the grown children

Picture: iStock

Stop pretending you’re too old to play. Once the children are in bed, have a cheeky round of Fibber.

Each player works from a prompt (say, “my most embarrassing experience”) to tell a true story about their past. However, they must include one lie, big or small, which they’ll try to get past the other players.

After the story, the other players have a chance to ask a few follow-up questions before each making one guess at the lie.

Like all good games, there is a “drinking” element which you may or may not choose to impose.

For the little ones

Picture: iStock

Wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, it’s never the wrong time to play The Floor is Lava.

When any player yells those four doomed words, all players have five seconds to leave the ground permanently. Only once the original player says “All clear!” may you return.

This game is best played over weeks and months, in parking lots and halfway up actual volcanoes.

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