Why my family don't play board games at Christmas
There's a fair few games that we can't play any more, either because one family member is too good at them, or because in our determination to win we've buggered them up completely.

Scrabble: My mum's a national scrabble champ. Everyone else refuses to play against her because it's "Not fair". When she's not there we have arguments about whether swear words are double points or cheating.

Monopoly: We don't play for three reasons. #1: Half of us consider free parking money to be 'cheating' and the other half think it's essential. #2: The only set we have is an original mint Star Wars one where you build fleets rather than streets. We're not allowed near it. #3: I haven't lost a game against anyone since I was seven. Again, according to my family, this means it's not fair if I play.

Boggle: We don't play since my brother discovered that if you throw the set at someone, it's like a frag grenade.

Poker/Card Games: My sister-in-law was taught by a Vegas pro. Ergo, once again, "Not Fair".

Pass the Pigs: My grandpa in a moment of pure inspiration superglued the pigs into the 'making bacon' pose, got a new set, and palmed the bacon pair to keep getting the 50 points per game. No-one knows where the shagging pigs have ended up since the boggle set got involved, but I'm sure someone will find them at some point.

At the moment we're playing the 'Dictionary Game', which is kinda like Balderdash except you look up words in the dictionary. I think it'll get nixed soon though, as a few disgruntled voices have started to mutter things like, "Yeh, well Sivvus and her mum already know all these words, don't they?" (Although Mum won the other day by convincing my grandma that 'Boing' was the true phonetic word for two rabbits sharing a bong.)
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Thu 28 Apr 2011, 17:00, 6 replies)

I know your pain
Monopoly is banned for similar reason. I reign supreme. Things came to a head about 15 years ago when I sat down with the inlaws to play a game. Things started badly when the little brother-in-law tried to give me old kent road and fifty pounds for Mayfair. As I politely declined, suggesting anyone that agreed to that deal should seek help, the inlaws were outraged. 'He's only ten' my father-in-law exclaimed. From then on it was the whole lot of them against me. As they each left the game, owing me money they left their estates to the little kid (without paying me off, mind).

I am sure if we could all watch footage of the game now, fifteen years later, the only one who would come out with any credit would be one ten year old boy as all around him adults pushed and pulled fro supremacy. I still won though. Cunts.
(mersault, Thu 28 Apr 2011, 17:39, closed)

That's ridiculous
Ten years old, and you should have at least a basic knowledge of equivalent exchange. Tell them the next time he offers them a week's pocket money to fix the window he kicked a ball through, they should take it.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Thu 28 Apr 2011, 23:45, closed)

Surely...
...making bacon is the worst possible Pigs roll?

Apart from a double pig-out, but that's local rules.
( FridgeBadger, Thu 28 Apr 2011, 18:15, closed)

I thought it was the best
It says, 'Technically impossible- 50 points' on the set that we have. :S
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Thu 28 Apr 2011, 23:46, closed)

Can I recommend...
Some real board games?

Google for Dixit, Ticket To Ride, Carcassonne or - if you're feeling brave - Citadels. You'll not touch the Monopoly box again...
( ousgg is not seeking approval, Thu 28 Apr 2011, 21:57, closed)

We try other ones
But we bicker over the rules so much that learning new games is like slow torture.
(Sivvus trolley collision in the fruit aisle led to a jam, Thu 28 Apr 2011, 23:46, closed)