My best friend refuses to play Apples to Apples with me.

For those of you unfamiliar with it, Apples to Apples, according to Wikipedia, is a “party game.” Each player has a certain number of cards, each printed with a noun. A rotating judge places a card with an adjective down and all other players chose a noun of their cards they think best matches the adjective, and the judge chooses the best match.

The matches can be serious or funny. The classic example is matching “Helen Keller” with “Touchy-Feely.”

So why does my best friend refuse to play with me? She says I’m a budding litigator and that I feel the need to argue the judge down each and every round.

This is true. I have a competitive edge that comes out when I play board games. It’s hereditary. My mom hates playing games with my dad and I because we inevitably end up in a shouting match.

But besides this competitive side, or maybe because of it, I love board games. This Christmas saw the revival of the classics: Trivial Pursuit and Scrabble. Being the word geek that I am, I love Scrabble. I also love Blurt!, the word racing game. Players race to see who can come up with the word matching the definition out loud.

I always remember this time a year just how much I love board games. We play Trivial Pursuit with my cousins on Christmas night and the game is intense. I also end up playing with friends while eating birthday cake every year.

During the rest of the year, games get lost in the shuffle, but when I find someone to play with, that competitive thrill comes rushing back.

Anyway, I’m not the only one who loves board games. The London Times just ran an article about the popularity of board games, especially during recessions (you can read it by clicking HERE. The upshot of the article is that board games are great for family time, are more memorable than video games and are just all-around awesome.

Favorite board games anyone?