Let the games begin

My favorite episode of "Seinfeld" is when Kramer and Newman are playing Risk -- the game of world domination. The pair get so power hungry in their plot to overthrow one another that Kramer refuses to leave the unfinished game board at Newman's and takes it with him.

I've never been competitive to that degree, but I've been involved in some heated board-game battles of my own. In college, my friends and I would play Cranium. The game forces players to sing, spell, act, sculpt and answer trivia questions. However, I inevitably ended up on a team with the one person who couldn't sing, spell, act, sculpt or answer trivia questions. If I had to hum "You Are My Sunshine," my partner still wouldn't come through with a correct guess, no matter how big my eyes got or how vigorously I waved my hands in the air as in to say, "Come on! You know this one!" Let's just say I learned to be a graceful loser.

Now, my friends and I get together regularly to play Trivial Pursuit '90s edition. Most of the time we play individually instead of pairing up on teams. The flaw of the every-man-for-himself setup is it leaves me with no one to blame when I get a question wrong -- which is often. Although no one in my group shows any actual skill, the game is no less heated. If someone earns a pie piece it's a rule to rub everyone else's face in it. We show even less mercy when someone gets an obvious question wrong.

Staying in with friends and playing a game is a nice alternative to going out and USA Weekend agrees. Here are some of their tips for hosting a stellar game night:

1. Consider the crowd. For singles, pick a game that will encourage interaction and a little flirting. For couples, pick games that allow them to team up.
2. Decide how many to invite. Five or six should be a good crowd.
3. Pick up a variety of games based on difficulty.