Michelle Taylor, BellaOnline Classical Music and Asthma Editor

Have you ever seen those commercials where the entire family is sitting around the dining room table playing a game, laughing, and just having a grand old time?

When is the last time you’ve actually done this? With your entire family?

Well, I have the perfect game for you to get started with, AND your kids might actually learn something more valuable than how to rake in money and cheat their sisters out of ocean front property!

“House Rules”, put out by Tyndale House Publishers, was created by “Focus on the Family” – the Christian organization dedicated to strengthening families and relationships. “House Rules” is a board game that involves the entire family divided into two teams. Our family tried it out, and I have to admit, it took some getting used to at first. I would recommend to parents to carefully read through the instructions before gametime, so that you know what is going on, rather than trying to figure it out as you go like we did!

The object of the game is to move through the house on the board. You start in the basement and the finish line is in the attic. Along the way you can get sidetracked by things like “answer the phone” and “go do homework”, which, depending where you are on the board can be good or bad. Another interesting factor in the game are the “Family Rooms”. If one team lands on one of these rooms (meal time, tv room, help find lost keys, family prayer time) then the other team must join them in that room as this is a family activity.

There are 2 types of cards involved as well: “Situation Cards”- which are the real playing action behind the game, and “Action Cards” which give opportunities for extra points, doing silly things, and looking up Bible verses. The “Situation Cards” have six categories on them:
1. Fun and Entertainment
2. House and Home
3. Bible stuff
4. Relationships ad Traditions
5. Run of the house
6. Crazy General
You roll the dice to see which category your question comes from (not how many spaces to move – this is where our main confusion kept coming from!) Then there is a little sandglass timer that is turned over and your team shouts out as many answers as possible to the question. You get to move forward the number of correct answers your team guesses (that are listed on the back of the card that is – similar to “Family Feud”).

The game is listed as players ages “5 and up”. We have a 3 year old in our family as well as our 8 and 14 year olds, and we didn’t want him to be left out, as this was supposed to be a family event; so he got to roll the dice for both teams and was in charge of turning the timer over. He was thrilled and totally felt part of the game. (Plus he yelled out a few answers – mainly just mimicking us, but he thought it was great!)

We had a blast and learned a lot, too. I also learned that it is quite embarrassing to be trumped by your 14 year old son when it comes to Bible trivia! I need to do a better job studying obviously.

“House Rules” can be found at Lifeway Christian Stores and most Christian bookstores as well as Waldenbooks. You can also order directly from Tyndale.com.


House Rules