9 Great Games for Next to Nothing

3 Games... to spice up a dull car journey

Yellow Car Alert
Very simple and straddles all ages, even bored teenagers. See a yellow car, pinch or kiss the other players.
Go easy on the driver.

Animal, Vegetable or Mineral
Yes, that old chestnut. It never fails. 20 questions and you’re only allowed to answer yes or no. A tip – mineral is the toughest to guess.

Car Cricket
Plenty of versions, but here’s by far the easiest. You bat and choose a colour of car. You collect a run for every car you see in that colour, but if you see a lorry or van of the same colour, you’re out. And the next one is in. Have as many innings as you want.

3 Games...your grandparents might teach you

Farkle
An ancient game from Shakespeare’s days with 6 dice and a cup. Partly poker, partly maths, you can make it as simple/complex and short/long as you like. Ask an elder how to win.

Chinese Checkers
Smarter than draughts, quicker than chess. Spin the board to a diamond shape. Line up your 9 counters in the corner. Black jumps red, red jumps black. The colour left standing wins.

Shove Ha’penny
There is a board and a set of rules, but we were taught the simple way. You get a coin at the edge of a table and give it a tap trying to get as close to the other end as possible without toppling off. If you knock the other coins off and stay on, you get double points. First one to 10 wins.

3 Games...to play after a bottle or two of wine

Truth or Dare
We’ve all played it. Each person faces a testing question and a choice – to answer in complete honesty or do something embarrassing. Remember, you can’t do 3 truths on the trot.

Coins in the Bucket
It helps to wear the right clothes for this one. You have to clench 10 coins between your buttock cheeks, walk 5 yards and let them drop into a beach bucket. He or she with the richest bucket wins.

Twister
It’s worth packing, or you could take a chance and hope there’s one in your cottage. Or even improvise with floor tiles in your cottage kitchen, but beware the sock that slips. And always try to stretch the parts of you that other people cannot reach.