Checkers, chess, cribbage—these "unplugged games" offer a great opportunity for you and your children to have some extended family fun time together at Thanksgiving.

What happens in your home once Thanksgiving dinner is over? Often, after the final bit of dessert has been consumed, everyone seems to scatter to different parts of the house. Some plop down in front of the TV to watch football, others gather for more talk in the kitchen, and some folks settle down for a nice long nap. In other words, everyone does his or her own thing. It doesn't have to be that way, though!

If you'd like to extend your together time during the Thanksgiving weekend, consider creating a family board game tournament. Think your kids will be bored by board games? Most games you played as a kid - like cribbage, checkers, chess, and backgammon - have been around for hundreds of years. That says a lot about their appeal and staying power! Thanksgiving is a perfect opportunity to show your family how much fun an unplugged game can be.

At first, you may be the only one in your family who is enthused about a Thanksgiving family game tournament. To get past the blank stares when you first mention the idea, consider making a big deal out of it. Create a mini-tournament and have a prize ready for the winner and the runner-up. Prizes can be small and silly, or more serious, if that's what will motivate your family to play. You can print out a set of tournament brackets for four, six, eight, or more players, and write everyone's names for the first round (use a “bye" if you have an uneven number of people).

Because the Thanksgiving holiday extends for several days, it's easier to get through all the rounds of your tournament. Depending on the number of people participating, you can make it either single or double elimination. You can either select one game to play for the whole tournament, or you can play a different game for each round. For example, start with checkers, then move to double solitaire, and then to chess or backgammon. This helps to keep the tournament interesting without making it too complicated for everyone to play!

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