April 24, 2025

We Are The Hansons: The Ultimate Game Night Showdown!

We Are The Hansons: The Ultimate Game Night Showdown!

It's game time at the Hanson house! On this episode of We Are The Hansons, we're diving into the wild, hilarious, and unforgettable chaos that is FAMILY GAME NIGHT. From epic board game betrayals to competitive Uno throwdowns and made-up rules that somehow work, this night had it all! Join us for stories full of laughs, bonding, and the beauty of turning simple moments into lasting memories. Whether you're a Monopoly mogul or a charades champ, this episode will have you rolling (with laughter)!

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Hey, everyone, Welcome back to another episode of We Are

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the Hansens, the show where family chaos is just part

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of the fun. I'm y A Hansen, and today I'm

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flying solo to bring you a story that will have

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you laughing, maybe crying, but mostly just wanting to gather

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your own crew for the night of friendly or in

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our case, fiercely competitive games. We're calling this episode the

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Ultimate Hansen Family Game Night. And let me tell you,

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when you have as many kids as we do, it's

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not just a game night. It's an event, a full

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scale production that requires snacks, strategy referees, sometimes even a whiteboard,

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and definitely a sense of humor. Planning a game night

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in a house full of kids, from young ones all

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the way up to adults is no small feat. First,

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you've got to pick games that everyone can play and

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actually wants to play. That's already a challenge. You've got Maddie,

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our thirteen year old, who is queen of strategy and

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insists on games like Monopoly and not the quick fifteen

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minute version either. Then we've got the younger ones, who

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only care if they can make noise, build something, or

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crash something and don't even get me started on the

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older boys because they like to be loud. So what

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do we do. There's several different games. We split the

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night into different times of games. So we'll play this

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game at this time, this game at this time. We

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just do it until the games are done. Whoever wins wins,

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so it's like a circus, but it's fun. Sometimes we

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have Uno, sometimes we have maybe Jinga, Sometimes we have Monopoly,

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maybe poker, Pictionary, charades. It's the Hansen Showdown. The Hanson

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Showdown started one night when all the kids were over

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and we made up teams, bigs versus littles, parents versus kids,

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even boys versus girls, and went through rounds of trivia,

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acting challenges in silly dares. It's grown every year since

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now that we have you know, a point system, team

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names scorekeepers, and yes we play games like hun and Monopoly.

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We liked the game Clue. That is the funnest game

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we have. It's always been a crowd favorite, especially when

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it's cold outside. The laughter, shouting, accusations, and cheating mostly playful, mostly,

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and usually someone ends up storming out and coming back

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in ten minutes for snacks. Let's talk about the snacks

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because game night snacks are just as important as the

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games themselves. You want everyone happy and not hungry, but

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also not so hyped up on sugar they're bouncing off

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the walls. That tends to happen a lot. Our spread

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includes popcorn, fruit, pretzels, nachos, cookies, you know, you name it,

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we pretty much have it. Chips and dip is one

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of the favorites. We do a fuel up break in

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between rounds and sometimes that's where alliances form. You'll see

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the kids whispering and pointing, and suddenly someone who was

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losing is now miraculously winning. Coincidence, I think not. We

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don't mind. Honestly, we love watching them scheme and plan.

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It's part of the joy of the game night seeing

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our kids work together and bond, tease each other and

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just be kids. We've got everything from classic games like

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Monopoly and Uno to the new games. Clue, like I said,

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has always been our favorite, and we even make up

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our own games. And when I see somebody cheating, I

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give the mom glare that right there, everybody knows I've

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caught them. One of the reasons I love our family

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game nights so much is because they've become a place

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where we've taught our kids without preaching. We're showing the

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kids how to win gracefully, how to lose with dignity,

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still working on that one a little bit, and how

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to take turns, how to think creatively, and how to

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enjoy each other's company without needing screens. In a big

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family like ours, it's easy for people to get lost

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in the shuffle, but game Night reminds us that every

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person matters, every person gets a turn, and every person

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contributes something to the joy. It is so fun just

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to be able to sit back and watch your kids.

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So we used to play this game. We haven't played

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it in a while. It's called Trivia Crack and it

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is on your phone, but we just read the questions

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on the phone and then we let we go around

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and let everybody answer the questions. We split into like

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two of teams and everyone gets to answer and then

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we see who won. That's a fun game. Granted, you

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still need the screen to read the questions, but we

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make it our own, you name it. We play at Battleship.

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It is so fun. Spoons and we even have made

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up our own games. So with that being said, our house,

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when it's game night. It is loud, chaotic, fun, filled

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with laughter and joy, and we all just have each

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other's company. Sometimes we do have friends that come over.

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We play Bemboozled. The kids really liked that. One last

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week we did Bimboozled with the hot beans instead of

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the nasty ones. The little ones could not do it.

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It had to be the older ones, but the older

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ones still had fun. Now. Of course, once the games

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are over, the cleanup begins. That's a lot because we

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find uno cards everywhere, we find playing cards everywhere, we

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find dice everywhere, a half eaten pretzel under the table,

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and someone has a draw mustache on all the dry

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race markers. The little ones are asleep, the boys are

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arguing over who really won, and Maddie is already asking

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when we can do it again. And that's how we

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know it was a success. And then you got the

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boys that decide that they may want to play play

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on the PS five and they play football. After everything

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gets cleaned up, they're playing football on the PS five

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and they're fighting over who won, or who's winning, or

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who had a trash throw, you name it, it happens.

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Our house is never dull, and I do have to say,

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Family game night at our home is the best night.

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It is so enjoyable and everybody is always like, what

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games are we playing? What games are we playing? We

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play as many games as we can. We have tons

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of games. We even have Aggravation, which is a game

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that has been in our family. Jeremy's grandma started it

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and it's just kind of slid down to the kids.

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So they all enjoy playing that, and it also brings

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back a lot of memories from when Grandma and Grandpa

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were alive, and they get to reminisce on Grandma and

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Grandpa's strategies and how they win the game and what

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dice to pick or what marbles to pick, because there's

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always the lucky marbles. Grandma Darlene and Grandpa Sonny always

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had lucky marbles or lucky dice, and every time they

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had them, usually they won. Grandpa's Sonny liked to sneak

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and cheat, but it was still fun and the kids

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try and do those same things so that they can win.

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So it is kind of neat to see and reminisce

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on times you had with loved ones that are no

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longer here. Another thing is just being together and seeing

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your kids interact with one another is such a wonderful feeling.

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It's like magic. And yeah, they bicker and they pick

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at each other and tease each other. But I could

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not go one night without seeing that because it would

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not be normal. And to us, that is normal, that

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is an everyday thing. So in our hands and home,

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it's absolutely normal and it's okay. And every kid knows

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how to defend themselves and come back with something better

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or funnier, and just listening to them bicker and pick

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at each other, I know they're having a lot of fun.

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So them are some of the things that we like

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to do. Our family game nights are a blast and enjoyable.

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Even our kids's friends that come over tell us that

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we have the funnest home on family game night, and

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we are the funnest family to be around because we

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actually do I'd rather do that, or sit down and

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watch a movie with my family then sit on my phone,

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or you know, anything like that. We even get good

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games of ghosts in the graveyard going with the neighbors.

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It's so fun, so fun, it's like the kids can't

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get enough of it. And by the time we look

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at the time it's already midnight, and we're like, oh man,

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we've really played a hard game of Ghosts in the graveyard.

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But that's all right because it always happens on a

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Friday night or a Saturday night, and you know, it's

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a weekend, so why not have fun and enjoy time

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with family and make them memories. So that's the story

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of the Ultimate Hansen's Family Game Night. It's wild, it's loud,

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it's definitely messy, and it's one of my absolute favorite

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things we do as a family. If you're listening and thinking,

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my family could never do that, I promise you can

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start small. One deck of Uno, one round of charades,

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and you're on your way, because at the end of

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the day, game night isn't really about the games. It's

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about connection, about putting our phones down, looking each other

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in the eye, and making memories that last a lifetime.

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Thanks for tuning in to We Are the Hansens. If

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you could get over to our YouTube channel and subscribe.

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You can also send me a message on our Facebook

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We are the Hansen's Messenger, or you can send me

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an email on our We Are the Hansen's Show at

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gmail dot com. Until next time, make your dice roll high,

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your snacks be plentiful, and your game night be just

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the right amount of crazy