Parlor Games for Friends and Family: 130 Games of Offline Fun

Winner of the 2010 Australian Book Industry Awards Book of the Year for Older Children (age range 8 to 14 years)

Parlor Games for Friends and Family sets out to revive the tradition of indoor family games: push aside the consoles, turn off the telly, and bring some mental stimulation, silliness and laughter, joy and connection back into your living room.

This book is bursting with games of logic and memory, wordplay, card games, role-play, and rough and tumble. Not a single game requires equipment that you won't find in your average home: a pack of cards, a dictionary, an hourglass, dice, paper and pen.

Games are organized thematically and referenced for age appropriateness. All are set out with clear rules and instructions. There are games that will challenge and stimulate you, and games that will have you in fits; games that can last all night, and games to fill that empty half-hour before tea; games for adults and older children, and games for your four-year-old's birthday party.

Parlor Games for Friends and Family, a book for fun-lovers aged four to 104, winds back the clock to remind you of games you'd forgotten and then a whole lot more. Whether you dip into it as the urge takes you or read it from cover to cover, a very good time is guaranteed.

Spiri Tsintziras is the author of three memoirs: Afternoons in Ithaka; My Ikaria: How the People From a Small Mediterranean Island Inspired Me to Live a Happier, Healthier, and Longer Life; and Twelve Golden Gifts: How a Mother's Wisdom and Grace Helped One Family Come to Terms With Her Dementia. When she is not writing words, she rejoices in playing with them. You can find her writing at www.writingspirit.com.au.

Myfanwy Jones is the author of three novels: The Rainy Season, shortlisted for the 2009 Melbourne Prize for Literature; Leap, shortlisted for the 2016 Miles Franklin Literary Award; and Cool Water. She lives by a creek on Wurundjeri Country, in Naarm/Melbourne, and always carries a pack of cards.