Looking for friendly competition? A good time? A chance to make fun of your brother forever? It’s your move.

Both Kelly Wilkinson and her sister Rhonda Hoyt can recall in vivid detail a night that has since gone down in the annals of their family’s history.

On that night, their brother Curtis picked the word “list” from the Pictionary game deck.

“Most people — women, anyway — would have drawn a grocery list,” says Wilkinson.

Curtis drew a boat listing to one side, and no one on his team had the slightest idea what his illustration was supposed to represent. The incident has become a family joke that Curtis hasn’t lived down more than a decade later.

“You have to think simple when you’re playing Pictionary,” Wilkinson says with the air of a seasoned athlete admonishing a rookie.

Wilkinson, Hoyt and their other three siblings, all of whom live in Buckfield, have been getting together once each season over the last two decades for a regular family game night, though they use the term “family” loosely.

“There are a few people who have been adopted into the family — our kids’ friends, mostly — and we always include them,” says Wilkinson.

It’s not unusual for as many as 20 people to show up for game night.

“I call it controlled chaos. We have a full house and 5 million dogs running around,” says Hoyt.

“We get crazy and screaming and, oh my, we get competitive. As the night goes on it seems like we get even more competitive.”

Wilkinson says she and her siblings were all athletic growing up. As they’ve gotten older and stopped playing team sports, game night has been a great outlet for their competitiveness.

Though the group likes to try new things, Pictionary, the game requiring players to draw a picture representing a given word for their teammates to guess, is one of their favorites.

“None of us are artists, but when you get sisters together on a team, some of us are really good at guessing each other’s drawings. It’s like we can read each other’s minds,” says Wilkinson.

Hoyt seconds that.

“My sister Terry and I aren’t allowed to be on the same team, because we think alike and we kick everyone’s butts,” she says.

The family began their game night tradition not long after losing both of their parents, about 20 years ago.

“We’ve always been a close bunch, anyway, but this has kept us from drifting apart,” says Wilkinson.

“We’re really lucky. Some people don’t like their siblings, but they’re missing the boat.”

The family had tried monthly potluck suppers, but with kids in sports and other obligations, it just got to be too much to maintain.

“Game night a few times a year was more manageable. Everyone knows when it’s game night to make a point to be here, because it’s so fun,” says Hoyt.

“I just like being with my family. I think it’s really important. Otherwise we wouldn’t see one another. It’s kind of a lost art,” says Hoyt. “People don’t have to visit anymore. If you want to know what’s going on with someone, you just look on Facebook.”

The family board meeting

In this age of online communication and on-demand entertainment of every stripe, good old-fashioned game nights, whether with family, friends or some combination of the two, are alive and well in central Maine.

For the last 19 years, Cheryl Robert of Auburn has been meeting with about 10 other members of her family — parents, aunts and uncles, cousins, siblings — one Saturday night each month for game night.

“We really only saw each other around the holidays and we wanted to find a way to see each other more often,” says Robert, adding that her family members are also her best friends.

“Everybody knows everything about everyone and you can just have fun and be yourself.”

Robert’s family members take turns hosting game night at their homes, and the host gets to choose the game.

Because of the size of the group, Robert says her family prefers fast-paced games with simple rules, and “not too much down time.”

“Keep it light. Nothing too complicated. You can’t play, like, Clue or Monopoly with 10 people, or games like Risk that take too much thought. People won’t talk,” she says.

Her only complaint is that she’s the only person in her family who enjoys trivia games.

“Everyone says I know more than them, so it isn’t fair,” says Robert.

So why not pick trivia games when it’s her turn to host?

“Because I’m 45 and I still have to listen to my mom,” she says with a laugh.

Robert’s family does get competitive. For instance, when the group plays Pass the Pigs — a dice-style game played with two pink plastic pigs that get “rolled” and earn players various point amounts depending on which body part the porcine pieces land on — one family member uses a magnifying glass to examine their positions more closely before awarding points.

“They all want that dollar,” Robert says.

That’s the maximum amount any player can win, with everyone wagering a few cents per game, no matter what they’re playing.

Though they’re competitive, area game night veterans say they never let it become personal.

“We don’t get mad. We get even. We try that much harder to win next time. It’s all in good fun, and if you can’t have fun, why bother?” says Hoyt.

Robert’s daughter, who was a newborn at the time her family tradition began, was the only child in her family to participate in game night.

“As soon as she was old enough to understand the rules, she joined right in. She learned right off that it was all just for fun and to let it roll off her back,” says Robert.

Wilkinson and Hoyt’s family works hard to find ways to include kids in game night as early as possible. Adult teammates help younger players when it’s their turn.

“It’s how they learn. It’s good for them to be able to interact with everyone and not get told to ‘go play’ or ‘go watch TV and don’t bother the adults.’ It helps them become more connected with each other and with their aunts and uncles,” says Hoyt.

A family member recently bought Pictionary Junior after it became clear that one child didn’t understand all of the words in the standard game. Adult players still pull from the original set, but allowed the kids to use cards geared toward their age group.

Board games’ long history

Humans have been playing board games since at least 3500 B.C. One of the oldest known board games in existence was Senet, an ancient Egyptian game similar to chess, though historians know of dozens of other games thought to have been invented during the Bronze Age or earlier. A few, such as Go and Pachesi (branded as Parcheesi), are still played today.

Playing cards were probably invented in Tang Dynasty China by about the 10th century, before spreading into Europe a few hundred years later. Those were widely mass-produced early on using wood-block printing.

Commercially produced games hit the U.S. market in the 19th century. The board game Traveller’s Tour Through the United States, published in 1822, is believed to be the first, ushering in countless others.

Popular games throughout history can be broadly classified into games of chance, games of skill and games of strategy, though most games today combine two or more of these elements.

The dice game Yahtzee, for instance, may seem like a game of chance, but players must strategize which dice to keep on each roll, and where on their score sheets to record points for maximum scoring potential.

Many strategy games involve some element of diplomacy between players, as well. For instance, players must use diplomacy when bartering for properties in Monopoly.

Monopoly, along with Life, Mancala, Yahtzee, Cribbage and Nertz — a fast-paced card game requiring multiple decks — are among the favorites played on regular game nights by Briana Powell and her family.

The mother of four in Turner has been having game nights with her kids, ages 2 to 11, for a couple of years.

“We needed to find a way to turn off the TV. They don’t need to be sitting there staring at it,” Powell says of her motivation.

Along the way, she found that the games were a great way to reinforce the skills they were learning in school — reading, math and critical thinking.

“An added benefit to the games is the learning aspect. Many of the old games give an opportunity to practice math and reading skills, and the players don’t even realize it. If they need help in math, cribbage is the way to go,” she says.

Powell used to teach, so she knows that extra boost is important.

“Teachers can’t do it all alone in the classroom. They need help from the parents at home.”

What Powell’s kids enjoy in a game tends to be the same things other families do: fast-moving games with short rounds and little down time. She tried to introduce her kids to Risk, but found they struggled with it.

“You have to do a lot of thinking ahead, and I don’t know if they’re ready for that yet,” she says.

Good food — a game night essential

While board and card games are the staple of game night, some area families like to mix it up. In Wilkinson and Hoyt’s family, when the weather gets nice, game night sometimes moves outside.

“In the spring, when everyone’s got cabin fever, we play washer toss,” says Hoyt.

The game is like a smaller-scale version of horseshoes. Teammates take turns trying to land metal washers inside an upright PVC pipe.

“It’s a hit when everyone needs to get outside and just do something. It’s a good time,” says Hoyt.

Aside from good games and good company, area game night enthusiasts say good snacks are a crucial ingredient.

Robert’s family used to try to have potluck dinners during game night, but the meals just became a distraction from the main event. Easy, portable snacks, such as cheese and crackers, chips, and adult beverages are always appreciated, though.

Sometimes the refreshments can even become part of the competition.

“If it is a big game night, usually Friday or Saturday, we will have candy and/or popcorn. We pull out the air popper, which is entertainment in itself. (The kids compete) to be the one to announce the first kernel has popped,” says Powell.

“We experiment with different flavors and spices. Their favorite is still plain or butter.”

Powell recommends game nights for any family as a way to promote togetherness.

“Your kids will know that you want to spend time with them, and that’s something they need more than they may let on,” she says.

“Just do it. There’s no excuse not to,” Robert advises.

“It’s a good way to stay connected. These are the only people who will have your back and always be there for you,” she says.

Got game?

Sure, we all know the classic games: Card games including poker and bridge, and board games including Monopoly, Life, Scrabble, Clue and Pictionary.

Looking for something else? Read on for some of America’s favorite — or most interesting — games right now.

Apples to Apples is a card game in which players proffer red cards bearing nouns they believe best match a randomly drawn green adjective card. Players take turns acting as the judge for each hand, determining which of their fellow players’ answers should win the green card. Strategy involves knowing what type of response — humorous, serious, surprising — each judge likes best. At the end, the player with the most green cards wins.

Bananagrams is a free-form cousin of Scrabble. Individuals or teams draw letter tiles from a banana-shaped pouch and compete to see who can use up their tiles first by creating grids of interlocking words.

Bunco is a dice game based on pure chance with no element of strategy. A very old game, Bunco has seen a recent resurgence in popularity over the last decade, and has been described as “the housewife’s drinking game.”

Cards Against Humanity is the misanthrope’s Apples to Apples. Players match words or phrases on white answer cards in their hands to a randomly selected black card bearing a question or fill-in-the-blank statement. The object is to come up with the most humorous, shocking, inappropriate or poignant response, as judged by the player who drew the question card.

Cranium, billed as “the game for your whole brain,” is a party game that requires players to engage in a variety of tasks — involving creative art, trivia, word games and charades-type activities — to advance their team’s token along the playing board. Players may be asked to sculpt something out of clay, hum a tune or provide the correct answer to a historical question, among other challenges.

Fluxx is a card game like no other. In addition to game play cards, the deck also includes several cards that, when played, change the rules mid-game, with maddeningly disruptive results. Just when you think you’re winning, the object of the game changes!

Forbidden Island is the perfect game for people who aren’t particularly competitive (or who, perhaps, need to tone down their aggressively competitive natures). Instead of playing against one another, players band together to beat the game, itself. Players are a team of explorers who must cooperate to rescue priceless artifacts from a sinking island before everyone ends up in a watery grave.

LCR, short for “Left Center Right,” is a game of chance that uses special dice. Each die is marked with the letters L, C and R, plus three dots. Each roll determines whether players give chips to the player on their left, their right, into their own pots or, upon rolling a dot, no one. The game ends when one player has all of the chips.

Mad Gab is a game in which players pick random cards bearing strings of nonsense phrases that sound phonetically similar to common figures of speech. Teams must guess the correct answers based on the humorously garbled clues. Think that sounds easy? Dawn bees hose hilly!

Ticket to Ride is a fun historical romp in the flavor of a Jules Verne novel. Players catch rides on a succession of “trains” across a game board representing North America during the age of the steam engine, competing to see the most cities in a single week.

Settlers of Catan is a strategy game in which players collect resources to build roads and settlements. The winner is the player who builds the most prosperous colony the fastest.

Screw Your Neighbor is a simple card game in which players are dealt a single card. Game play consists of one round in which each player can choose whether or not to switch cards with the person to his or her left. The goal at the end of the round is to be the person holding the highest card.