Last week, I talked about some of the ways that you could embrace the winter or try to stave it off a little longer, but it appears that Jack Frost may have had other ideas. In fact, when I got up yesterday morning, it was a degree below zero with a wind chill of 15 below, and there were parts of New England where the actual temperature was nearly 25 below with a wind chill of who knows what. As a result, it’s clear that the winter is here with a vengeance, and ignoring it until it goes away is probably no longer an option. However, if you are stuck in your house this weekend because of the cold weather and you’re looking for something that you can do without opening your door (and turning your home into an icebox), look no further.
1. Board Games
When it comes to board games, people typically fall into one of two groups. The first group are the people that immediately think about how much fun it could be to try a new game or play an old favorite, and if you belong to this group, you should keep reading. The second group are the people that see the word “board” and immediately think it was misspelled (this group believes the correct spelling is actually “bored”) and if you fall into this group, I highly recommend that you skip this suggestion and move onto suggestions two and three. However, if you are one of the fine, upstanding people that belongs to the first group, board games can be a great way to keep you, your significant other, your friends daring enough to brave the cold, and/or your children entertained for hours on end.
In fact, you can always pull out an old classic like Battleship, Chess, Checkers, Clue, Monopoly, Risk, Scrabble, Sorry, Twister, or any variation thereof; or you can try a new game like King of Tokyo or King of New York if you’ve always wanted to be a rampaging monster, Pandemic if you’ve always wanted to be part of a team tasked with stopping a deadly outbreak, Power Grid if you’ve always thought you could handle a region’s infrastructure better than the power companies, or any of a countless number of other games. Best of all, if you don’t have one of these games, you can always find them at a local department store, comic book shop, hobby shop or, if you’re really determined not to leave your house and you’re a member of Amazon Prime, you can always pay the $3.99 for one-day shipping and have your new game tomorrow.
2. Video Games (Online or Otherwise)
If you would rather play a video game than a board game (or you prefer your board games when they are on a TV screen), you may want to check out some of the sites that will allow you to play or purchase video games. If you’re looking for free video games, you can always try out sites like ArmorGames.com, Kongregate.com, and/or Newgrounds.com. Armor Games and Kongregate both offer thousands of free games, many of which are user-submitted. These games include action, adventure, puzzle, RPG, shooter, strategy, and sports games. Newgrounds also offers thousands of free user-submitted flash games in addition to user-submitted art, music, and flash movies.
If, on the other hand, you would prefer to purchase a game rather than just play it in your browser, you can always try Amazon or Steam. These sites have a number of games that you can purchase (usually at a discounted price) and download as soon as you pay.
3. Movies / TV
If you’re a movie buff who would like nothing more than to just sit in your chair and watch your favorite films, you can always just grab a pile of DVDs from your closet or movie rack and go to town. However, if there’s a new movie or TV series that you would really like to see, but you don’t have it on DVD yet, you can always try Amazon.com, Hulu.com, Netflix.com, or the On-Demand services for your television provider. These sites and services often have some (but not all) of the latest movies and television shows, and they will typically allow you to watch them immediately for free, a one-time fee, or as part of a service with a monthly fee.
Photo credit: Luis Hernandez – D2k6.es / Foter / CC BY