Play Joyfully!

Here's a nifty little game that's easy to play and simple to make as a fun housewarming or Christmas gift. My sister made it for us for Christmas and it's called the Joy Game. She made it with little wooden blocks found at the craft store and wrote on them with a Sharpie marker. There are ten sets of three dice, making it playable for up to 10 players. Each die has two of each of the letters J, O and Y. You'll need a bag of your favorite individually-wrapped candies. Then she put it in a cute little tin and included a paper with the game rules:

Players kneel in a circle or sit around a table. Each player is given three joy "dice." Place several pieces of candy on the floor or table. Time the length of play for about three minutes. When the clock starts running, players start rolling their dice. Every time they spell the word JOY on a roll, they may grab a piece of candy from the center. After the candy is gone from the center, players take them from each other. When the time is up, whoever has candy gets to keep it! (Or you can put it back in the center, play a few more rounds, and THEN keep the candy.)

No hiding the can dy to protect it during the game. For added craziness, it's fun to add one or two "special" pieces of candy.

This would be fun as a family night game...easy for all ages to play. It doesn't take a lot of time to set up or to play. You could also make the dice with adhesive scrapbook letters, or you could use other three-letter words besides JOY, like FUN, TOY, WIN, etc. or if you have a three-letter last name. We played it at Christmas with a bag of Hershey kisses and a couple of *extra* yummy candies, and it was a fun grab fest!!

Here's to playing joyfully!