About the guide
About this practical guide to National Games Week
National Games Week is the Sunday-to-Saturday stretch around US Thanksgiving when people set out board games, cards and dice instead of screens. This practical guide covers the dates, the hosting and the week's own past.
What this guide covers
The guide is built around one practical question: you have a free week in late November and a table, so what goes on it? The answers are spread across pages on hosting a game night, on the main kinds of tabletop games, and on games that suit a Thanksgiving crowd, a classroom, a library or a game store.
A second part looks back. The week began in 2004 as a campaign by a Colorado games publisher, ran for a few autumns and then lost its organizer. The history page tells that story, and the 2005 Top 100 list shows which games people actually reached for at the time.
No organization runs National Games Week today. Whoever puts out a game that week keeps it going, and the guide is written for those people rather than for an institution.
Where the facts come from
Statements about the original week come from what its own pages said between 2004 and 2006: the dates it chose, the advice it gave hosts, the member counts it published after the first year. They are retold in plain words and attributed, so a forecast the organizers made in 2004 is described as a forecast, not as a result.
Related observances, such as International Games Month in libraries, are checked against the groups that hold them, with links where a public page exists. Game names in lists come from the 2005 Top 100 as it was printed. Where a page shows whether a game is still sold, that status was checked in October 2026 and can go out of date.
General advice about play, such as how a cooperative game works or why short games suit a mixed table, rests on long-standing common practice rather than on any single source. No statistic appears without the name of whoever published it.
How the dates are worked out
The week follows a rule rather than a fixed date: it is the Sunday-to-Saturday week that contains the fourth Thursday of November. Every date on the site, including the countdown in the header and the year table on the dates page, is calculated from that rule. For 2026 it gives Sunday, November 22 to Saturday, November 28. Calendar websites sometimes print other dates for similar-sounding weeks, which is why the rule is shown in full instead of a single line of numbers.
How games and stores are chosen
Every suggestion on these pages starts from the table: how many players, how old they are and how much time there is. Games are named because they fit a table or appeared on the 2005 list, never because a publisher asked or paid. Stores are suggested in general terms, such as your local game shop or public library, and the game store page is written for shop owners and their regulars alike.
About the illustrations
The pictures across the site are generated illustrations, made for these pages in a flat, warm style. They show imagined tables, classrooms and living rooms. None of them is a photograph of a real event, person or venue, and none shows a real game box or logo. Each one was drawn for the page it appears on and is not reused elsewhere on the site.
Who edits the guide
Marion Kessler edits nationalgamesweek.net. She decides which topics get a page, checks each date and fact against the sources described above, and signs off on every change before it goes live. Corrections sent by readers reach her inbox first.
Every page of the guide is free to read and print, with no account, newsletter or sign-up of any kind. Questions about a page, a picture or the way something is described go to [email protected].
Corrections, tips and memories
If a date, a name or a piece of advice looks wrong, write in through the contact page with a short note on where the correct information can be found. Tips from librarians, teachers and store staff about what worked at their own game days are welcome too, as are memories of the 2004 and 2005 weeks.
FAQ
Questions people ask
Who runs National Games Week now?
Nobody does. The original organizer, a Colorado games publisher, closed in 2007, and no group has taken the week over since. The tradition carries on because families, teachers, librarians and store owners keep putting out games during Thanksgiving week. You need no permission, membership or registration to hold a game night that week, only a table and a few people who want to play.
How does National Games Week relate to International Games Month?
They are separate. International Games Month runs through all of November and is organized for libraries by the American Library Association's Games and Gaming Round Table. National Games Week is the single week of Thanksgiving. The two overlap every year, so a branch can hold a game night that counts for both, and the library guide explains how to plan one.
Are the illustrations photos of real game nights?
No. Every picture on the site is a generated illustration drawn for the page it sits on. The scenes are imagined: the families, students and store tables in them are not real people or places, and no real game box, brand or logo appears. They are there to show the kind of table each page describes and to break up longer stretches of text.
How do you send a correction?
Send an email with the page address, the line that looks wrong and, if possible, where the right information is published. Corrections to dates and facts are checked before anything on the page changes, which can take a while when the source is an old flyer or newsletter. There is no form on the site; the address is listed on the contact page.
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