Winter is coming - so it's time to ,look for some indoor entertainment to share with friends and family. If recent PAX events are any indication, board games are back. This week, there are stacks of great deals including Game of Thrones Monopoly and more.

There are different opinions on the question of how competitive you should be when playing board games with your children. On one end of the spectrum, there are parents who let their kids win every time, determined to protect their fragile souls from the crushing agony of defeat.

On the other end, there are those who shout “BOO-YAH! IN YOUR FACE, SUCKA!” as they advance ahead of their offspring in Monopoly Junior. Most mums and dads probably fall somewhere in the middle — they might go easy in the beginning, and then up their game as their young opponents become more skilled.

The best way to help young kids understand maths concepts isn’t by standing in front of a white board and rattling off multiplication facts. Rather, it’s by letting them see maths in action. Board games are a great way for little learners to get a grasp on skills such as pattern recognition, spacial reasoning, problem solving and visual perception.

Here are some of the best board games for kids under 8 that encourage mathematical thinking, according to maths educators and parents.

Now that we're past the busy period between when school holidays start and we have Christmas and New Years events to fill in the days, many families are struggling with keeping the younger members of the family busy. The ongoing chorus of "I'm bored" is being sung loudly across the land. So, what can we do to fill in the last three weeks before school holidays end without breaking the bank?

There are currently over 100,000 board games listed on Board Game Geek, the tabletop world's equivalent of IMDB. That's a lot to choose from. Wandering into your local department store is going to give your some truly disappointing choices and browsing your friendly local game store can be overwhelming. Here are some great board games that anyone from veteran to rookie can enjoy.

Usually these days we see cheery or campy old franchises getting a gritty, modernised reboot - but have you ever heard of the opposite happening? The version of the Game of Life we know today is a cute little board game where you collect children, accomplishments and wealth indiscriminately in order to become the winner. Of Life. The original, however, was far more depressing and probably more accurate to real life - as well as finding success, you could also end up in ruin, poverty or even suicide.

King, Queen, Bishop, Knight, Castle/Rook, these pieces all make sense in an ancient game of strategy, right? And then there's the whole row of pieces that are just... pawns. Yawn. As it turns out, they haven't always been so homogeneous - in one version of the game they all had their own titles and backstory.

Board games teach kids about rules, sportsmanship and strategy. Children love games, and more than likely, you, their parents, will be playing a lot of these games with them. Why not try the ones that are fun for adults as well? Here are some games that take the boring out of child’s play, for every age.

Merriam-Webster just updated the official Scrabble dictionary for the first time in four years (buy it here), adding some new words like bizjet (opening with the plural bizjets gets you 120 points) — plus some old words that are finally deemed playable, including OK, ew, zen, and qapik. These new words will change gameplay, and for a little while, they might give you a new dickish way to win a Scrabble game.

Scrabble players can now play the word "OK," according to the latest update to the Scrabble dictionary released on Monday.
Experts are saying they new addition could change how Scrabble is played and lead to entirely new strategies.

Monopoly has released an official Cheaters Edition in Australia. Although there have been a whole lot of special edition Monopolys over the years, none have been quite like this. It has been made with the accurate assumption that loads of people cheat at the game, so why not write it into the rules?

Board games are part social experience, part game. Sometimes you just want the game without the social aspect. These mobile adaptations for iOS and Android offer a different way to enjoy some of your favourite board games anywhere, anytime.

When a board game's box says that it supports two to seven players, that only means there are enough components in the box to support that many players. It does not mean that you'll have a good experience at all player counts.

Here's how you can find out what player counts a game should be played at.

When you try to find some adult only board games the options available look sparse. You can giggle over the word 'penis' in Cards Against Humanity or Codenames: Deep Undercover or you can try some of these great games that are definitely not kid-friendly.

Got an itch for board gaming but can't convince your friends play? There are plenty of friendly public board gaming groups around Australia that you can join, and a Boardgamegeek user has made a map to help you find them.

Modern board games suffer under the stereotype that they're full of bizarre rules minutia that takes hours to learn and strangle all the fun out of things. That couldn't be further from the truth with these simple yet challenging games.

Sometimes you need a fair and equitable way of deciding who goes first in a board game, which child has to have a bath first or you need a way to divide people onto teams. You could draw straws or you could use Chwazi.

Tomorrow is International Tabletop Day! It's time to grab some buddies and head to a local game store, coffee shop, or book store and play some board games. Here's how to find a gathering spot near you.

G'day! Here are some cracking deals for Lifehacker readers today including the strange combination of cheap undies and board games from Amazon, tshirts, fried chicken and more.