If you're heading out of the city for a summer weekend to visit friends in quieter, leafier towns, you could do worse than to bring a few board games as house gifts. Our picks:

Balderdash, a bluffing game, Wise and Otherwise, similar to Balderdash, but uses little known sayings from countries around the world. Taboo -- you try to name common words without using certain descriptors. And Scattergories, in which you try to list as many items within a specific category in the time allowed.