Winners have been notified by email. Thanks again to MumboJumbo for the great prizes! Are you a gamer? Our reader Nicole is, and she recently wrote in to sell us on the idea of video games as the perfect, budget-friendly girls night out. We totally agree! Why not take over the Playstation or Wii for one night and invite the girls over to have some fun? Read on for some ideas on how to get your girlfriends together for some video game fun. It’s refreshing to try something new, it’s sure to bring some laughs to your girlfriend group, and it’s low-cost (or even free, especially if you win our game giveaway. Details at the end of this post!)

Surprisingly popular

Now, the Girlfriends-in-Chief do not pretend to be knowledgeable about (or even very interested in) video games. But we both have game systems in our homes, as we know many of you do, courtesy of our darling children. And although we’ve both tried our hand at the Wii, we tend to think of it as a children’s pastime. But we were oh, so wrong, as reader Nicole pointed out:

“I think the ladies are under-represented when it comes to things like video games, and videogames like Rock Band, where you play along on little instruments to a song, are so much fun. There are tons of Rock Band nights across the country where bands of four can compete to win prizes. Harrah’s casinos are hosting some of these events: http://www.harrahs.com/rockband/  It’s free to sign up, and it’s free to play the game. It’s a great way for four girlfriends to spend an evening bonding.”

And Nicole is not alone! We learned that millions of women play “casual online games.” In fact, according to the Consumer Electronics Association, women are almost twice as likely as men to spend 20 hours per week playing games on their PC. Whoa. And, in a 2007 report, the Casual Games Association reported that 75 percent of casual game buyers are women. Most gamers average seven to 15 hours of play a week, and many play as an alternative to watching television. 

Games women like

“We know that a number of our buyers are women,” says Dawn McKenzie, director of marketing for video game developer MumboJumbo. “They’re looking for games that are easy to learn but difficult to master. They’re looking for a distraction after putting the kids to bed or for something fun to do on their lunch break at the office.  We also find that a lot of our buyers are purchasing titles that they will enjoy, but that they’ll also feel good about their kids playing.”  Recommend your favorite girl-friendly games in the comments!

Tournaments to game clubs

There are a couple of ways to approach a video game girls night. One is tournament-style play, where you compete against other girlfriends on the same night. Wii games are fun for this, because a lot of them get people moving. Luxor 3 for Wii is a fun one, and the Girlfriends-in-Chief like the Dancing with the Stars Wii game (always good for some laughs!).

Another approach is to form a “video game club,” similar to a book club. Dawn McKenzie says, “I get together with my friends on Wednesday nights and I usually bring some of our newest titles for them to try out so we can get feedback.  It’s turned into something like a book club of sorts—they’ll play a game until they’ve finished it and then pass it around for the others try—a couple of weeks later we’re all comparing notes on which games we liked and which ones we’re addicted to.” This is also an economical way to try new games—similar to a book swap, you buy one title but you can try several over the course of time.

So there you have it, our quick guide to video games for girlfriends. We hope you’ll give this inexpensive and entertaining girls night a try!

Girlfriends: Do you play video games? Why? What game system do you use and what is your favorite game? Do you think this is a good way to spend time with girlfriends? Spill it in the comments!

And now for our giveaway: MumboJumbo has graciously provided three games that you can use to either host your own girls night, or pass around among your girlfriends. The games are listed below. Please note the game platform for each: 

Discovery! Seek and Find adventure for PC Step up to the wheel, and choose today’s adventure!  Will it be Spain, China, Australia, or one of three other fabulous international hot spots? Each locale hosts three scenes of play with hundreds of objects to find in each level-more than 1,000 objects in all!  Complete a level and spin the wheel to play one of four fabulous mini-games: PriceTag Challenge, Blizzard Bucks, Scene Match Safari or Trivia Takeoff!  

Luxor 3 for Wii   A fun marble-shooter game that has more than 150 levels.  You can challenge your friends to a high-score contest in this Egyptian-themed puzzle game.

Samantha Swift and the Hidden Roses of Athena (pictured above) for PC. This hidden-object adventure game for the PC explores more than 50 levels as you put together the clues and collect all of the Roses of Athena.  Because this is a hidden-object game, it’s fun to play in groups so that you have more than one set of eyes hunting for the list items.  Conversely, this is a great title to pass around in a book-club fashion because it’s very story driven so there’s a lot to talk about.  BONUS—the sequel to this game is going to be hitting the digital portals for download on April 29.    

Three ways to enter: 

1. Subscribe to our weekly email. Please leave a comment telling us you did so.

2. Leave a comment.

3. Tweet or blog about this contest (you MUST leave a comment directing us to the tweet or blog).

Tell us which game you would prefer in your comment, and we will try to accomodate you if you win (no guarantees, however). This contest will remain open for two weeks, until 11:59 PM CST on Monday, May 11. Three winners will be selected at random from qualifying entries. Winners will be notified by email and must respond with a U.S. shipping address within 48 hours or another winner will be selected. Good luck, girlfriends!