Game Night (27 Feb. 2006)

During a game night Robin gets to meet Victoria. What actually was planned to be a funny night turns quite serious when Barney's former love Shannon gives an old tape to Lily which shows ... See full summary »

Director:

Pamela Fryman

Writers:

Carter Bays (creator), Craig Thomas (creator),

Stars:

Josh Radnor, Jason Segel, Cobie Smulders

Cast

Episode cast overview:
Josh Radnor	...	Ted Mosby
Jason Segel	...	Marshall Eriksen
Cobie Smulders	...	Robin Scherbatsky
Neil Patrick Harris	...	Barney Stinson
Alyson Hannigan	...	Lily Aldrin
Ashley Williams	...	Victoria
Katie Walder	...	Shannon
Mark Derwin	...	Greg
Suzie Plakson	...	Judy Eriksen
Marshall Manesh	...	Ranjit
Michael McNeely	...	Screaming Boy

Storyline

During a game night Robin gets to meet Victoria. What actually was planned to be a funny night turns quite serious when Barney's former love Shannon gives an old tape to Lily which shows the "real" Barney. While watching the tape an embarrassed Barney storms off. When he returns, Barney tells a story from 1998, when he seems to have been a whole different person, and what made him the person he is today. To make Barney feel better, all others also tell their most embarrassing stories.

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Plot Keywords:

new york city

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 February 2006 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Bays Thomas Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

23 min

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

We learn how Barney got his catchphrase "Suit Up" when he's handed a flier advertising suits.

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Goofs

At the Bar, Lily leaves the booth to go talk to Robyn at the bar, using the fourth wall escape route. The booth has always been against the wall entered from the far end.

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Quotes

Barney Stinson: [finishing his story about his ex-girlfriend Shannon] And then she told me about her life. Her and Greg dated for awhile, then split up. Here's the real kicker, Shannon's a mom. She has a little kid named Max. That's crazy. That could've been my kid. But, instead what do I have? My whole life's some money in the bank, some suits in my closet, and a string of one-night stands.
[begins to cry]
Lily Aldrin: Hey, come one. I mean, just because her life went one way, and yours went another doesn't make your life ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

Instead of the usual opening sequence, only the title is shown in white text on black background with a 3 second version of the theme.

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Connections

Featured in How I Met Your Mother: The Yips (2007)

User Reviews

Great

I started watching How I Met Your Mother almost accidentally while I was looking for a new comedy series, especially after the end of Friends. While it I found this series average first, I somehow began to love this show without really noticing. After about 5-10 episodes I noticed that I was very excited about new episodes and that's when it was clear: This is new major comedy.

The episode "Game Night" is my famous episode of the first season, mostly because of the huge portion of Neil Patrick Harris, who really delivers the best performance in this series and who is - in my opinion

• an underestimated actor. I really can't believe that he was not even

nominated for an Emmy.

This is (in my opinion) the best episode of HIMYM to date, chased by other great episodes like "The Pineapple incident" and "Come On".

If you are a fan of HIMYM and missed this episode: Find a way to watch it! It's really worth it.

Torben