Board Games Aren't Boring
I love playing board games. I love the strategizing, learning how to read people, and trying to guess your opponent’s next move. But most importantly, I love winning board games. Board game parties have become increasingly popular in the last few years. While Scrabble will always be my favorite game, there are so many new fun and exciting games out there. If you are a beginner, or simply want to add a little fun to your next get together, there is a game for everyone.
One of the most popular tabletop games is called Ticket to Ride. Each player draws railway car cards, and destination cards. The players use the railway car cards (which are different colors) to create their own rail line with the hopes of reaching each of their destination. However, another player can block you and prevent you from making it to your destination. The rules are simple and easy enough for kids to play along. It still requires enough strategy to keep adults engaged. Perfect for the whole family. There are several versions of the game including Across the United States, Europe, Nordic countries, and more. Expansion packs are also available to continue to make the game interesting for many years. You can see all the versions and expansion packs available on their website.
If that sounds too complicated for you, there are plenty of shorter/simpler games to play. A couple of fun ice-breaker games for groups are Fuse and Codenames.
In the game Fuse everyone must work together (otherwise known as a co-operative game) to diffuse all the bombs. Each bomb is represented by a card, and the players must work together to form certain combination of dice to diffuse it. It is fun, quick, and really gets people talking. Playing the game lets you get to know each other quickly. The game will “self-destruct” in ten minutes unless all bomb cards are diffused. This is not a game where you can sit quietly and blend in the background, and really gets people to open up.
Codenames is also a fun group game. The goal is for each team to identify their own agents by their codenames. Each team has a spymaster that gives one word clues to their team so they can guess which of the 25 tiles with words on them their agents are. Beware, you don’t want to guess the other team’s agents and get them closer to winning. You have to use creativity and sometimes humor to pick clues your team will understand. There is also a Codenames: Deep Undercover just for adults. These are great games to jump into tabletop party craze, or simply add a little more fun to family game night. All games can be purchased on Amazon.
