Seven Boardgames Everyone Should Own
I love boardgames. Actually, it’s not really the games themselves which I like–it’s the social experience which accompanies them. These days it’s hard to get people together just to shoot the breeze; people become bored quickly and need to “do” something. Playing games satisfies that urge, while giving you cover to enjoy time together. Besides, some games are really excellent.
Unfortunately most people’s idea of a boardgame is chess, monopoly, or clue. But there is a whole world of games infinitely better than those “classics.” I’m constantly trying to introduce people to these games, so I put a list of favorites together:
Lost Cities: This is a 2-player card game which plays in about fifteen minutes where you try and “invest” in successful expeditions to find “lost cities”. Sounds lame, which is why it’s such a surprise how enjoyable it is once it picks up steam. It’s full of agonizing tension, there is sly interaction with your opponent, and the rules are really simple. This is known as the “couple’s gateway game” because its famous for getting couples who don’t play boardgames interested in them.
Moods: This is a loud party game for 4+ people which plays in twenty minutes. In Moods, you take turns reading quotes (e.g. “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself”) in a particular mood (e.g. “Flirtatious”). As you can imagine, things become really, really funny. Meanwhile, everyone else has to guess which mood you were portraying from ten choices. Players advance when they choose correctly. This is definitely one of the five best all time party games. Best for people who know each other well.
Times Up: This is an insanely loud, raucous party game where you’re trying to describe famous people to your team, which has to guess them. But things become tricky as the game progresses, and you becoming increasingly restricted in what you can say and do to describe them. At first you can talk freely (e.g. “He starred in Terminator!”), then you can only use a single word (e.g. “Terminator”), and finally you can only motion (e.g. [make a gun shape with your hand]). It sounds so simple but is amazingly hard. A very popular game.
Ingenious: This is a quiet thinking game for 2-4 players. It plays in 35 minutes and is really beautiful. It’s kind of like colored dominoes, you lay small pieces on a large board and try to arrange them such that a row of identical colors is formed. The longer the row, the more points you score. It’s hugely satisfying when you place the “perfect piece” and score a boatload of points. The game quickly becomes very tense as the board begins to fill up and the scoring possibilities become limited. It’s amazing how you can have 30 minutes of deep concentration in near silence, followed by five minutes of screaming as people are boxed in and suddenly realize they’re in deep trouble. It’s fantastic and very simple.
Things: This is a bluffing/party game where everyone secretly writes an answer to a question like (”Things you don’t want to know about grandma…”). People write things like “bra size” etc. Someone reads all of the answers out loud, and you must go around and try to associate each answer with a particular person. The answers themselves are often funny, and then the incorrect accusations become hilarious. You’ll quickly find yourself trying to concoct answers which “frame” other people–as if they would have written them.
Catch Phrase: This is another loud party game. Here you are passed a hot potato type device which gives you a word (e.g. ‘umbrella’). You must describe that word to your team, which must guess it. Once they guess it, you pass the device to the other team which gets a new word and repeats the process. You keep doing this, trying to get rid of the hot potato, until it’s timer expires. When time expires, the team NOT holding the device, scores a point. So simple–yet crazy fun.
Villa Palletti: This is a building/dexterity game which plays best with four players. In VP, the group is collectively building a tall tower, and each individual is trying to move as many of their supporting wood pieces to the top floor of the tower as possible. As the tower grows, the “top floor” keeps changing and you must move your pieces upward to the new top. But be careful, if you move a critical piece — you’ll topple the whole tower. VP is super tense: the tower could fall in a giant crash at any moment. There is much laughter as players attempt absurd moves (and pull them off), and much chatter as players warn each other to stop shaking the table, breathing so hard, etc.
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