Playing board games is an excellent way to pass the time. If you’re playing with friends, the games will bring out the competitive spirit in each one of you. You will all learn who the sore losers are, which ones are ultra-competitive, and which one among your friends can take a good ribbing.
When playing with your family, the activity serves as great bonding time. This is especially true if you have young kids. The good news is that there are many board games which are suitable for both young children and adults, so you can all play together and have the time of your lives.
Benefits of Playing Board Games with Kids
When playing board games with the kids, here are the benefits that you can enjoy:
- It takes their minds off the Internet and all their electronic gadgets.
From toddlers to elementary school age kids to high school students, kids these days almost always have their eyes glued on tiny screens. It can be a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet computer, a mobile phone or an electronic gaming console. There’s nothing wrong when they’re playing with high-tech gadgets but too much might make them lead a sedentary lifestyle.
Kids are supposed to go outdoors and play, or at least socially interact with each other. With board games, they can take their minds off the Internet and all their electronic gadgets. Find the most old-school board game that you can play, teach the kids about the rules and they would surely have fun playing.
- Young kids can develop their skills on letter recognition, reading, numbers, hand-eye coordination, manual dexterity, etc.
Most parents are guilty of not spending enough time with their kids. With board games, you can spend as much time as you’d like with the kids. For young children, board games can help develop their recognition of numbers, letters and shapes.
They can also learn about grouping, counting, colors, and their visual perception will be developed. There are certain board games which will also help develop their manual dexterity and hand-eye coordination.
- Older kids can learn how to be patient and their social skills will be developed.
Some older kids might think that trivia games or academic board games are boring – so you don’t necessarily have to play those. Even fun, physical games like Twister will help develop their social skills because it’s a game where they will actually talk and interact with kids of the same age or other members of the family.
With board games like Chutes and Ladders, they can learn how with a flick of the fingers, your luck can change for the better or the worse. Competitive kids can learn how to deal with losing, while those who think that they are not as good as the others can strive to achieve more by winning a simple game.
What Are the 10 Best Board Games to Play?
Now that you already have an idea about the top benefits of playing board games with kids, what are the best games to play? Take a look at our list of the top ten best board games that you can play with your friends or family members:
1. Monopoly
First, we have the classic Monopoly game. Over the years, dozens of version of the game has been released in the market including Monopoly: Star Wars, Monopoly: The Mega Edition, Monopoly: The Lord of the Rings Trilogy Edition, Monopoly: The Simpsons, Monopoly: Deluxe Edition, and many more.
For a fun game that the whole family can play, you can stick with the classic version which was first published in 1933! Two to eight players are required in the game where players take the part of land owners. Their goal is to buy and develop their land. Over the course of the game, players gain income when other players visit their property. Money is spent when properties belonging to other players are visited. The winner is the player who lasts throughout the game having the most money (discounted item on Amazon).
2. Battleship
Another classic board game that families or a group of friends can play is Battleship. Designed by Clifford Von Wickler, this board game was first published way back in 1931. From pen and paper, Battleship has turned into the iconic board game that it is today. A couple of players are required and the goal is to deploy ships – with lengths varying two to five squares.
Each player shoots the other’s grid by calling a location, and the opposite player responds with a Hit or Miss. Over the years, dozens of Hollywood movie-inspired versions and variations of Battleship have been released, but nothing beats the appeal of playing the original version which is a true classic (discounted item on Amazon).
3. Chutes and Ladders
Also called Snakes and Ladders, this board game is played best with two to six people, so the entire family of group of friends can definitely enjoy. It’s actually a traditional game from India which was eventually brought to the UK. Players throw a dice and travel along the squares, where they can sometimes climb up ladders or, unfortunately, slow down their progress when they end up on squares with snakes. The first player who ends up at the finish line wins the game (discounted item on Amazon).
4. Sorry!
The original Sorry! game was first released in 1929. Over the years, several variations of the game were released including Sorry! with Fire & Ice Power-Ups, Sorry! Card Revenge, Sorry! The Disney Edition, Sorry! Express, Sorry! Pokemon, Sorry! Revenge Card Game, and many others. It’s basically a slide pursuit game where two to four players race their game pieces from the Start to the Home area. Strategy and luck are mixed in this game because one player can immediately go from the Start to the Home area by using the Backward 4 cards (discounted item on Amazon).
5. Jenga
No list of board games will ever be complete without Jenga, first released in the market in 1983. Best played with two to six players, it’s a tower building game. The goal is to build the tower first, then have each player make a move which consists of taking only one block from any storey of the building – without making the tower tumbledown. Only one hand may be on the tower at any given time. The loser is the person who knocks the tower over once his or her move of removing one block is done (discounted item on Amazon).
6. LEGO Creationary
First released in the market in 2009, Lego Creationary is best played with three to eight people. To start, the LEGO dice is rolled where one of the four building categories will come up. You can get buildings, nature, things or vehicles. There are three levels of difficulty which test the players’ building skills – and other players take turns at guessing.
7. Life
Another fun board game that can be played by groups is Life. The classic version was first released in the market in 1960 and it’s best played with four people. As the name of the game implies, it mimics the stages that a person goes through in life – from college to raising kids, working, buying a home and retiring.
The goal of each player is to acquire the most assets by the end of the game. Working and earning tokens gives players assets, and the first player to complete the course gets additional tokens. If you’re playing this with the kids, you can give them a preview of how they can make certain life decisions based on every move and investment that they make (discounted item on Amazon).
8. Risk
With three to six players, the goal of Risk is to conquer the world. It’s pretty much a mass market war game where players can gain reinforcements with each territory held and controlled. Other players can be attacked when the highest dice is rolled. A player is awarded with a bonus card once the enemy territory is taken over (discounted item on Amazon).
9. Yahtzee
Yahtzee is a classic dice game where up to ten players can join. Once it’s a player’s turn, the dice is rolled up to three times and the goal is to make one of the thirteen categories like straight, full house, four of a kind or three of a kind. The goal is to fill in a score for each of the thirteen categories, although it does not always happen. Total scores are compared once all players entered a score or a zero for all thirteen categories (discounted item on Amazon).
10. Wits and Wagers Family
First released in the market in 2005, Wits and Wager is a board game published by North Star Games. Five years later, Wits and Wagers Family was released, and it’s a simpler version of the original game. Three to ten players are required and the playing time is 20 minutes. To start the game, a question is asked. Everyone writes down their guess, the guesses are placed face-up on the table and are ordered from smallest to largest. A player places Meeples on the guess which he or she thinks is closes to the correct answer. The first player to earn 15 points wins (discounted item on Amazon).
No matter which among these ten board games you end up playing, you are bound to have the ultimate fun with the whole family or your group of friends.