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The Best Board Games To Turn Everyone You Love Against Each Other
Roll the dice on your friendships
If video killed the radio star, then computer games maimed the board game. Over the space of a single generation, family sessions around the dining table, dice in hand, have largely dwindled back to that one unassailable annual stronghold: Boxing Day.
But over the last few years, people have finally started to think inside the box again. Board games are back.
The good news is that these games aren’t just cheap, easy entertainment, they’re also very good for your health. In the short term, they reduce blood pressure and flood your systems with endorphins – the body’s natural “feel good” chemicals – while in the longer term, they help keep your cognitive cogs well-oiled and synapses sharp, staving off the risk of everything from dementia to Alzheimer’s.
As inexpensive slices of much-needed escapism and immersive entertainment, the popularity of board games like Monopoly (originally known as “The Landlord’s Game”) soared during the Great Depression, and then again during the lean days of the post-war years, when a number of future classics were also introduced, including Cluedo and Risk.
For those who haven’t rolled a dice in anger for years (or may still be suffering a little PTSD from Game of Life-induced sibling skirmishes), there’s an exciting, challenging new breed of board games to dive into now - most of which are deliverable straight to your doorstep.
Whether it’s conflict, co-operation or communication you’re after, or simply an excuse to take out some aggression on your mates, these are the very best board games out there right now - boredom not included.
Wavelength
Players: 2-12
Playing time: 30 minutes
Will appeal to: The opinionated and the psychic
How do you play?
This is all about communicating via opinions. You split into two teams, and on each turn one team member shuts their eyes and tries to turn the dial to the middle of that segmented fan in the middle of that rather lovely looking speedometer type thing. The twist is they're being directed toward it by another team member who has seen where the segment is, and they can only tell them how far to go with a single phrase. Each end of the dial represents the extremes of opinion – good and bad, say, or loud and quiet – and it's up to their teammates to work out from their single phrase where they need to turn the dial.
£29.99, johnlewis.com
Anomia
Players: 3-6
Playing time: 25 minutes
Will appeal to: Those with quick reflexes and obscure knowledge
How do you play?
Each player flips over one of their cards at the same time, and each card has one of six symbols and a category on it. Everyone keeps flipping a card at a time until two match. Then, it's a race between the two players to say an example of something in the category on the other player's card. So say your opponent has 'rock opera' and you've got 'website'; you've got to blurt out 'TOMMY!' before they shout 'ESQUIRE DOT COM SLASH UK!' And, naturally, there's all sorts of debates to be had over contentious shouts. Classic party game stuff.
£22, amazon.co.uk
Sagrada
Players: 1-4
Playing time: 30 minutes
Will appeal to: Artistic types with an eye for design
How do you play?
Every player is trying to build their own beautiful stained glass window, though at the start of the game everyone gets secret cards telling them moves they can't make and what they're ultimately aiming to make, as well as some open cards so everyone knows some of what their competitors are trying to do. You build up points by arranging your coloured dice according to both the open cards and the secret ones, and by intuiting patterns as you go.
£37.36, amazon.co.uk
Azul
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 30 minutes
Will appeal to: Lovers of art and design with short attention spans
How do you play?
Somewhere between Grand Designs and Connect 4, Azul sees players tactically choose, switch and trade colourful tiles called ‘azulejos’, in order to complete lines and decorate the walls of an ancient Portuguese palace. It sounds complicated, but is surprisingly easy to get the hang of – and extremely addictive. Plays well and looks beautiful. What’s not to like?
£31.39, board-game.co.uk
Pandemic
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 45 minutes
Will appeal to: Those with some Covid resentment to work out
How do you play?
What’s at stake here is nothing less than the future survival of humanity. The concept is that not one, not two, but four deadly diseases have broken out around the world, and players must combine to fight them. Each person plays one of a number of possible roles – from medic to scientist to quarantine specialist – as you work towards finding cures and vaccines together, before the diseases ravage the planet.
£30.99, board-game.co.uk
Jaws
Players: 2-4
Playing time: 60 minutes
Will appeal to: Card sharks looking to sink their teeth into something new
How do you play?
Released in late 2019, ‘Jaws’ is a fun strategy game based on the classic movie, across a double-sided board. One player menaces the island of Amity as the three-ton great white, while the others go on the hunt as Brody, Hooper and Quint. One thing’s for sure: you may not need a bigger boat for this, but you’ll probably need a bigger tabletop.
£25.45, board-game.co.uk
Jaipur
Players: 2
Playing time: 30-40 minutes
Will appeal to: Competitive couples
How do you play?
Both players are ambitious merchants in the Indian city of Jaipur, with the goal of trading their way up to two “seals of excellence”, in order to gain an invitation to the court of the Maharajah. Involving plenty of strategy without undue complexity, the game focuses on buying, exchanging and selling goods at better prices – while keeping a close eye on your all-important camel herds.
£17, thirstymeeples.co.uk
Ticket To Ride
Players: 2-5
Playing time: 1-2 hours
Will appeal to: Fans of race (as opposed to puzzle) games, suitable to all ages
How do you play?
Inspired by Phileas Fogg’s 80-day journey around the world, Ticket to Ride series challenges players to see who can race to the most cities by train. The trick is to complete as many full routes as possible, while heading off your rival travellers. The speed element means the youngest family member has as much chance as the eldest - while all get a beautifully designed geography lesson en route.
£36.29, amazon.com
Terraforming Mars
Players: 1-5
Playing time: 2 hours
Will appeal to: The scientifically inclined
How do you play?
As the title suggests, this “science future” concept is all about bringing life to the Red Planet. The beauty of it is that you can go full Matt Damon in The Martian and play against the elements alone – or better still, practice getting really good at it, before inviting others to face you. The new New World awaits…
£52.99, board-game.co.uk
Risk Legacy
Number of players: 2-6
Playing time: 1-8 hours per session
Will appeal to: Those with some serious time on their hands
How do you play?
While indisputably one of the best board games of all time, Risk can take hours to complete, as each player struggles for world domination. This fiendish new ‘campaign’ version expands that even further, ensuring the outcome of each game has ramifications on the next play session too, with friendships and loyalties tossed out of the window permanently. The only question is whether you’ll have it all finished - and still be on speaking terms - when lockdown ends.
£51.59, 365games.co.uk
Secret Hitler
Number of players: 5-10
Playing time: 30-60 minutes
Will appeal to: Those who like historical whodunnits
How do you play?
We all have a secret Hitler in the family, and now you can out them over the kitchen table. This cheeky game of political intrigue set in 1930s Germany sees players secretly divided into two groups – liberals and fascists. Known only to each other, the fascists team up to sow discord and install their cold-blooded leader. The liberals, forming a majority, have to deduce who he or she is and stop them before it’s too late.
£44.99, board-game.co.uk
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