There are board games for connecting with new friends, strategy-based games to make you sharper, and age-appropriate games for children. In this sea of fun, picking one to play isn’t always easy.
And I understand the struggle of googling “board games amazon”, “family board games”, and “unique board games” and searching through the never-ending list to find the one that’s right for you.
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That’s why to make this challenge of finding the perfect game easier, here’s a list of 15 unique board games that you can enjoy with your friends and family (also, they’re available on Amazon).
Catan
Catan is a fast-paced, classic getaway strategy game that’ll put you in a competition for victory points. The goal is to see who can build the most flourishing settlements with the given resources.
Players control their civilization and endeavor towards spreading across the board as they gain and trade natural resources like lumber, sheep, bricks, etc.
The twist is, you need to keep an eye out for other players as they might cut off your road and watch out for the robber who’ll try to steal your gains.
Monopoly
Monopoly gives you a chance to get rich and make your opponents go bankrupt while collecting property colors to set and build houses, and if you get lucky, upgrade to a hotel.
The more number of properties you own, the more rent you can charge other players who unfortunately land in there!
Cards Against Humanity
Cards Against Humanity is also popularly known as the party game for horrible people. It’s an adult party game and the right choice for you if you’re into dark humor and pop culture!
In this card game, you and your horrible friends will have to answer weird questions to outdo each other. You need to put down cards that you think fit each round’s topic the best, and whoever gets the most chosen card wins.
Your cards are often a bit risqué as they lack political correctness and can be offensive. Still, this game will bring a laugh riot to your party with a group of people who have a healthy sense of humor.
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Codenames
As the name suggests, codenames is a game of guessing. The goal is to figure out which words in a set relate to a hint provided by another player.
Players are divided into two teams; red and blue. Each team selects a spymaster, while the remaining players act as field operatives.
The spymaster is responsible for giving hints that point to multiple words on a board using one-word clues, and the field operatives attempt to guess the words of their team while avoiding the words of the opposing team.
As you bring out your inner spies with this fun mind-reading game, you’ll also get a deeper understanding of your loved ones and form a better bond.
Scrabbles
This one’s for the spelling bee enthusiasts. Scrabbles is the perfect board game for 2 to 4 people to battle out their knowledge of words.
Approximately 15×15 cells are imprinted on the board, each of which can hold a single letter tile. By using these letters, you must create words that will add up to a certain number of points depending on how many points are assigned to each letter underlined in the word.
Scrabbles is a great game to enhance your brain functioning and develop vocabulary.
Joking Hazard
Joking Hazard is the brainchild of the creators of the hit webcomic- Cyanide & Happiness, and it isn’t made for kids!
The game is designed for three or more players who pit against each other to draw comics about sex, friendship, violence, and everything in between.
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360-panel cards are provided so that players can combine and create millions of awful scenarios and pleasant ones (rarely). Each player needs to build a three-panel comic strip with these cards.
Exploding Kitten
If you’re a cat lover, you may like this game for the opportunity to save kittens from exploding!
Exploding kittens is an eccentric card game that’s extremely easy to learn and is highly entertaining for the whole family to play together.
It’s safe to say you have not played a game like this before; it’s like Russian roulette but with cards! All you have to do is match up cards and avoid exploding kitten cards, disqualifying you from the game.
The cards are humorous with inappropriate yet amazing images; it’s bonkers like Cards Against Humanity but is still more family-friendly and less sleazy.
Jenga Classic Game
Ah yes! The classic Jenga, also famously known as the game that will give you anxiety. It’s pretty simple how the game works: Build a tower, and each player takes turns removing blocks until the entire thing falls.
It has suspense without any real danger, appeals to all ages, is easy to play, and lasts forever.
Playing this game with the whole family is a walk in the park, thanks to its simplicity. It also has educational values if you have a kid; with the help of this game, you can help your child work on their fine motor skills.
Labyrinth
It’s one of the unique board games because of its design- the board has a set of tiles fixed solidly onto it, and the unsettled tiles make up the labyrinth slide in and out of the rows.
In the game, one tile must remain outside the labyrinth, and players must take turns to take in this extra tile and slide it into a row of the game while moving out the other tiles to make this additional piece cross to the other side of the board.
Players move to collect various treasures as they go around the game’s dangling paths. Labyrinth is a simple puzzle-solving game for children, but even adults can play with it to test their skills.
Shasn
If you’re looking for unique board games, Shasn is just the right fit for you! Shasn is a political simulation game that sheds light on ethics and strategy between 3 to 5 players.
The game is played by gathering resources, occupying territory, and forming alliances. At Shasn, you build your party and play as a budding politician and incumbent leader who will do whatever they can to remain in authority.
As a leader, you pass two new laws that will help solidify your rule; the question is, how long can you hold onto that power?
Shasn has different versions according to different campaigns, from Brexit to the republic’s fall (Rome 40 BCE), and you can also customize your campaign.
Hive
Hive has a unique design- a bug-themed board game without a board with numerous possibilities. With this game, you’ll not be playing on a board but on any flat surface.
Here, you’ll be using your pieces to build and capture the other player’s queen bee while protecting your own. It doesn’t require pre-setting and, as each piece is laid down, a pattern is formed that eventually becomes the playing surface.
It has 22 pieces, 11 are black, and the rest are white with a matching variety of creatures that possess a distinct way of moving. The player who surrounds their opponent’s queen while preventing them from doing the same to his queen wins.
Would You Rather?
Would you rather? it’s a hilarious and awkward card game with 100 questions around love, career, secrets, bodily functions and your demons.
You pick up a question in each round, and the other players guess your answer. The element of surprise? If they get the correct answer, you get punished, and if they get it wrong, they get punished.
And if you chicken out and do not answer a question, you get a punishment card and have to do what it says.
Feel free to judge all your friends as they explain their poor life choices, and don’t be a hypocrite and prepare yourself to be judged as well.
Battleship
This strategy game for two players involves arranging ships on a 10×10 matrix confidentially and then locating and destroying their opponent’s fleet. Whoever kills the most ships wins.
It’s a battle on the high seas! So, what are you waiting for? Try battleship now to live your star wars fantasy.
Taboo
A bit like charades, Taboo‘ s a fast-paced, verbal game. You’ll need enough family members or friends to form two teams.
Teams have to guess a word or phrase from a card that says a word or phrase from the deck. You must complete the challenge within a limited time frame without giving obvious clues. The team with the most correct guesses wins.
Mafia
People who like mystery games will enjoy this game, though it may seem a bit confusing at first. I recommend playing it with 8 or more people divided into innocents and mafia members.
After that, the moderator guides the group through steps to determine who kills and who is killed.
Conclusion
In this list, you can find diverse options that’ll help you think creatively and strategically, work in teams, and, of course, interact with those around you, a refreshing change from watching Netflix.
So, ditch the old school games and opt for these unique board games.
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