6 Family Board Games To Play Not Just For Christmas

Love them or hate them, there is always a good reason for playing board games. They reduce stress, improve memory, logic, and creativity as well as strengthen your relationship with family and friends, giving people a focus for getting together in one place and enjoying each other’s company, in an age when so much of our social lives takes place online.

People have more of a desire to hang around and play games because of the digital age-, said Juli Lennett, toy industry analyst with NPD Group, a New York-based market researcher-. Parents are trying to connect with their kids. At younger and young ages, kids are kind of glued to the screen and I sometimes feel like the only way to get them away from that is to play games. You can’t really be on your screen and play games at the same time.

And although newer games like ‘Settlers of Catan‘ and ‘Pandemic‘ are leading the way, the oldies like Monopoly, Cluedo, Risk, and Battleship still hold places in our hearts. Do you also know there is a board game specifically for middle-aged people? It’s a vintage one called ‘Midlife Crisis: Can You Survive The Game‘ and its punchline is ‘can you survive your mid-life crisis without cracking up, breaking up, or going broke?’. The game was produced in California by The Game Works Inc. in 1982 and was re-released in 1993 selling 700,000 copies. The objective of this hilariously funny and thought-provoking game is simply to make it through your midlife with more money, less stress, and fewer divorce points than the other players, and (most importantly) to avoid having to declare a mid-life crisis where you go broke, get divorced, or crack up before the game is over.

The best family board games to pull out on cold winter nights

You can categorize board games in many different ways, organising them by skill level, player count, theme, and age. That’s why we think it’s important to make sure your game shelf or game closet is supplied with a variety of family board games so you’re ready for any occasion. They are all a great way to keep our brain fit. In fact, according to a recent study from the University Of Edinburgh, people who play board games are more likely to stay mentally sharp in later life.

Dr Drew Altschul, of the University of Edinburgh’s School of Philosophy, Psychology and Language Sciences, said:

These latest findings add to evidence that being more engaged in activities during the life course might be associated with better thinking skills in later life. For those in their 70s or beyond, another message seems to be that playing non-digital games may be a positive behaviour in terms of reducing cognitive decline.

So, shake up family game night with some of these new-classic favourites.

Trivial Pursuit Family Edition Game

With cards for kids and adults, the whole family can get a kick out of this fun-filled Family Edition of Trivial Pursuit! Family members of all ages can test their smarts with question after question in 6 categories. The game’s fresh questions and faster pace make for quick-play trivia, and with 1,200 questions (600 for adults, 600 for kids) you’ll never run out of the learning, laughing fun in Trivial Pursuit Family Edition!

Spontuneous, The Song Game

This board game belongs in every home. Spontuneous will have you laughing for hours. One player says a word and the race is on for the others to sing a song containing that word. Play begins with the Tunesmith turning the timer and announcing a Trigger-Word from his/her Hit-List. The first player who starts singing scores but must sing a minimum of 5 words containing the Trigger-Word. For example, if the Trigger-Word was dawn the first player to begin singing a 5-word portion of lyrics from any song containing the word dawn scores. No talent required.

Catan Junior

This is the kid version of the super-popular board game, ‘Settlers of Catan’. It’s a perfect intro for kids ages 6 and up who are ready to explore the world of Catan. There are no “settlers” around here. Instead, the players slip into the role of pirates who build their hideouts – called pirates’ lairs – all over the islands and set sail to find new places and build more pirates’ lairs there.

Dixit

Dixit is the lovingly illustrated game of creative guesswork, where your imagination unlocks the tale. In this award-winning board game, players will use the beautiful imagery on their cards to bluff their opponents and guess which image matches the story. Guessing right is only half the battle – to really succeed, you’ll have to get your friends to decide that your card tells the story! Every turn, the storyteller will call out a short phrase or word to match the image on his card. Then each player will choose the card that most closely matches that phrase, and then everyone must guess which card the storyteller saw when he invented his brief tale. Correctly guess the storyteller’s card, and you’ll move ahead. Convince everyone else that your card is best, and you’ll do even better. It is brilliant and simple, beautiful and imaginative, and fun for all.

My first Carcassone

This game is a very simplified variant of Carcassonne, which has sold millions of copies and is such fun for all ages. Each turn, you place a tile to build the Medieval city of Carcassonne. As the game progresses, the children of Carcassonne—illustrated on the cards—fill the streets trying to catch animals. Whenever you close a street with one or more children marked with your chosen color, you get to put pawns on the board. The first player to place all their pawns wins the game!

Ticket to Ride

With dozens of international awards and over 6 Million games sold, the Ticket to Ride series is one of the most popular modern board game series to date! It is a cross-country train adventure where players collect cards of various types of train cars that enable them to claim railway routes connecting cities in various countries around the world. Ticket To Ride is also an excellent game for staying mentally agile and it can get quite competitive. A great way to pass the afternoon with some friends.