Board games are huge these days, with sitting down with friends, family and sometimes even random strangers to roll dice and have fun becoming a regular thing. Over sixty-five thousand people attended the UK Games Expo this year, and the traditional board gaming juggernaut does not look like it will stop any time soon. With that in mind, let’s look at some of the board games you might want to pick up for the forthcoming winter season.
Talisman is a classic sit-down and roll-dice fantasy board game that’s been around since the 1980s. Hasbro produced the 5th Edition of the game this year, streamlining the rules somewhat so it actually does take about 90 minutes to play. It’s a visually stunning game, and the new version comes with a pile of miniatures for each of the potential adventurers. Talisman plays more like the sort of board game older folk are used to as you roll dice and draw cards. It’s a handy introduction to games that seem like they have a lot of rules but are fine once they get going. A great family showpiece.
The Last of Us: Escape the Dark
Themeborne has been wowing gamers with its atmospheric and clever Escape the Dark series for years now. These fun, card-based adventure games weave dark stories of desperation and survival with very little effort. Their latest variant, out for Christmas, draws from Naughty Dog’s beloved The Last of Us series. A must-have gift for fans of horror. Or mushrooms.
Adapting video games into board games can be hard, and where does one start with Minecraft? Well, rather than just grabbing a load of LEGO, The Noble Collection has produced a Minecraft chess set. A perfect gift for someone who plays too much Minecraft and needs to stretch their gaming skills in a different direction.
Fantasy Realms: Deluxe Edition
Fantasy Realms is a competitive world-building game. You create your realm one card at a time, adding monsters, heroes, curses and adventure as you go. Colourful, quick to learn and simple yet full of fun ideas, this is a great way to start an evening’s gaming.
Joking Hazard is a fun card game aimed at adults. The aim is to make everyone laugh. The idea is that the cards are panels in the dark humour Cyanide & Happiness webcomic. It’s essentially a semi-random dark joke generator but a board game. It’s fun, but adults only on this one.
Star Trek Discovery: Black Alert
The crew of Discovery face off against their mirror universe counterparts in Black Alert. This is a Star Trek-themed action strategy game for either two or four players, as you try to outwit each other in order to control the ship. Rules-wise, it’s about as complicated as a Star Trek storyline, fun, and quick to play.
Worms The Board Game captures all the anarchy of the ’90s era video game, without needing to dig out your retro games console. It’s produced by Mantic, so it’s that great combo of well-made models and gaming fun.
Blood on the Clock Tower is essentially a super refined, atmospheric and immersive variant of games like Mafia, Murder, or Werewolf. It’s a social deduction game in which you need to figure out who in the group is on the side of evil. Every round, one player is eliminated by the secret monster and his minions. The unique part of Blood on the Clock is that everyone has some sort of power that helps the players figure out what’s going on, and everyone has a good reason to lie. Designed for five to twenty players and one clever storyteller, it’s basically a fantasy-inspired reality TV show in a box. (Also, check out this example of play on YouTube )
Alternately, check out The Traitors card game, which is a quick-to-play social deduction game that uses an app instead of a storyteller. Just in case you needed a portable Claudia Winkleman. See also Top Secret Briefs, another social deduction game from Ginger Fox, with a slightly less paranoid and more family-friendly theme.
If you’re after something cute but quick, check out Dino Days from Farplace Games. It’s a quick little card game where you try and fill your ‘calendar’ with as many dinosaur-related things as possible, using careful placement of the cards in your hand. It also comes in other themes, such as fantasy dungeons, dogs, cats, space, and pirates.
Speaking of short but sweet, Sosig is a game in which you have to build the longest sausage you can using cards rather than a mincing machine. It’s one of those games in which your choices ruin other players’ plans. Frustrating family fun with added sausage puns.
Winner of UKGE’s Best Party Game, How Am I Weird is a party game about breaking the ice through inappropriate behaviour. Basically, it’s a release valve for anxiety, as a brightly packaged card game. See also Anger Smash From the people who brought us How Am I Weird, this is basically a fun social game with light teasing elements. Another socially acceptable way of calming folk down after a long day of arguing over the TV remote.
If you need something a bit more physical, Brains vs Brawn might do the trick, being basically a big box full of props for all sorts of silly tasks. Sort of like Chicken vs Hotdog, but without the innuendo. Speaking of tasks…
Taskmaster: The Official Board Game
Based on the hit TV show Taskmaster, this board game offers players a series of funny and bizarre tasks to complete, challenging their creativity and problem-solving skills.
If you’re looking for an escape room experience in a box, you can’t go far wrong with The Mystery Agency, who specialise in creating original and atmospheric mystery stories told through authentic objects and documents. We recently played their latest, The Man From Sector Six, and had an amazing time.
And finally, for those of you looking for a chess-like game without having to think too hard about Chess, , Zensu is a brilliant choice. Not quite as deep as Chess, with a logic puzzle element to it that makes it quick to learn and play.
