Many of us have fond memories of boardgames. Squabbling over Monopoly. Spinning the Wheel of Life. The triumph of rolling six-of-a-kind in Yahtzee. If you need a new game to spice up your collection, here's five different ones for a spot of festive fun.
1. For strategy fans – Ticket to Ride
Do you enjoy planning your next move, blocking your opponents and plotting world domination? Ticket to Ride is the game for you.
Sadly, it’s difficult to describe in a way that does it justice. The premise of the game is simple – each player collects cards to create train routes across Europe. There are different points for different routes, and extra points for tricky crossings. But once you’ve learned the basics, there is so much more to this game, plus several expansion packs to keep things interesting.
2. For teams – Sequence
Sequence is basically a mix of cards and Connect Four (or in this case, Connect Five). You place a chip on a space on the board that corresponds to a card in your hand. The aim is to get a sequence of five chips in a row. Jacks have special powers, enabling you to foil the opposition’s plans.
Sequence can be played by two or three single players, or teams of two or more players. It’s an easy game to master so a good one for families.
3. For travellers – Pass the Pigs
Whether you’re on a family holiday or a business trip, Pass the Pigs deserves a place in your hand luggage. Again, this is a really simple game to play.
You throw the two pigs and score points depending on how they land. For example, a ‘double snouter’, with both pigs resting on their snouts, earns you 20 points. You keep throwing until you decide to pass the pigs or until you ‘pig out’ with both pigs lying on their sides, one with its spot facing up. Warning: this game leads to howls of both triumph and frustration.
4. For cartoon lovers – Exploding Kittens
A card game with a difference, this is great for tempting kids away from their screens. Using your cards, you can steal from other players, skip your turn, force the next player to take an extra turn or even see the future.
Just watch out for the Exploding Kittens… and try not to get too distracted by the cartoon artwork – ranging from Tacocat to Abracrab Lincoln and Rainbow-Ralphing Cat.
5. For getting to know people – Pointing Fingers
Which player skipped school the most? Who’s gone skinny dipping? Who’s written bad poetry about a crush? Which of you would be most likely to go to a nudist beach or use a voodoo doll to gain revenge?
Get the answer right and you could score big. But you may well find all the foam fingers pointing to you…
