7 Best Board Games To Play With Your Friends
Board game nights are such fun way to spend the evening with your mates, there are even game cafes and pubs for you to go if you want to have fun while out drinking as well. Of course you need to chose who you play these games with wisely because your overly competitive may well end up ruining the night if they flip the board.
So what games are best for a night with your mates? I would include Monopoly but that game can turn sour very quickly so lets keep it light and fun. I know not all of these games have an actual board part to them but they are still counted in that game category so don’t penalise me too much for it.
1. Cluedo
If you like your Sherlock or murder mysteries then this game is for you. Chose your character from these 6 funny looking figures, I personally always go for Miss Scarlet because I love a good red dress and the person who plays her gets to go first. Win-win I think.
So for those who have never played I’ll explain it as best as I can, the aim of the game is to figure out who killed the guest, in what room and with what weapon. The answer is the 3 cards that are placed in an envelope and put in the centre of the board, the rest of the cards that represent each person, weapon and room and shuffled and handed out to the players.
With each roll of dice you can move your chosen character around the board to eventually end up in a room where you can guess a certain combination. Say ‘Professor Plum in the billiard room with the candle stick.’
It is then up to the person next to you to show you a card from your guess to prove you wrong. Obviously if they don’t have any cards, it moves to the next player to show you a card, and so on. If no one has any of the cards from your guess then congratulations, you have guessed correctly. But you need to wait until your next go to accuse it properly for the centre envelope.
At this point, if someone else is near or in that same room they can steal your guess and win the game. It causes quite a few fights when it’s happened in our games but you can just get them back in the next game.
Cluedo requires you to pay attention so those that are always on their phone will have to put it down for once. And better than that you can wind each other up by moving each other about the board, you can all pick on one player and keep moving them to your room to accuse them so they can never get to where they were planning to.
2. Battleships
A childhood game that is beloved by all, and can now be played on Facebook which I find odd slightly.
Battleships can be played like you see below, where you put your ships in the holes on the board and you try and ‘strategically’ find the other players ships. Or you could play a more adult version where the ships are swapped to shots. All you need is some cardboard and a ruler to draw your grid on, and shot glasses.
It’s a fun alternative that will liven up your game-night. But of course if you want a more relaxed game-night then you can keep it as just this version you see here. Although I say relaxed, one time I played I ended up getting angry because my opponent decided to not actually put any of his ships in the pinholes for it.
They were rather around the border which he claimed was still on the board… Cheating at its finest.
3. Tension
You know when someone asks you what your favourite film or book is and your mind just goes completely blank and you forget every book you’ve ever read; this game is a lot like that.
Tension has you split into two teams to try and guess as many answers as you can that is on the card read to you. The card has a category on it, say ‘things that are blue’, or ‘Marvel superheroes’, even ‘things often found on a shopping list’. You then have 30 seconds to try and guess as many as you can.
You’d think that it would be easy and doable to get all 10 that are on the card but you’d be wrong. Once you’re under the pressure of the timer your mind goes blank of everything that is blue. And of course some of the answers are more obscure so they aren’t as easy to get.
Tension is such a fun board game to play with your friends and it’ll make you laugh at how stupid you end up being.
4. Twister
There is a board you have to spin to find a colour so I’m counting it as a board game.
Twister is always fun, I mean who doesn’t love getting tangled in the limbs of all your friends and falling over in a fit of hysterics. As long as you are flexible you’ll find the game easy, its the people that can barely touch their toes that make the game great.
If you want to spice the game up a bit and you can afford to get messy, why not make it paint Twister. Add paint to the spots of colour and as you have to put ‘left foot on yellow’, you’ll slowly end up covering yourself and others in the colours of the rainbow.
So if you prefer a more active night get your twister set out and get laughing at the awkwardness of having someones butt in your face.
5. Speak Out
An amazingly funny game I think you’ll agree, if you haven’t played this yet then start.
It’s a game all about tongue twisters; you have to try and pronounce sentences that are already hard when you have the full function of your lips with a mouth piece in that stops you from being able to close your mouth. Makes saying anything with an ‘m’ or a ‘p’ in very difficult.
So get your disinfectant wipes at the ready and get playing. You’ll be laughing at each other endlessly, and there will be plenty of pictures taken I’m sure.
6. Uno
Uno is a game kind of like Monopoly, in that it can destroy friendships if you keep putting down the +4 cards on each other. But other than that… it’s a very fun game.
I think of it like snap, you just have to match the colour or the number that is already down on the table. Easy. But I get told off for thinking of it like snap, and that may be the reason why I’m awful at the game.
The aim is to get rid of all your cards, you want to get them all in that pile on the table so you can be the first to shout Uno and win. But your friends are always going to be trying to stop you so it can go on for a while.
Enjoy the heated game, and hopefully your friendships will survive.
7. Cards Against Humanity
An amazing ‘board’ game (term applied loosely) I think we all will have played at some time or another. It’s a game that can go on all night and have you laughing at each other the whole time. It can also make you very disgusted and shocked in each other that they could think of something like that.
It’s always the most innocent friend that comes out with the most shocking stuff. So beware for a dark horse.
Cards Against Humanity also has a lot of different variations for you to play, you can get just additional packs for the original to make it more up to date. But there is also a Harry Potter version for you to try if you and your friends are massive fans, any card that involves the death of Dobby or Hedwig never go down well.
You could even try What Do You Meme? for something different, but nothing will ever beat the laughs and horror that can be created when you play CAH with your friends.
