Board games night ideas

Win or lose, time spent together is the best victory there is. Of course the perfect game night plan is nothing without friends. Everything so far has been focused on gaming with friends you already have. A little effort up front will eventually help you build a gaming group that you can enjoy. You might even be the one to spark a love of board games in your new friend. Should the disastrous happen, and your game night is a bust, you can still get some gaming in on your own. A discussion about the reasons for solo gaming is beyond the scope of a piece about game night planning.

So what happens when your board game nights are a hit? Consider planning a public event for a larger group. No matter how you choose to plan your event, whether you go over the top, or low key…the important thing is to play some games; and most importantly to spend time with your friends and family.

If any of these tips helped you in YOUR planning, consider leaving a comment about your successful event. Founder of Meeple Mountain, editor in chief of MeepleMountain. Father of 4, husband to 1, lover of games, books, and movies, and all around nice guy. Sign me up for Meeple Mountain's newsletter! Email address. Our epic holiday board game gift guide has nearly 30 recommendations for every kind of board gamer!

There are wallet-sized games and wallet-friendly games. There are games for the first timer and for friends who have been playing for years. From lightweight stocking stuffer games you can play in minutes to multi-hour games your gamer will love. Read more…. Board Game Giveaways. Enter a Board Game Giveaway! Enter each board game giveaway and you could win free board games from some of… Read more…. Tennessee Meeple T-Shirt. Now you too can show pride in your state, and more importantly your love of board gaming.

Looking to attend a board game convention? Our guide to board game conventions can help you decide what to pack, play, and pass on!

Andy Matthews commadelimited. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn. Our guide to planning the ultimate board game night will help you throw an epic party your friends will talk about for weeks! The first player to the square wins. Watch fields, roads, and cities rapidly expand in the Medieval-themed game Carcassonne.

Players take turns placing one of the game tiles in an attempt to build up their land. The role and subsequent point value of a follower varies depending on what piece of property you put them on. For instance, a follower placed on a monastery tile is a monk who earns different points than a follower placed on a road tile as a thief. Calculate your moves carefully, because once all the tiles have been played, the player with the most points wins.

In this single-player game, try to free the red escape car by maneuvering the cars and trucks out of the way. This will likely take lots of little moves, as the blocking vehicles can only move forward or backward in the direction they are facing.

Traffic Jam comes with 40 different challenges with varying levels of difficulty. Depending on the puzzle, up to 15 cars and tracks can be in the way but, slowly and carefully, you can shift them to free the red car.

Buy It: Rush Hour Jr. In Trouble, the goal is to be the first player to get all four of your pieces around the board and back home again. The premise is simple, but there are challenges along the way. For a piece to leave home base, you first have to roll a six. After that, pieces can advance normally based on the die roll. If another player lands on a spot occupied by one of your pieces, your piece is sent back to home base and has to start the process again.

All aboard! The stakes are high in this game to see who can visit the most cities in North America in just seven days. In Ticket to Ride, players lay claim to railroads across the United States and Canada and compete to connect the most cities with their trains.

Draw cards to see what kind of train car you can play or what your next destination might be. Earn points for placing trains and for successfully connecting two destination cities.

The game ends when a player has less than two trains remaining, and bonus points are then awarded to the player who created the longest continuous route. The player with the most points wins. You have a ticket to ride, so where will your journey take you? Move your four pawns around the board and safely navigate them home again in the game of Sorry. Sorry is a competition, and there are two ways to set back your opponents. Win by being the first to get all four of your pawns home. A scoring system exists if you wish to play multiple rounds of this game.

Buy It: Sorry! Each round, players receive three opportunities to roll up to five dice. After each roll, you can evaluate the dice and choose which, if any, you want to roll again. You are looking for a pattern that will work for one of the 13 possible Yahtzee categories. At the end of your turn, choose which category you will use for that round and tally the score accordingly.

You can only use a category once per game, so choose carefully. At 50 points, a Yahtzee is the highest possible score you can roll. Play up to 13 rounds and then tally your scores; the player with the highest score wins. Nothing gets the fun going like an invigorating game that prompts players to shout, act, and strategize on the fly.

Pictionary is a party game suitable for players of all ages. Teams take turns drawing and guessing as many words or phrases as possible in a timed round. You might think a game of drawing sounds easy, but this game can be more difficult than it seems. The path on the Pictionary game board is comprised of different colored squares, each denoting a different level of difficulty for a word on the corresponding game card. Play using the board and be the first team to make it all the way to the finish line, or ditch the board altogether and play just for the laughs.

We dare you to try and keep a straight face during a game of Apples to Apples. This clever party game will have everyone laughing out loud. Each box contains a set of green apple cards, which have adjectives on them, and a set of red apple cards, which have nouns on them. Each round, a new player gets to be the judge and presents a green apple card to the group. The rest of the players select one of the red apple cards from their hands to play. Sometimes the nouns match the adjectives perfectly, sometimes they make no sense at all, and sometimes they are downright hysterical.

Once everyone has contributed a red card, the judge chooses a favorite. Depending on your group you could play just for fun, or designate a set number of rounds and see who can play the most winning cards in that time.

Scattergories is a fun list-making game that requires thinking fast. The idea of the game is to come up with creative answers to 12 different categories—things like TV shows, U.

At the start of each round, you roll a sided letter die which decides the letter that every answer must begin with. Then you set the sand timer and get going! When the time is up, players compare their answers with one another. If the same answer appears on more than one list it gets crossed off, but a player receives one point for each unique word. The winner is the player who has the most points after three rounds.

In this fast-paced game, players try to get their teammates to say the word on an electronic disc without actually saying that word or any variations of it. The disc has some 10, words stored in it. Get your teammates to say a word and then quickly pass the disc to the opposite team. This process continues, passing the disc from team to team until the round ends.

A timer embedded in the disc gradually beeps faster and faster until it abruptly sounds a loud buzz, signaling the end of a round. Move fast! Taboo is the game of forbidden words. Try and get through as many cards as possible in the given time.

Your team will get one point for each card correctly guessed, but you will lose one point every time you say one of the taboo words. A one-minute hourglass and a buzzer button will be in the possession of the opposing team during your round. Buy It: Taboo Kids vs.

This game is a riot to play at parties. In Speak Out, players read a phrase from one of the game cards while wearing a special mouthpiece that makes it hard to enunciate. Have your group form teams and take turns trying to guess the phrase on a game card. Try to get through as many cards as possible in the given time. Each game comes with 10 dishwasher-safe mouthpieces, but you can buy additional packs of mouthpieces if you have a big crowd.

A friendly suggestion: Keep some napkins or paper towels handy to wipe up your drool. In Password, one player on each team knows the secret word and gives a one-word clue to his or her teammate. This continues until the secret word is finally guessed or until 10 clues have been given, whichever comes first.

Every password starts with a point value of 10 but decreases by one point with each clue given. Play 10 secret words for a total of five rounds, and in the end, the team with the highest score wins. Think you can guess the password? The goofy game of Mad Gab is like the reverse of that. If you repeat a strange series of words enough times, they actually sound like a common word or phrase.

Enjoy playing this game where everyone sounds silly. These multi-player games combine strategy, wit, and humor. Play them at a party or bring them to a brewery to enjoy in a lively setting.

Baby zebras are born without stripes. True or false? Put your knowledge to the test with the classic game of Trivial Pursuit. Players travel around the wheel-shaped game board and answer questions from the different categories. Colored squares along the game path denote which category to pull from.

If you answer a question right, you get to go again. Collect one pie-shape game piece when you land on each category hub, then be the first player to make it to the center of the board where you must answer one final question to win.

The premise of this chip and card game is simple: Play a card from your hand and place a chip on the corresponding square. In sequence, each card from two card decks is represented on the game board.

Players take turns playing a card from their hands and then placing a chip on one of the spaces that match that card. The first team to create two sequences wins.

Pay close attention to the moves of the opposing team. If you see an opportunity to place a chip and block them from getting a sequence, you might want to take it. You've still got to take care, though. While you'll get better results if you manage to complete sets in this chilled-out pastime, 'wasting' tiles on random formations can lower your score. That leads to a lot of manoeuvring and good-natured competition in an effort to outdo your opponents.

Because of this, Azul is more of a personal puzzle game than a head-to-head challenge which makes it a great board game for 2 players if you fancy something low-key. Much like Ticket to Ride, there's a joy in lining up tiles to make patterns or completing the perfect set. To cut a long story short? It's a winner for lazy Sunday afternoons at home. Because it's not too expensive, Azul is also a great gift for a loved one that adores puzzles.

Easy to get your head around but tricky to beat, Pandemic pits you against an outbreak of coughs and sneezes by which I mean "horrendous disease" across the world. Considering everything going on right now, beating the outbreak is more than a little cathartic too. Besides keeping illnesses under control, Pandemic challenges you to develop a cure for each disease by collecting five cards of a certain color. Easy, right? Guess again. Worse still, the number of infections that are deployed goes up every few turns.

This can result in a domino effect of disastrous, oh-God-someone-do-something proportions. Do you focus on making a cure or should you keep those disease levels down? This white-knuckle decision-making is where Pandemic shines. It's not just a superb strategy game; it's one of the most enjoyable co-op experiences out there. Because you can increase the level of challenge through expansions , the fantasy-themed Pandemic World of Warcraft spin-off, or the Pandemic: Legacy series where the consequences of your actions carry from one game to another , it's one with serious longevity as well.

Indeed, Pandemic Legacy: Season Zero adds a Cold War theme and secret identities that you build up over the course of a year. Wingspan is a surprise favorite when it comes to board games for adults; besides being the winner of the well-respected Spiel des Jahres award, it's popular enough that some cheeky retailers charged triple its list price when it went out of print a few years ago.

That tells you a lot about its quality. So, what's it about? As you might have guessed from the name, Wingspan puts birds front and center. Indeed, your aim is to attract the biggest variety to your preserve.

You'll do this through clever engine building mechanics that are present in many of the top board games for adults - you use cards to get food and eggs, allowing you to find even more cards and birds. It's an addictive, satisfying loop. The whole process is quick and painless, too; it's completed in a breezy four turns. Still, that doesn't mean you can't stop and smell the roses.

Which you'll want to, by the way. The card artwork is gorgeous and the playing pieces which include a birdbox dice tray are clever. Even the boards you play on are stunning - their vivid wash of color really draws the eye. That's why Wingspan is ideal as a chill-out game. The lack of direct competition and a focus on attracting beautiful wildlife turns it into a relaxing, zen-like experience that you'll enjoy regardless of whether you win or lose.

As one of the best card games for adults, this entry from the creators of Cyanide and Happiness is comfortably the funniest suggestion on this list. Easy to learn and genuinely hilarious, this is the sort of game you'll be playing in no time. The structure is dead simple: players must fill in the blanks with a silly response. The twist? You'll be using artwork instead of words. More specifically, you have to complete a randomly-selected cartoon strip using a card from your hand.

The most amusing choice wins a point. Luckily, finding something that'll crack up your opponents isn't hard. Most cards have a laugh-out-loud quality to them, and they're all kinds of ridiculous. Maybe your character will escape an awkward conversation by flying away with the power of their fart.

Or perhaps they'll eat the other person whole. There are plenty of options to choose from, and that means Joking Hazard won't lose its novelty any time soon. Just remember, this isn't a family friendly game. It earns its mature label, and then some - play it with parents at your peril. Brewing whiskey in a Scottish kingdom might not be your first suggestion when it comes to a great tabletop theme.

But trust us - Isle of Skye is one of the most enjoyable board games for adults you'll find. Although this one is a straightforward trading game, it's far from dull. Isle of Skye is defined by land-grabs, savvy haggling, and a journey from clan chieftain to king, so there's plenty to get your teeth into.

Plus, its rugged northern theme is a breath of fresh air. You start by adding new territory to your realm with a variety of resources, ranging from boats and highland cows to lochs. Your goal? Gather as many of a certain type as possible. And because that particular item is randomised, each game is slightly different. Replayability is always a big plus in our books, so Isle of Skye hits all the right notes where we're concerned. The way new land tiles are distributed is where things get really interesting, though.

You'll earn money depending on how much whiskey you've produced, and that allows you to set a price on the tiles you want to place. If someone fancies that tile, they've got to pay you. But if nobody's fussed, you have to pay up instead. It's a cool idea with a lot at stake, and one that quickly gets its claws into you.

If you want a deep roleplaying experience where your actions have consequences, nothing can beat Gloomhaven. It's easily one of the top board games for adults, and the franchise has only grown in popularity since its debut. In fact, it's now getting a sequel Frosthaven and has had a clear influence on everything from the Divinity: Original Sin board game to Bardsung.

That's because it's arguably the most engrossing entry on this list. Players take control of adventurers who quest in and around the eponymous city, and they'll plunder dungeons or defeat monsters in a grand, branching story that can take months to complete.

Seriously, we're not kidding about longevity. Gloomhaven comes in an enormous box full to the brim with components and secret elements that you'll open as your journey progresses. Better still, it doesn't rely on random dice rolls to resolve combat.

It's meaningful and memorable as a result - especially when you add character progression systems. In short? If you want a persistent RPG without the effort needed for the best Dungeons and Dragons books , this is the perfect choice.

There's even a cheaper option for those who'd rather dip in a toe before taking the plunge; you can now opt for the more accessible Gloomhaven: Jaws of the Lion instead. That one offers the same great gameplay on a smaller scale, so it serves as a good introduction to what has become a beloved series.

Catan whisks you back to the days of settling a frontier; there's an uninhabited island to claim and kingdoms to build on it. Your job? Civilise this wild expanse with towns, roads, and trade. You'll need to keep your wits about you when deciding where to put down roots, though. The landscape is different each time you play, and this means you'll have to pay close attention to where you settle.

That's because resources are driven by probability and dice rolls - certain locations will yield goods more often, so everyone ends up racing to claim the 'best' spots. Choosing wisely can make or break your chances of winning; foresight and intuition are rewarded.

Being able to sweet-talk your rivals is essential, too. It's inevitable that you won't get all the materials you need right away, so you'll have to trade with other players to advance your plans. What follows is an intriguing balancing act. Swapping resources could help you in the short-term, but it may bring your opponent one step closer to victory as well. This leaves us with something fantastic for those who love tactical board games for adults.

Sure, Catan is somewhat reliant on chance.