Your basket is currently empty!
Favourite Board Games
1 – Catan (Light Strategy)
Catan (and our house rules!)
https://www.board-game.co.uk/product/catan-2015-refresh
3-6 players: Catan is my favourite strategy game, takes 1-2 hours
Background:
Expansions:
- With the 5-6 player expansion you can build a bigger island to accommodate more players.
- Even with 4 or less players i prefer to use the bigger board as it makes for some more friendly game-play and less limited options for expansion!
- The sea-farers expansion likewise gives you more options to travel to new islands for more interesting and complex adventures!
House-rules
We normally play with a few house rules to make things more fun and inclusive for everyone! (Catan House Rules:https://www.dicebreaker.com/games/catan-1/feature/catan-house-rules)
- 1. Robin Hood robber
- Robber can only be moved to a space where effected players have 4 or more points showing on the board.Everyone with 8 cards or more still has to discard half their hand when a 7 is rolledRobbers can’t steal from players with fewer than four victory points
- If you roll a 7 AND willingly put the robber on the empty/desert-tile without stealing a card from anyonePick one resource of your choice from the bank!
- When you roll a double – roll again!Everyone collects the resources from both rolls (just like a normal roll)It’s another simple change that will speed games up, add a bit of excitement to rolls and give more resources to players over the course of a game.
- Merges the 12 and 2 — treating them as one numberIf a 2 or 12 is rolled — tiles with either a 2 or a 12 produce resources!Meaning you’ll get a resource for both if either of them is rolled.
- When you are about to be robbed of a cardYou may offer the robber something insteadIt is up to the robber to accept or decline the offerif they decline the offer – they pick at random again
- Trade with futures on resources you don’t haveThis rule lets you trade resources you don’t have yet on the promise you surrender them later. (it is up to the other person whether they accept or decline your request)You can offer up your next stone in exchange for a wheat, but you won’t be able to renege on the trade after the fact.You may not roll a stone for three or four rounds, and once you do you’re obligated to surrender it to your trade partner. Your group will need to decide how much credit a player can take out, but it’s safe to limit it to one or two resources maximum.
- If you get no resources from a roll, you get a coin.On your turn, if you have more coins than your score on the board (number of victory points), you must trade in the coins for a resource.
- “Your score” includes longest road and biggest army, but not hidden victory points e.g: development cards
Catan online (colonist)
Catan online (Two Sheep)
- Two Sheep: https://twosheep.io
Another honourable mention and extremely popular game is Ticket to Ride, while personally i prefer Catan. Ticket to Ride is quicker to pick up and brings its own charm, great for a nice night and works well with 2 players!
(If you really want to play Catan with 2 players you can get the Pirates and Explorers expansion.)
2 – Love Letter (fast paced)
https://www.board-game.co.uk/product/love-letter-z-man-games
A quick game – one round can be played in 5-10minutes
It’s a game of chance, risk and deduction. There’s enough strategy to make it interesting, but also enough luck that anyone has a chance to win!
3 – Secret Hitler + SpyFall (Social Deduction)
Secret Hitler
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Secret-Hitler/dp/B01JKD4HYC
5-10 players: Secret Hitler is a great game of social deduction and misdirection (takes about 45minutes)
- Much like Mafia but with more strategy. Also more fun for everyone as people stay in the game longer and don’t get killed!
- You can check out the game for free on their website and can even print it out for free!
- https://www.secrethitler.com
- **Free printout of all the pieces: https://www.secrethitler.com/assets/Secret_Hitler_Print_and_Play.pdf**
Secret Hitler online
4 – You Can’t Say umm
https://www.board-game.co.uk/product/you-cant-say-umm/
A simple game in which you take turns to draw cards and describe the word that is on the card!
The card only has one word on it and you have to describe it to your team without using the word or saying “umm”! If you describe it correctly you get a point, but if you say “umm” then the other team gets a point!
Simple fast-paced fun for up to 10 people (can even work well with larger teams)!
This is a similar game to Articulate, Taboo & Poetry for Neanderthals. However “You can’t say Umm” is my favourite variation as even when it’s not your turn you are still engaged and have a chance to win points if the other team slips up!
5 – Banagrams – STEAL!
Bananagrams Steal is a fast-paced variation of the classic Bananagrams! More competitive and with more player interaction, it’s an interesting twist on an already fun game. The twist being that players can “Steal” words from each other!
6 – Wordsy – very equal
Similar to countdown, a game of pure-skill!
Play my free version online: Consonants
A great word game where you have to make words with the letters available to you on the table.Unlike most letter-games you can also use any other letters you want that are NOT on the board. This means the possibilities are endless for which words you can make, however you will only score points for the letters that are on the board.
A great game of skill but it will mean that if one of your friends has an excellent vocabulary and is good at the game they will almost definitely win every time!
Great fun, easy to play with as many people as you have time to count their scores!
Buy now on Zatu: https://www.board-game.co.uk/product/wordsy/
7 – Pandemic Fall of Rome (Co-Op)
- Pandemic is a co-op (cooperative) game where players all play on the same team to beat the virus!
- Takes about an hour — is great with 2-4 players
A great spin off is “Pandemic Fall of Rome”
- Featuring great artwork and a very engaging theme – builds on the core-mechanic of pandemic while staying true to what makes the original fun
- Very similar mechanic but brings a fun theme set within the Roman empire — players control legions battling the barbarians that seek to overthrow Rome! ⚔️
Also a really nice star wars version if you like star-wars clone-wars, this adds an interesting spin with missions. OVERALL i think Fall of Rome is the best version of the game that i like the most.
8 – Sherlock Holmes Consulting detective – dramatic mystery!
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/2511/sherlock-holmes-consulting-detective-the-thames-mu
A great game of mystery! Much unlike any other game! Players co-operate to read through the case, put together the clues and solve the mysteries! Much like an escape room you can complete at home. Well written, intriguing cases, but very challenging!!
Buy it here on Zatu: https://www.board-game.co.uk/product/thames-murders-sherlock-holmes-consulting-detective-2017/
Good review here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-63xEB31dA
9 – Quoridor
A great modern game of strategy, incredibly simple and easy to pick up — but very hard to master!
The king of abstract strategy games, Quoridor tasks players with navigating their pawns across a board as walls appear to bamboozle and befuddle. Quoridor is a multiple award-winning abstract strategy game. Try to get your pawn to the other side of the board. On your turn, you either move your pawn or place a wall
Play online for free against AI: https://gorisanson.github.io/quoridor-ai
10 – Crack List
A quick and fun family game – quick to learn and a little bit of strategy to keep it interesting!
Crack List is a fun word party game that’s easy to learn and enjoyable to play, with Uno style cards adding a dynamic twist to the simple concept. The tiered categories also mean you can play with younger players or test your mettle with more trivia style questions like famous female singers or countries in Europe. — Zatu Review
by
Leave a Reply