Board games are a popular Christmas family activity – get everyone around the table focusing on the same activity, chatting between turns, and spending quality time together. It’s perfect for when it’s cold out, with loads of snacks and hot drinks. Bliss. Except, the only games Mum has in her cupboard are Monopoly and Cluedo.
Fear not! There are better board games to play at Christmas and there’s still time to solve this conundrum with a quick trip to your Friendly Local Games Store. Modern gaming is an absolute glut of games that are fun, engaging, and crucially, easy to explain to family members after they’ve had a few glasses of their favourite tipple.
These four options are perfect board games to play at Christmas with your family, but there’s a whole world out there of modern board games that are worth your time. Check out this collection of quick, small games you can take to uni and play in between lectures.
Best all-rounder – Ticket to Ride
If you have any familiarity with modern board games you will probably be familiar with Ticket to Ride, and with good reason. It’s really easy to explain the rules of this game, it allows for a lot of different ways to play (wait til you discover your kindly granda is the kinda guy who fills in all the one- and two-space routes immediately to block you), and each turn is quite quick so there isn’t a ton of waiting around.
If you’re feeling spicy, you could get Ticket to Ride Europe, which fills in some of the issues people have with the original at the cost of a few additional rules. Nothing too out of pocket but something to be aware of. And, if you’ve got little gamers running around, there are versions of Ticket to Ride specifically designed for kids to play.
Best for people who want to barter – Catan
If you’ve got a player on your hands who loves to do some wheelin’ and dealin’, Catan is perfect to scratch that itch. It’s another stone-cold classic and quite a lot of ‘modern’ gamers have moved on from it, but it’s a perfect option for family Christmas. It’s really easy to teach and inevitably gives some of the players a feeling of huge power as they hoard whatever resource others can’t get. The trading can be such a fun element to this game if everyone buys in and participates fully, but you absolutely can get through it without trading if that’s more your style.
The main sticking point to be aware of is how reliant on luck this game is, which can be super frustrating for some people. It can be a great teaching tool for probability but if someone feels like they are losing because of bad dice rolls or randomly rolling the bandit, it can feel bad, so keep that in mind and don’t push a second round if someone is too frustrating. If everyone enjoys it though, this game can be top-tier.
Best co-op game – Pandemic
Sometimes, it’s nice to work together. In Pandemic, you’re playing as a team of people working to prevent a world-ending, cataclysmic virus from wiping out humanity (stop me if you’ve heard this one). Working together to manage outbreaks and eventually discover the cure feels like collaboratively solving a puzzle that’s constantly evolving in unpredictable ways.
This is a game that has been around for a long time and the subject matter might be offputting for some people given recent world events, but some groups might find it empowering to be actively fighting back. The main issue with co-op games like Pandemic is the possibility of quarterbacking, where one player can take charge and boss the others around, taking away their agency, especially if they feel they ‘know better’ than the others. It’s really important that someone can quash that if they see it happening and make sure everyone gets to participate.
Best for laughs – Secret Identity
This game is extremely simple in its premise – use a limited pool of weird little icons to try and indicate which of the eight possible identities you are. Except you’ve got to convey ‘Dolly Parton’ and all you’ve got left is a tent, a beard, and some flip-flops. It’s played over four rounds but you only get a limited number of symbol cards to use and they have to last, so it’s a masterclass in using just enough to get the point across without overextending.
Secret Identity can inspire some hilarious justifications and is the source of many a belly laugh when someone tries fervently to explain why a baseball hat and a snake were meant to represent ‘Donald Duck’ (it makes perfect sense when you know their reasoning! honest!). It’s like charades with a bit more structure and pacing, which can only be a good thing. It’s an all-round top choice for board games to play at Christmas with your family.
Featured image credit: Kristina D.C. Hoeppner/Flickr
Student journalist & freelance writer. Check out Quick Play, where I review video games that are 10 hours or less.
