Board Games Aren’t Just For Kids Anymore

When people hear the term “board games” they think of a select few games that they played growing up. There are many people that haven’t played board games since they were kids.

For kids, board games are a fun way to learn math skills, reasoning, and logic. There are significant bonuses to sitting down with the kids and letting them play the banker in Monopoly or playing a kids’ version of Scrabble.

What too many people don’t know is that board games aren’t just for kids.

There are thousands of unique and interesting board games, with more being made every day.

Sure, there are plenty of games that are great for kids, but just as many that could be played by a group of adults as part of a weekly game-night.

Categories of board games can go from dice-based to deck-building to puzzle to resource management. There are too many categories to list. If you want to delve into the board game culture, there are plenty of websites that will walk you through the category lists and help you find something right for you.

Sites like Board Game Geeks even feature forums where you can ask board game aficionados for more specific details.

For the purpose of this article, some games are introduced below.

Board Games: Dice Component

Quarriors is a great game for people who enjoy random generation. It’s considered a “dice-building” game.

Each player gets a bag of unique dice. On their turn, a player removes a certain number of dice from the bag and rolls. Those dice can give them points that allow them to obtain other kinds of dice from the middle, including dice that serve as monsters. Those monsters are used to attack the other players and score points. The first player to reach the point goal, wins.

Board Games: Cooperative

Elder Sign is another game based around the use of dice, but it couldn’t be more different than Quarriors.

Elder Sign is a dice-based game that uses the Lovecraft tales of Cthulhu to craft an adventure that takes place in a museum. Each player is given a character card that allots them the benefits of the character they’re playing. Players then choose a monster from the pantheon and need to collect the necessary amount of elder signs to essentially bind the enemy from doing harm. There is a doom clock, however, and a chance that doom tokens could overwhelm the players. If the doom tokens reach their max before the players collect all the elder signs, the players lose the game.

In the case of cooperative games, either all the players win or all the players lose.

Board Games: Card Component

One of the most popular card-based board games for beginners is Dominion.

Dominion is a deck-building game. Each player starts off with a certain number of cards. Those cards are used to try and obtain other cards from the center. As each player buys cards from the center, their decks grow and they are able to do more with what they have. The point of the game is to have more victory points than any other player.

Board Games: Resource Management

Another great board game for beginners is Settlers of Catan.

Settlers of Catan is great for people of any age. The point of the game is for each player to build settlements and roads by using the cards they’re dealt to bluff and trade for necessary resources. Every turn, a die is rolled and each player with a settlement built on the numbered hex that was rolled, gets a card representing the resource of that hex. The goal is to reach 10 victory points.

Board Games for Christmas

Those are just some examples of board games that anyone can play. With Christmas just over the horizon, introducing someone you love to the exciting world of board games could be the gift that keeps on giving.

If you have a fan of the Marvelverse or DC Comics on your list, both companies have deck-building board games on the market: Legendary: A Marvel Deck-Building Game and DC Comics Deck Building Game. For fans of superhero heroes who don’t prefer heroes of the two comic giants, there are games like Smash Up.

For that person on your list who is all zombies all the time, there’s The Walking Dead board game, but there are also games like Zombie Dice and Last Night on Earth.

Board games might have once only been for kids, but there are thousands out there waiting for adults to take notice.

Do you have a favorite board game? Are there any you would like to try?

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