“…and then we fought about the rules so we put it back in the box and gave up.”
If I had a string of lights for every time I heard this shared memory I’d be able to decorate the Rockefeller Christmas tree three times over. Getting your family to agree on anything can be tough, let alone a game to play together. So I’ve curated a list of games that are not only easy to pick up and play, but are engaging and entertaining enough that even your uncle Ken who hates everyone (himself included) will be tempted to get in on the action.
My main criteria are ease of access and player count. If I won’t be able to get my mother to understand a game in 5 minutes or less, it’s not coming to the family dinner. I’ve tried to keep the player counts flexible as well, since who am I to dictate how many people get to have fun this holiday season?
Hues and Cues – for the family that loves to debate
Hues and Cues puts you in the spot of giving a single clue that will make your family guess a particular color. It’s played on a big fold-out grid of rainbow squares, and it leads to intense debates about what REALLY justifies a color as being pink and not purple. Can’t say I recommend it for the colorblind though, unless you want an extremely tough board game.
Coup – for the family that tells it like it is
This is the game that I am personally bringing to my family’s get-together this year. Coup is a “hidden roles” game where since no one knows what roles you have, you can use the abilities of any role. Playing this game is like a wild west standoff, where you can call out anyone on their schemes, but just as easily be caught up in little white lies of your own. If you’ve got poker players in your family, they’ll eat this game up like gingerbread.
Monikers – for the barrel-of-laughs family
Everyone’s played charades. And just about everyone who’s played charades has played charades for five to ten minutes before giving up and doing something that’s more entertaining. Monikers takes charades and evolves it into much more, with varying levels of information being able to be given in each of the rounds. My only note is that if you’ve got younger players, maybe take a look through the cards first, just in case.
Telestrations – for the artsy family
Telestrations is a game of telephone, except the medium you communicate through changes between written and sketched with each pass. You’ll start with a prompt, and watch as it either stays pristine the whole way around the table, or slowly morphs into a nightmare of your collective imaginations. It’s especially fun with kids since their drawings are often, uh, wide open for interpretation.
Tsuro – for the old-fashioned family gathering
Enough of all these games where there’s all this interpretation, what if you wanna knuckle down and play a bit more of a strategic game? Then Tsuro’s here for you. It’s an easy to pick up game of tile laying where you’ll be trying your best to continue your path around the board and knock others off theirs. Even casting all the strategy aside, it’s a beautiful-looking game with tactile pieces, and that’s enough for me.
Hopefully these can alleviate the woes of being eliminated on Park Place and Boardwalk for the hundredth time. But in the (albeit unlikely) event that these games still cause unruly debate and frustration this holiday season, send your family our way and we’ll show ‘em what’s up in the wide world of board games.
Happy holidays!
