One of my lab’s favorite group activities is board games! Especially when you have more than 3 people, it’s a great way to socialize, get to know people, and have fun. Many of you may not be aware of the commonly played board games in the States, so here are some of my favorites to play with my friends and family:
1) Settlers of Catan (max. 6-8 people)
Originally a German board game, the game represents settlers (the players) setting up a colony on an island. By spending and trading resources, the goal is to expand your settlement/city. There’s a lot of strategy involved in choosing the right resources to buy and trade, and building roads in the right places! It takes a little bit of time to figure out how to play the game, but once you’re in, it’s a lot of competitive banter and laughs all around!
2) Apples to Apples (max. ~15 people)
This is a game where you really get to know someone’s sense of humor and how they think. You get two sets of cards: (1) red cards, which typically have nouns and (2) green cards, which typically have adjectives. The “judge” for the round picks a green card, and the players try to find the best matching red card. My friends used to joke that the cards that you won (the green cards) were actually a description of who you were as a person. J There are a lot of versions of this game making it a fun game for all ages, even children who are starting to learn about nouns and adjectives!
3) Blockus (typically 3-4 players, can accommodate more if you play in groups)
There are pieces of four different colors. Each person gets a turn to put one piece down on the board, and you have to make sure that your pieces are connected to one another just by a corner (i.e. no touching sides). Your goal is to get all of the pieces on the board, while trying to keep your competitors on their toes by blocking their pieces. It’s a great strategy game that keeps you thinking every time, and is one of my favorites! 
Other favorites include Monopoly (a board game where you’re buying, trading, or selling properties, in an attempt to gain monopoly over the board), Scrabble (a word gamer where you use a fixed number of tiles on the game board to create words), and Snakes and Ladders (originally an Indian board game, where you roll dice to get from the bottom to the top square, by utilizing ladders and avoiding snakes).
Have you played any of these games? What are some of your favorite board games? I’d love to hear your experiences and hear about all the games that you played in your home countries!
Primal Pappachan says
August 30, 2017 at 10:17 pmGreat board games. I would add the following which I have thoroughly enjoyed.
1) Ticket to Ride – who thought placing trains could be so much fun 🙂
2) King of Tokyo – easier and shorter game than others
3) Pandemic – co-operative game, it’s fun to discuss strategies and play as a team
4) Risk – War based and lot of fun but takes a while. There’s a newer edition which plays faster.
5) Grizzled – First world war based cooperative game.
Yanqing Lilian Li says
August 23, 2017 at 6:01 pmGreat recommendations!
I love playing the Catan board games. They have plenty expansion packs so you can always add something new to your game. For 2 players only, try “rivals for Catan” 🙂
Shreya Kumar says
August 23, 2017 at 3:43 pmHi Atrouli!
Great suggestions for board games; I love Settlers of Catan! My other favorite is Clue (it is a murder mystery, a who-dunnit) where there are 6 characters, a bunch of rooms and a bunch of weapons. You have to guess who killed the main character, where, and using what! It’s a great game for 3-6 people. Some other games that are engaging are Scrabble and Boggle. These are word games, so it keeps your mind sharp!