Games

Summer 2018

Ranking Websites: The Strategist, Amazon, Ranker

THIS SUMMER, BREAK OUT THE BOARD GAMES, AND RELISH IN DEVICES TURNED OFF AND CONVERSATION LEVELS TURNED UP.

If you don’t have one during the school year, make a game night. Summer can be the best time to take a break from outside activities and distractions—to intentionally turn away from the multitude of events that pull at our families. There’s plenty of time for those when school starts.

If board games (or any other type) seem like a waste of time, think of games as one of the best ways to mimic real life for your kids in a safe way. They get to see people at their best and worst, and they have to react. They talk to one another. They deal with the hand they’re dealt, literally. They wait. They go. They decide.

We love (or hate) board games because they engage us in real world decisions and reactions, with clear stakes for winning or losing. Clear, but not risky. Unless your younger brother bet you a week’s worth of doing the dishes on his win.

To limit decision fatigue, we’ve listed a selection of the most popular board games here. Pick a night for each. Or find a favorite you all enjoy, so you don’t mind when your kids ask you to play over and over.

YOUNG KIDS

Winners
• No Stress Chess
• Richard Scarry’s Busytown
• Eye Found It
• Sorry!

Honorable Mentions
• Connect Four
• Candyland
• Battleship

OLDER KIDS AND ADULTS

Winners
• Ticket to Ride
• Settlers of Catan
• Dominion
• Ravensburger Labyrinth
• Rummikub
• Pandemic

Honorable Mentions
• Chess
• Risk
• Trivial Pursuit
• Blokus
• Stratego
• Apples to Apples
• Carcassonne
• The Game of Life

These lists are based on data from several websites that rank board games solely by user votes. We stayed away from rankings on opinion websites, or websites with a particular bent, such as “games that teach logic” or “games that ruin friendships” (yes, they have those). Data was gathered from The Strategist, Amazon, and Ranker. The Winners list includes only those games that appeared on at least two out of three sites, starting with the most popular. The Honorable Mentions are the top listings from each site (not included on the Winners list).