Why We Play Boardgames
My husband and I have spent the last ten years playing board games together. No, I’m not talking about seeing if we need anger management classes by playing Monopoly or choosing which career path we want to pursue in Life. I’m talking about making the life or death decision of which city to cure of a disease lest an outbreak occur in Pandemic, cackling like a maniac when you oust your opponent with a direct hit of four attack strikes to become the baddest monster in King of Tokyo, and smartly building and managing the best winery in pre-modern Tuscany in Viticulture.
The world of board gaming has changed so much since the days of Monopoly, Life, and Battleship. When my husband and I started dating, we weren’t really into the “typical” dates. Rather than dinner and a movie or going to college parties, we spent the majority of our time together learning card games, and teaching each other our family favorites. When we tired of Canasta and Sequence, we began looking for something new and stumbled into the world of hobby board gaming. We started out slow like a swimmer testing the water, and over the years have dove head first into the deep end where our hobby has grown into shelves full of games that have brought us, our family, and our friends closer together through hours spent laughing, playing, and enjoying each others company over the many different games brought to the table.
While this is definitely a hobby of ours, over the years and as our family has grown, it has morphed into a passion of sorts. There are so many reasons why we love board gaming and why we have made it an important part of our family for us and our four kids. We think that every family can benefit by incorporating board games into their lives. Yes, I know that may sound a bit nerdy, but here us out.
Family Bonding
Juggling the commitments of a family is no joke. As a parent you are pulled in every direction from sun up to sun down – from work, school, running a household, and getting everyone to their events on time things can get a little hectic. Our lives get so busy and scheduled that we decided it was important that, like we do for dance and soccer, we make sure to actually schedule time for our family to just be together and bond; no places to be except home with each other. We use this time to play games with our kids. Now, our kids are young, so it’s not always as idyllic as we go into it hoping it will be. But what we see is our kids engaged with each other learning to take turns, follow rules, make tough choices, and win or lose graciously. Its time spent making memories and connecting with each other. Rather than sitting and watching a show, they are working together to solve problems and complete goals all in a fun, controlled setting. If there’s one thing we hope our kids look back on fondly as adults and incorporate into their own lives, its the importance of spending meaningful time together and finding joy in simple fun, whether that comes from a board game or not.
Games also allow us to have great date nights at home. Finding a sitter for four kids 6 and under can be hard, and after paying for the sitter, dinner, and perhaps a movie, we’ve racked up quite the bill. While we try to get out as often as we can, we also try to make sure that for when we can’t we are still making time for us to be together and pursue one another. We’ll put the kids to bed, come downstairs, and for a few hours we’ll take time to play a game. Maybe we’ll even spend what we would have spent on a date and get a new game to enjoy; when it comes to bang for your buck, you can’t beat buying a board game that you will be able to enjoy a countless number of times rather than just once.
Less Screen Time
Like most families, we are looking for ways to decrease the screen time in our family. And I’m not just talking about our kids’. Technology is quickly taking over every aspect of our lives, we have the ability to have “smart” everything: smart phones, smart TVs, smart lightbulbs, smart toothbrushes (yes, seriously,) smart speakers and on and on! The pull of technology is everywhere and everyone has an opinion on what amount is good and what isn’t. I’m no expert on that, and I engage in a fair amount of “plugged-in” entertainment myself, but what I do know, is that as technology has taken over more of my life, I am looking for more and more ways to unplug. When we spend a night engaged in a board game, we walk away with memories, laughs, and a fun experience that can only come from face-to-face social interaction. Board games are incredibly versatile; you can take them with you to play indoors or out, and they open the door for a wonderful social experience with your friends and family where you can enjoy some friendly competition or even cooperative play and still engage in the great conversation that we all long for.
Brain Food
You’d be surprised by the level of mental engagement required to play modern board games. In games like Candyland, the winner is already determined before the first card has even been flipped – there is nothing you can do. But in today’s board games you have a variety of styles, from puzzles to tactical area control games to keep you and your brain sharp and always thinking. The challenges provided by physical board games are better than anything you’ll find in some app, even apps of the board games you might be playing.
The strategy required to play and win requires you to make touch choices and weigh your options, to look at the board and think not only about what the best move for you is, but also the best move for your opponent and how to block them. Or they invite you to work together to solve problems as you play cooperatively. And thats to say nothing of the reading and language skills required to interpret the rules, hand-eye dexterity enhancment, and math skills required to play the game itself. Whether you’re playing a difficult strategy game or a light hearted party game, there are an endless number of options that invite you to think through a variety of mental challenges, making you perhaps just a bit smarter along the way.
Something for Everyone
As mentioned above, we have been hobbyist board gamers for the last ten years, which seems kind of crazy thinking about it. But over the years this really has developed into a passion for us. We board game for many reasons, more than even listed above, but the main reason is, without a doubt, for the experiences it provides between us and our family and friends. We love being able to gather round a table, phones aside, and spend time connecting with people, old friends and new. The board game is really just a vehicle for us to bring people together and enjoy each others company. Over the last ten years we’ve had our fair share of friends and family that have told us that they “don’t like board games” and time and time again, we’ve found that there truly is something for everyone in this hobby.
You don’t have to like every game, we certainly don’t, but the diversity offered by today’s games is simply incredible and if you’ve made it this far down this post and are wondering where to start, then you’re in luck! What would a post about the benefits of board gaming with your family be if we didn’t give at least a few suggestions. This hobby is truly a joy and is something that we love to share with anyone who will let us and especially our kids who have no choice! So without further ado, here are some board game ideas to get you started!
Happy Gaming!
This game has really broken through the hobby wall and has become much more mainstream over the years, you may have even seen it in your local Target. This game is simple to learn, but far more layered in its tactical strategy. Players collect cards of various types of train cars that they then use to claim railway routes across North America. The longer the route, the more points earned. Along the way you try to complete Destination Tickets, secret routes connecting distant cities that will score you more points at the end of the game. You must balance greed as you take on more routes to earn more points, and fear as you might lose a critical route to a competitor and thus cost yourself points in the end.
This game has a multitude of expansions offering different train maps featuring different countries and states, but we recommend the original game with the North American map to start and it is great for the whole family starting at about age 8.
More of a cooperative player? Great! You might love Pandemic! In this game several virulent diseases have broken out simultaneously all across the globe and it is your mission to fight these while researching cures before they take over the world. Players take on unique roles as disease-fighting specialists, each with their own powers and capabilities and must strategize together to decide where help is needed most and find a way to control the contagions before the situation gets out of hand.
This game is incredibly fun and endlessly re-playable. Start at a beginners difficulty level, once you’ve mastered that, work your way up to expert and see if you’ve got what it takes. This is a great way to work on your kids’ problem solving skills and is best for gamers of all ages starting at age 10.
If you know how to play Yahtzee you can play this game, promise! King of Tokyo is a hit with everyone as players take on the role of mutant monsters, robots, and aliens all trying to destroy the other and become the lone remaining King of Tokyo. You roll six dice Yahtzee style, setting what you want to keep aside, and rolling the rest up to two more times in an effort to either win victory points, gain energy, restore your health, or attack other players to let them know Tokyo belongs to YOU. But be warned, if you stand inside Tokyo, you must face all the other monsters alone as they attempt to knock you off your thrown.
With a little help from an adult, King of Tokyo can easily be played by gamers as young as 6, but don’t let that deter you, this is far from a kid game and will offer tons of fun for teens and adult gamers as well.
Survive: Escape from Atlantis!
Survive is a simple, yet cutthroat game where players try to evacuate their pieces from an island that is breaking up while remembering where their highest-valued pieces are located to maximize score. The journey to shore is anything but simple however as players must navigate waters filled with boat tipping whales, fast moving sharks, and fearsome sea monsters. Find out who your true friends are as you all attempt to sabotage each other’s escape plans so you can stand victorious with the most points on shore before the island blows up. This game plays up to four and works well for ages 6 and above.
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