On Saturday night a friend of mine held a “board game bonanza” in celebration of his birthday, and I was introduced to two games I’ve never played before. It made me consider what the best board games out there are, and I’m not talking about the classics or those retro ones that remind you of your childhood…I’m talking about what is the most fun to play with a group of friends.
It turns out that Balderdash is hands down the most popular with the people of my acquaintance. If you don’t know it, it is a bluffing game along the lines of Call My Bluff. It has always been a favourite in my family, and I’ve recently discovered this is true of many of my friends’ families too! On Saturday night I played Malarky, which is another bluffing game, but which requires something closer to improvised bluffing! As you can imagine, this is quite a challenge, and quite stressful as you get the feeling you’re in a job interview situation! We came out of it with some hilarious quotes from some people, plus I won (yey!), but I also came out of it with a headache! Not one for you if you like something chilled – it is one of the most nerve-wracking games I’ve played!
Another family favourite for us is Password, which is sadly no longer available to buy. It is as simple as getting your team to say the word on the card by describing it, but the fun comes with the bleeping timer, which increases with speed and generally creates a panic! Turns out this is similar to another game I played on Saturday – The Big Taboo – which is a development of the traditional Taboo game and clearly inspired by the Cranium series by the addition of categories such as a Pictionary round and the brilliant “Bendy Bob”, which is a soft toy you use to act out different words. Clearly there is potential there to produce hilarious results!
Any other recommendations? Is every board game these days just a variation on en existing theme (guess the word, bluffing etc)?
English Rose from Manchester's Blog 