THINK INSIDE THE BOX
There are plenty of lively board games available to help while away your time at home
There are only so many hours you can spend staring at screens each day. Board games are providing a natural reprieve and a way to be social at home.
Game store owners Steven Aarons, Kathleen Donahue and Jimmy Cooney recommend games for different scenarios, whether you’re alone, with roommates, have children of differing ages or just want to play something with your friends online. (All prices are in Canadian dollars.)
FOR SOLO PLAY BANDIDO
$14.99
It’s up to you to catch a prisoner who is trying to escape from jail by digging tunnels in Bandido. Although the card game can be played co-operatively with up to four players, Donahue most often plays it solo. “I’ve been obsessively playing,” she says. “It’s really good for puzzle people who like strategy and spatial reasoning games.” The cards all have tunnels on them, some of which have multiple openings, and some of which lead to dead ends. On each turn, you must play a card, connecting tunnels as you go (amping up the replay value). “You’re trying to somehow manage to build this network of all of these cards, where they’re all dead ends or they all loop back on one another,” she says. “You’re trying to close off all of the openings, and sometimes it gets really hard.”
FOR FAMILIES
WITH YOUNG CHILDREN MONKEY AROUND
$29.95
If you’re looking for a game a two-year-old can play with slightly older siblings (and parents), Monkey Around is a strong choice because it encourages children to get up and move, Aarons says. Cards prompt players to make different movements — like hopping or marching — while holding a banana-shaped bean bag. “It’s good because two-year-olds aren’t good at sitting,” Aarons says. “If you’ve got an older sibling, it’s going to be something that’s going to hold their interest more than some of the other things at that age.”
KIDS ON STAGE
$38.32
Think of Kids on Stage as charades for children. Though it’s aimed at ages three to five, the game has universal appeal. “What’s important is finding games that parents will more likely enjoy doing with the kids,” Aarons says. “Kids can tell when the parents are more engaged.” Players use a spinner to move around a board, then draw a card that has a simple line drawing of an object, animal or action that they then need to act out. “It’s really easy for the child to understand,” Aarons says, noting that it’s also good for building communication skills. “I actually can remember one time in my house where we had a two-year-old, a five-year-old, an eight-year-old and a 10-year-old all playing this together. Because it’s charades. And a 10-year-old will still play charades.”
FOR FAMILIES WITH OLDER KIDS( OR GROUP HOUSE MATES) SUSHI GO!
$14.99
A card-drafting game modelled after 7 Wonders, Sushi
Go! has a simple concept and a universal appeal, because of the cute, cartoon-like playing cards. “You’re in the restaurant and you’re trying to grab sushi as it goes by,” Cooney says. The object of the game, which is played over three rounds, is to collect different types of sushi to make maki rolls or sashimi sets, passing along cards you don’t want to your opponents. “Somebody who likes strategy games or heavier games, they’ll still play Sushi
Go!,” Aarons says, noting that the game is recommended for ages eight and up and can be played with two to five players. “People really respond well to games that are simple and easy to pick up,” Cooney says. “It’s not Dungeons & Dragons. It’s not spirits and monsters. It’s just sushi. It gives you that sense of normalcy. And you probably aren’t going out to eat sushi right now, to be honest.”
SAY ANYTHING
$28.95
If you’re sick of playing Cards Against Humanity, Bethesda-based North Star Games has a game that recalls that millennial mainstay. “Except it’s not dirty, but you can make it dirty if you want to,” Donahue says. Each round, a judge asks a question, like “What’s the one item you can’t live without during a quarantine?” and then everyone writes down their answer on an individual whiteboard. The answers are revealed and the round’s judge secretly picks their favourite answer, while everyone else tries to guess which they chose for points. “So even if I write down a really stupid one, or I think my answer is horrible, if I see something else I like, I can bet on it,” Donahue says. “It works out to where you’re actually encouraging people to vote for the one that they think other people are going to vote for. And it makes people think about who they are. That’s why I really love it for families, because it’s a great way to get teenagers to actually talk to you about stuff.”
FOR FRIENDS WHO CAN’T GET TOGETHER IN REAL LIFE DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
$23.75 starter set
Dungeons & Dragons is having a bit of a pop culture renaissance right now, Cooney says, with new starter sets based on characters from Netflix’s Stranger Things and Adult Swim’s Rick and Morty. The experience easily translates to the digital space with video conferencing apps such as Zoom: Everyone just needs a starter set that comes with a rule book, character info and dice. There’s even a new guide book, Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount, that’s based on a players’ group called Critical Role, which livestreams games on Twitch. “D&D is all about being a dungeon master, writing a story and setting up that story to challenge players to really use their logic, their wit to solve problems,” Cooney says. “People are playing quarantine campaigns, some are playing in a completely utopian escapist world.”