Play: Palindromes, Tacocats, rolling pandas and memes combine for a family game night of fun.
We’re always keen to try the newest, hottest board games, but there’s a place in our hearts for the classics. Part of it is the undeniable nostalgia factor, the awwww of seeing the patient with funny bone issues in Hasbro’s Operation or the world of Candyland. Truth is, classic games are classics for a reason. We will never tire of rooks and knights, of chutes and ladders, or a murderous Professor Plum armed with a candlestick. And we’re not the only ones. MoneyInc.com estimated that annual chess sales across North America will hit $40.5 million next year, which is a lot of pawns. And Clue clocks in — with the wrench in the billiard room — on its “20 best-selling games of all time” list at No. 6, with sales of 150 million board games since it was invented in 1949.
But it’s 24/7Tempo’s recent ranking of the top 22 most popular games in the U.S. that caught our attention. It’s an alphabetical list (ahem, backgammon still belongs at the top), but here’s a sampling of its top picks. Find the full lineup at 247tempo.com.
• Backgammon
• Battleship
• Chess
• Cranium
• Monopoly
• Operation
• Risk
• Scrabble
• Sorry!
• Trivial Pursuit