Best Board Games for a Quarantine
Photo: Quacks of Quedlinburg
At Child’s Play, we love board games! We’re living in a golden age of board games, so you don’t have to resort to Monopoly (*shudder*). Here are some favorites that might get you through the next few weeks.
What are your favorites?
Charades – age 3+
Easy to play at any level. For younger kids, draw pictures. Make up your own clues on slips of paper, take turns drawing and acting out. Everyone guesses together. If you want a premade version, we love Kids on Stage, which has pictures and words, along with a game board to advance through.
Outfoxed – age 5+
Can you solve the mystery of who stole the pot pie? Work together to gather clues and rule out suspects. Develops problem-solving skills, cooperation and deductive reasoning. A customer favorite! 2-4 players
Sleeping Queens – age 7 or 8+
Awaken the queens to collect the most and win. Put other players’ queens back to sleep with sleeping potions or steal them with a dragon. But watch out! They can fight back with magic wands and knights. A must have! 2-5 players
Terraforming Mars – age 12+
A great way to spend 2-3 hours. Collect resources to terraform Mars, reaching target goals for temperature, water and oxygen. For serious gamers. 1-5 players
Daifugo – age 8+
Played with an ordinary deck of cards, Daifugo lets players try to get rid of all of their cards by playing progressively stronger cards than the previous player. Your outcome determines your rank in the next round, giving you benefits if you played well or obstacles if you played poorly. You can find instructions on Wikipedia. 3-6 players
Quacks of Quedlinburg – age 10+
Make your own quack potion to sell to unsuspecting customers at the fair. Each day of the fair unlocks new ingredients, which give you special abilities to earn more points. But be careful! If you add too many cherry bombs, your potion will explode. Unlike any other game out there! 2-4 players
Quoridor – age 8+
Great strategy game with wooden pieces. Take turns moving your pawn or placing a wall. The simple goal is to move your pawn to the other side of the board. 2-4 players
Ganz Schon Clever – age 8+
Completely addictive and can be played solitaire. Like Yahtzee on steroids, with each colored dice scoring in a different way. Win bonuses to increase your score. Once you start rolling, you can’t stop playing! It can be tricky to learn the first time you play, so we suggest watching a YouTube demo. 1-4 players
Potion Explosion – 8+
A great game if you’re trying to get your kids off screens. Plays like a real-life version of Candy Crush, as you collect marbles to fulfill potions. 2-4 players
Have fun!