With April comes the rain. In my opinion, there’s nothing better to do on a rainy day than dust off a few games and find some people (in your household!) to have fun with. My family has always been huge on family games, so I’ve played my fair share of them. Some have only been played a few times but some of them will never get old. Here is a list of some games I think everyone should play.
Catan
Previously known as The Settlers of Catan, this game will be different every time you play it. You have to build the board out of the given pieces and so you’ll have a different board each time. The objective of this game is to acquire resources such as wood, brick, sheep (which my siblings and I call “bah”), wheat and rock. Once you have the required amount of resources, you can build new houses, cities or roads on the board to reach new resources. It gets interesting when you start trading resources with your fellow settlers!
Euchre
This card game is just as tricky as trying to spell its name, but once you know how to play it you’ll never forget it. Your euchre deck will be made up of cards numbered nine to ace. You need four people exactly to play – make sure you choose your partners wisely! You’ll need a mix of luck and strategy to win at this card game, but it’s never boring. Once you’ve mastered the basics, you start taking risks and learn all the tricks. This game reminds me of lakes, Muskoka and camping, where replacing phones with a card deck was a normal habit.
Clue
This classic murder mystery game always has a twist ending. On top of hopping around from room to room guessing who the killer is, what weapon they used and where they murdered the victim, you have to make sure you are playing strategically. It’s very easy to fool the people you’re playing with, especially if they’re new to the game. The only person you can rely on in Clue is yourself.
Taboo
You’re going to need an even number of players and at least four people to play this iconic family game. The competition is high in this game as you’re trying to get your team members to guess as many cards as possible in one minute by describing the word on the card. The tricky part is you can’t say certain words while you’re describing the given word because if you do, you’ll get a negative point. It can get pretty heated and loud with everyone yelling their guesses!
Scrabble
This is a classic board game that requires intellect, patience and strategy. Whenever I play Scrabble, I don’t feel bad about taking a break from my work because I know I’m going to use my brain during the game. One thing I love about this game is that you only need two people to play. I wouldn’t go above three players, because then there can be a lot of downtime while you’re waiting for the other players to make their moves. The key thing while playing Scrabble is to look for the double and triple word scores. Without those, there’s no chance of winning.
Scattergories
This game doesn’t require teams so there can be an even or odd number of players and I would recommend playing with three or more people. The alphabet dice is rolled and lands on a letter. You are given a list of categories (example: things you would pack in a suitcase) and must write down a word that fits into that category and also starts with the letter you rolled. In the moment, it can be tricky thinking of words, however, once you get on a roll, you can think of words quicker than you ever thought possible. The twist is that if you discover that you’ve written the same word as another player while you’re going over everyone’s answer at the end of the round, your answer doesn’t count! So, not only do you have to come up with a word that fits the requirements but it also has to be unique!
I know that I will be playing these games for the rest of my life because I love them so much. I am always on the lookout for more games but these are my all-time favourites. If it’s raining outside, or if you can’t think of anything else to do because of the pandemic, try playing one of these games! They will make you think, laugh and forget about what’s stressing you out.