Board games have been around for just as long as societies have existed in human history. There are various styles and genres that can be played such as strategy, chance, or a combination of the two. Usually, players have a goal that they try to achieve before their opponents do. Board Games have not always been as popular as they have been in the recent past. Only during the 19th century, when leisure time became more abundant with the rise of income did board games become more prominent in the household. Kids were encouraged to play board games as a way of developing literacy and providing moral guidance.
Let us take a look at arguably some of the best board games to have ever existed.
Monopoly
Redesigned to its current form in 1933, originally created in 1903 by Elizabeth. J. Maggie. Phillips and titled The Landlord’s Game Monopoly is named after the economic term of monopoly which means to own or dominate an entire market by one single entity. Monopoly is arguably the most polarizing game to hit tabletops. Either you love the game or you can’t stand it. Most of the time that opinion can change too depending on what property you own and how bankrupt your opponents are. The objective is to bankrupt all your opponents by having them land on your owned spaces and paying rent depending on your property on said space. Jokingly referred to as the friendship breaker Monopoly is definitely one of the most popular and memorable board games in existence.
Risk
A strategic turn-based game for 2-6 players. Many variants of the game exist however, the standard version is played on a board depicting a political and territorial map of the Earth. There are six continents divided into 42 territories. Players roll dice and control armies to attempt to take over other player’s territory. A combination of strategy and chance, the game is ideal for settling who would do best at trying to conquer the world. It sets everyone on very even ground and leaves most of the combat up to chance. Objectively makes for a great competition between friendly rivals.
Scrabble
The word game Scrabble consists of two to four players who score points by placing tiles, each tile bears a single letter onto a game board which is a 1515 grid of cells. The objective of this game is finding words that you can spell out from the tiles in your possession and out-score the other players. The game encourages many repeat players to improve their vocabulary base and overall literacy skills. Modern-day scrabble players have the luxury to use word unscramblers to give them the best possible solutions to the tiles in their possession or just to simply check if a word is allowed.
Battleship
A game where two players take turns essentially guessing where their opponent’s ships may be placed. Before the game begins, each player secretly places their ships within the play grid area. Each ship occupies a set number of consecutive squares, arranged, either vertically or horizontally. The type of ship determines the number of squares it will take up relative to the grid. Battleship is an extremely simple game but don’t let that stop you from playing it. It’s very fun to try and read your opponent’s expressions as you systematically sweep their board of ships.
Chess
Thought to be one of the world’s oldest and most popular games. Believed to have originated in India between the years 280-500. Chess is a 2 player strategy game played on an 8×8 checkerboard. The game simulates a war between nations by placing two identical opposing armies against each other. Each piece is constructed to a certain movement pattern and is worth a certain value. The goal is to corner the opponent’s king and force them to concede the battle. The idea is to outsmart your opponent by using these movement patterns to your advantage and force the enemy to make a mistake to capitalize on. In this modern world, anybody can find the rules to the game of chess. What is interesting about chess is that the board did not usually come with a set of instructions. You had to be taught how to play the game from somebody else who knew it. They, in turn, had to learn from somebody before them, and so on and so forth. It is a tradition of passing down skill and knowledge linking the past to our modern world where still to this day. The game of chess is more popular than ever.
These are some of the best, most timeless board games in existence. It wouldn’t be unreasonable to think everyone reading this knows how to or played one of these games in the past. Board games have been around for a long time, keeping us entertained and teaching us lessons along the way, and occasionally causing us to want to throw the table at our friends. Even with all the spirited competition and maybe the heated words of aggression. People will always come back and play some more, so go break open a game and have fun with it!
I’m a 20-something stay-at-home mother and wife. I have an amazing husband, a beautiful daughter, two loving dogs, and a lazy cat. I wouldn’t change my life for anything! I love to read, listen to music, cook and blog!
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