Sick of Scrabble? These are the 10 best board games we’re playing this Christmas

Jasper Pickering
·8 min read
From pick-up-and-play card games to choose your own adventures, there’s something for everyone (iStock/The Independent)
From pick-up-and-play card games to choose your own adventures, there’s something for everyone (iStock/The Independent)

The humble board game is an ever-growing medium of play that can bring people around a table for an hour or two, and there is no better time of year for families and friends to gather than the holiday season.

Games can range from the incredibly complex – which will require you to carve out a significant chunk of your day to learn the rules and set everything up – to simple pick-up-and-play card games that can be completed in just a few minutes. There are even a few you can play by yourself.

While we enjoy the occasional game of Monopoly or Scrabble to unwind after a big dinner, chances are you already own at least one set. If you’re looking for something new to add to your shelves, we’d like to take the opportunity to highlight some other board games we think will be worthy of your Boxing Day afternoon plans.

It’s always good to have the classics on hand, but if you want to find a game that’s ideal for families, big groups, or even aimed at an older crowd, we think some of these might keep you well occupied.

To find out what games we’re looking forward to breaking out during the festive period, keep reading the rest of this article.

How we tested

Our round-up of the best board games are based on their ease of setup, difficulty to play and general appeal. Our ranking starts with games we think are good options for complete beginners before gradually introducing more complex games for players who want something a bit more challenging.

Our favourite board games to play in 2022 are:

Pandemic

Few board games are as satisfying to pick up, replay and invite friends along than Pandemic, a strictly cooperative experience that sees all players work together to eradicate different diseases across the globe.

Each player can take on a role that gives them different abilities and skills while taking turns to try and remove diseases from different countries, in a set number of actions. If players fail to eradicate a disease before it reaches a cerain number, an outbreak occurs, which can cause a knock-on effect in neighbouring territories.

There’s good reason why it’s often featured at the top of best board game recommendations and our round-up is no exception.

Buy now £24.99, Amazon.co.uk

Noggin

From the makers of Obama Llama comes Noggin, a word-association game where players place cards in three piles of letter cards around a table. When an action card is placed on one pile, all the players must quickly come up with a word associated with the other two letters, including initials, word association/disassociation or descriptors. Players can also steal other players’ cards if they spot a three-letter word that can be assembled from the pile.

Buy now £11.85, Board-game.co.uk

Calico

Assemble a quilt that will attract the most cats, by laying hexagonal tiles on a small board. Points can be gained for matching pattern types with a particular cat’s preference or simply having three adjacent colours.

It’s an easy game to set up, with tiles being stored in a drawstring bag before being laid on the table for players to choose to add to their quilt. Calico is easy to learn and challenges each player’s spatial reasoning and pattern recognition.

Buy now £33.44, Amazon.co.uk

Mantis

From the makers of Exploding Kittens, Mantis is a colourful cut-throat card-collecting game, where players can either choose to take a card of a corresponding colour from a deck, or steal a collection of cards from other players.

It’s very simple to set up and learn, well suited for larger groups and can lead to some interesting high-risk strategies to successfully steal cards from other players.

Buy now £19.99, Amazon.co.uk

Hint

For fans of Articulate who want to step things up, Hint is a party game where two teams race around the board by guessing what teammates are either drawing, miming, humming or talking about but there is one word on each card that is forbidden.

If another teammate accidentally says it, the round immediately ends and the other team has a chance to guess what the forbidden word was to score extra points.

Buy now £29.20, Amazon.co.uk

What Next?

If you remember ‘choose your own adventure’ books, where different pages take you down different paths of a branching narrative, this game works in much the same way. There are three decks of cards, each with their own story of varying difficulty. Once the first card is drawn, each new card directs players through the deck until the story is resolved, but there are a few twists.

At certain points, each card will task players with completing a “mini-game” of sorts, such as assembling puzzle pieces in a set amount of time, locating different-shaped items in a blind bag or pushing a puck on a miniature shuffleboard. Players also have to be wary of “peril pieces” – essentially stackable cairn stones – and if players knock them down, it’s game over.

Naturally, the different story paths players can take also means each of the three campaigns can be replayed to explore different options but this can only be done a finite number of times before repetition will set in. The mini-games also offer a more dextererous challenge that gives the game some added flair. It’s fun alone but also works well in a group of four as an accessible party game that’s simple to set up.

Buy now £39.99, Amazon.co.uk

Disney Villainous

In Villainous, each player controls one of Disney’s most famous villians, including Captain Hook, Maleficent and Jafar, as they each try and achieve goals within their own kingdom. Not all goals are the same for each character but players are able to thwart other players by adding heroes and artefacts to other realms.

Don’t let the kid-friendly veneer of Disney Villainous fool you, this is a deeply complex game with high-quality pieces as well as a variety of different play styles for each playthrough. The game can be played as a standalone or combined with other expansions for a wider choice of playable characters. It’s (obviously) well suited for Disney fans but it also has broader appeal among board game fans who are looking for an asymmetric challenge.

Buy now £34.99, Amazon.co.uk

Catan

One of the most popular board games of all time, Catan is a settlement building game where each player must construct roads, houses and cities on a hexagonal-shaped island.

What makes Catan so endlessly replayable is the different island configurations that players can create in order to play variations of the same island. It’s easy to learn and if you’re hoping to graduate from family favourites like Monopoly, then this is the next step up.

Buy now £34.99, Amazon.co.uk

Wingspan

In terms of theming, Wingspan may just be one of the most wholesome board games ever. Players are tasked with attracting birds to their aviary to score points, lay eggs and collect food tokens.

Birds can be summoned to one of three preferred habitats and as the aviary starts to fill up, different effects come into play on the board. If players can combine the abilities of different species of birds, it can create powerful knock-on effects that benefit the player.

Not only are the pieces of excellent quality, but the unique art of each bird card (plus the fun bird facts located on each) makes Wingspan an excellent family-friendly game once everything is set up.

Buy now £43.87, Amazon

Scythe

In an alternative 1920s post-war landscape on the fictional continent of Europa, different factions are all vying for control of resources to rebuild their economy, using workers and giant mechs.

Players win by having the most money by the end of the game, which can be achieved through a number of different objectives, such as controlled resources and even their popularity with the common people. It’s a game with a lot of depth and interlacing systems but it is much easier to follow than its setup would have you believe. If you have previously dabbled in other strategy games, such as Risk, there’s a lot to enjoy here.

Buy now £57.59, Amazon.co.uk

The verdict: Best board games

If you’re looking for something with mass appeal that won’t cause any arguments, then Pandemic is our pick for its easy-to-learn style and varying difficulty for new and old players alike. If you’re interested in something to play after your next dinner party, Hint is also simple to understand and explain to a table full of guests. If, however, you fancy yourself a tactician and want something a bit more demanding, Scythe will keep you entertained for hours.

Want to have a fun night in by yourself? Read our guide to the best solo board games