The best board games

There’s been a lot of talk this year about Christmas Eve gifts. Some people gift new pyjamas to cosy up in waiting for Father Christmas to come, others a bottle of tipple to enjoy. Although I don’t think we need a reason to spend any more money at Christmas, I really like the idea of bringing one gift forward for the night before. My gift of choice for Christmas Eve would have to be a board game.

We have quite a few board games in our house that come out near Christmas and provide plenty of family entertainment. Here are my pick of seven to suit any budget or age group.

Let’s start with three absolute classics:

I imagine most people will have played this trio.

Connect Four (£10.94). Did you know that the discs for this are actually called kwods? My favourite part of the game was always emptying the grid out and seeing them all come crashing on to the table. This no rules, four in a row game is probably one of the simplest to play with kids 6 and over.

Monopoly (£9.99). The edition I own is actually a bookshelf version exclusive to Marks & Spencers, whilst it’s quite cute, the classic version linked here is cheaper. After trying a few rounds with my Sister’s chip and pin version, I can say for sure that the ‘real money’ game is much more entertaining.

Original Scrabble (RRP £19.99). Mattel kindly gifted me this version to replace my Parent’s 1980s edition that was looking a little worse for wear. As you’ll know, scrabble isn’t the easiest games for young ones, so if you have kids you might want to try their new game, Twist & Turns. It’s basically Scrabble without a board, points, or the constraints of a four sided letter. If someone else has used the letter, you can still use it too thanks to their cleverly shaped new chips. Words can also go any way and even change direction in the middle, hence the name Twist & Turns. Matt missed the board when we gave this a go but I really see the market for it for families with kids. It’s a good game to teach some skills before moving up to the Original Scrabble. Twist & Turns is currently £6.76 including delivery on Amazon (RRP £14.99). It would make a really nice stocking filler this Christmas, especially at less than half price. Unfortunately it isn’t included in the above photograph but it’s a really handy sized box so I’m sure it could be used as a travel game too.

On to my next stack:

Taboo & Articulate are my absolute favourite. They’re both suitable for children, but if you got these out at a more grown up affair I promise masses of laughter, especially after a few glasses of wine have been had. These always come out at our Christmas parties where around 20 of us will battle it out in two big teams. Games have been known to go on until 3am!

The idea behind both of them are fairly similar. In Articulate, you have a card with words on and you have to describe as many as possible in the time limit. In Taboo, the concept is the same apart from their are certain words that you can’t say – they’re taboo.

Of the pair, I enjoy Articulate more. The full version is quite expensive but I think it’s more than worth it for the amount of times this game has been used. They do sell a Mini Articulate for £4.99 which is designed as a travel game and comes with fewer cards.

The third word game hiding on the top of the pile is this little gadget, Scrabble Banter:

As much as I love hour long games of Monopoly, it’s nice to pick up a quick paced game like this and it’s even nicer to see Scrabble giving us something new. You might have spotted some of the new Scrabble adverts on TV recently, showing off their new look. This handheld gives you challenges on the screen and is passed around the players as the timer counts down. Whoever is holding the game when the timer goes off is out.

My Mum, Sister and I had a great laugh playing this game and seeing the utter panic on each others faces as the time ran down. It doesn’t lose the interest of little ones and although it’s word based, it isn’t as complicated for them as traditional scrabble as there’s no points to keep track of. Scrabble Banter is £22.99 on Amazon at the moment (RRP £24.99) and will make a great gift, especially for those that love gadgets.

Do you have any favourite board games? Which am I missing out on?