Which board games to play? Tough choice


family board games
Packing for a family reunion week – games first.

This week we’re having a family reunion and I’m in charge of supplying the board games.

Of course, supplying board games to play for the occasion isn’t a big surprise. It’s really something I do anyway whenever we get together with family.

The toughest question is which family board games to take…

Diverse interests

The first thing to consider when choosing which games to take is the diverse interests of everyone that will be there.

Some love strategy board games – others prefer games with a lot of luck. Some love light, party games – others prefer two-player games. Some love short games – others games that play through the night. Some like learning new games – others prefer familiar games. Some are willing to play anything – others don’t really like board games at all.

That being the case, I need to pack an assortment of games to cover a wide spectrum of interests.

Luckily with so many family board games in our closet, selecting a wide variety Β of games won’t be a problem.

Time available

family board games
First, pack the big box.

The next thing to consider is how much time we’ll actually spend playing games.

There will plenty of activities for us to do where we’ll be staying. We’ll be in time share units at Bear Lake and plan to have fun on the lake, in the pool, in a nearby cave, on the golf course, the mini-golf course, out on the lawn, and at a local raspberry shake joint.

So our board game time will mostly be limited to evenings in the rooms. And even at that, the sun isn’t going down until about 9pm which means games later at night when minds may not be as sharp. πŸ™‚

But, I’m always hopefully and can also foresee a few games being played in the mornings amongst a few while others are still working on getting up and going. Some two-player, shorter games will work great for those moments.

As much as the boys would love another game of Battlestar Galactica with the cousins, it’s most likely not in the cards this time around. But we probably will have time for Pandemic: On the Brink with the bioterrorist wrecking havoc.

Age range

For this particular family reunion, the youngest player will actually be our youngest son, Caleb. And as you can tell from all his video reviews, there isn’t a game he won’t tackle.

So as far as age range goes, I don’t need to plan for games best suited for players younger than 10. Skip the lowest shelf in our game closet – check.

Space restrictions

family board games
Then pack the bag.

All that above is well and good – and I could think of a ton of games that would be fantastic to take. However, making sure everything can fit in the car is the major restriction.

So now it’s time to be judicious.

Narrowing it down

With all that in mind, my first step was to physically pull out all the games that I think would best fit the situation and stack them in a pile.

The next step was determining what to pack them in to see what space I really had to work with. I typically use what we’ve designated as our ‘game bag’. It can hold about 4 or 5 board game boxes in the center and a number of card games in the multiple side pockets. (It works great for weekends at the cousins.) But for a whole week, we’ll want more than just what we can get in that bag.

family board games
Then pack the card game bin.

Enter a new twist on packing…

As luck would have it this time, our two oldest boys need to work an extra day before being able to get away. So while we’ll miss them for a day, it also means that they’ll be coming in a 2nd car. And 2nd car = more packing space.

Knowing that, I pulled out the biggest box we had lying around and started organizing.

How could I get the most games to fit well between the bag and box?

It was in that organizing that the final decisions were made. As grand as plans as I had, some games in the stack simply had to be left behind…

The Final Verdict

In the end, these are the 32 games that are packed and ready to go.

The Classics:

New games we haven’t played:

Should be a fun week!

What games would you take?

5 thoughts on “Which board games to play? Tough choice

  • We also make an annual weekend trip to Bear Lake; ours is with friends. This year the 8 of us got in 28 games!
    I like your list & predict you will get addicted to Hanabi & play it several times.

    Reply
  • Totally agree about Hanabi. Also, be aware that Scotland Yard is quite a brain-burner for all involved.

    Enjoy!

    Reply
  • well haven’t had a family reunion in a long time and don’t think many would be willing to learn a new game (and most of these I don’t know well enough to teach but would like to learn and play!)
    Transamerica (guess this is out of print now but is fun and fairly easy to figure out though I’m not good at winning!)
    Ticket to Ride (regular USA one)
    Dominoes for chicken foot(family DOES play various dominoe games…)
    Forbidden Island
    Quirkle in case younger crowd wants to play
    Uno for same reason plus I like it!
    Phase 10 – frustrating game but I like it!
    deck of cards for Hearts or Spades (or solitaire!)
    King of Tokyo – still figurin this one out but it was fun the 2nd time I played…
    Settlers of Catan – lose every time but love it
    P.I. played once and sucked but liked it
    Labyrinth- again wasn’t good at it but liked it
    Love Letter – simple but confused me but fun and quick
    Dominion- what can I say? shopping..even when I lose I got to shop!
    Zooloretto – cute animals and fun – yes I lose on this too!
    Clue – pretty much chance but I like it
    Las Vegas – don’t care for the ‘gambling’ theme but it’s easy to learn and fun (and I actually won twice!)
    Scotland Yard – think I’d like to try this one and I already have it double bonus
    Roll Through the Ages – enjoyed this once I kinda got the hang of it
    Word on the Street – would like to try this one
    apples to apples- think this would be fun

    Reply
  • oops forgot these!
    Ingenious or Blokus- probably Ingenious since it intrigues me the most (though still can’t quite figure out the scoring…)
    Carcassonne or Wooly Bully (lighter version seems like but was fun and cheap when I bought it)

    Reply

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