I love playing board games in the festive season, and today I thought I’d share a few of my favourites with you. Some are firm favourites and some were new to us this year, but they’re all great for the whole family. Of course, you can’t beat a classic game of Monopoly, but it’s nice to switch things up a bit.
Colourbrain
First up I’ll talk about our newbie, Colourbrain. The premise is simple: each question can be answered with a colour, and you choose your answer from the eleven colour cards your team possess. There’s either one outright answer, or you’ll have to use a combination of colours to answer. For example, what colours are on the Union Jack? You’ll need to get all three to get the question correct.
You can play Colourbrain with 2 – 4 players or teams, which means it’s really flexible on numbers. We had a group of five, so opted for a team of two and a team of three, though you could easily mix and match with some players on their own and some in a team too!
I’d say the questions themselves were broad enough for all age ranges, which made a nice change from some games we’ve played. Because all the answers are in front of you too, it leaves lots of room for guessing which is great if you’re not sure on the answers.
Articulate
Next up is everyone’s favourite, Articulate. This one’s been around for a while and there are a few different versions as well as expansion packs for when you’ve worked through the original cards and know them like the back of your hand.
I personally love Articulate. It’s a relatively quick game (probably around half an hour tops) and basically involves describing things to people in one of six different categories. The ‘people’ category is my least favourite as I never know who half of them are, but give me the ‘object’ or ‘action’ categories and I’m a happy girl!
This is another team game, though I’ve only ever played with 2 or 3 players on a team at once. I think the game says you can play with over 20 people, but I can only imagine how crazy that would get! Let me know in the comments if you’ve ever played large-scale Articulate – I’d love to try it one day.
This is another one that’s suitable for most ages, and can be adapted (giving extra time, more passes, different categories) to include younger children.
Linkee
We got Linkee a couple of years ago, and whilst it can be frustrating, it’s also satisfying when you get the answers right and finally spell out your own ‘Linkee’.
As it says on the box, there are four words you’re given the clues to, with one link that ties them all together. You don’t need to get all four answers to the original clues correct to guess the link – but it certainly helps! You only need to win six cards to win, but they have to spell out ‘LINKEE’ so it’s not quite as easy as it first sounds! You can swap cards once you’ve saved up enough of each letter so this one is a slightly longer game, but a lot of fun.
We’ve just about exhausted this game as once you’ve gone through all the question cards you start being able to remember the links and then it’s not as fun, but I’d certainly recommend it if you’re looking for a new game to play this festive season.
Notable mentions
Obama Llama
I first played this last Christmas or the one before and thought it was hilarious so bought it for myself. It’s basically a rhyming game with different rounds and you have to describe or act out the clues for your teammates to guess. Big Potato Games have also just released Obama Llama 2 for those that love it as much as I do, as well as a festive version called Santa Banter. I meant to play this over Christmas but got so caught up in everything else that I completely forgot. It’ll definitely be played in the new year though as it’s such a laugh!
Pass the Pigs
This is such a simple, silly game that’s perfect for Christmas. The aim of the game is to score 100 points by throwing two little pigs like dice, to create different combinations. Depending on how they land, you score anything from 1 to 30 points – though if they land wrong you’ll ‘pig out’ sending your score back to zero. This year we upped our Pass the Pigs game and bought the giant inflatable version which was so, so worth it.
Who’s the Dude?
Another new one for this year, and another inflatable game, my mum heard about Who’s the Dude through a friend and decided to get it. It’s basically charades but with a blow up man to act with, and was the cause of many a giggle over Christmas (mainly because we kept forgetting where we’d left him and scaring ourselves silly every time we caught him out of the corner of our eyes in the dark). This one’s definitely a lot of fun with a larger group of people, so 4 – 6 would be my go to.
What’s your favourite game to play over the festive season? Have I missed it off my list?
