Our favourite lockdown board and card games

We’ve all been stuck inside for the best part of a year now, and let’s be honest, there is only so much you can watch on Netflix before you’ve completed it, right? So with that in mind, we thought we’d share some of the board and card games that we’ve been playing to pass away the evenings, without the TV on ;-). Here we have it, then – our top board and card games:

20 Dreams

First up, 20 Dreams (www.play20dreams.com). We love this game for a few reasons. Firstly, it’s incredibly easy to play. There’s no complex rules, nothing too confusing. It’s one of those games that you simply need to just get stuck in to. Players take it in turns to pick three picture cards, and an emotion card. They then have to describe that emotion using the three dream cards, and the other players have to try and guess what the emotion was.

Not only are the picture cards beautifully illustrated, they really do give you the opportunity to take the descriptive side of things whatever route you please! We had quite a laugh playing, and it was just the two of us. With more players (and, if you fancy, a nice bottle of wine), then the outcome could be quite hilarious. Karen and Sharon, the creators, have made a cracking card game!

There’s also a great message with this game – it highlights the importance of talking about your emotions. We really enjoyed creating very random and (sometimes) amusing dreams to explain the emotions. This game has everything you need from a card game – it’s quick to pick up, easy to play, funny and quite addictive. We can’t recommend it enough, so make sure you head over to their website and order yours now!

Incoherent

You’ve heard of “What do you Meme?”, right? Well, Incoherent is from the creators of that game – and it’s a great laugh. The game consists of three card types, Pop culture, Kinky and Party. Each card contains a well known(!) phrase, but not in plain english, in “gibberish”. Only by saying the phrase out loud over and over again will the player successfully guess what it is. You have a timer, and the aim is successfully decipher as many as you can on your turn. First to 13 correct cards wins.

It’s up there with “Cards against Humanity” in terms of its potential for giggle fits – we really enjoyed playing and it’s another firm favourite for a Saturday night in.

Pandemic

In the middle of a Pandemic, what better game to whip out than, errr, Pandemic! Working together, the aim of the game is to stop various viruses from spreading around the globe. The game can quickly take a turn with infection rate increases and cures being found. It’s really quite scary how accurate parts of it are to real life right now! BUT – put that aside, it’s a really enjoyable game – and at several times during playing you’ll literally be on the edge of your seat hoping the next card doesn’t infect the city you’re so close to curing!

It can go on for a while, so set aside a couple of hours and prepare to fight the virus (without the need for face masks or hand sanitiser, though – just Wine or Beer)

Ticket to Ride

On the face of it, Ticket To Ride game seems a bit boring. BUT. It really isn’t. The first few plays, we didn’t really think strategically. Each player has a set of train carriage pieces, and some destination cards. The aim of the game is to complete (own) your destination routes, and you get points for each section of the route you complete. Any destinations you fail to complete are deducted from your score at the end, so the pressure really is on to work quickly and logically (you have a limited number of pieces, so need to work out the best route etc).

It’s not aimed for train fans (as much as Grayson would adore it) but more for logical and competitive thinkers. You can get through a game quite quickly, too, so don’t worry if you lose, there’s plenty of opportunity to reclaim your podium 😉

A hat tip to the other board and card games we enjoy

There’s a few other games we like to play – that are good additions to your board game collection!

• Dobble is great, and can be played with kids too. It’s snap on heat, really.
• Cards against humanity – We all know about this one – and it’s amazing how it can change your perception of people quite quickly 😉
• Just buy a pack of cards – there’s a whole world of fun to be had with those 52 bad boys

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We’re always on the look out for new board and card games to play – so if you have any suggestions, please do comment and let us know! Also, check out our other product reviews just here.

*Disclaimer* We were kindly gifted 20 Dreams in return for an honest review of their product. The other board and card games in this review are not gifted.