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The holidays are just around the corner. For many of us, that means spending a little extra time with extended family. Sure, you could spend that family-time talking about family drama, sports rivalries, politics and other various potentially stressful topics, or you could turn down the tension and turn up the fun with a board game. Board games are a tried and true method of entertaining larger groups of people at family gatherings. Nowadays there are more than ever, for players of all ages. Right now, Amazon has a handful of classic board games on sale for the holidays. Check out these great board game deals just below.
If this photo is making you feel a bit of the Mandela Effect, you’re not alone. This isn’t a Berenstain/Berenstein Bears situation, though. This game did, indeed, used to be called “Settlers of Catan.” Although it’s got a new name nowadays, the gameplay remains largely the same, barring a few rule clarifications that come with new editions. If you’ve never played Catan, it’s a great 3-4 player game that takes about an hour to complete. It centers around, as the original name suggests, settling the world of Catan before the other players. However, players can focus on settling their own areas of the map, or hindering others. It’s easy to learn and is considered a classic for a reason.
This is a great game for families with a fun, lighthearted rivalry between the kids and the adults. This is a new version of the original Taboo game which includes 2 decks, one for the adults and one for the kids. The object is to get your teammate to guess the word on your card in 1 minute, without using the forbidden (or Taboo) words to describe that initial word. It even comes with a squeaker to “squeak” someone who accidentally uses a taboo word. This one is fun for the whole family.
Don’t Bee Last is a newer game for 2-6 players that takes about 10-20 minutes to complete. The object of the game is simple: Get rid of all your cards. Everyone takes turns putting their cards down, face up, and shouting out what color is on the card. It’s trickier than it sounds, with certain cards having different colored backgrounds, or cards that say “red” with the font colored green, etc. There are also cards with bees on them, which requires everyone to quickly smack the card as soon as it hits the table. It’s fast-paced fun that works well with a duo or a larger group.
This one is more for the younger members of the family. If you’ve got pre-school aged children, consider picking up this “junior” version of the classic board game, Boggle. It features exciting, colorful cards and helps kids learn to spell basic words like “dog,” “red,” “bird” and more. Kids can match the letters to the pictures on the cards to spell the words, creating a rewarding experience for learning. While this is a great game for multiple young children to play together (with some supervision), naturally, you and the older members of the family can also play this game with your child as well. If you’re just looking for the classic Boggle experience, that’s on sale right now too.
It wouldn’t be an Autoblog list without a car game. This Fast & Furious: Highway Heist game takes inspiration from the movies and if there’s one thing we should all know about the movies by now, it’s that they’re all about family, which means this is a great choice to play over the holidays with the whole fam. Unlike many board games, this is a cooperative strategy game where you and your family or friends work together to complete one of three different scenarios “Semi Heist, Tank Assault, and Chopper Takedown.” This game is for players ages 12 and up and takes about an hour for a play-through.
This one is a newer game that has been burning up the Amazon charts. Like Taboo Kids vs. Parents, this one also has a bit of light-hearted generational rivalry built-in. It’s a trivia game that organizes questions by generation, including “Gen Z, Millennial, Gen X, Baby Boomer, and the Silent Generation,” giving everyone their fair share of “easy questions,” despite when you were born. This game is fun for the whole family and made for laughs. There are 550 unique questions in the base game and there’s even an expansion available with 550 more.
You can’t very well make a list about board games without including Monopoly. It’s the classic of classics. The quintessential board game. Sure, it takes a while to complete, some of the rules are annoying, and if you take it too seriously, it can start fights, but that’s all kind of part of the charm. Besides, if you throw in a few house rules, it can turn a stressful, “never-ending” game into a breezy, light-hearted experience. If you’ve never at least tried it, you’re missing out. Oh yeah, there’s a Junior Edition, too … With trucks!
Clue (or depending on where you’re from, Cluedo) is another classic of classics. If you like mystery games, this is the one for you. This version offers a little something extra over the original, though; It can be played using Amazon Alexa. While it’s not necessary, players can “use the Alexa skill to summon the ghost of Mrs. White. If she’s in a pleasant mood, she might help solve the case. If she’s not…watch out.” Basically, this adds a new element of chance to the game and could help bring this classic board-game experience to more digitally-minded players. Either way you decide to play, Clue is one of the best board games out there and for under $10 it’s an absolute steal.
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