Winter has come and with it long, gray afternoons and longer, darker nights. Most of us are spending less time outdoors. How should we pass the time?
Instead of flipping on the TV, consider a game night with family and friends. Fend off the winter doldrums with these rousing board and card games that will warm your home with fellowship.
Codenames: Great for Large Groups
In this game, players take on the role of secret agents on two opposing spy teams. Your mission is to uncover which secret codenames belong to the agents on your team. The game is played using a 5-by-5-inch grid of cards, with a codename listed on each card. Each team has a spymaster who knows which codenames belong to his or her team and which names belong to the opposing team. The spymasters take turns giving one-word clues to their teammates to help them identify the right codenames in the grid of cards. The first team to correctly identify all of their side’s codenames wins.Essentially, this is a word-association game in which you have to learn to think like your teammates. A skilled spymaster can indicate several codenames at once using a single clue that connects them all. But there’s always the danger of accidentally uncovering the opposing team’s codenames, which brings them closer to victory, or uncovering the assassin’s codename—causing an instant loss. Four-plus players.
One Night Ultimate Werewolf: Hidden Identity
The aim of this game is to discover each player’s identity. All players are dealt a face-down character card, with each player being either a villager or a werewolf. The villager team wins if it successfully identifies a werewolf. The werewolf team wins if all of the werewolves avoid capture. But chaos ensues when identities change, special abilities activate, and roles get switched during the “night phase.” It becomes difficult to determine who’s telling the truth and who isn’t. There’s sure to be lively debate during the “day phase.”Part bluffing game, part detective game, One Night Ultimate Werewolf will bring a party to life and test your powers of deduction. Three to 10 players.
Chameleon: Fast-Paced Deduction
This game combines elements of both word association and hidden identity. Like Codenames, this game includes a grid of words on the table in front of all of the players. All of the players except one—the Chameleon—know what the secret word is. Each player gives a one-word clue to indicate to the others that they’re aware of the secret word. The Chameleon, as the name implies, attempts to blend in without actually knowing the secret word, giving a clue that is, hopefully, accurate enough to avoid suspicion.After everyone provides a clue, debate over the identity of the Chameleon ensues. If the players identify the Chameleon, they win—unless the Chameleon can correctly guess the secret word. Because the Chameleon has a chance to win by guessing the word, the other players have to make sure that their clues aren’t too specific, while also being specific enough to prove that they’re not the Chameleon. It’s a balancing act.
Chameleon is easy to learn and plays quickly. Rounds take only a few minutes, so it’s perfect to pull out if you want some immediate entertainment that doesn’t require a significant time commitment. Three to eight players.
Axis and Allies: Grand Strategy Classic
In terms of a time commitment, Axis and Allies is at the opposite end of the spectrum from Chameleon. Games often take four hours or more to complete. It’s not uncommon to leave the game out and play it in sessions over a few days.
A game for serious strategy gamers, this classic realistically recreates the battles of World War II. It places players in the war rooms of the major combatants—Germany, Japan, the USSR, the UK, and the United States—as they hammer out strategies to conquer opponents and dominate the world. Axis and Allies provides a complete war-gaming experience, from recruiting land, air, and sea units to conducting attacks and reinforcing weak points. Fans of Risk will enjoy Axis and Allies, which takes many of Risk’s concepts to the next level. Two to five players.
Scotland Yard: Cat and Mouse
This game of high-speed pursuit is set on a map of London. One player is Mr. X, a criminal trying to escape from the police. The other players are detectives hard on Mr. X’s heels. The detectives mark their locations on the map using pawns, but Mr. X’s location is known only to himself, except for periodic moments when he has to reveal himself. Both Mr. X and the detectives use tickets for different types of transportation, such as buses, taxis, and subways.Most of the time, the detectives know only which type of transportation Mr. X used on his last turn and nothing more. Since the type of transportation limits the possible destinations, the detectives discuss together and use this information to try to deduce Mr. X’s location. But time is running out—once the detectives have no more tickets, Mr. X will escape forever. This engrossing game involves teamwork, deduction, and deception. Two to six players.
Ex Libris: For the Literary Connoisseur
Ex Libris will appeal to bookish game players. The concept is simple, but it offers a wide scope for creativity, humor, and memory work. To start the game, one player draws a card from the deck and reads it aloud. The card lists a book by a famous author. Each player then attempts to write a believable opening or closing sentence for that book. The first player writes down the real sentence. He or she then reads all of the players’ entries aloud, and players vote on which one they think is genuine. The game challenges players to write in the style of famous writers and try to recall the real first or last line of books that they may have read. Four to eight players.Poetry for Neanderthals: For Laughs
Depending on players’ approach, Ex Libris may result in some very funny first and last lines. But this entry, Poetry for Neanderthals, will result in even more hysterics. The rules are simple, even for a Neanderthal. There are two teams, and players take turns trying to get their teammates to guess the word or words on a card they’ve drawn from the deck before the time runs out. Correct guesses result in one or three points, depending on the difficulty of the card.Here’s the catch: Players can use only one-syllable words to describe the term on the card. Players aren’t allowed to use gestures, rhyming words, or initials. If you break the rules, an opposing player gets to hit you with an inflatable club. The team with the most points at the end wins. Some of the sentences you’ll hear come out of people’s mouths will leave you doubled over with laughter, gasping for air. Two to 12 players.
