If you’re looking for a way to spend time with your teenagers, a great board game might be what you need. While a board game might not be our first thought when it comes to fostering relationships, they’re an important piece of the puzzle.
Board games are great for:
- Helping teenagers collaborate and make decisions
- Building relationships
- Giving teenagers a (somewhat) quiet way to take a break from the rest of their environment
Play is also an essential part of how teenagers develop. Play helps them…
- Use their creativity
- Operate within set boundaries
- Work on their communication skills
Each of these can help them grow as individuals and in their faith.
So, if you’re looking for a few board games to add to your collection here are a few of my favourites.
What hue do you think of when we say “apple”? Hues and Cues is a vibrant game of colourful communication where teenagers are challenged to make connections to colours with words. Using only one and two-word cues, teenagers try to get others to guess a specific hue from the 480 colours on the game board. The closer the guesses are to the target, the more points you earn. Since everyone imagines colours differently, connecting colours and clues has never been this much fun!
Gather around with three to ten people to play a quick and simple game with a prism of possibilities! First, a “cue giver” hides a specific colour they’ve chosen out of a deck of cards. There are 480 shades on the board in front of you! After getting one- and two-word cues, everyone places their marker on which colour they think is being described. “Coffee.” Is it dark brown, as in freshly brewed? “Au lait.” With milk. That means I should pick a lighter shade!
Use examples from everyday life, from nature to pop culture, or materials and moods. Everyone around the table gets a turn to give cues and guess. The better your hints or guesses, the more points you earn. Play off others' experiences to narrow down what they have in mind!
Wavelength is the perfect party game to get your teenagers talking. In this “social guessing” board game, two teams compete to place a dial in the middle of a hidden target zone. In each round, teams are given a card with a scale such as “Hot” and “Cold.” Then, one player gets to look at the secret location of the target and offer a single clue to their team that will help them pinpoint the target’s exact location. So, they might say “coffee” or “milk,” depending on where the target is. Teenagers will love guessing, discussing, and competing against each other as they see which team is on the same wavelength!
This card game places two to five players against one another as they try to outlast one another by dodging exploding kittens. Players draw from a deck until someone pulls an exploding kitten card. They’re safe if they have a defuse card, but it’s game over if you don’t. Players will need to avoid exploding kittens and collect and play action cards that can help avoid the exploding kittens or force a player to draw more cards than normal.
Up to eight players compete to make the best sushi platter in this expanded version of the beloved card game. In each round, players are given a hand of cards. They must choose one card to keep before passing their cards to the player next to them. Some cards are worth points on their own, while others need to be collected in sets to earn their highest point values. At the end of each round, players tally their points, moving their game piece on the scoreboard before another round of card selection begins. After three rounds, the player with the most points wins!
If your teenagers are looking for a game with a bit of a challenge, then Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza might be what you need. In this card game, the group must take turns saying this game’s title, one word at a time, while playing a card from their hand. If the spoken word matches the card played, players must slap the pile of cards and avoid being last. The last player has to take all of the cards played in the round. The game goes on until someone runs out of cards!
