International Games Week is on at YOUR School Library. Here are a few of our favourite games. How many of these have you tried?
Catan
The original was introduced to the world as “The Settlers of Catan.” This game proved to be so popular it spawned many new versions and expansions, including Seafarers of Catan, Cities and Knights, and much much more. The rise of Catan was part of a resurgence in interest in board games after a decline in the video game era.
Monopoly
Monopoly is often the first game mentioned when people talk about board games. Monopoly was arguably the most dominant board game of the 20th Century and remains a cultural phenomenon that transcends the board game industry. While many modern game enthusiasts are rightly critical of many of the mechanics of Monopoly, the most common criticism, that the game takes far too long to play, is almost always because people don’t follow the official rules. In particular, “house rules” such as the collection of all taxes and penalties to a pot, which has been already seeded with $500, for those that land on Free Parking, serves to keep enough money in the game that it becomes incredibly difficult to bankrupt anyone, making the game go on for hours at a time. If you follow the rules and keep play moving, a good game of Monopoly should be about an hour.
Chess
Unlike most other board games, chess has no elements of chance or “luck,” unless you consider it luck if your mistakes are left unpunished by worse mistakes from your opponent! With no dice rolls, card flips or other random elements, chess is considered to be the most pure game of skill amongst all board games. Chess requires concentration, strategic thinking, time management, pattern recognition, patience, spatial awareness and many other thinking skills and qualities.
Here are some more games of note. How many have you tried?
- Scrabble
- Backgammon
- King of Tokyo
- Risk
- Ticket to Ride
- Cribbage
- Exploding Kittens
- Biblios
- Guess Who
- Kingdomino
- Colt Express
- Trivial Pursuit
- Things
- Nameburst
- Hearts
- Carcassonne
- Scattergories
What are some of your favourite games?
Lord Tweedsmuir Secondary School Library 