Over the last year, gaming as a hobby has grown in popularity because you can maintain social distance while still having fun with friends. While playing games can be a lot of fun, it can be daunting to figure out where to start with the sheer amount of options available.
As people become vaccinated and can start spending time indoors with family and friends again, one of the first party activities people are returning to is playing board games. While board games may not sound fun to some people, they’ve advanced a lot as a category and there are some new board games that are just as fun as video games.
Arcane Alley (2019)
In the Arcane Alley board game, each player is a wizard who runs a black market stocked with magical items. The goal of the game is to make as much gold as possible while evading infamy gained by being caught with rare unsold items during inspection periods. Each player starts with nine hidden items that they can slowly flip over to match three in a row and sell for profit. After one player has revealed all nine items in their stock, the inspection round begins. Any unsold items make the player gain infamy, which if too much is collected will make the player give up gold to pay fines. To win the game, you must have the most gold out of all the players after three inspection rounds. This game is a great game to play if you have a four to six players and is intricate enough to feel stimulating but not so intricate so that you have to reference the rules every turn.
The Chameleon Board Game (2018)
Chameleon is a social deduction board game in which players must try to blend in as the chameleon or try to catch the chameleon as a normal player. Each round a card with different themed single word prompts is shown, some dice are rolled to determine the word and players are given individual cards with keys to connect the dice roll to the word. One individual card has no key, making that player the chameleon. The players go around in a circle and say a single word that relates to the prompt word, and the chameleon must try to guess the word and state a relating word that will help them blend in. If the other players can figure out who the chameleon is, they win, but if the chameleon manages to trick the other players then they lose.
Betrayal at House on the Hill (2004)
This board game is a little older, but is great nonetheless and receives way less attention than it deserves. A team of up to six players explores a haunted house that they design tile by tile until one player secretly betrays and sabotages the others. The remaining players must figure out who the traitor is and defeat them before they all succumb to the haunted house and its traps. This game is great for those who love a story driven and stimulating game, and is available in an updated reprint as of 2010.
