I was introduced to board games as a youngster. Nothing complex, just stick some plastic swords into a barrel and wait for a pirate to jump out. Or see how many things you could put on top of a donkey before he kicked everything off. Now, with young children of my own, maybe it's time those classics came back. It probably helped (or didn't help, depending on your viewpoint) that I joined a local board game club and learnt about so many more games. I probably went a bit crazy and started to build up my own collection - games for kids, games for two, games for crowds, simple games, hard games, and even games that people refuse to play anymore. I'm looking at you Monopoly...
Using your cards, build the sequence from "A Partridge In A Pear Tree" all the way up to "Twelve Drummers Drumming"
Build rows of increasing numbers, but don't take be the one who will "nimmt" the 6th card!
You are in charge of a glorious ancient city. Build up you civilisation to bring them to glory, while being wary of your neighbours who threaten everything you stand for
Take some tiles, make a word. Use power ups to guess what your opponent's word is as quickly as possible.
Great Scott! The future isn't written. It can be changed. You know that. Anyone can make their future whatever they want it to be. And you have to make it match your target before others match theirs
Classic old game, get your pieces home before your opponent.
Bet on the outcome of chips (or crisps) being drawn from a bag. More points, more prizes!
Fill as much of the field with your sheep, trap your opponents sheep, and do baaaattle!
Can you steal the pirates booty before he catches you? He's big. He's a pirate. And you want his gold!
Plant beans, trade beans, sell beans, profit
Get your team-mate to build the right LEGO shapes by telling them what goes where.
The city is in lockdown. Avoid the plague. Assuming that's not too much PTSD for you, escape the city without catching the plague. Or, catch the plague and infect everyone!
Build cities, roads, and fields to earn points by drawing a tile each turn to make a map - but beware of other players trying to share or steal your precious points
The cat must catch the mice before the mice work together to catch all the cheese
Work as a team to pass on top secret words to turn the board your colour before your opponent turns the board their colour
A box full of Lego and a card showing what to build. Can you build it? Can others guess it? Is colour important? Just another excuse to play with Lego for a bit
There's gold in them there hills - or, safes. Work together to gather the gold before your sudden and inevitable betrayal!
Known in some countries as "Spot It", a quick game where you look for matching icons on a central tile to build up (or reduce down) your hand.
Build your deck of cards by buying new cards to earn money to earn points. Each card gives different abilities, so combine them well and hope you shuffle them into the right order
An expansion for Dominion that adds new cards, new points, and new strategies
Make epic magic spells by combing your cards to make the other wizards suffer and die. But that's not always a bad thing, dead wizards get a bonus in the next round - if there is one
You are a kitten intent on not exploding. Play your cards at the right time to avoid the explosions, attack other kittens, and hope you have a Diffuse card when there's only one card left to draw
Just like Exploding Kittens, but the artwork is a little more... questionable?
A version of Fluxx based on the TV show Firefly - the goal of the game changes depending on the cards played, so just when you think you might win, some gorram player will change the winning conditions
A version of Fluxx based on the British comedy stylings of Monty Python's Flying Circus - what might be a Ministry of Silly Walks away from winning, could turn up to be a very naughty boy and stop you winning
Save your dinosaur from the end of the world and be the first one to survive, or the last dino standing
Earn as much gold as you can by turning over unknown cards in the right order. What is your deck hiding?
Stop the communists inserting their propaganda into films - unless you are a communist, in which case, stop the patriotic messages.
Survive the onslaught of various creatures of horror as you work together to defeat the villains while rescuing villagers
Trade your goods in this two player game to become the best trader in all of Rajasthan and get the coveted invitation to the Maharaja's court
Build a perfectly balanced tower before it all comes crashing down
Labyrinth, but themed on Adventure Bay classic, Paw Patrol - helps the pups get found
Using Just One word, help the guesser guess the one word they need to find - but be careful, too vague and they'll be confused, too similar and they might not have enough words to make a guess
Help your bunnies survive and earn carrots - but which carrot will win? Nobody knows, as the carrots are shuffled and the last one drawn wins - so hoard carrots, as all good bunnies do. Also kill, because killer bunnies are real and dead bunnies can't win
Imagine Pictionary, but you can only draw specific lines - each player gets a board with dotted lines all over it. You have to draw what you're prompted using those lines only.
Roll your dice and bet on the casinos that will give you the most money. But don't put all your eggs in one basket - you may end up losing and coming away with nothing. Will the house always win?
Roll dice to feed your baby bird, who turns into a kid bird, who turns into a teenage bird, who turns into an adult bird - be the first bird to grow and be fed to fly to victory
One becomes two becomes three - all the way up to the Llama. Get rid of your cards in sequence before the other Llamas to avoid points - points do not mean prizes here
Start an expedition to one of the cities and build you deck of cards in the right order to cancel out the cost of the expedition. But pay attention to your opponent's expeditions - they may be trying to beat you in one location and leave you in debt
All of the eligible young men (and many of the not-so-young) seek to woo the princess of Tempest. Unfortunately, she has locked herself in the palace, and you must rely on others to take your romantic letters to her. Will yours reach her first?
Get the cheese - but watch out, the cat will stop you and make you spit it out...
Monopoly - just themed around Essex, the place I grew up in
A game for 1 to 5 players where you have to tetris your way to make a zoo, while breeding animals to fill up the new tetris pieces.
Based on the mini-game from Assassin's Creed Valhalla, a dice game to battle with your opponents with help from your selection of Nordic Gods.
Work as a team to stop four viruses take over the world and kill everyone by moving around the map, healing people, working on cures, and eradicating suffering forever - unless you trigger a lockdown and lose
The dice are pigs. You roll the pigs. The pigs score points. You rack up points until you get scared. Then, you pass the pigs
Make words good with not say big words. Team guess word, team get points. Team guess big word, team get big points.
Classic labyrinth game, but themed around Pokémon.
Nothing beat accusing your friends of being a witch. Unless they aren't a witch, in which case that could spell the end of Salem
Italian card game where you need to collect certain cards to score points. More than 3 players, it becomes a team game.
Use your powers of deduction and pointy fingers to work out who is out to bring the Fascists (and Hitler) to power and stop them - unless you are a fascist or Hitler
Who will grab the ingredient first? Build your pizza by grabbing ingredients placed in the centre. First to make 3 pizzas wins
Guess who is a Red Herring, and who's telling the truth based on a random question prompt
Roll a dice to get a location, a diet, and a number of feet. Then, try to find that animal. Most animals at the end wins
Balance your elephant as others try to get unique treasures so you walk the plank
Card game from the 90s to simulate a football match. Pass the ball, score the goal, pretend you've won the league!
Build the best sushi plate from the cards in your hand, and pass the rest to another sushi chef. Build combinations and get all the sushi points you can
A card game where you have to predict the next card, with a few comical cards thrown in. Good for kids and drinking - but not together.
A trumping card game where each round gets you closer to your victory, and your opponent closer to theirs.
Card trick taking game that gets progressively harder and you work your way through the missions to get to the fabled Planet Nine
Will you start the fans please! Actually, don't do that, the pieces will go everywhere. Complete challenges to earn crystals. More crystals means more time in the Crystal Dome - slapping cards to win as many golden tokens as you can (after subtracting any silvers)
Get rid of as many cards as you can, in the right order, into the right piles. And don't worry, just because you read "the game" you have not lost the game - this is a different "the game"
Sail the Caribbean to find rum. But beware of competing pirates, krakens, and other dangers that lurk in the water
An introduction into the wonderful world of trains and maps and connecting cities. A little easier than the adult version, but we don't mind that
A group of pirates conspire to steal the treasure of the Spanish Galleon. The threat of mutiny. The risk of being stranded on the island of Tortuga. It's a pirate's life for me
Simple trivia questions game. Nothing difficult. Except that they are all trick questions and you'll probably end up being annoyed by the answer. Unless you are smug enough to work out the hidden pun or loophole
Be the first to say something that matches the random prompt that starts with the random letter. Most "trophies" wins!
Double sided Uno cards that flip the game on its head. Get close to finishing and then bam! The cards change and you're stuck. Or not?
See if you're on the same Wavelength as the other players. Move a dial to where the Psychic thinks their clue belongs based on the prompts. Compete against each other or as a single team against the game.
Test your knowledge of General Ignorance and avoid making the klaxon go off by answering questions that have very obvious wrong answers - or are they?
There are zombies in the street and The Winchester doesn't exist - but the principle is the same - survive!