I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas day and are now spending your time basking in the glow of family and friends. I, for one, have spent countless hours lounging on couches around the fireplace playing games with my family, which is what has inspired today’s blog post. I’m going to share with you this month’s installment in our High Five series: Board Games You Should Be Playing.

Though I am writing this during the holidays, board games are fabulous at any time of year. Our team loves to have friends over for regular game nights, complete with drinks and delicious snacks. So dust off the games in your cupboard, and get going… or check out our 5 favourite games below.

1 – Catch Phrase

My family spent hours sitting around playing Catch Phrase just last night. We had the Decades version (words and phrases from the ’70s, ’80s, ’90s, ’00s, and ’10s) and it was a blast and hilarious for all ages. Though Catch Phrase is not really a board game, it is a great group game which I think warrants inclusion on this list.

This game can be played with pretty well any number of people (though preferably and even number… not sure how you’d work with an odd one). It basically involves passing around the handset and getting your teammates to guess the word or phrase on the screen by providing verbal and physical cues without saying any part of the phrase. This can get pretty funny when you are playing with your grandparents and they don’t “get” much of anything to do with current pop culture.

To make this game extra nerdy, Hasbro has released a Star Wars version of Catch Phrase.

2 – Killer Bunnies

This is a favourite of the My Fangirl Life team. Killer Bunnies is a card game for 2-8 players that requires the Killer Bunnies game set… so this one is also not strictly a board game. There are tons of expansion packs but we only own the original version of this game, which is usually plenty for our needs.

Killer Bunnies does have some light gore and violence (mostly to do with bunnies getting barbecued on a spit, or made into roadkill) which makes it all the more hilarious. It’s a lot of fun to unleash a weapon “just to see what happens” and end up devastating the bunny population.

3 – Settlers of Catan

Your classic game of conquering, Settlers (as we call it) has enjoyed tons of popularity in recent years. The premise of the board game is that you have arrived in a new land and are settling the area, competing with the other players to become the most established. Resources are important so sometimes you need to barter with your fellow explorers in an attempt to set yourself up to be the winner.

Kris always wins at this one (her strategic mind is just too good) but it’s still usually a lot of fun to try and knock her down. Perhaps the rest of us should just band together to put someone else on the throne of Catan. Though come to think of it, I don’t really know that the ruler of this island would have a throne…

4 – Pandemic

This has recently become a favourite in our household. Pandemic is a cooperative board game in which you try to save the world from an outbreak of zombie viruses. Or maybe I just like to imagine the zombie part… but basically this game is great for competitive groups because everyone is working as a team. Each player has a different role and different actions that only they can do, so Pandemic really brings out everyone’s strategic and collaborative sides. Plus it feels pretty great to be saving the world!

5 – The Justin Bieber Game

I bought this game at a Zellers close-out sale for around $1.50. And you know what? Best $1.50 I ever spent. Playing the Justin Bieber Backstage Pass Game is pretty much the most fun we have out of any of our board games. The first time we played it took an obscene number of hours because you only get to move ahead on the game board if you get the questions right… trivia question about Beiber… and we didn’t know enough about Bieber. Nowadays we’ve played the game a number of times so we have a better understanding of Justin and know the answers to trivia questions like “What is Justin’s favourite toothpaste?” (Colgate), “What did Justin spill down the front of his shirt on a date once?” (Spaghetti), and “What is Justin’s favourite food?” (Also spaghetti… there is a list of standard go-to answers that we’ve come up with). It’s fun to impress (or un-impress) our friends with our knowledge of Justin Bieber by making them play this game with us. Plus, if you win you get a personalized message from Justin! We make everyone who wins put the message up on their bathroom mirror to inspire them every day of their lives… obviously.

What are your favourite board games or family games? Let us know what we missed in the comments!

Cheers,

KG