Shabbat Games Top Picks
My family has always been proud of our extensive board game collection. We play lots of board games, especially on Shabbat and Yom Tov. In this blog, I will rate my top 5 board games so I can express how I feel about them. Maybe this will make me better at convincing my family to play the board game of my choice.
Note: Not all of these choices are “board” games, but they are games.
Mastermind
Bananagrams
Chess
Monopoly Deal
Headbands
I will begin with my number 5 and make my way up the list. Headbands. For those of you who don’t know, Headbands is a game where each player wears a headband and gets a card on their head. That player must guess the card by asking yes or no questions. This can be fun, but I prefer playing it with friends over family (personal preference). My favorite part of this game is when it is my turn because I get to play the fun part of the game. The rest of the game can be boring, especially when other people cannot guess their card.
My number four is Monopoly Deal. Now, I have a Monopoly Deal as well as Monopoly Millionaire Deal. There is a big difference between the two games, although they are based on the similar Monopoly concept. In Monopoly Deal, the goal is to get 3 full sets of properties, while in Monopoly Millionaire Deal the goal is to get to $1 million (hence the name, millionaire). These games are the card version of the board game, so it is much quicker than a regular game of Monopoly. These two games are fun to play multiple rounds of, and also very fun to win. If you are looking for a game to binge play, I would recommend one of these two Monopoly games.
At number three I have chess. Chess is a really interesting game that takes a lot of strategy and brainpower, so it is best played when you are fully awake and against weak opponents. One of the reasons I have not played chess in a while is because I lost too many times against him. Every time he asks me to play, I kindly reject his offer. Regardless of my personal failures in chess, it is still a fantastic game to play and has many complexities. If you are looking for a game to spend your life studying, I would recommend chess. Otherwise, stick to simpler games like Headbands.
My second favorite game is Bananagrams. This game has a lot of letter tiles, and each player has to make words with the tiles they start with. When one player uses up all of their tiles, everyone picks up a tile. The game continues until all of the tiles have been used. This game is perfect for a relaxing situation because it takes some brainpower, but it is also soothing to sit down and try to make words. I’m no expert, but there is something incredibly powerful about having people sit around a table and make strange words. My love for this game cannot be described in words…
My favorite game at the moment is Mastermind. One player sets a four-color code, while the other player tries to guess the code in the correct order. This game definitely takes some intense thinking, so I would not recommend you play it with little time. Also, it can be incredibly frustrating when taking many tries before you solve the code. This makes it much more exciting every time you crack the code. I love the feeling of figuring out the correct answer, which is why I love this game. The reward is worth all of the struggling.
Okay, sorry for this long essay of my top 5 board games. I hope you found it interesting, and I hope you join me to play one of these five games sometime. What is your favorite board game and why?
Hi Yair, I love how you play so many games with your family. Even though I don't play many board games, I actually just found out about the game mastermind while I was home during Yom Kippur. I also like the feeling of figuring out the right answer, so I like that game. My favorite game that i've played though would have to be chameleon. It kind of reminds me of the game among us because you have to figure out who's the "imposter". It's kind of hard to explain the game through writing, but I can say its really fun.
ReplyDeleteHello Yair, with all do respect, I disagree with all of your top 5 games. My top 5 are Prez, Settlers of Catan, Coup, Codenames, and Exploding Kittens (with the expansion pack). Prez is the best because you always have that one kid that carries a deck of cards with him everywhere he goes on Shabbos, so you could really play the game anywhere, whether you go to another person's house or just can't find any other games at your house, and the rest of the games that I listed speak for themselves.
ReplyDeleteSettlers is in my top 5 as well! And I love Exploding Kittens, though it isn’t top 5.
DeleteHi Yair, it's great that there are so many board games that you still play with your family. I rarely ever play any with mine anymore. If I had to choose, my favorite board game would have to be Monopoly because it can go on forever and so you never know who could win.
ReplyDeleteIn my house we love board games, though we don't play as often as I'd prefer. Our favorites are (in no particular order) Settlers of Catan, Sushi Go Party, Uno, Scrabble, Trivia games of all sorts, Ticket to Ride, Blockus... I know I'm forgetting some, definitely, because we have tons and tons of games that we really enjoy playing. I think it is a great way to spend time with family!
ReplyDelete