Alice Bennett
It’s that time of the year again- the weather gets colder, Christmas trees go up, and you dust off your old Monopoly board and commence the annual family fall-out after Christmas dinner. Looking for an alternative to rowing this festive season? Or do you love the drama of Monopoly but want to change it up a bit? Alice Bennett gives a list of alternatives to the classic board game to play this Christmas with family and friends.
The iconic board game is a staple in many households and is a particularly popular activity on Christmas day during family gatherings. It is infamous for causing arguments, with Monopoly even launching a helpline to diffuse arguments over the holidays. Despite Monopoly being a great option, there are other equally great, if not better, family games out there to play this winter.
Diamant
An old family favourite of mine, Diamant is essentially a gambling game, and I have noticed that its popularity is often due to the sparkly fake diamonds you gather on your adventure. Playing as India Jones-Esque explorers, you and your friends and family will travel into 5 different caves on a hunt for jewels and treasure- but beware! Although you will gain more jewels by venturing further into the caves, the chances of explosions, scorpions and snakes are much higher- and you risk losing all of your diamonds you found in that round.
encourages that competitive edge that is quintessential to family board games on Christmas day
An interesting element is also not knowing who is remaining in the cave and who is running out with all of the leftover jewels. Though not quite on the same level as Monopoly for causing arguments, Diamant encourages that competitive edge that is quintessential to family board games on Christmas day.
The Resistance
The Resistance, on the other hand, is in the same calibre as Monopoly when it comes to causing feuds. Want to cause trust issues among family and friends? Do mind games on Christmas day sound like fun? Then The Resistance is the game for you.
this game will seriously make you rethink your entire friendships
Similar to games like Secret Hitler, The Resistance is a game that involves saboteurs. You and your friends are all (in theory) part of a resistance group going on secret missions, in which you will either succeed or fail. However, unbeknownst to the truthful players, there are two double agents on the team, aiming to sabotage The Resistance and fail the missions. This game will seriously make you rethink your entire friendships with some people, and make you wonder why your family members didn’t pursue acting with how adamant they were that they were not a spy!
The Mind
If you’d rather work together this festive season and swear that you and your siblings have a psychic connection, The Mind is a great game to play to test how well you know each other’s brains. There is a deck of cards from 1-100, and everyone is given a card they are not allowed to show anybody else.
hilarity ensues
Everyone then has to put their cards in the middle in order from smallest to largest without saying a word to each other. This game is much harder and more frustrating than you think- but hilarity ensues as you burst out laughing after staring at each other for a good 5 minutes trying to work out who has the lowest card!
Wavelength
causes more arguments than you would probably anticipate
Wavelength is a team game in which you are presented with a dial, and cards that involve scales like “sandwich- not a sandwich”. One person from a team sees where the dial is pointing and has to give a clue as to where it lies on the scale from sandwich- not a sandwich or other categories like hot-cold; for example, if the scale leaned more towards cold, the clue might be “ice cream”.
The team then has to rotate the dial to indicate where they think ice cream lies on the scale from hot to cold, and get points depending on how closely it matches. I have had many a heated debate about what constitutes a sandwich and what doesn’t- and it causes more arguments than you would probably anticipate.
Ca$h ‘N Guns
Like Diamant, Cash N Guns’ popularity with my friends and family is probably down to its fun props- pointing a fake foam gun at your loved ones has never been so much fun. You are part of a Mafia-like organisation ‘splitting its loot, but they can’t agree on the split!’– so you all point your guns at each other.
it is unwise to make enemies in this game
You can either choose to actually shoot someone so they gain a wound and are out of the round, or you can bluff to deter them from risking sticking around to try and gain more loot for yourself. But be careful- it is unwise to make enemies in this game- the likelihood of someone actually shooting is very high when your whole family decides to point a gun at you!
Alice Bennett
Featured image courtesy of @Eugene Zhyvchik via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In-article image 1 courtesy of @Suzy Hazelwood via Unsplash. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In-article video 1 courtesy of The Dice Tower via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.
In-article video 2 courtesy of Triple S Games via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.
In-article video 3 courtesy of Watch It Played via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.
In-article video 4 courtesy of Tabletop Tolson via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.
In-article video 5 courtesy of No Rolls Barred via YouTube.com. No changes were made to this video.
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