Instead of “Activity” and “Monopoly” – 10 board games for a fun company

Decoder (3-8 players)

A word game on associations with a slight twist: here it is just as important to confuse the opponent as to help your fellows. The game itself is built around special cards with words that are visible only through a special device with red windows. Each round, players will guess a sequence of numbers associated with words, and the team must guess them. The enemy also speculates what sequence the guessing side may have, and if it succeeds in guessing twice, victory is in the pocket. You can also lose here: if you do not reveal the sequence twice, then the game will end. Simple yet really addicting mechanics set the game apart from other boxes built around associations. In words, it may sound a little difficult, in fact, one move is enough to get involved.

Resistance (5-10 players)

This time we are talking about a variation of the familiar “Mafia”. The key twist here is that no player is eliminated until the very end, which allows you to stay involved throughout the game. The game is quite simple: in the resistance, which is trying to conduct operations against the current system, pro-government agents are being introduced to sabotage the activities of the cell. The task of the resistance is to calculate agents and carry out sabotage, and their opponents – to prevent subversion from happening. The simplicity of the gameplay rests against the most powerful psychological confrontation and the ability to bluff like never before: even being revealed, the agent is still able to confuse other players, which should be actively used. Of course, words are used: the mistrust of opponents can always be turned to your advantage.

Captain Sonar (2-8 players)

One of the most unusual games in the collection, which allows you to feel like a member of the crew of a submarine. Players are divided into two opposing sides and in real time (no division into moves!) They must float on the map and try to figure out the enemy. Ideally, it is better to play with eight players: this way the teams will be split into fours and each will have a unique role of their own – be it a radio operator, chief officer, engineer or captain. At the same time, all roles offer unique gameplay, but you need to act as a whole: you won’t be able to mess around for a long time. The task of each team is to inflict four damage on the enemy submarine, thereby sending it to the bottom.

“Criminalist. Murder in Hong Kong “(4-12 players)

And again, a game with hidden roles. This time, the players are sent to investigate the crime, but the situation is greatly complicated by the fact that among them there is a killer who is carefully trying to confuse the tracks and frame someone else. All players, except for the leader (who is called the forensic scientist here), receive a set of eight cards: four of them are possible instruments of crime, and the rest are evidence. The presenter without words, with the help of special cards, must direct the investigation in the right direction, the investigators – to find the attacker, and the criminal – to get out of the water. There are three rounds per game to shed more light on the crime.

Visual (3-8 players)

An association game in which there is no place for familiar words or pantomime. Instead, it uses transparent cards with special drawings, from which you can collect various collages that explain the hidden word. There are more than six dozen picture cards here, so there is where to roam, and there are a lot of words – double-sided cards with words, each of which has eight options, there are also more than sixty here. It is played according to the classics: one guesses, the rest guess. Whoever succeeds gets a victory point, just like the one who makes the guess. The winner is the one who understands the explanations of friends better than others.

Secret Hitler (5-10 players)

In 1930s Germany is restless: the Liberal and National Socialist parties are striving for power, and the country’s future is literally determined here and now. “Secret Hitler” is a game with hidden roles, and one of the players really gets himself a Hitler card: if three fascist resolutions are adopted, and Hitler becomes the next chancellor, then the NSDAP is considered the winner. If the matter does not reach Hitler, then in order to win, the parties need to adopt five resolutions of their own type. It sounds quite simple and in the spirit of “Mafia”, in fact, everything is much more interesting: there is a place for bluffing, betrayal and even elimination of competitors, plus due to local mechanics the situation in the game remains unpredictable until the very end.

Mysterium (2-7 players)

Psychics arrive at the cursed mansion, whose task is to solve the mystery of the place. According to legend, a ghost of a man lives here, who was unjustly executed more than a hundred years ago for a crime that he did not commit, and now the team of psychics will have to understand what the unfortunate soul is trying to tell them. It is based on the same association game: to win in seven moves, you need to figure out who the real killer was, as well as all the details of the crime. To do this, one of the participants, playing the ghost, will have to use special cards and, in the manner of “Dixit”, guess the details related to the personal tragedy of his hero.

Codenames (2-12 players)

The main competitor of “Decoder”: games occupy the top two lines on the main desktop site BoardGameGeek in the category “sidegames”. They have quite a lot in common: as in the Decoder, in the Codenames the teams are trying to decipher the words the captain has invented, which are grouped in a certain way, and you can use only one word and number. “Code names” are often compared with “Minesweeper”, except that instead of mines, there are words. The winner is the one who quickly finds cards of his color (read: his agents), but you can also lose by accidentally hitting the assassin’s card. In this case, the victory automatically goes to the other team.

500 Angry Cards (3-20 players)

A social game without a specific goal. There are no associations familiar in the format, collection of combinations or the need to calculate secret roles – just try to give the most ridiculous, absurd and grotesque answer to the question posed with the help of the cards in hand. The presenter pulls a question from the deck, and the rest of the players try, in fact, to amuse the supplicant. Who has coped gets a point, and the one who gets ten points wins. It is worth noting that the entertainment comes with the obligatory mark 18+: many words on the cards are not at all suitable for children.

Wavelength (2-20 players)

On request, the game offers to read each other’s thoughts, which will help to correctly set the synchronization device. In fact, everything is a little more prosaic: the players are divided into two teams and choose one medium, which will help to correctly position the arrow of the device. The fact is that the exact position is seen only by a medium who is able to give hints with the help of special cards operating on the principle of “cold – hot”. Using the suggested couple of words, the medium will have to come up with some expression based on them, which will help the team correctly tune in to the right wave. And the more accurately the team is able to tune in, the more points it will receive.