Joel WindelsThe Best Play games of forever, for everyone. These are the best 20 games ever made for any audience. These should be great fun for any group and have nearly all been vetted by our families as well as friends. If you are looking for some deeper games with a bit more complexity for your cool mates then we recommend you check out our best games for the connoisseur.
15. Sheriff of Nottingham
It’s a game about getting as many of your goods into the market as possible. Do you go for low-value but legitimate commodities, or risk smuggling in some pricey illegal spices? Whatever you choose, everything you shift has to pass the customs checks of the sheriff, who will get valuable rewards for any contraband he finds, but will be penalised for harassing law-abiding traders.
You’re balancing risk and reward, goading the sheriff into opening your bag of cheese, or scaring him into thinking your illegal pepper is nothing but perfectly healthy, happy apples.
It’s about getting wealthy in the way that works for you, and players take it in turns to be the sheriff. Think you’ve got a repeat offender sussed? Well I dare you to open their bag this time. It’ll be nothing but cheese.
Sheriff is a social game of bluffs, double bluffs and triple bluffs. Or if you’re Marcus its a game of sneaking some bread in with some cheese, both of which are legal but still carry penalties for lying about it. Whatever gives you that rush.
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14. Mysterium
13. King of Tokyo
Godzilla has a fight with King Kong and then a robot cat smashes in and takes the crown. Saturday morning cartoon? No, it’s just a board game. It’s also a board game adults will enjoy too.
King of Tokyo features satisfyingly massive dice and big rolls as you power up your monsters, smash your foes and try to be the last beast standing.
It’s easy to learn and some elements of controlled luck make this game a perfect game for the whole family. You can read our full recommendation here.
Shout out: King of New York, its slightly more complicated but deeper cousin.
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12. Coup
“I’m the duke!” you declare, before grabbing a greedy helping of three coins.
But are you? You’ve already claimed to be the assassin and the captain, and every player only gets two characters. Coup is a fast, deceptive battle for court supremacy and makes use of just two cards each and a pile of credits.
You’re slowly trying to manoeuvre the other members of the court in a bid to be the last person standing. To succeed, you’ll need to try and figure out who the others might be, and whether they’re telling the truth. It’s an ideal party game, and at Best Play we like to drop in a couple of quick rounds of Coup between heavier games to break up the flow.
Just remember: everyone is always the duke. Our full recommendation is here.
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11. Loony Quest
What if you could play Super Mario with just pen and paper? It’s easier than you might think. Looney Quest is inspired by video game platformers, and makes clever use of transparent sheets to task players with tracing routes through hazardous levels. But there’s a twist.
In essence, you’ll have to blindly draw your route through various levels on a blank canvas, hoping that these routes actually line up with the terrain once the round ends and your drawing is placed on top.
You can also relish in punishing your friends by making them draw with their arm straight or with their wrong hand, assuming you get the right pickups.
Or, of course, you can go all in and try and draw a penis if you’re sufficiently far ahead (GROW UP!)
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