Family board game nights are often reminiscent of extreme boredom or complete confusion. Back in the day, trying to keep up with the adults took up such a huge percentage of mental capacity that it was practically impossible to enjoy actually playing the board game.
Revisiting favorites with family or friends as a grown-up can be a very different experience. Adulthood often brings a new perspective and understanding of strategy and general knowledge, which is something a younger player can't expect to acquire without time and patience. This can massively improve the gameplay of a variety of board games.
10 Monopoly Incorporates Adult Worries
With an economics theme, Monopoly is a board game everyone played at a young age, and no one had any idea what was going on until they got older. Published 87 years ago, this longboard game aimed to promote an economy that encouraged the accumulation of wealth. Named after single-market domination, monopoly, the players' goal is to bankrupt each other through purchasing properties. The constant giving and taking of money for rent and taxes should be all too familiar for adult players. With so many spin-offs, players have the option to play in a local city or favorite fictional world.
9 Scrabble Is Easier With A Bigger Vocab
This word-based board game only improves as players move into adulthood. The object of Scrabble is to end up with the highest score, spelling out words, crossword-style, with scored letters and special spaces on the board, which can double or triple the score of individual letters or whole words.
With larger vocabularies and better spelling abilities, Scrabble is much more enjoyable as an adult. Additionally, with a clear understanding of the game, players can make their own house rules to spice things up.
8 Trivial Pursuit Is For Adults
Playing Trivial Pursuit as a kid is a guessing game. Having an all-rounder knowledge when players are just starting their lives is unlikely unless they're answering from the questions sets tailored for children. The goal is to get around the board, collecting different colored slices of the pie by answering answers correctly for each category: Geography, Entertainment, History, Arts & Literature, Science & Nature, and Sports & Leisure. Adult players are more likely to have a broad knowledge of at least a couple of the available categories.
7 Pictionary Is More Fun When The Drawings Make Sense
In Pictionary, players must reach the end of the board. Points are scored when players guess correctly what others are drawing. In the "all play" space, two players from each team must draw simultaneously, creating a race to guess the picture as quickly as possible. Unless a younger player is a child prodigy, it's doubtful their drawing skills hold up against the older family members or friends. The consequences of such are spending hours figuring out what the drawing even is, let alone what it represents. This game is more fun as an adult when most peoples' drawing skills are moderate, but more importantly, decipherable.
6 Risk Is For The Experienced
Strategy board game Risk is all about the nuances of conquest, after coming into existence in 1957. This can result in long games that can even go on for days, trying to reach the goal of conquering the world (or board), having eliminated all players. This board game of diplomacy and conflict requires time and patience – something a lot of kids just don't have. With alliances being made and broken, armies pushing forward, and continents overthrown, this is certainly a board game for more experienced players.
5 Clue Needs Detectives
This murder-mystery board game must be played with three players or more, each assuming the position of a suspect. The objective is to figure out who the murder culprit is, where it happened, and what weapon was used by moving around the board, in the form of rooms in a mansion.
Players must keep detailed notes throughout Clue to help them crack the case. For child players, it's hard to keep up with the demands of being a board game detective.
4 The Game Of Life Is Too Accurate
This board game seeks to simulate the ups and downs of life, moving through mountains and valleys in a plastic vehicle. As the player progresses through The Game Of Life, from college to retirement, they can fill up their little automobile with a marriage partner and children, collect money and make decisions about education, career, homes, and investments. The spinner decides how many spaces players can move on the board, leaving the pace and direction of players' lives mostly up to chance. Older players part-way through their life will enjoy the humor of the game, which may be lost on a younger player.
3 Articulate! Is Rapid Fire
Articulate! is all about guessing what a player is describing quickly and swiftly. Describers – a maximum of two in each team – may act out or mime the word, but mustn't mention the word or try to assist guessers with rhyming words. This board game is fast-paced and requires a lot of quick mental work, which a lot of kids just can't keep up with. There's even a kid's version of the game with the same six categories as the original but designed as more accessible to younger players.
2 Chess Requires Grit
Chess is one of the oldest board games still popular today. An intense but silent battle between two players, it requires a deep understanding of the chequered board and the rules of each piece. It's a game definitely easier as an adult.
That's not to say kids can't or don't play it, but with practically infinite openings and moves, games can last anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours. To fully immerse themselves in the game, chess players must have a gritty determination.
1 Uno Is Chaotically Amusing
Despite UNO's official age rating being 7+, there's something infinitely more entertaining about the card game when playing it as an adult. As a shedding-style card game, the goal is to reach 500 points having played all cards in a hand. With Skip, Reverse, Draw Two, and Wild Draw Four cards, there's something fun about being the cause of a friend or family member's misfortune that simply can't be relished in the same way as a kid. Ultimately, the random and cruel nature of this board game is sure to be a laugh at whatever age.