I’ve been regularly playing board games for more than a decade but only recently really understood how great they can be in a social setting. After moving to Washington, D.C., in 2013 for work in my late 20s, I found myself in a city where I didn’t know anyone. Making friends was challenging, but I finally found my social sanctuary through a Friday night board gaming group in the bowels of an underground mall in nearby Crystal City (which might ring a bell as one of the cities where Amazon decided to plop down its second headquarters). It was through that group that I evolved into an actual group of friends, sending me into social circles ranging from monthly dinner club socialites to improvisers and later rugby players.
All that to say: I know the power of the party game intimately and have stocked up on some favorites to have when folks are over or as the very reason to have them by. Important is the ease with which anyone can learn the game, the fun of playing it (obviously), and the social interaction inherent in the game itself. The more a game has you talk to the people around you, whether in a friendly or competitive sense, the more you’ll get to know them. If you want to take your boardgame pantry to a new level or just want to get started playing around with social games that are perfect for friends, I put together a few of my favorites for you to look through. Importantly, you won’t find any of the humdrum, forever-lasting boardgames of yore in this list, like Monopoly (which has a Game of Thrones edition, in case you were curious) or Risk* (which, sigh, also has a Game of Thrones edition).
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