In case Clue is getting stale, we suggest some fresh board, card, and dice games for your home, including solo play options.
Quarantine may have you feeling some cabin fever, but there are plenty of games out there to get your mind off your isolation. We’ve got some new game recommendations to keep you and your family busy. Here are a list of some of our favorite games to play and why:
- 2-4 Players
- Puzzle Game
Azul is a tile-placement game in which players compete for the highest score by claiming tiles and arranging them on their board to score points. But every tile that you claim affects what your rivals can take next. You'll have to make choices that help you without helping them too much.
“Azul is for the person with OCD in the family, who needs everything to balance in symmetry. You lay out pretty tiles, make sure not to overlap any colors in the columns or rows, and block your opponents from completing their grid. You’ll be oddly satisfied to see your board completed with its perfectly lined-up colors.”
- 2-4 Players
- Family Card Game
Earn 'chill points' by painting landscape features like Happy Little Trees and Almighty Mountains using colors and brushes from your hand of cards. Keep your eye on what other players are doing and be strategic about the sequence in which you complete the features. All the while, Bob sets the painting pace as he advances across the easel, offering sage encouragement and bonus opportunities for even more chill.
“The Bob Ross game has quickly become our favorite board game. With no artistic ability needed, players complete famous Bob Ross landscapes by collecting certain brushes and colors to paint Happy Little Trees and the Almighty Mountains. By both drawing cards and rolling dice, there’s both skill and luck needed to win this family-friendly game.”
- 2-5 Players
- Family Card Game
Will you make it out alive? Test your wits in a battle to the end with 5-Minute Dungeon. In this chaotic real-time card game, players use quick thinking to combat monsters, overcome obstacles and escape dungeons – all within 5 minutes. With the clock ticking, it’s up to you and your team to battle together in pursuit of victory or perish alone.
"Easy to learn and family friendly. Our five-year-old son understands and enjoys the game, while our three-year old daughter can join an adventuring party and match the symbols to help out too. It's easy to fit in a quick game, and playing through additional dungeons expands the game for when you have more time."
- 2-5 Players
- Cooperative Strategy Game
Work as a team to uncover a mystical power platform that floats at the center of a savage lightning storm. Connect a circuit of cables to launch a secret rocket before you are electrocuted or blown off the bridge and plummet below. It’s a high-wire balancing act that will test your team's capacity for courage and cooperation. One false step and you all could be grounded permanently.
"Under lockdown it's fun to work together to avoid a crisis that's completely imaginary. The game pieces are first-rate -- had we managed to complete the circuit, our escape rocket would have treated us to flashing lights and blastoff sounds. Instead we lost after my character got struck by lightning, but everyone wanted to try again."
- 2-6 Players
- Roll and Move Game
Change up game night with this version of the Monopoly game where cheating is not only welcome, it's a must do. With the Cheater's edition, players can try to get away with as many cheats as they can. They're rewarded for completing a cheat and penalized for failing one. Follow, bend, or break the rules to win.
"This is a faster-paced version of the classic board game, in which cheating is not only allowed but encouraged and rewarded by "cheat cards" that dare players to steal money, surreptitiously add hotels to their property, escape from jail, etc. It's a great alternative to the classic version because playing time is compressed and you get to find out which of your kids lifted that $20 bill from your wallet last week."
- 2-5 Players
- Card Game
Get a handy way to play the classic property-trading game. Be the first to collect 3 full property sets of different colors, and you’ll win the Monopoly Deal Card Game. You’ll pick up cards when it's your turn and play Action cards to charge players rent, steal their cards or demand money for your birthday. Build up property sets, gather piles of money and keep wheeling and dealing until you're the Monopoly Deal winner.
"A fun-filled card game that requires the right amount of strategy paired with luck. It keeps aspects of the traditional board game and adds in aspects of gin rummy as you build your properties and charge others rent before they do the same to you. If you lose, a quick rematch is the best option."
- 1-4 Players
- Cooperative Survival Game
Four diseases have broken out in the world and it is up to a team of specialists in various fields to find cures for these diseases before mankind is wiped out. Players must work together playing to their characters' strengths and planning their strategy of eradication before the diseases overwhelm the world with ever-increasing outbreaks.
"What better time than now for this cooperative light strategy game, where players hop from city to city trying to stave off four different pathogens from wiping out civilization as we know it. While it's billed as a multiplayer, it also makes a great solitaire game as you control 2-4 characters. Nothing to write down, nifty tokens and design, and a twist on the global takeover theme for fans of Risk."
- 3-8 Players
- Party Game
Quiplash is the gut-busting battle of wits and wittiness. Just use your phone or tablet (no controllers needed) to answer simple prompts, like “something you’d be surprised to see a donkey do” or “a better name for France.” Your answer is anonymously pitted against another player’s in a head-to-head battle. The others vote on their favorite answer..
“What I love about Quiplash is that you don’t have to all sit around a table to play. You use your smart phones to play on your TV or laptop, so you can casually sit around the house and all play the game. Fun for teens and up, Quiplash is a hilarious game that allows each player to come up with their own funny remarks to make everyone else laugh. You will be surprised at the kind of humor people can muster when locked in your house for a few weeks.”
- Any number of players
- Dice Puzzle Game
Roll your way across the USA in this captivating dice game. Your goal is to fill in a stylized map of the United States, with each number in a state. The trick is that neighboring states can't have numbers that differ by more than one. Everyone plays at the same time, so you'll have to plot your moves carefully to outdo your opponents. Or play solo and try to beat your best score.
"Simple, addictive, and less than $10, this is like a sudoku-style puzzle for map geeks. No math is involved, just arranging numbers in patterns. The dice and stylized USA map pad feature bright colors, and the rules are easy to learn. Careful or you’ll roll away several hours trying to do one better than the last time.”
- 2-5 Players
- Family Strategy Game
Stockpile is an economic board game that combines the traditional stockholding strategy of buy low, sell high with several additional mechanisms to create a fast-paced, engaging and interactive experience. Players act as stock market investors at the end of the 20th century hoping to strike it rich, and the investor with the most money at the end of the game is the winner.
"It requires strategy and planning ahead, but is not overly complex or difficult to learn for beginners. While not a particularly cutthroat game, it can be fun and oddly satisfying to outbid your opponents and watch their strategies fail to come together. The gameplay is not remarkably fast-paced, though a game takes only about 30-45 minutes to play — perfect for a few sessions on game night."