Playing board games is a great way to add variety to your next party, whether it’s a large gathering, a casual night in with a few friends, or anything in between. Board games foster camaraderie, create team spirit, and provide a welcome break from cell phones and TV. If you have young children, playing games with them facilitates family bonding and can even improve memory and math skills. Try these games for a guaranteed good time!

Rise of Tribes

Rise of Tribes board game can accommodate up to four players, which makes it an ideal choice for a small group of friends or family. Each player is responsible for a prehistoric tribe, which seeks to survive and thrive in the game’s universe by developing new technologies, discovering resources, or growing in number. The objective of the game is to score 15 points, which you can do by either building villages (which are worth one point each for the tribe that builds them) or fulfilling goal cards. The game involves luck and strategy, since both a roll of dice and the actions of other players determine the value of each turn.

Pandemic

In Pandemic, the stakes are high, as players work together to save the human race from a variety of life-threatening diseases. Finding the cure is a matter of collecting the appropriate cards in your hand, but doing so is certainly not easy as more coughs, sneezes, and infections pop up with every turn. The game creates a sense of urgency, keeping the pace of play quick. If you’re looking for a greater challenge, you have the option to add expansion packs.

Articulate!

Articulate! is ideal for a large party, since up to 20 people can play at a time and the rules are easy to learn. Each time a team takes a turn, one person from the team has 30 seconds to describe as many words from a given category as possible. There are six possible categories to choose from, and they are all broad enough to be accessible to any player. The number of words that the team correctly guesses dictates the number of spaces that team’s game piece may move around the board, and the team whose piece reaches the board’s “finish” space wins.

Monopoly

Why not try a classic? The games above are great for large groups and rapid play, but if you’re looking to settle in for the evening with a small group of close friends or family, Monopoly is an excellent choice. You probably remember the rules: players move around the board with the goal of purchasing properties, acquiring monopolies, and then developing those monopolies with houses and hotels in order to acquire as much money as possible. Some people play with added “house rules,” such as having players pay the game’s various taxes and penalties into a pool which is then won by whoever is lucky enough to land on the “free parking” space. Whether you add extra rules or play by the book, Monopoly requires both luck and skill, making it engaging no matter how many times you’ve played.

Next time you’re looking for something to do with a group, pull out a board game for entertainment and group bonding. No matter which you choose, it should be a great time for everyone!