Trying to find board games to play with teens? While teenagers certainly won’t be into playing Candy Land or Chutes and Ladders, there are tons of game options to get them off their phones and keep them engaged and interested…
Let’s check them out…
Pick Your Poison
- This game is a family-friendly version of “would you rather”, making it great to play with younger teens who aren’t mature enough for an adult game.
- There are more than 300 poison cards, which means that players can come up with a wide variety of different card combinations.
- It does great job sparking fun conversations between players.
- Every round has one judge who is in charge of deciding which of the other players played the best card.
- Other players play a card face-down that they hope the judge will like and then play poison cards on their opponent’s cards.
- The judge then chooses his or her favorite poison and the winner gets a point.
- Everyone gets a turn to be the judge.
Unstable Unicorns
- This strategy-based game requires players to try to collect unicorns in order to build their own unicorn armies and then try to destroy their friends.
- Players must use their magic in order to protect themselves and their unicorns.
- It is great for kids who are 14+ and offers around 30 to 45 minutes of play.
- Each person is trying to collect seven unicorns to go in his or her army; turns consist of drawing and playing cards.
- By playing a card, players can add unicorns to their armies, use magic to get ahead, upgrade their stables, and even downgrade their opponent’s stables.
- Each player has to have a strategy in mind as to how he or she is going to win if he or she wants the best chance of success.
What Do You Meme?
- It is great for teens who are interested in pop culture and memes but this game is interesting enough for the entire family to play it.
- Players try to create the funniest meme in their group by combining a photo card with their caption cards.
- The judge for the round puts out a photo card and then all other players choose caption cards from their hands that they think is the funniest fit.
- After the judge decides who had the funniest card, that person wins the round and gets a point.
- Play continues as all players take turns being the judge and getting to judge their friends.
- The player who won the most rounds is the winner.
Phone Phever
- Teens and adults who love their smartphones will enjoy playing this board game that requires them to match wits and skills against each other in an effort to find the answer to fascinating questions.
- In addition to be able to complete online searches quickly and efficiently, players must complete challenges using their phones.
- There are 1200 challenges or questions, which means that this game can be played for a very long time and that it has great replay value.
- Any player who is confident using his or her phone will be able to excel at this game as it doesn’t require trivia knowledge in order to win.
- Play involves rolling a die, picking a card, and then trying to answer the question or complete the challenge.
Pandemic
- This is great for teens who are interested in more advanced board games but aren’t ready to try to compete on their own.
- This cooperative game requires all players to work together to try to stop the spread of diseases from wiping out all of humanity.
- Each player has a unique role that allows him or her different skills and abilities that he or she must then use to the advantage of the group.
- Players have four actions that they can complete on their turns and while players are trying to tackle the disease, another set of cards is helping it to spread.
- Players either win together or lose together, which is a great way to introduce difficult games without players feeling completely overwhelmed.
Codenames
- In this game, there is a Spy Master as well as operatives who are trying to get in touch with their teams of spies.
- Setup takes a few minutes but then allows the Spy Master to see which spies belong to each player.
- The Spy Master comes up with one-word clues for each player to try to uncover his or her spies without accidentally contacting their opponent’s spies, regular people, or the assassin.
- If a player uncovers the assassin, then he or she automatically loses the game.
- Each player takes turns trying to contact his or her spies but must pay attention during the whole game to try to get an idea of who his or her opponents need to contact.
- The first player to contact all of his or her spies wins.
Risk
- This is a classic but difficult board game but since the rules are easy to understand and the reward is so high when you win, it’s great for teens.
- Players all have pieces that they place on the board and are used to represent their armies.
- Each player is trying to move his or her armies around the world in order to take over all of the areas and defeat his or her opponents.
- Battle between opponents is completed by rolling dice and the player who wins can move his or her pieces into a particular zone.
- After defeating a player and taking an area on the board, player get cards that can be turned in for more armies.
- Before each turn, players put more armies on the board.
Exploding Kittens
- Similar to Russian Roulette but much more fun and much cuter, this game is great for beginners and a lot of fun for two to five players, although up to nine can play if you invest in two decks.
- There are 56 cards included in the deck and all are high-quality and built to last.
- Players keep drawing cards until someone accidentally draws an exploding kitten, at which point that player loses the game.
- There are cards in the deck that allow you to peek ahead to ensure that you won’t accidentally draw an exploding kitten.
- Other perk cards include ones that allow you to shuffle the deck or to force another player to draw more than one card.
Telestrations
- Each player has his or her own sketchbook, marker, and a word card.
- By rolling the die, players determine what word they have to draw and then start drawing until the 60-second timer is up.
- When the 60 seconds end, then players pass their books to the left and each player tries to guess what was drawn.
- Continue passing books to the left until each book is back to the original artist.
- At this point in the game, players tell each other what it was that they were drawing.
- Since this game doesn’t require great artistic skill, it’s really fun no matter how well you can draw.
- It is similar to the game of “telephone” but with drawing.
Goat Lords
- This card game is great for three to six players who are all competing with each other to try to create the biggest herd of goats.
- There is an expansion available for longer and more intense gameplay.
- Players build their herds by stacking pairs of goat cards that match and then stealing cards from their opponents before the draw pile is empty.
- While there is some luck required for this game, players also need to have a strategy as to when they will draw and hold their cards.
- Players must also know when and who to attack as this will affect how many points they get when the game is over.
Back & 4th
- This game is great for teams, which makes it perfect for larger families or parties.
- Players give their teammates clues in an effort to help them guess what category is on the card.
- Each team has just one minute on a timer when they first start and players immediately begin providing clues to their teammates.
- There are many easy categories in the cards but some are much more difficult and will require advanced skill and knowledge to succeed.
- Play continues with teams guessing categories until the timer runs out.
- When one team is finished, then another gets a turn and the team that guesses the most categories moves their piece on the game board.
- The team who is the first to win four rounds is the winner.
Spy Alley
- Every player has a new, unique, and secret identity when the game starts.
- Players try to obtain all of the items from their nationalities and then get to the winner’s square.
- As player are trying to get the items that they need to win, they are also trying to guess the identity of the other players.
- If a player can correctly guess the identity of his or her opponent, then the opponent is out.
- If a player guesses incorrectly, then he or she is out.
- Players must pay attention to the actions of their opponents and try to bluff in order to have the best chance of winning the game.
Escape Room: The Game
- Escape rooms are incredibly popular and this game allows players to enjoy the experience in their own homes.
- There are four different 60-minute puzzles included in this game, making it perfect for multiple game nights with friends or family.
- Players must use maps, images, shapes, words, gears, keys, and more to try to solve the puzzle and escape the room.
- The included centerpiece counts down during the entire game.
- If the game is too difficult, then players can get a clue by sliding a hint card into the decoder.
- The four rooms vary in difficulty, which is great for people who are new to escape rooms as well as people who have experienced them before and understand how they operate and how to best succeed.