19 Board Games You Spent Hours Playing with Friends
There’s nothing like gathering around a table with friends, rolling dice, and diving into a good board game. From classic strategy games to party favorites, these games have brought people together for hours of competition, laughter, and maybe a little friendly rivalry. Here are 19 board games you probably spent hours playing with friends.
1. Monopoly
Love it or hate it, Monopoly is a board game classic. Whether you were ruthless with hotels on Boardwalk or ended up in never-ending bidding wars, you’ve definitely spent many long hours bankrupting your friends and arguing over rules that seem to change every game.
2. Settlers of Catan
Catan brought resource trading and strategy to the forefront, and it’s been a mainstay at game nights ever since. Building settlements, trading sheep for wood, and racing for that longest road—this game has turned many a casual gathering into a full-on battle of wits and negotiation.
3. Risk
Risk is the game of global domination that has sparked countless alliances and backstabbings. Conquering territories and plotting invasions kept everyone hooked for hours, with some games even lasting days. You haven’t truly bonded with friends until you’ve tried to take over the world together—or against each other.
4. Clue
Who didn’t love solving a murder mystery in Clue? With Colonel Mustard, the wrench, and the conservatory, you and your friends turned into amateur detectives. This whodunit kept everyone on their toes as you worked to figure out the killer, the weapon, and the location.
5. Scrabble
When you weren’t flexing your vocabulary with obscure words, you were challenging your friends’ use of “QI” or “ZA” in Scrabble. This classic word game is all about strategy and creativity—plus a dash of smugness when you hit a triple word score with a seven-letter word.
6. Uno
Yes, technically a card game, but Uno has earned its spot in this lineup because it’s a party staple. The joy of hitting someone with a +4 or the agony of drawing a full hand of cards—Uno was fast, fun, and just chaotic enough to keep everyone laughing (or plotting revenge).
7. Ticket to Ride
If you ever dreamed of building a transcontinental railroad, Ticket to Ride let you live that fantasy—while also ruthlessly cutting off your friends’ train routes. The simple yet strategic gameplay made it an instant hit, and those long, winding routes turned into hours of competitive fun.
8. Pandemic
Cooperation is key in Pandemic, where you and your friends work together to stop the spread of global diseases. This intense, cooperative game demanded strategy, teamwork, and a bit of luck to save the world before time ran out, leading to both nail-biting victories and devastating losses.
9. The Game of Life
The Game of Life was a rollercoaster of careers, kids, and unexpected financial setbacks. Spinning that rainbow wheel and hoping for a high salary while collecting pegs that represented your ever-growing family made this game a mix of randomness and decision-making that kept you coming back for more.
10. Cards Against Humanity
This “party game for horrible people” took the world by storm with its edgy humor and endless potential for hilariously inappropriate combinations. Cards Against Humanity turned your friends into comedians, with hours spent laughing at the most ridiculous (and often shocking) card pairings.
11. Dixit
Dixit is all about imagination and creativity, using beautifully illustrated cards as the basis for storytelling. Players take turns as the storyteller, describing one of their cards in a vague way while the others try to guess which card it is. The combination of art and storytelling made this a whimsical, fun game that fueled some intense guessing games.
12. Munchkin
Munchkin combines humor with dungeon-crawling, allowing you to slay monsters, collect treasures, and, more importantly, sabotage your friends. The tongue-in-cheek humor and simple mechanics make it an endlessly entertaining game filled with backstabbing, alliances, and ridiculous items like the “Boots of Butt-Kicking.”
13. Pictionary
In Pictionary, your artistic skills (or lack thereof) were put to the test. Drawing a “cat” or “moon” was easy enough, but trying to sketch out more complex concepts like “freedom” often led to hilariously bad drawings and plenty of misunderstandings, all while racing against the clock.
14. Trivial Pursuit
Trivial Pursuit gave you a chance to show off your general knowledge, with categories ranging from history to pop culture. Whether you were a trivia genius or just good at guessing, this game sparked hours of brain-teasing fun as you tried to collect all six wedges and race to the center of the board.
15. Codenames
Codenames is a word-based game that requires sharp thinking and quick connections. Two teams compete to identify their spies on the board using one-word clues, and the thrill of figuring out the perfect clue—or accidentally leading your team to the assassin card—kept everyone on edge and eager for the next round.
16. Exploding Kittens
Combining kittens with explosions, Exploding Kittens is a fast-paced card game that’s both strategic and chaotic. Players draw cards, trying to avoid the “exploding kitten” card while sabotaging each other with attacks, defuses, and sneaky combos. It’s absurd, hilarious, and perfect for a group that loves unpredictable mayhem.
17. Apples to Apples
Apples to Apples is a classic party game where players match nouns to adjectives, creating sometimes hilarious and sometimes absurd combinations. It’s the more family-friendly predecessor to Cards Against Humanity, but still brought plenty of laughs and debates over whose match was the best.
18. Taboo
In Taboo, you have to describe a word without using a list of related “taboo” words, making it a challenging and fast-paced game. The pressure of the timer and trying to avoid the forbidden words led to some creative explanations—and a lot of frantic gesturing and guessing.
19. Risk: Legacy
Building on the classic Risk game, Risk: Legacy takes strategy to the next level by adding permanent changes to the board and gameplay over time. Each decision you make has long-term consequences, making this version of Risk a thrilling, evolving adventure that kept you and your friends hooked over multiple sessions.
