
Worldwide, more than three billion people are active video game players. Indeed, on any college campus, you can find most students glued to their game system, computer, or phone playing everything from casual match-three games to massively multiplayer online role-playing games. However, while videogames can be a fun way to unwind or to socialize at a distance, nothing beats the in-person excitement of playing a board game in real time.
Getting together with friends and playing a game can be a beneficial way of promoting social bonding, spending time away from screens, and enjoying a good time on the cheap. However, many students’ ideas about board games are stuck in childhood. Sure, Candyland, Life, and Monopoly are classics, but there are many other fun and exciting board games that can bring a dose of excitement to your dorm’s next game night.
11 Best Boarding Games for Students
In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the top board games that will help make you the life of the party. So, here are our recommendations for your next board game obsession:
Catan
This strategy-based board game for three or four players involves gathering and trading resources with the goal of taking over an island. Catan is famous for being fun and engaging even for people who rarely play board games. It’s sure to be a hit when you need an addictive and exciting choice for your next game night with friends.
Carcassonne
Another strategy game set in a far-off realm, this game has players use tiles to create a medieval village and take on roles to help make the community work. As you build your village, you’ll attract followers and work to score points with strategic building choices and high follower counts.
Scythe
Like Catan, Scythe is a strategy game focused on territorial expansion and control, but with the added element of maximizing your income. Set in an alternate version of 1920s Europe filled with “mechs,” robotic war machines, your job is to help your people recover from the Great War.
Twilight Struggle
If you’re looking for an even longer strategy game, Twilight Struggle takes about three hours for players to work through the many choices and decisions that help you to simulate the Cold War as you attempt to achieve world domination.
Great Western Trail
This game lets players simulate being cattle ranchers in the nineteenth century. As you play through the game, you’ll run your ranch and try to get your cattle to market and make the most money. With complex and compelling game play, this title can provide you and your friends with hours of fun.
Forbidden Island
This teamwork-based treasure hunting game sends you and your teammates onto a sinking island to work together to recover treasure before you are swallowed by the ocean. With pulse-pounding action and compelling game play, this is sure to be a fun and exciting time. With the game board randomized each time you play, Forbidden Island has high replay value and offers a different experience each time.
Secret Hitler
This choice may be a little controversial for the politically sensitive, but this game is also a lot of fun. In Secret Hitler, players divide into fascists and liberals and attempt to pass laws in 1930s Germany. The fascists work together with the player secretly named as Hitler, and players have to decide who is clandestinely undermining good government.
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
Like Secret Hitler, you have a villain to discover. One player is secretly the werewolf, and everyone must work together to find the werewolf while playing their assigned role in the game. The game is designed to take about ten minutes to play, making it a perfect palette cleanser or great for a quick study break.
Clue: Harry Potter Edition
The classic Clue board game is evergreen for a reason. The murder-mystery game provides a twisty logic puzzle to keep your brain happy. In the Harry Potter edition, the Clue mansion becomes Hogwarts, with a moving game board that makes the action more fun. As a nostalgic throwback to two childhood favorites, Clue: Harry Potter Edition can’t be beat.
Rummikub
For more than seventy years, people around the world have enjoyed this tile-based game in which you discard your numbered tiles by making sets and sequences. A fun brain teaser, this game is great for people who love logic puzzles and the thrill of victory.
Chronology
In Chronology, you attempt to put historical events in order. As you select cards, you’ll need to decide whether they happened before or after events you already have in your set of cards. When you get one of the game’s 858 different events right, you keep the card. The first person to correctly line up ten cards wins. It’s harder than you might think!
Of course, if you need to make some extra time for game night, you might want to consider knocking out your homework and essays before it’s time to have your friends over to play. When you need expert help with your papers, paying a service like WriteMyPaperHub can be a great option to get your essays written. When you need someone to write a paper for you, these services offer experts who can deliver top quality model essays that will show you the right way to approach your topic so you can save time for that extra round of Catan.