Game on! Spice up your group outings with these fun board games

Like charades, Hues and Cues challenges a player to describe a word without saying its name. Players get others to guess a specific hue from the 480 colours on the game board using only one- and two-word cues. The closer the guesses are to the target, the more points you earn. Since everyone imagines colours differently, this game promises a new level of fun. 

HOW TO PLAY: Gather three to ten people. First, a “cue giver” hides a specific colour they’ve chosen out of a deck of cards. After getting one- and two-word cues, everyone places their marker on which colour they think is being described.

Use examples from everyday life, from nature to pop culture or materials and moods. Everyone around the table gets a turn to give cues and guess. The better your hints or guesses, the more points you earn. 

This 2015 board game is a familiar one. Two players, called spymasters, know the secret identities of 25 agents. Each spymaster wants their team to identify their agents first, without accidentally uncovering the assassin.

HOW TO PLAY: Two teams compete to see who can contact all their agents first. Lay out 25 cards, each bearing a single word. The spymasters look at a card showing the identity of each card, then take turns clueing their teammates. 

A clue consists of a single word and a number, with the number suggesting how many cards in play have some association with the given clue word. The teammates identify one agent they think is on their team; if they’re correct, they can keep guessing up to the stated number of times; if the agent belongs to the opposing team or is an innocent bystander, the team’s turn ends, but if the assassin is identified, the team loses the game.

When playing Herd Mentality, you must only have one goal: think like the majority. 

HOW TO PLAY: If your answer is the same as that of most players, you all win cows. If everyone else writes an answer matched by at least one other person, but yours is the odd one out, you get the angry pink cow. Your herd of cows is worthless until you can offload it onto someone else.

The first player to collect eight cows wins.

More from Tatler: 5 Card & Board Games For Hours Of #StayAtHome Fun

Everyone wants to be a cool detective at some point in their lives. This game allows that. You, the player, will match your deductive abilities against your opponents and the master sleuth himself, Sherlock Holmes, in this board game.

HOW TO PLAY: You are presented with a mystery to solve; it is up to you to trace the threads of evidence through the byways and mansions of nineteenth-century London. You will interview suspects, search the newspapers for clues, and gather the facts to find a solution.

Take the viral social experience of escape rooms to the comfort of your home with this 2016 board game. 

HOW TO PLAY: This game includes four unique 60-minute escape room puzzles that will test your cranial skills. Use images, gears, words, keys, shapes, maps, and more to solve the three stages within each escape room. 

An analogue timer on the Chrono Decoder centrepiece incessantly counts down, emitting ominous noises to create an environment shut out from the outside world. If the puzzles stump you too long, slide a hint card into the Hint Decoder to keep your team moving. Slide four keys into the Chrono Decoder when you think you have the answer. If you’re wrong, a minute will be taken from you.

This competitive word-guessing game entails a player being good with words or getting hit with a stick.

HOW TO PLAY: You can only give clues by speaking in single syllables. For example, instead of saying “broccoli”, you’d say something like “green thing you eat to live long and have good health.” If you mess up and use a big word like “vegetable”, you get bopped on the head with a NO! Stick, and you lose points.

The goal is to score the most points by correctly interpreting words and phrases. The team with the most points wins.

Spyfall is simple: you must understand what’s happening if you are the spy. If someone guesses your role, you lose. 

HOW TO PLAY: At the start of each round, all players receive cards showing the same location, except for one player pulling the “Spy” card. The players then start asking each other questions, trying to guess who among them is the spy. The spy doesn’t know where he is, so he has to listen and bluff carefully.

During a round, one player may accuse another of being a spy. If all the other players agree with the accusation, the round ends, and the accused player has to reveal his identity. If the spy is uncovered, all other players score points. However, the spy can end a round by announcing that he understands the secret location; if his guess is correct, only the spy scores points.

You’ll either have to save a village or destroy it in this board game. It is a perfect party game as it’s easily scaleable, quick to learn, and different each time you play it with a group.

HOW TO PLAY: One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a fast game for three to 10 players in which everyone gets a role: one of the dastardly Werewolves, the tricky Troublemaker, the helpful Seer, or one of a dozen different characters, each with a special ability. In the course of a single morning, your village will decide who the werewolf is.

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