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The 7 Best Trivia Games of 2021, 7 Most Difficult Board Games Ever in Canada

7 Most Difficult Board Games Ever in Canada

Children's mastery of STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering, and math) is often linked to future academic success. But you don't need to tell your kids that—just let them enjoy this rousing game that requires both strategizing and basic scientific knowledge. The questions are divided into categories: Flyweight is for younger children while Heavyweight is aimed at teens and adults (although some parents felt their teens were better matched to the Flyweight questions). To keep things engaging, references to video games (like Minecraft), movies, and songs are sprinkled in as well. Gameplay is simple: Players must roll the dice, answer questions correctly, and be the first to finish moving through the board. Each round takes about 40 minutes, and although it's designed for four players, it also works well with teams (try pitting kids against grown-ups).

The 7 Best Trivia Games of 2021

Test your knowledge of sports, movies, TV, and nature

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Whether the subject at hand is movies, geography, or '80s pop songs, playing a trivia game can be a fun way for friends and family members to bond and compete over shared knowledge. But you have to be sure you're playing a game that's fairly matched—whether that means creating teams or finding a kind of trivia everyone will feel comfortable answering. We've researched the top picks for a fun game night for families, kids, adult get togethers, and more.

Here, the best trivia games for every type of group.

Best for Kids: Buffalo Games Weird But True Board Game

If your kids are hooked on the Weird but True! books from National Geographic Kids, they'll love the chance to play this trivia game that's based on the series. It's an inclusive option because everyone plays every question, and for some cards, you only need to answer "A" or "B," so those cards can have multiple winners, which may help prevent arguments and make younger kids feel more confident.

Other question formats include "Fact or Fiction" (choose which statement is true), "Brain Blitz" (name as many things in a category as you can during a timed interval), and "Eye Wonder," where everyone looks at a close-up image and tries to guess what's being shown. Each round takes 20 to 40 minutes, so your kids won't feel like it's dragging on, and the game can be played with up to five players.

Best Classic: Hasbro Gaming Trivial Pursuit

With its wheel-shaped board and six familiar categories (arts and literature, sports and leisure, geography, entertainment, science, and history), this iconic game is still a favorite among kids, teenagers, and parents, who likely grew up playing the original version. This update comes with a timer to help keep things moving at a brisk pace and nearly 3,000 questions to challenge players for years to come. You can speed up the game by allowing players to collect pie pieces each time they correctly answer a question, not just when they land on a wedge-shaped space. If you're playing with children, you can level the playing field by letting the younger ones answer questions from the Family Edition (available on Amazon).

Best for Families: Dr. Moku STEM Family Battle Board Game

To keep things engaging, references to video games (like Minecraft), movies, and songs are sprinkled in as well. Gameplay is simple: Players must roll the dice, answer questions correctly, and be the first to finish moving through the board. Each round takes about 40 minutes, and although it's designed for four players, it also works well with teams (try pitting kids against grown-ups).

Best Sports: Mindware Sports Trivia Challenge

The beauty of this game is that it can be played by both sports nerds and those whose knowledge is a bit more. limited. Questions are split into two different levels ("rookie" and "pro"), and they come in a few different formats. "Name It" requires the player to come up with a straightforward definition. "Know It" has a multiple-choice question. And "See It" shows a magnified photo of a sports-related object, and players must try to guess what it is.

A wide range of activities is covered, including soccer, ice hockey, badminton, and even bobsledding. The object of the game is to move through the board collecting chips for correct answers (they're worth different point values) and to ideally avoid obstacle squares, such as "on the ropes," "yellow flag," or "water hazard," which will delay your progress. It's recommended for up to four players and can be enjoyed by kids ages 8 and older.

Best for Adults: Play Monster 5 Second Rule Uncensored Game

This party game for the 17-and-up crowd works best with at least three players and is definitely not kid-appropriate. Note that the company does make a tamer version (available on Amazon) that works better for families. The point of the game is to read the card and spit out three examples that answer the question in five seconds or less.

Although some of the 300 questions are more straightforward trivia ("name three erogenous zones" or "name three celebrities who've been caught naked"), others, like "name three things you should never do at a funeral," give the player a little more freedom with their answers. To challenge and distract players even more, a "Twisted Timer" is included, which counts down the seconds using clacking marbles, making things feel even more tense.

Best Challenging Trivia: Game Development Group Wit’s End Board Game

Trivia fans seeking a challenge should try this multifaceted game, which includes questions divided into four creative categories: Teasers (word riddles), Odd One Out (guess the answer that doesn't belong), Sequencing (arrange a list of four answers in the correct order, such as animals with the most to least teeth), and Wild Card, which, as the name suggests, could be anything and includes topics like geography, current events, and math.

Because the questions are fairly complicated, it's recommended for players ages 16 and older. Players praised the subject matter, saying that even when they got an answer wrong, they learned something distinctive and memorable. There are some similarities to Trivial Pursuit: You roll the dice and move around the board. Although instead of collecting pie pieces, the goal is to advance from the outer ring toward the middle and answering incorrectly can push you back toward the edges again.

Best Pop Culture: Outset Media Pop Culture Trivia

The creators of this card game say it deals with the "people, products, and trends that have shaped our world," with topics as diverse as Miley Cyrus, Marlon Brando, Count Chocula, and the Sony Walkman. There's no board, so players simply keep score using a pen and paper, and the compact format makes it ideal for travel. It's aimed at those ages 12 and older, but savvier younger kids will also love playing.

The object is to answer two questions correctly in each of the categories, which include products; books, comics, and art; TV and film; people; and music. To move the game along more quickly, you can also opt to only require players to get one correct answer for each topic. Outset Media also makes other pop culture-themed decks, including ones devoted to the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.

Audience Some trivia games are best with just a few players at the table while others are great for entertaining party guests. If you’re looking for something for family game night, that’s one thing, but you may also want to look for games that can handle a crowd. Also, some trivia may get a little racy and may not be age-appropriate for everyone, so check the suggested age level before selecting a game for your crew.

Challenge level Do you want to play primarily for fun or really test players’ knowledge? Some trivia games are more challenging than others, and some are made just for kids. Finding the right mix of challenging but not completely impossible is a good goal.

Type There are some trivia games that cover a variety of topics while others center around specific ones such as entertainment. Certain games are fairly straightforward while others shake things up and add fun new twists. Consider who'll be playing most frequently—as well as their interests and playing style—when choosing a game.

The 8 Best Family Board Games of 2021

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It's hard to argue with the appeal of a classic board game, where everyone is focused on moving their pieces towards common (and often competing!) goals. Family game nights are a great way to spend screen-free time together, and whether you want a classic or something new and exciting, there's bound to be a game that everyone will love. Another bonus? Playing with board games can boost kids' spatial reasoning ability, helping to predict later success in subjects such as math, science, engineering, and technology.

Here, the best family board games to add to your rotation.

Best Overall: MindWare Qwirkle Board Game

Qwirkle wins big points for its mass appeal: there are no stereotypical storylines or character images, and it's a concept that everyone, from energetic first graders to seasoned grandparents, will be able to follow. Similar to dominoes, players are tasked with building rows or columns that are all the same color or shape, no repeats allowed. A "Qwirkle" is achieved by getting six tiles in a row.

Although this game is recommended for kids ages six and up, with a little help and patience, even slightly younger children can join in on the action. Each round takes about 45 minutes, so it also hits that sweet spot for timing—short enough to keep younger children engaged, but long enough to feel like you've spent some quality time with family.

Best for Large Families: Spontuneous The Song Game

As its name suggests, Spontuneous requires players to spontaneously break into song—but don't let that keep you from giving it a try!

Here's how it works: Each player writes a "hit list" of trigger words and, when it's their turn, they announce a word and flip the timer. To win the turn, the other players compete to be the first to sing five words of a song that includes the trigger. The first person to do this gets to advance their game token through the G-clef shaped board, encountering even more challenges along the way.

The game is recommended for kids ages eight and up, and each round takes about 30 minutes. While the set comes with ten game pieces, you can squeeze in more players by creating teams, adding even more energy and hilarity.

"We certainly laughed a lot throughout the game. People were constantly blurting out the wrong lyrics, and that made it all the more funny. The battle-offs are really fun, adding some extra competition to the mix." —Sage MgHugh, Product Tester

Best for Teams: Czech Games Codenames

This spy-themed game is a favorite for a reason. Described as a "social word game", Codenames is easy to learn and different each time you play. Players ages ten and up are tasked with identifying the secret "agents" on each team, with clues from the "Spymaster" to guide them along the way. The team that unlocks the code to all fellow agents first wins.

"Once we lured a few additional would-be spies to the table for a total of four or five players, Codenames really took off. This allowed for more productive brainstorming and resulted in better clues and guesses—as well as the occasional silly, laugh-out-loud moments. In our experience, the more people, the better the match." —Sarah Vanbuskirk, Product Tester

Best for Small Children: HABA My First Orchard

Think two-year-olds can't play board games? You might reconsider after checking out My First Orchard. Best for one to four players, this simple game encourages preschoolers to work together by harvesting fruit before the raven gets to the end of the path. The beauty is that everybody either wins or loses as a group, so you'll be spared the meltdowns that often happen when young siblings compete against each other.

The game also introduces social-skills concepts, like playing together and following rules, as well as pre-academic themes like color recognition and counting by ones. When kids aren't using the game, the fruit basket and its contents (wooden apples, pears, and plums) can be used separately as a toy food set for imaginative play.

Best Strategy: Z-Man Games Pandemic

This game, which was popular well before 2021, is a cooperative game that puts all players on a disease-fighting team: Using their collective strengths, they must strategize and plan ahead to treat infections as well as gather resources to help find a cure. It's also refreshing to see that rather than being stereotypically glam, women are given science-focused character roles such as epidemiologist, quarantine specialist, and disease researcher.

As you get more comfortable with the rules, you can make the game harder by adding more epidemic cards to the deck (expansion packs are sold separately). Each round takes about 45 minutes, and the basic version is best suited for children ages eight and older.

"It sounds confusing—and it is. In fact, the steep learning curve is the major drawback of this game. However, this is where the cooperative nature of this game really shines. If just one or two of the players know how to play, they can help the other players get up to speed as the game moves along."—Sarah Vanbuskirk, Product Tester

Best for Teens: Prospero Hall The Shining Board Game

Whether your teen loves horror or just wants something with a bit of retro edge, this distinctive option is worth adding to your game night arsenal. Fans of Stanley Kubrick's iconic thriller or Steven King's novel will love the premise, but you don't need to be familiar with the plot to enjoy playing.

The game can be carried out a few different ways, and one popular method puts all players on the same team. Regardless of whether you're playing competitively or cooperatively, the goal is to survive four months (meaning the winter season) at The Overlook Hotel, moving through various locations, performing required actions, and trying to avoid the powerful, corrupting forces that eventually led to the undoing of Jack Torrance.

The board is divided into rooms that echo locations in the story, including the hedge maze, the caretaker's apartment, and the gold room, and even comes with a keychain for room 237. The rules can feel a bit complicated, so consider doing some additional research before kicking off your first round. Each round can take up to an hour and the game works best with three to five players.

Best Trivia: Hasbro Gaming Trivial Pursuit

Talk about a game with longevity: This multi-generational version of the popular trivia game comes with more than 1,400 questions total. The pace moves more quickly than older editions because players can earn pie slices from any position on the board, and there are fun, tense "Showdown Challenges" where two players compete for wedges simultaneously. Cards are split into decks for children and adults, so you can customize gameplay to your group.

This version of the game is aimed at children ages eight and up, and cards are split into decks for children and adults. It can be played with two to six players, with the option to create teams for larger groups. With the same six categories as earlier editions, gameplay will be just as you remembered it. If you want, you can even mix in older decks from the original version for extra fun.

Best Cooperative: Peaceable Kingdom Cauldron Quest

In this game, which will appeal to magic- and quest-lovers ages six and up, everyone plays on the same team with a common goal: To create a potion that can break the wizard's spell, while finding hidden ingredients before he's able to block their path.

Kids will get to practice skills like problem solving, planning ahead, and shared decision making as they work together. The game takes 20 minutes for one round, and comes with playful game tokens like a wizard's hat and potion bottles.

Number of players How many people do you expect will be playing your game at once? Some games need more players to feel exciting, while others can get confusing with big crowds. If you have a big family, pick a game that supports a larger number of players or can be easily played in teams.

Difficulty Some games require more critical thinking than others, which could be a challenge for younger players. Plenty of options can be engaging for people of all ages, though—just pay attention to a game’s age rating to determine if its difficulty level will suit your situation. When in doubt, pick a game where players can work together to make for a more fun playing experience for everyone.

Time Playing time is another factor to consider. Our list contains both shorter games that require your quick-thinking abilities and others that test your problem-solving skills over a number of hours—consider your kids' attention span when you're picking a game, Also, don't play your first round right before dinner or bedtime—the first round often takes the longest, since everyone's figuring out the rules.

7 Most Difficult Board Games Ever in Canada

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The Rules of Mancala

Probably more than any other game, variations of the board game Mancala are multitudinous. Throughout Africa, the West Indies, India and Arabia literally hundreds of variations exist. The first game listed here is Oware which is played on a two-rank Mancala board and which is common to West Africa and the Caribbean. Oware (or variants of it) is the most commonly played Mancala game in international competition. Oware Nam Nam is a game played on the same board by children in and around Ghana although it is just as complicated and quite different to Oware.

The third game is simply called Bao (although Bao is a generic term referring to a number of Mancala games played in East Africa). We have two versions played on a 2 x 8 board in Kenya - Bao for children and beginners and a version of Bao from Kenya played with 32 pieces.

The fourth game is a version of Bao Kiswahili; another very popular game played on a four-rank Mancala board, which is played in Zanzibar, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia and eastern Zaire. The full game of Bao Kiswahili is one of the most complicated of all the Mancala games so for this reason, a beginners version called "Bao La Kujifunza" has been outlined.

These rules are not intended to be a complete set of standard regulations encompassing all situations that might be encountered in play. Instead, they are a full set of instructions for friendly play and include additional comments designed to assist with the understanding of the game.

Oware

Equipment

The game of Oware is played on a surface consisting of two rows of six hollows. The playing pieces should be hard objects small enough so that 12 or 15 of them will comfortably fit in one hollow. The materials used are not important - the hollows might be scraped in the ground or in sand, they might be carved in a soapstone board or made from an old egg box. Similarly the pieces might be small stones, marbles, shells or seeds. A typical combination is a wooden board with eight hollows carved in it and 48 small round seeds for pieces.

On more ornate boards, there are often two extra hollows normally placed centrally at the end of each pair of rows. These are called "stores" - players place their captured stones in the store to their left.

Preparation and Objective

Each of the 12 hollows is filled with four seeds. To decide who goes first, one player holds a seed in a fist. If the opponent correctly guesses which fist holds the seed, the opponent starts.

The objective is to capture more seeds than the opponent.

Players take turns to play seeds. To take a turn, the player first chooses a non-empty hollow from one of the six in the near row and picks up all the seeds contained in it. The player then drops a single seed into the next hollow in an anticlockwise direction, a single seed into the hollow after that and so on until the seeds run out. This is called "sowing" the seeds. When the player reaches the end of a row, sowing continues in an anti-clockwise direction in the other row.

When a player picks a hollow with so many seeds (12 or more) that one or more laps is done, the 12th (and 23rd) seed is not played in the originating hollow - the originating hollow is skipped and the seed is played in the next hollow on. This means that the originating hollow is always left empty at the end of the turn.

If the last seed is sown in the opponents row and the hollow concerned finishes with 2 or 3 seeds, those seeds are captured. If the hollow that immediately precedes it also contains 2 or 3 seeds, these seeds are also captured and so on until a hollow is reached that does not contain 2 or 3 seeds or the end of the opponents row is reached.

Finish

If a player cannot play because all six hollows are empty, the game ends and all the seeds on the other side of the board are captured by the other player. However, a player is not allowed to deliberately play passively so as to cause this situation - if the opponent's hollows are all empty, the player is obliged to play so that at least one seed is sown onto the opponents side of the board if possible.

On the other hand, it is perfectly legitimate to play so as to capture all the opponents seeds thus leaving the player with no move and therefore also capturing all the remaining seeds in the near row. Such a play is known as "cutting off the head". A common tactic is to attempt to cut off the head by collecting a large number of seeds in one hole while forcing the opponent to empty most of the hollows on the other side of the board. Then at some appropriate point, the collection of seeds is played so that they are sown completely around the board once and into the opponents territory again resulting in several hollows with 2 or 3 stones in a row being captured.

When one player has captured 25 seeds, the game ends and that player is the winner.

The game is drawn if both players accumulate 24 seeds or very occasionally in a stalemate situation when it becomes clear that the last remaining seeds are just being moved around the board with no chance of capturing.

Oware Nam Nam

This is a game played on an Oware board by children in Ghana. It goes by a variety of names and slight variations in the area and surrounding countries including "Num Num", "Adi", "Mewelad" and "Lamosh".

The "laps" style of play, capturing by fours and the fact that the objective is to capture hollows as well as seeds make this a quite different game to Oware. Although it's a children's game, the rules are not any simpler than Oware.

Equipment

The game is played on a 2 x 6 Oware board (see above).

Preparation and Objective

Each of the 12 hollows is filled with four seeds. To decide who goes first, one player holds a seed in a fist. If the opponent correctly guesses which fist holds the seed, the opponent starts.

To start with, each player "owns" the 6 hollows nearest to the player. The objective is to capture and own all the hollows. Hollows are won by capturing progressively more seeds in a round than the opponent.

A Round

Players take turns to play seeds. To take a turn, the player first chooses one of the non-empty hollows owned by him and picks up all the seeds contained in it. The player then drops a single seed into the next hollow in an anticlockwise direction, a single seed into the hollow after that and so on until the seeds run out. This is called "sowing" the seeds. When the player reaches the end of a row, sowing continues in an anti-clockwise direction in the other row. Nothing special happens when the sowing reaches the hollow from which the seeds were taken - a seed is placed in this hollow and the sowing continues.

At any time, if a seed is sown into a hollow with 3 seeds (thus making 4 seeds in that hole), the player who owns that hollow immediately removes and captures the four seeds concerned. If a player neglects to capture four seeds in a hollow and a fifth seed is played into the hollow, the chance is lost and that player can no longer capture the four.

If the last seed falls into an empty hollow, then the player's turn ends.

If the last seed is sown in a hollow with 3 seeds (thus making 4 seeds in that hole), the four seeds are taken by the player whose turn it is, regardless of who owns the hole, and the turn ends.

If the last seed falls into any other hollow, the player takes up all the seeds in that hollow and starts sowing them, beginning from the next hollow. A turn may therefore go round the board several times (laps) before ending.

If there are no seeds in any of a player's hollows, when it is that player's turn to play, the player misses a turn .

When there are eight seeds left on the board, the player who captures the next 4 also captures the last 4 and the round ends.

A Game

At the end of each round, the player with the most seeds puts four seeds in each hollow on his side of the board. The remaining seeds are then placed in fours into the hollows of his choice on the opponents side of the board. These hollows are now owned by the leading player and should be marked as such. For the next round, that player can use them in exactly the same way as the other hollows owned by him.

The other player puts the rest of the stones into the remaining hollows in fours on his side of the board and these are the hollows owned by that player for the next round.

Finish

The game is won when at the end of a round one of the players has managed to win all of the seeds and therefore all of the hollows.

Bao (Kenyan Children's Game)

This game was kindly taught to the author by two ladies in Kenya. When asked for the rules to the game, they took a pitying look at the author and informed him that they could only teach him the Children's version of Bao. The author has long wondered what the adult version of Bao is like but it seems unlikely that he will ever be sophisticated enough to find out, regrettably.

Equipment

The game of Bao is played on a surface consisting of two rows of eight hollows. The playing pieces should be hard objects small enough so that 12 or 15 of them will comfortably fit in one hollow. The materials used are not important - the hollows might be scraped in the ground or in sand, they might be carved in a soapstone board or made from an old egg box. Similarly the pieces might be small stones, marbles, shells or seeds. A typical combination is a wooden board with eight hollows carved in it and 48 small round seeds for pieces.

This version of Bao requires a board with two extra hollows placed centrally at the end of each pair of rows. These are called "stores" - players place their captured stones in the store to their right.

Preparation and Objective

Each of the sixteen hollows is filled with three seeds. To decide who goes first, one player holds a seed in a fist. If the opponent correctly guesses which fist holds the seed, the opponent starts.

The objective is to capture more seeds than the opponent.

Players take turns to play seeds. To take a turn, the player first chooses a non-empty hollow from one of the six in the near row and picks up all the seeds contained in it. The player then drops a single seed into the next hollow in an anticlockwise direction, a single seed into the hollow after that and so on until the seeds run out. This is called "sowing" the seeds. When the player reaches the end of a row, that player sows the next seed in the store and then continues sowing in an anti-clockwise direction in the other row.

When a player picks a hollow with so many seeds (12 or more) that one or more laps is done, the 17th seed is not played in the originating hollow - the originating hollow is skipped and the seed is played in the next hollow on. This means that the originating hollow is always left empty at the end of the turn.

If the last seed is sown is in the store on the player right (the player's own store), the player immediately has another turn.

If the last seed sown is in the row nearest to the player and the hollow concerned is empty, any seeds in the opponent's hollow opposite are captured and placed into the player's store.

Finish

If a player cannot play because all hollows are empty, the game ends and all the seeds on the other side of the board are captured by the other player.

When one player has captured 25 seeds, the game ends and that player is the winner.

Bao (Kenyan with Laps)

Equipment

Preparation and Objective

Each of the sixteen hollows is filled with two seeds. To decide who goes first, one player holds a seed in a fist. If the opponent correctly guesses which fist holds the seed, the opponent starts.

The objective is to capture more seeds than the opponent.

Players take turns to play seeds. To take a turn, the player first chooses a non-empty hollow from one in the near row and picks up all the seeds contained in it. The player then drops a single seed into the next hollow in an anticlockwise direction, a single seed into the hollow after that and so on until the seeds run out. This is called "sowing" the seeds. When the player reaches the end of a row, sowing continues in an anti-clockwise direction in the other row.

This version of Bao features "laps". When the last seed is sown, if it lands in a hollow with other seeds, the turn continues - the player picks up all the seeds from that hollow and continues to sow them.

The turn only ends when the last seed in the hand falls into an empty hollow. If this hollow is on the opponent's side, nothing happens but if the hollow is on the player's side, then any seeds in the opponent's hollow opposite are captured.

A player cannot start a move from a hollow with a single seed unless all the hollows on the near-side are singles.

Finish

If a player cannot play because all hollows are empty, the game ends and the other player captures all remaining seeds.

Bao La Kujifunza (4 rank Mancala)

Equipment

The game of Bao (meaning "Board") is played on a surface consisting of four rows of eight hollows. A hollow is called a "shimo", the plural being "mashimo". The playing pieces are called "kete" and should be hard objects small enough so that 15 of them will comfortably fit in one hollow. The materials used are not important - mashimo might be scraped in the ground or in sand, they might be carved in a soapstone board or made from an old egg box. Similarly the kete might be small stones, marbles, shells or seeds. A typical combination is a wooden board with small round seeds for kete. This variation is a simplified form of Bao Kiswahili played across East Africa.

Preparation and Objective

The 48 mashimo are filled with two kete each. To decide who goes first, one player holds a kete in a fist. If the opponent correctly guesses which fist holds the kete, the opponent starts.

The two rows of mashimo nearest each player belong to that player as do the kete contained within them. Captured kete are moved from the opponent's mashimo into the player's mashimo and the objective is simply to cause the opponent to have no kete in his front row or to cause the opponent to be unable to move.

Players take turns to play kete within their own mashimo. To take a turn, the player first chooses one of his mashimo that is occupied and picks up all the kete contained in it. The player must play the kete either in a clockwise or an anti-clockwise direction around the players two rows. The player drops a single kete into the next shimo in the chosen direction, a single kete into the shimo after that and so on until the kete run out. When the player reaches the end of a row, he continues in the other row according to the choice of direction.

A "mtaji" is a group of 2 - 15 kete in a shimo that are in a position to capture the kete in an opponent's shimo. If a mtaji exists, the player must play a capturing move. Otherwise, the player must make a Kutakata move.

Capturing Move

A capture is made when the kete of a mtaji are distributed one by one in one direction or the other and the last kete falls into a shimo that:

is in the front row

is occupied

is in line with an occupied shimo in the opponent's front row

In this case, the kete in the opponent's occupied shimo are captured and the player takes them and plays them in turn according to the following rules:

The captured kete start in the far left shimo of the front row and are distributed in a clockwise direction in the following cases:

The captured kete were in one of the two left-most lines

The captured kete were in one of the four central lines and the Mtaji was distributed in a clockwise direction

The captured kete start in the far right shimo of the front row and are distributed in an anticlockwise direction in the following cases:

The captured kete were in one of the two right-most lines

The captured kete were in one of the four central lines and the Mtaji was distributed in an anti-clockwise direction

If the last captured kete falls into an occupied kete that is in line with an empty shimo in the opponent's front row, the player takes all the kete in this occupied shimo (including the kete just deposited in it) and begins afresh with the new kete continuing in the same direction and starting with the following shimo. The player repeats this until either the last kete played falls into an empty shimo or another capture is made.

If the last kete falls into a shimo that matches the 3 capturing rules above, the kete in the opponent's shimo are captured and play continues with the captured kete as before.

When the last kete falls into an empty shimo, the turn is over.

7 Great Board Games For Seniors

7 unique board game ideas for seniors.

A thick layer of dust, missing pieces and pictures of people retro outfits (that are now back in fashion!) - these are all signs that your grandparents or senior friends need some new board games.

It’s time to refresh game night and move on from Chess, Sorry and Monopoly. Board games are a great way to stay mentally fit, bring people together and have a lot of fun. Here are 7 of our favourite board games for seniors.

Big Letter Bananagrams - For seniors who love wordplay

Big Letter Bananagrams is a fast-paced word race all about building word grids faster than your opponents. You start with a pile of letter tiles and you have to make them into connecting words like you’d see in a crossword. The tricky part is, as soon as someone finishes their word grid everyone has to fit a new letter into their grid!

Big Letter Bananagrams is perfect for seniors who have difficulty seeing or don’t like the fiddly little tiles in our regular Bananagrams. The best part is - even if the seniors you know don’t struggle with their sight, some of their friends might do so this is a great accessible game for everyone.

Ticket To Ride - For seniors who love the great outdoors

Ticket to Ride is a fantastic board game for seniors. It’s all about the great American railways and connecting cities faster than your opponents. Each player starts with train car cards and destination cards, and players must secretly connect their cities. Longer routes get extra bonus points.

Ticket To Ride is an excellent game for staying mentally agile and it can get quite competitive. It’s a great way to pass the afternoon with some friends.

Scattergories - For seniors who like quick games

If the seniors you know don’t like to sit down and play long games, then Scattergories might be a good option. It works by a letter being draw at random and there being several different categories - for example, animals, countries and cities. Each player must name one thing that starts with that letter and fits into the category before their opponents.

It sounds simple, but in the moment it’s usually quite tricky to fill up the categories (especially if you get a letter like ‘q’!) It doesn’t need a board and you can play quick rounds wherever you are, so it’s a great board game for seniors who are always off travelling the world.

Hive - For seniors who love chess

Hive is a bug-themed board game that’s easy to learn and very difficult to master. The gameplay is very simple - you place connecting tiles while trying to completely surround your opponent’s queen. However there are layers upon layers of strategy if you want to play it that way - meaning it never gets boring.

It’s the perfect board game for seniors who love deep, strategic board games like Chess or Go.

Cranium - For seniors who like some silliness

If you know seniors that are natural-born performers then Cranium is a great game to get. Each round players must act out, hum, draw, spell or answer trivia in order to move around the board. The acting parts are hilarious, especially if you’re playing with jokers.

One of the best parts of this game is, if they’re playing with people who aren’t so comfortable performing, the more sensible rounds (like spelling and trivia) means that everyone feels comfortable playing. Great for having a bit of fun together.

Catan - For seniors who love wholesome fun

Catan is a classic German board game. It’s lightly strategic, it’s got a wholesome theme (building settlements) and it’s superbly well balanced. Players have to collect resources like wood and grain to build connecting towns. They can trade with other players to further their expansion, and the winner is the first person to 10 points.

An excellent, slow-paced board game for seniors who like a calmer game.

Dixit - For seniors who love the arts

Dixit is an enigma - it’s a board game all about storytelling. It works by having a story teller and a set of dreamlike, illustrated cards. The story teller must describe a card from the ones laid out on the table, and other players have to guess which one they’re referring to. The tricky part is that the story teller gets no points if everyone or no one guess correctly, so they have to be sneaky in their suggestions.

Dixit is the perfect game for seniors who love literature, poetry and the arts.

7 best print-and-play board games you can download at home

With thousands of new tabletop titles released every year, it can be tempting to blow all of your hard-earned cash at your friendly local game store. But if you’re looking for a cheaper way to add some great board games to your collection without leaving the house, there’s another option to consider: print-and-play games.

A growing number of designers are making their tabletop titles available to download at home as print-and-play games. While you’ll need to cut out some components and provide a few extra bits like dice and tokens, there are some varied and brilliant releases to try - often for just a couple of quid.

Best print-and-play board games

Whether you've never used your printer for anything more exciting than work documents or you're already a seasoned PNP pro, we’ve rounded up seven of the best print-and-play board games for you to check out.

1. Sprawlopolis

A SimCity-style co-op in just 18 cards

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City-building is one of gaming’s great recurring themes; there’s a deeply ingrained part of the gamer psyche that’s addicted to laying out street plans and adjusting zoning regulations.

Co-op board game Sprawlopolis doesn’t offer quite this kind of depth, but it crams a powerfully addictive urban management puzzle into just 18 cards. It sees you and your fellow city planners laying down districts as coherently as possible, fitting together industrial, commercial and residential areas. The trick is that you can never discuss the cards in your hand, making it difficult to avoid mistakes that can seriously dent your score.

The really clever aspect is that each card has a different scoring condition on its reverse side, representing demands from city officials. You’ll draw three at random to use for every game, ensuring a fresh challenge each time you play.

2. Minopoly

Build city blocks from Tetris blocks

Don’t be put off by its title: this dice-rolling print-and-play game of rival architects has nothing to do with a certain property trading board game you might have suffered through as a kid. Instead, it sees you and your opponent building skyscrapers on a square-grid city board. On each round you’ll roll and re-roll a handful of dice before placing them onto cards showing Tetris-style block configurations. From there, you’ll transfer them to the city, hunting for open spaces on the rapidly filling gridiron streets.

Look closely and you’ll find familiar elements from other board games. Passing cards to your opponent feels a lot like the abstract martial arts game Onitama. Working out which buildings you can see from your position is reminiscent of the hedge-sculpting puzzle Topiary. Choosing which dice to keep and which to re-roll will feel familiar to fans of beginner board game King of Tokyo. But Minopoly combines its familiar constituent parts to create something tight, elegant and fast-playing.

Download Minopoly free from BoardGameGeek

3. Paper Pinball: Laser Sisters

Flipper-flicking roll-and-write action

Roll-and-write games are perfect candidates for the print-and-play treatment - after all, they revolve around scribbling on pieces of paper. The Paper Pinball series aims to recreate the experience of hammering buttons on a pinball machine, pulling off precise shots and improbable tricks as you rack up a new high score.

On each round you’ll roll a pair of dice and use the result to fill in one of the open slots on the ‘table’ printed on your sheet. Just like the real thing, you’ll ricochet off bumpers, shoot along trickily-placed ramps, open hidden tunnels and unlock multi-ball bonuses. The available slots fill up quickly, though, and if you ever find yourself unable to write a number then you’ll lose one of your three lives.

The result is a rush of euphoria as you take down one target after another, giving way to a blast of panic when you find yourself down to your final ball.

Buy Paper Pinball: Laser Sisters on PNP Arcade

4. Tussie Mussie

Pretty flowers with special powers

Designed by Elizabeth Hargrave, the creator of the breakout birdwatching board game hit Wingspan (one of the best board games available today), this tiny card game is based on the Victorian practice of exchanging small bouquets of flowers, with each bloom carrying its own subtle message of love or friendship.

On your turn you’ll draw two cards from a shuffled deck before offering them to an opponent to add to their bouquet - one face-up for them to inspect, one hidden facedown. Each comes with its own special ability, letting its owner score points in various ways. It means you’ll constantly ask yourself whether the hidden card could turn out to be better for you than the one you can see.

With repeat plays you’ll learn possible strategies and card combinations. It’s a beautifully simple premise, but Tussie Mussie squeezes every available drop of gameplay out of its simple setup.

5. Pocket Imperium

Turns out space isn’t that big after all

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Sci-fi empire-building board games aren’t typically known for their brevity, but print-and-play game Pocket Imperium aims to cram epic space opera into just 45 minutes of playing time.

It throws players into a battle for dominion over the stars in a surprisingly compact universe, made up of a three-by-three grid of cards dotted with planets for players to squabble over. It hands you just three cards representing the actions you can take on your turn: expand, which lets you deploy new ships to your fleets; explore, which allows you to move your forces across the galaxy; and exterminate, which lets you invade opponents’ systems, usually with plenty of damage dealt on both sides.

While you’ll issue the same three commands on each round, the order in which you use them has a huge effect on their impact. Play a card at a different time from your opponents and it’ll be substantially powered-up. Play it at the same time as everyone else and it becomes far less effective. It means that careful timing, reading your rivals and anticipating their plays are all critical to victory.

Download Pocket Imperium for free on Good Little Games

6. Avignon: A Clash of Popes

There’s only room for one Pope in this town

Avignon is a card game of religion and politics in the 14th century. Hey, wait, where are you going?

Okay, the premise behind Avignon: A Clash of Popes may sound dry, but that’s only until you realise that the Renaissance-era church was a hotbed of scheming and corruption. This two-player board game casts opponents as rivals for the papal throne, using their guile and cunning to manipulate high-ranking figures and persuade them to support their claims.

The action revolves around a grid-style collection of cards. On each turn you’ll try to pull ones representing different characters towards your side of the table, eventually recruiting them to your cause. Each comes with their own ability, usually shifting some cards towards you while pushing others away. Working out the best combinations to use is tricky and, with cards dealt from a randomly-shuffled deck, you’ll need to respond to an ever-changing lineup of nobles, cardinals, merchants and knights.

The result feels like an interconnected web of alliances, rivalries and relationships for you to navigate and ruthlessly exploit.

Buy Avignon: A Clash of Popes on PNP Arcade

7. Roll Estate

Fight to become a property market high-roller

This roll-and-write board game casts players as entrepreneurs vying to snap up properties. While it’s built on a foundation of simple dice-chucking, it demands some careful thought, judicious investment and just a dash of luck.

On your turn you’ll roll a handful of dice, keeping some and re-rolling others, hopefully leaving you with a set of useful results. You can spend different groups of dice to buy property in various parts of the city, with higher-value locations requiring trickier combinations. Along the way you’ll also be able to found businesses, invest in the stock market, establish transport services and even play the lottery.

It creates a frantic, sharp-elbowed dash for the most lucrative investments, and makes for a palpable sense of growth as your property portfolio swells.

There are many more great print-and-play board games out there. What are some of your favourites? Let us know in the comments!

Owen has been playing games since he discovered Warhammer as a child and fell in love with its skulls, spikes and scary monsters. These days he's more of a board gamer, and plays everything from silly party games to epic strategy. He also enjoys horrible shouty metal music and spicy food. He is the editor of The Board Game Book.

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7 Board Games You Can Play Solo

Check out these games with solo modes, including brand-new rules variants for Carcassonne, Hadara, and Pandemic

While board games are a great social activity, sometimes you just need to take some time for yourself. Whether you’re unable to meet up with your regular group or you need a fun way to pass some extra time, we’re here with a list of games that you can play solo.

First, let’s take a look at some games that come with solo modes straight out of the box. Read to the bottom for three all-new solo variants for some of your favorites!

NOCTILUCA

With beautiful components and serene, abstract gameplay, Noctiluca features a calming puzzly solo mode. In the usual multiplayer, each player is a master diver competing to collect the “embers of the sea,” the bioluminescent noctiluca, represented by over a hundred colorful dice. But if you flip the board over to the opposite side, you can play against a powerful tempest!

In solo mode, your goal is to save as many noctiluca as you can before they’re scattered by the mighty storm. Instead of opponents, the tempest will startle the noctiluca after each of your turns, giving you only a limited time to catch them and keep them safely in jars. You’ll lose points for noctiluca that you fail to save, so think carefully before you commit to your path through the water.

FALL OF ROME

Based on the original Pandemic, Fall of Rome presents an epic, historical challenge: Can you prevent the collapse of the Roman Empire? In the game, you’ll raise armies, defend your cities, and make alliances with barbarian tribes to ward off incursions. When playing the Solitaire challenge, you’ll assume the burdens of the Roman Emperor, command three different roles, and attempt to prevent the Fall of Rome single-handedly.

Take turns with each of your three roles in clockwise order, just as you would in a multiplayer game. While your hand size will still be limited to 7, as the Emperor you can utilize the Treasury to store cards above the usual limit. If you’ve completed the Solitaire challenge with ease, you can attempt the Roma Caput Mundi challenge—rewriting history will be even more difficult when the Roman legions can’t enter Roma!

THE ONIVERSE

The Oniverse: not just one game, but a series of five games designed specifically for solo (or 2-player co-op) play. Experience a different puzzle in each one, from the labyrinthine Onirim and the verdant Sylvion to the formidable Castellion, the oceanic Nautilion, and the dirigible Aerion. Each one features a different mechanic and a distinct visual design. Travel the Oniverse and find out which one is right for you!

Onirim, $24.99 (USD)
Sylvion, $24.99 (USD)
Castellion, $24.99 (USD)
Nautlion, $24.99 (USD)
Aerion, $24.99 (USD)

MESOZOOIC

Take a sliding puzzle, throw in some adorable dinosaurs, and you have Mesozooic! This fast-paced puzzle game challenges you to create the best dinosaur zoo possible with the various features you have available. In the Mesolozooic variant, you build three zoos as normal, but you draft different feature cards for each one, trying to create the highest-scoring arrangement possible.

Mesozooic is truly a game you can play however you want. Between the base game, two mini expansions, and a few free online rules variants, you can play timed or untimed, multiplayer or solo, competitively or cooperatively. To play the Mesolozooic variant, all you need is the base game.

Mesozooic, $19.99 (USD)

OLD GAMES, NEW TRICKS

Looking to enjoy a familiar favorite in a new way? We’re releasing official solo variants for three beloved games: Carcassonne, Hadara, and Pandemic.

CARCASSONNE

In the Carcassonne solo rules variant, you’ll select three meeple colors and play each of them individually, taking turns with each of them and scoring as normal. Your final score will be the lowest of the three, so neglecting any one color isn’t an option!

You can make the solo game easier or harder by adding or subtracting meeples during setup, as laid out in the rules. You can also try adding any of the Carcassonne expansions, though you may have to make additional adjustments when adapting the game for solo play. Try to beat your own high score or compare scores with your friends!

HADARA

In the Hadara solo rules variant, just as in the multiplayer game, you’ll build a civilization over the course of three epochs and compare your score at the end. In solo mode, you’ll compare your civilization against a non-player character.

As you draft cards to build your civilization, the NPC will receive the cards you don’t choose, so keep that in mind when making your selections. You can scale the difficulty of your solo game across 12 levels (the highest being God Mode) to find the right challenge for you. Can you build the most sophisticated civilization?

PANDEMIC

The 2008 hit cooperative game is getting an official solo treatment from Pandemic designer Matt Leacock. In the Pandemic solo mode—similarly to the solo rules for Fall of Rome—you’ll use three roles, taking each of their turns in order as normal. All three roles will play from your single hand of seven cards, but you can put cards into the “Archive” to effectively surpass the normal hand limit.

You can use the Pandemic solo rules with almost all of the game’s expansion content, and the rules document specifies a few roles, events, and challenges that can’t be used in solo play. Can you singlehandedly find all four cures before the deck runs out?

Get the new solo rules for all three games below:

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Ranking The Best Versions Of The Catan Board Game

Catan is one of the most classic board games ever. It has many versions, so here's a ranking of the 14 best versions of the iconic tabletop game.

Settlers of Catan is a popular board game under Asmodee that appeals to both hardcore strategy fans and people who don't know a lot about board games. It has simple mechanics of taking over territories via roads and towns as well as collecting resources to continuously build. There are multiple strategies to become the victor, which is what makes the game so exciting. It's not on the same level as some RPG tabletop games, but it has the same light role-playing angle and dice rolls to move the game along.

Because of its popularity, there are many different versions of Catan on the market. If you're interested in this line of board games, you may be interested to know our ranked picks for the 10 best versions of Settlers of Catan.

Updated on January 17th, 2021 by Kristy Ambrose: The ultimate board game continues to expand and evolve to accommodate an ever-growing fanbase. Whether you're just playing once in a while for game night, you're a dedicated Catan strategist, or you want a version of the game in your favorite pop culture reference, there's a version of Catan for you. That includes electronic versions that you can put on your phone or tablet along with custom creations that are meant to impress your fellow fanatics or distract troublesome houseguests. We've updated our list to add a few more options when you want a personalized version of Settlers of Catan.

14 Catan: Chocolate Edition

In Catan: Chocolate Edition, players will be working for resources just the same as they normally would, trying to expand their cities. The big difference is suggested by the name.

Instead of roads and cities, players will put down actual pieces of Belgian chocolate on the board to keep track of their points. There are a limited number of chocolate pieces available, so it's important to get more on the board than your opponents. Victory conditions are the same, but every player gets to eat their chocolate that was on the board at the end of each game. That's a worthy incentive if we've ever heard it.

13 Catan Dice Game

It's surprising that Settlers of Catan was simplified enough for a dice game, yet here we are. The Catan Dice Game takes the act of building and making new settlements and turns it into a compact, portable package that works for one to two players.

Players will roll dice to get the resources they want, and they have to work with whatever rolls they acquire. There are scoring sheets included to keep track of everything on paper. The game even comes with a double-sided board for two games of varying degrees of complexity. It all comes together to make for a surprisingly excellent game.

12 Catan Universe

It took a while for an electronic version of Catan to come out, but we're glad it did. Catan Universe is the MMO version that's free to download and play, either on your own against AI opponents or against other players with the same app and an internet connection.

The game has a free version for Apple and Andriod, which also includes the card game Rivals for Catan and rewards you with certain extra features as your character levels up. There's also a store available with extras, like access to other expansions and more daily games against the computer.

11 Catan Junior

Settlers of Catan is a fun game, but it might be a bit difficult to explain to younger people. That's where Catan Junior comes in. This simplified version of the game was made with children in mind as a way to introduce them to the series. In it, players take the role of pirates around a set of tropical islands.

They must get resources and build pirate lairs to win the game. However, there is a Ghost Pirate at the center of the board who can try and sabotage other players at any moment. It keeps the basics and makes it much easier to understand.

10 Catan 3D Collector's Edition

A worthy addition to your collection if you can afford the price tag. This version of Catan is one of the most expensive board games in existence because of the realistic, textured landscape that decorates each tile, so they're more like figurines than simple gaming pieces.

The game also comes in what looks like a wooden treasure chest that's been specifically fitted to hold all of the game's special hexes and other pieces. It's intended for serious fans of Catan and dedicated board game enthusiasts who curate their acquisitions as opposed to collecting them. This version also includes the Cities and Knights expansion.

9 Catan: Family Edition

Catan: Family Edition is a version of the classic board game that doesn't have a lot of variations. The goal was to make this version a bit easier to understand than the classic Settlers of Catan. This is done by making the board consist of six double-sided pieces that click together like a puzzle rather than a series of tiles that people must place down.

It also comes with convenient cards that make it easier to keep track of which resources are needed for what items. These adjustments make the game easier to learn for young minds and a great way to introduce people to this board game. This version isn't compatible with expansions, though.

8 Catan – 15th Anniversary Edition

A charming vintage edition not only for people who love classic board games but also folks who would prefer to buy as little plastic as possible. The 15th-Anniversary Edition of the game is designed and intended to recall the Golden Age of board games when almost everything was made of wood and carefully crafted to last decades. Even the hexes and the notorious thief are wooden pieces.

It's not just coveted by collectors but for anyone who appreciates durability and reducing their carbon footprint. That's one of the things that make it hard to find, but there are used and resale copies available.

7 Star Trek Catan

While Catan doesn't lend itself well to get adaptations from other franchises, that didn't stop Star Trek Catan from being produced. This version has all the fundamental elements of Settlers of Catan, but with a few unique changes.

The most noteworthy is that the imagery, resources, and pieces are all re-designed to reflect things from the Star Trek franchise. Secondly, there are helper cards that feature popular characters from the franchise that have special abilities. These abilities can change a few elements on the board to give players an advantage before being discarded. This board game is a great way of merging two fanbases.

6 Catan: Rise of the Incas

The Inca civilization was one of the most diverse and fascinating groups in history. Catan has now brought that civilization to a modern board game with Catan: Rise of the Incas. The gameplay is mostly the same in this version, but all of the resources, pieces, and artwork are based on imagery from the Inkas.

Furthermore, there is a mechanic where civilizations reach their peak and decline, leading to roads that are covered in vines and can no longer be used. It's a game that continues through multiple generations, which leads to new and exciting mechanics that fans are sure to enjoy.

5 A Game of Thrones Catan

Winter is coming in A Game of Thrones Catan. Based on the Song of Ice and Fire series in the Game of Thrones saga, there is plenty to enjoy for fans of the franchise. Players are working to become the commander of the land, and that is accomplished by accumulating victory points through territory placement and resource accumulation.

A few new mechanics to this version of the game include Wildling raiders that make their way to the Wall. Players must also keep track of the Wall to try and fortify it or keep their own resources in check. It adds a lot of thematic elements to the game.

4 Catan Histories: Merchants of Europe

While the gameplay of Catan can attract some hardcore board game fans, the standard game isn't the most complex in the series. That title might be awarded to Catan Histories: Merchants of Europe. This bigger version of Catan throws players on a map of Europe with numerous territories.

Each player is a merchant that must become the greatest traders in Europe. With more resources to manage, a new gold mechanic, and more complex progression routes, there is a lot more strategy involved with Catan Histories: Merchants of Europe. More experienced players should be more than up to the challenge, though.

3 Catan Histories: Settlers of America

The Catan Histories line is all about taking the standard gameplay of Catan and dialing it up a bit. The result is a more complicated yet rewarding version of the games. In Catan Histories: Settlers of America, players will take control of people heading to North America for the first time.

The board is based on the United States and is separated in the hexagonal tile format, with each territory offering a resource. This version adds the railway system and money to help spice up the gameplay. With its more rounded map than Europe's, Settlers of America edges out over its brother.

2 Catan Geographies – Germany

This version of Catan is part of the "Geographies" series, which includes a variety of regions such as American states, famous metropolitan cities, and historic European regions like Bavaria. Depending on your personal tastes, that's a whole lot of tough choices, but we're giving it to Catan: Germany as a nod to the country that gave tile games to the world, a style that inspired the original.

The game includes a game board based on Germany's actual geography and history and comes with figurines of famous national landmarks. The same rules for other Catan games also apply to this one.

1 Catan Traveler

Catan Traveler is a downright impressive game. It doesn't add anything new to the game- rather it's just the standard Settlers of Catan. What makes it so unique is that it was designed with portability in mind without sacrificing gameplay.

The board is raised and has a series of holes around each landmark. Pieces have pegs so they can fit in snugly. Pieces are held in drawers that slide out from underneath the board. Even the cards have holders that make them secure. The dice are also held in a hexagonal piece that prevents them from getting lost. It's not only easy to take Catan Traveler anywhere. It's easy to play anywhere.

We hope you like the items we recommend! Screen Rant has affiliate partnerships, so we receive a share of the revenue from your purchase. This won’t affect the price you pay and helps us offer the best product recommendations.

So, let's define, what was the most valuable conclusion of this review: Trivia games are an entertaining way to flex your knowledge. We tested the best trivia games for you and your friends to play on your next game night. at 7 Most Difficult Board Games Ever in Canada