By Thomas Dowson L6-1

Games, a staple of many households, or friend groups, has an underlying debate upon the choice between a card game and a board game. While both have their positives, they are different yet they compete for a place in anyone’s game library. Many people who have played games will know the indecision on what game to play.  

Card games, I would say that there are two categories, one which can all be played with a normal deck of cards, and the other is all other games played only including cards, but not necessarily a normal deck. For card games to have its own entire section I think speaks for itself in saying that everyone should have a deck of cards, which is something so incredible with the number of games you can play. It also acts as an incredible social activity, which leads to interactions with people you normally would not and allows for maintaining a connection between people you have not seen for a long time.  

With classic card games, I would say some are leaps and bounds ahead of the rest. I will try to separate them in order of complexity, so starting off, group games like blackjack and poker. I would say these could be some of the best, being very social activities, requiring little to no set up and t being very difficult to learn makes these great for a group of friends. I prefer poker, but blackjack being so simple and quick also has its benefits. Increasing the complexity, we can get into games such as rummy and go fish. These being games suited for smaller groups requiring a small amount of explanation beforehand but is worth it as these are both very enjoyable and have interesting conclusions to them. I would say that these games are great for a family, including younger children allowing for them to learn them quickly and still be playing actual card games. Now, for the most challenging card games I would put bridge and hearts, both involving the entire deck and trick making games, making them require more thought whilst both being interesting games to play. Bridge I would say the pinnacle of card games is great for a group of 4 as it is great for keeping groups together. The other benefit of many card games is the fact that there is a range of online versions so you do not need to all be together to play, for example bridge base online.  

And on the other side of the card game world, we have card games like dobble and anomia. These are great games which are using a custom deck specified for the game, giving it a unique feel and an interesting gameplay experience. For example in dobble, being easy to learn as you only must find the matching shapes, sounds simple, but can get very heated in the moment having something just slip your mind. Round cards with pictures of varying sizes are used and the aim is to get more matches than your opponent, it is a great game, and is also one that can be played with young children allowing from an entire family to play it. I would say that there is also some benefit to improve children’s recognition of images making them quicker in other aspects as well. Anomia, being different yet again has two decks of cards with a symbol and a word or phrase, each turn you add another to your pile and if the symbols match up you have to say a word or phrase relating to or answering what is on the other persons card who has the same symbol. It is yet again another fast-paced game which is easily accessible and can have a large group of people playing making it good for larger groups. Some people may advocate to put some TCG on here, but I would say they do not quite fall under the same category that I am using, but I am not saying that using TCG’s are bad but could also be a good contender for other card games list. Now to finish off this list, it has got to be UNO, one of the most classic card games. UNO is extremely easy to learn and almost everyone has a variation in their house. It must have a space at the top of this collection. A game where you are dealt 7 cards and have to get rid of them as quick as possible using different strategies and special cards to hinder other players. I find this the best card game without a deck of cards as it is quick, easy. It is portable and there are many variations to the game, so it does not become boring on repeat plays. The game will also change each time so the gameplay does not become repetitive. 

If we now talk about board games, I would find it hard to create separate categories for board games as they do all include some element of strategy which is needed to win, but we could separate them into the more classic games and more variants. As we have new board games being released all the time, but we only hear about the best ones from the past, so using those two as the separate categories, we will continue.  

Starting off with the classic board games, if not the classic board game is monopoly. An age-old favourite for all the family where everyone will love it, except for those who feel as if they are being ganged up on. It is about building a property business to bankrupt the other players. Exciting many arguments and joy in a family, it is the classic board game to play. Other classics have also got to mention risk, the classic strategy game where you are aiming to complete world domination, another of my absolute favourites, but can be considered long and boring to some. It constantly feels new as you aim to use different strategies all the time simulating certain manners of actual war, I find this extremely exciting and love the game. Next on the list is Scrabble, appealing to a smaller group of people but still a very interesting board game. One which I have played many times with my grandparents who will always come out with some word I have never heard of. A game which not only provides entertainment, but also allows for learning opportunities in the form of unfamiliar words and their meanings. A trickier game to play well, but great fun can still be had struggling to find anything. To finish off this section has to be Cluedo, ‘the great detective game’ yet another timeless classic of a board game. Cluedo encourages players to use deduction to work out the crime before others, while running around the scene of the crime. A game with modern variants being released and some in the style of other games, but nothing beats the classic version. Of the variants, in my opinion the best are the modern version of the original and also the harry potter version. While I like the gameplay of it less, the location of the rooms works very well and the flu powder gimmick is quite fun. Honourable mentions include the game of life, a simulation of you growing up, and another honourable mention is Sorry! a game using cards to move instead of dice makes for a unique gameplay and is a game where the aim is to get all your pieces around the board to your home.  

Moving onto the more modern board games, starting off strong with one of my favourite board games is Catan. An incredible game, let down only by the online version being not as good, but in person the game is brilliant and incredibly unique. A strategy game about building a civilisation on an island leaves much to the decision of the players, and with a non-fixed board, each game is completely unique. And especially when you add in the expansions, the best being the 5-6 player expansion, although it is unfortunate that without it is limited to a 4-player game but there is also the seafarer’s expansion giving an entirely new feel to the game making new shapes and layout every session. Another particularly good modern game is Pandemic, creating a new concept of a board game where you are not competing, but instead working together in a challenge against a spreading pandemic. The aim is to prevent the world from being infected and leads to a very fun few hours working together and helping each other unlike almost all other games. And to finish of this section another great game is Ticket to Ride, a game where you have to collect cards to build railways completing challenges across a map of Europe, with variants offering maps of other areas of the world. It is easy to learn and takes less than an hour to play making it great for game nights and allows for a 2-player experience as well. 

While I may not cover all the types of games, I would say there are two more sub-topics, games which can use a wooden board, such as chess, a game everyone has heard of and almost everyone knows how to play, a list of games cannot be complete without a mention of the classic game of chess. Along the same lines as chess comes backgammon, a game which medieval people have used for generations, allows for betting and an interesting game where you must get all your pieces into the end area and home before your opponent. And to finish off this small section must be checkers, an amazingly simple and quick game compared to chess, and is great fun to play and can be used interchangeably with chess as the boards are identical. To the other subsection is a slightly miscellaneous section with games like codenames, a game where players are split into two teams, and one member of each team must give clues about words on the table, until the rest of the team must guess which one they are talking about. Another great game which allows for a unique concept and can be played by the entire family as clues can be given on a different level of difficulty. 

But all in all, these games do bottle down to if it has a board or not. I believe that if you play any game, it is an incredible activity to encourage communal behaviour, and within a family these games span across generations, allowing for unity and spending worthwhile time with them. In my opinion, I would edge on the side of preferring board games as it is a more sociable activity, however I would say that card games have a special place having learnt bridge from my dad and enjoy playing with people I see very little of, as it is able to be played online and is a great relaxing activity. 

But while the public opinion may be different with people having shorter extension spans and finding “board games do not have much going on” prefer card games, some also think that some games are “too hard to learn” which can put people off, such as the more difficult games of both sections. So, while games are not everyone’s cup of tea I would urge all of you to have a go at a new game,which may become your favourite activity to end up doing.