Bury St Edmunds Shuffle Board Game Café lists top five must-play board games for adults
From solving riddles to making hilariously terrible sentences to unlocking your inner Picasso – these games will keep you and your friends laughing for hours.
Expert Tom Harrod, from Shuffle Board Game Café, in Bury St Edmunds, has chosen a mixture of top five must-play games for you and your friends or loved ones – especially if you’re planning to celebrate the New Year at home.
All the games selected are available to be played or purchased at the café, which won a Bury Free Press Business Award for Best New Start-Up last year.
Ransom Notes
Ransom Notes is a creative word party game for making hilariously terrible sentences.
Players use word magnets to respond to prompts with a limited pool of words.
“What I love about it, is that it offers creativity,” said Tom.
“This game is not necessarily about who wins, but about the fun reveal of weird things that everyone around the table has written.”
It’s a game that will leave you wanting more. Every round is fresh and tears-streaming-down-your- face funny.
Average price: £20
Players: 3-6
Age: 17+
Difficulty: Easy
Scrawl
If you’re having a bad day and you need something to switch your brain off, Scrawl is your answer.
The disastrous doodling and guessing game, is the most popular drawing game at Shuffle.
The rules are simple: with 60 seconds on a timer, sketch a phrase, pass it on and watch how things go horribly wrong.
When the time is up, each player reveals their cards. Most grins wins.
“It’s a lost in translation game – perfect for a Friday night,” explained Tom.
The game is strictly adults only.
Average price: £25
Players: 4-6
Age: 17+
Difficulty: Easy
Unlock!
If you’re a fan of escape rooms, then Unlock is a must-try.
With three different adventures to choose from, Unlock pins you against the clock, where you or up to six players, need to solve riddles to win the game.
“It’s not super complex, but to begin with you might need to think outside the box,” said Tom.
However, the downside is its reliance on technology.
Before you begin your quest, you’ll need to download an app, which will act as your 60-minute timer, and it’s also where you’ll need to write your answers.
Average price: £30
Players: 1-6
Age: 10+
Difficulty: Medium
Herd Mentality
Herd Mentality is a fantastic game for families and friends.
The aim is simple: think like the majority, not for yourself.
One player reads a question out to the group. If your answer matches with your friends, you earn a cow.
However, if you’re the odd one out, then you may earn the dreaded pink cow, which makes it impossible to win the game whilst it’s in your possession.
First player to collection eight cows wins.
Tom said: “You learn quite a lot about people with this one. It’s a good bonding game.”
Average price: £20
Players: 4-20
Age: 10+
Difficulty: Easy
Azul
In the game Azul, players take turns drafting coloured tiles from the shared supply to their player board.
"Those who like strategy based games will be a fan of Azul," said Tom.
Players gain points for each completed pattern on the board but wasted tiles can harm the player's score.
Average price: £35
Players: 2-4
Age: 10+
Difficulty: Medium
