Board games are fun for everyone, no matter how old you are. Whether you're looking for something new to play at home or you just want to learn more about classic favorites, this list will give you plenty of options.
These games are tabletop games in Pakistan that require two or more players to be played. Senet which is an Egyptian game is known to be the oldest board game to ever exist.
Names of the Most Popular Board Games in Pakistan:
We have listed down the names of the most popular board games in Pakistan that everyone should own:
1. Monopoly Board Game:
Monopoly was created in 1935 and it is the most-loved family board game.
Age: 8 years and up.
The original Monopoly has always been loved by buyers but there are other versions as well like Monopoly Cars Edition, Game of Thrones Edition, Pacman Monopoly, Monopoly Cheaters Edition, and Monopoly Speed Game.
How To Play This Board Game:
Pick a banker. All of the money, assets, homes, and hotels that still belong to the bank are under the control of this player. The banker is still allowed to participate in the game, but they must make sure that their personal funds are kept apart from the banks. People can help themselves to money, homes, and other properties if the banker places the box where most players can access it and they must only do so when permitted.
Select a game item. A gaming piece is given to each player to move around the board. The game offers a wide variety, but you can also use any small object to play.
Give each participant $1500. The banker provides each player their initial sum of money before the game begins. It ought to total $1500.
To choose the first participant, throw the dice. The player who rolls the highest number gets to go first, and play moves around the board clockwise from there. You can choose whether to roll two dice or only one.
When you land on an unowned property, purchase it. The property may be purchased for the sum indicated on the board if you are the first player to land on a location that has a railroad, utility, or colored stripe across the top. The title deed to the property is then given to the player by the banking.
Obtain rent. You are obligated to pay the rent specified on the title deed card for the property if you land there (unless they have mortgaged the property). The cost of the land, whether or not a player has a full color set (like in Monopoly), and the number of buildings on the property all affect the rent.
You have a monopoly if you possess every property in a group of similar colours. One of the main objectives of the game is to quickly bankrupt rival players if you have a monopoly. On unimproved sites of that colour set, players who have a monopoly are allowed to treble the rent they charge for their real estate.
In order to increase your rent if you have a monopoly, you can begin to develop homes on any of those properties. The building costs are listed on your property deed.
After you've constructed four houses, construct a hotel. Hotels are the most profitable structures you can include on your properties.
A player is paid $200 for each time they touch down on or cross over the "GO" corner area.
Take the top card from the associated deck of the space you landed on if it is labeled "Chance" or "Community Chest" after you arrive there.
Until you are released from prison, you are unable to move across the board. However, you can still pay rent, purchase homes, take part in auctions, and conduct trades with other people.
Try setting a timer for one or two hours if you want the game to go faster. Each player counts their total cash, the printed prices of all their real estate that isn't mortgaged, half the printed values of all their mortgaged real estate, and the printed prices of all their homes and hotels when the timer goes off. The game is won by the wealthiest player!
You can mortgage your house if you move in and find that you are unable to pay the rent. You can decide to mortgage a property in order to purchase other properties, homes, or lodging facilities. Rent cannot be collected on a mortgaged property. You must pay 10% interest when you pay it off in order to unmortgage it. Always round up decimal amounts while paying.
If you owe more money than you can reasonably pay off with your assets, you are deemed bankrupt and are no longer in the game. According to the official regulations, after selling all the buildings first, the player who forced you to go bankrupt receives your money and properties.
2. Guess Who:
Created in 1979, this games involves guessing each other’s characters. The original version had only 5 females characters out of 24. Now it has 11 females along with other characters. Kids try to guess characters and flip them to reveal it.
How To Play This Board Game:
Flip all the characters up and provide a Guess Who board to each player. Select a board after taking a seat across from one another. Lift up each of the 24 character tiles on the board and set it in front of you.
Ask a closed-ended question regarding the nature of your adversary. Ask them a yes/no question to help you identify your opponent's mystery character. "Do they have blue eyes, for instance?" Do they have brown hair? Do they look like a girl?
Any characters that the solution excludes should be flipped down. Use the response to your query from your adversary to help you determine which character they are using. For instance, if you inquire, "Do they have brown hair?" and they respond in the affirmative, flip down all the characters who don't.
To win the game, identify the hidden character correctly. Use your turn to inquire if their mystery character is the one remaining on your board if you are down to only one character.
3. Scrabble Board Game:
Scrabble was created in 1933 and it is a treat for puzzle lovers.
How To Play:
- Write down the spellings of words and build on one another's earlier words. While playing, keep an eye out for spots with high double-word and triple-word scores.
- Find opportunities to use all seven letters to score a bonus of 50 words, and at the conclusion of the game, figure out who earned the most points.
- Try your pals, Scrabble clubs, or even Scrabble competitions if you're seeking for players to play with.
Give each participant access to seven tiles. To prevent you from seeing the tiles, hold the bag above eye level. Keep these tiles hidden from your fellow players. As soon as everyone has drawn their letters, simply place the tiles on your tile rack and give the bag to the following player.
Play the opening phrase. The first word is played by the player whose letter choice was closest to the letter "A." The word must span the star square in the board's centre and must make use of at least two tiles. The word may be arranged vertically or horizontally but not diagonally.
Add up all of your points. Make sure to add up your points once you have entered a word. The points in the lower right corner of each tile you placed down should be added up.
Make fresh tiles. You must draw as many new tiles as you just played after each of your turns.
Build on the words of other players. You will need to supplement the words that your opponents just played on your turn. This implies that all of the tiles on the board must be connected before you can make a word that stands alone.
- Double Letter Score: A letter put on this square will score twice as many points as the letter indicates.
- Double Word Score: This indicates that the number of points awarded to a word that contains the letter that is placed on this square is doubled.
- Triple Letter Score: A letter put on this square will score three times as many points as it does on the letter itself.
- Triple Word Score: This indicates that a word will score three times as many points if it contains the letter that is placed in this area.
If you earn a bingo, also known as a bonus, your word score will be increased by 50 points. When you play a word using all seven of your tiles, you have a bingo.
At the conclusion of the game, total the scores of each player. Add up each player's points after all players have used all of their tiles or are unable to play any more words. Each participant should inform the score keeper of the points value (if any) of the tiles they have left over when they sum up the totals. The final score for each player is calculated by deducting this amount from their overall number of points.
The game is won by the player with the highest score.
4. Sorry!:
Created in 1934.
How To Play:
Choose your pawn color and place all of your pawns on the START space. Sorry comes with four sets of four pawns in the colors red, blue, green, and yellow. Choose one color and take all four pawns. Then place all four pawns on the start space of the Sorry board.
The cards in Sorry are as follows:
1: You can advance one square or move a pawn from the beginning.
2: You have the option of advance 2 squares or move a pawn from the beginning. You must draw once more.
3: Advance three spaces.
4: Reverse four spaces.
5: Advance five spaces.
7: Advance 7 spaces or divide the board between two pawns (e.g. 3 spaces for one pawn, 4 spaces for another).
8: Go eight spaces forward.
10: Either advance 10 spaces or regress 1 spot.
11: Either advance 11 spaces or exchange places with an adversary. If there are no opponent pawns on the board and it is impossible to advance 11 spaces, you will have to swap places with them or forfeit the turn.
12: Move forward 12 spaces.
Sorry!: Use it to bump an opponents pawn to the start.
At the beginning of each round, each player takes a turn drawing a card from the pile. The discard pile cannot be used to retrieve cards. You can only draw cards that are face down. When you draw a card, read the instructions and execute as instructed.
If you jump another player's piece, do not move it; instead, travel to the space that your card permits you to.
You must bump an opponent's pawn back to the START space if you land on one of their occupied spaces. In Sorry, two pawns can never occupy the same space.
The SAFETY ZONE for each player matches the colour of their pawns. You may enter your SAFETY ZONE if the card you draw permits you to do so.
To win the game, move all of your pawns to the HOME space. To win I apologise, but you must move all of your pawns to the home area. Although moving your pieces seems easy, it could take some time if someone else pushes you back to the beginning. To get there, you must also draw precisely how many spaces there are between a pawn and your home space.
5. Pictionary:
Created in 1985. Consider it to be charades. Remind players who complain that their drawings lack skill that the funnier and more memorable the game is, the worse the drawing is. Pictionary is an excellent option for both children and adults because there are many "junior" cards that young children can understand.
How To Play:
One person from your team has 60 seconds to draw a word or prompt from a card they draw during their turn. Try to sketch the prompt fast if you're the one doing it so that your team can identify it. Everyone else on the person's team examines the drawing and makes an effort to identify the word or prompt.
Shuffle the cards and divide the players into teams. Find the space labeled “Start” on the board and choose a pawn color for your team.
A card is randomly selected by the painter. The Picturist examines the word covertly without letting the other players know.
An "All Play" prompt is indicated by the board area or word having a symbol with four pencils or being labelled "AP." At the same time, artists from each team will sketch the prompt. Allow each illustrator to study the card for five seconds.
During a "All Play," you get to advance your pawn if you successfully identified the word or were the first team to make the correct guess. Move the pawn for your squad as many spaces forward as your dice roll.
To win, get to the Finish Square and accurately predict one more drawing.
At the very end of the playing field is the Finish square. Each time a team enters the square, they sketch a new prompt. The team wins the game right away if they correctly guess the prompt.
6. Connect 4:
Created in 1974. The name says it all. Connect 4 game requires joining 4 chips in a row.
How To Play:
In Connect Four, you take a checker and place it in one of the spaces at the top of the grid when it is your time to move. There are seven columns and six rows available on standard boards.
Your first move in a game of Connect Four can actually decide the outcome of the entire game if you are the first to go. The ideal action to take while starting the game is to set your checker in the centre column.
7. Chess Board Game:
Chess is another one of the oldest board games ever created. It first began in India in the sixth century and later migrated to Europe and the Middle East.
How To Play:
In chess, checkmate is achieved by capturing your opponent's king.
If you directly threaten your opponent's king and they are unable to move it or block the threat with another piece, you have won the game via checkmate. Say "checkmate" aloud to signal the end of the game when this occurs.
Pieces:
- Rooks (the small castle towers)
- Knights (the horses)
- Bishops (the rounded tops with the slits)
- Queen (the tall piece with the round cap)
- King (the tall piece with the crucifix on top)
- Pawns (the short, stubby, round pieces)
To begin the game, place the players across from one another. Each player should have a black square in the bottom left corner and a white square in the lower right corner of the board after turning it.
Chess games usually begin with the person holding the white pieces. Any of your moveable components can be chosen and placed in the new location. Play then switches to the player with the black pieces after the player with the white piece has had a turn.
When a piece is captured, it ends up on the same space as an opponent's piece and is eliminated from play. To weaken the impact of your opponent's moves, try to seize their stronger pieces, such as their queen, rooks, and bishops.
In order to possibly capture your opponent's king during your subsequent turn, move one of your pieces. During their subsequent turn, your adversary must move their king, block your piece, or seize your piece in order to escape check.
En passant, or "in passing," refers to the action of one pawn capturing another after making its initial move. En passant play is only possible if your adversary has moved a pawn two squares from its initial position to stand close to one of your pawns. In this case, you could place your pawn behind your adversary's pawn to capture it.
A pawn is promoted to any piece of your choice the moment it is moved to the back row on your opponent's side of the board (besides the king). Since the queen is the most potent piece, it is typically advisable to select to promote to her.
You are permitted to use a unique move known as casting once during the course of the game. Move your king two squares horizontally in the direction of either rook to castle. The rook should then be moved to the square directly across from the king in the same move.
Are Board Games Good For Your Brain:
Brain function is improved by playing board games. All ages benefit from playing because it activates the parts of the brain involved in sophisticated mental processes and memory creation. Play helps develop critical cognitive abilities like problem solving, higher order strategic thinking, and decision making.
Which Board Game Is The Oldest:
The Royal Game of Ur, which dates back over 4,600 years to ancient Mesopotamia, is the world's oldest playable boardgame. A Babylonian astronomer recorded the game's rules on a clay tablet in 177 BC.
Are Board Games Still Popular In Pakistan:
Even while board games in Pakistan have always been a common form of amusement, their appeal has recently increased as a result of the internet. The expansion of crowdfunding platforms is one of the most significant trends that the internet has brought about in the board game industry.
According to board game market value data on Statistica, the worldwide board game market is currently valued at over $7.2 billion and is expected to reach $12 billion by 2023. What a significant growth! The same increased trend in board game searches over the previous five years is also visible on Google Trends.
The above article is written by Ahmed & Abdullah. They are a twin brother duo based in Pakistan. Ahmed loves to play football and Abdullah loves to build websites. Abdullah's optimistic approach and Ahmed's creative imagination is what makes them unique. Their favorite sport is football and they both love to hang out together.