My wife and I own over fifty board games and we are addicted. If our friends come over, they know they better be ready to play at least one game. We get a lot of board games as presents, but we also end up buying a lot of them too. The easiest and cheapest way to buy board games is online. I prefer to buy them through Amazon because you can get them for as much as ten dollars cheaper than at the store and as much as twenty dollars cheaper if you buy them used. I am going to list some board games that you need to buy if your friends and family love to have a good time.

9) Evolution

I’m starting out with this one because most likely, you haven’t heard of it. It is hilarious. It is unique. And it is hard. As you move your game piece around the board and answer questions, you “evolve.” The only tricky part is, so does the game. Each time you evolve, the questions get more and more difficult. This is a fun team game that I guarantee you will love.

8) Trivial Pursuit

I can’t really have a board game list and not include Trivial Pursuit. I grew up trying to play this with my parents, brothers, and grandma. Now that I am older, it is still one of my favorites. For those who haven’t played, the goal is to collect a wedge from six different trivia categories. This may sound easy, but some of the questions are really hard. You may know a lot about literature and science, but have no clue about geography and history. This is what makes the game interesting and fun.

7) Scattegories

This is a thinker’s game that requires quick thinking and unique answers. Each round, a letter die is rolled and for whatever letter the die lands on, you must write down one word for each category. For example, if “L” was rolled, then you have to think of a word that begins with “L” for the category kitchen utensils. But if you write down the same answer as any of your opponents, you are awarded no points. Oh and you have a little over a minute to do this for ten categories. Scattegories is a great game with high replay value; I highly recommend it.

6) Pictionary Man

You can’t really go wrong with Pictionary; especially with the new version, Pictionary Man. The game is exceptionally difficult, if like me, you cannot draw to save your life. In this new version of Pictionary, you must draw the clues on the Pictionary Man (made completely of dry-erase board material) to get your teammates to guess the answer.

5) Charades

I know Charades is not technically a board game, but the concept is just so fun to play with. Get your teammates to guess the word or words with no talking or noises. Have fun trying to get your team to guess “Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.” The beauty of this game is that if you don’t want to purchase it; you can just make up phrases yourself. Have a neutral player write down twenty or thirty words or phrases and put them into a hat. Then just have each team alternate pulling the clues from the hat. Free entertainment.

4) Apples to Apples

Apples to Apples is the ultimate party game. Every player gets a certain amount of “noun” cards. They could be anything from Bubblegum to Bill Clinton to North Korea. Each player then takes a turn being a judge and the first one pulls an adjective card. The other players then throw in one of their “noun” cards that they think best fits the adjective, or that they think will make the judge pick their card. Things can get a little interesting when the noun ‘Republicans” is placed in with the adjective “ridiculous”, especially when the judge is a stout conservative.

3) Catch Phrase

The object of the game is simple: get your teammates to guess the catch phrase without saying the phrase or any word inside the phrase. There are several categories within the game like: Entertainment, Food and Dining, Around the World, Sports, Music, etc. Again, this sounds pretty simple but it is hilarious to see people get so frustrated when their teammates can’t guess the phrase. Catch Phrase is a great party game because it is simple, fun, and pretty much anyone can play.

2) Scene It

This gaming franchise literally revolutionized how board games are played in the 2000s. It started out with Scene It: Movie Edition and now they have branched out to several different genres of trivia including television, sports, James Bond, Seinfeld, Harry Potter, and Disney. The game includes a DVD and you must answer questions based upon each clip. And each clip has more than one question for it, so you don’t have to worry about constant repetition. This game is truly interactive and perfect for anyone who watches movies and television (so practically everyone).

1) Cranium

Cranium is the game of all games. It combines art, pop culture, charades, useless knowledge, music, history, and almost anything else you can think of. I like to think of it as a combination of Charades, Pictionary, and Trivial Pursuit. Among my group of friends, this is easily the most popular game. Over the past years Hasbro has released Cranium, Cranium Wow, Turbo Cranium, Cranium Conga, and Cranium Pop 5. Those are just some of the games they have released. Any of these Cranium games are a must have for both serious and casual game players.