Christmas time is all about spending time with family and friends, eating too many opening presents, however it’s also about getting competitive with family when playing games around the table. For years and years, we’ve all played games with family at Christmas time and it’s become part of tradition now.
What better way to spend Christmas than opening your yearly pair of socks from grandma, having your Christmas meal then getting started on your first game of the evening. In this article we’ll look at some of the best games to play at Christmas time and why they’re great games to play in the festive period.
Rainbow Riches
Holiday season means one thing, cold nights and short days. Nobody wants to go out and people would prefer to stay inside in the warm heated house. What better way to pass the time on those cold winter evenings than to play some games of Rainbow Riches. In this slot game, the return to the player is 95% and has a maximum payout of 500 times your total stake.
Monopoly
In 1935, the game monopoly was released. A true fan favourite and legend amongst board games. Ultimately the aim of the game is to control the most properties on the board or get your opponents to run out of money.
Famous for causing arguments within family when someone has numerous properties and keeps collecting money, monopoly is a great way to bring the family around the table for a tense game.
There have been numerous adaptations of monopoly over the years, from your classic version, electronic banker where instead of cash, each player has a bank card, to collaboration versions such as Pokémon, Harry potter and Disney just to name a few. Having multiple versions allows monopoly to cater to numerous different target audiences.
Mario kart
Originally released in 1992, Mario Kart is the perfect game to get the whole family involved as anyone can pick up the controller and play. Mario Kart is a racing game featuring numerous characters and locations from the world of Nintendo such as Mario, Luigi, Bowser and Princess Peach.
Throughout the race, you’re able to pick up power ups to aid you along your way, some more powerful than others, so even if you’re in first, you shouldn’t get too comfortable!
With relatively simple controls, with just one stick to turn and buttons to go and stop, even family members that don’t play video games can pick up and have fun.
Charades
Charades has been around since the Victorian era and has been enjoyed by families for generations, so this is a great game to play with older family members. The aim of the game is one person chooses something to act out, for example this can be an item or movie. The person acting isn’t allowed to speak and has to imitate until someone guesses correctly.
The game is still popular to this day as it doesn’t require any items to set up. Newer adaptations of the game do provide cards with prechosen items for you to act out, however this isn’t required and you can leave it up to your own imagination.
Uno
Another long time classic, Uno is an all-time great. Each player is dealt the same number of cards, with each card having a number and colour. Players go around the room placing one card at a time in a pile until your left with no cards, the first person to have no cards left wins.
The catch of the game is you can only put a card down if yours matches the number or colour of the last card to be put down. If you don’t have an eligible card, you need to draw an additional card. There’s also additional cards people can put down for example make the person next to you skip a go, so make sure to keep your eye out for other players’ tactics!
Words with friends
Words with Friends is a great game to play around Christmas with family, as you don’t require everyone in the same room, so if family members can’t make it, they can still join in with the festive fun.
Each player has a set of random letters, the aim of the game is to create words on the board, the longer the word, the more points you get. There’s also certain tiles on the board which provide additional points so make sure you look for these!
Christmas time is a wonderful time of year to get together with family and friends and enjoy the festive spirit. However sometimes it’s also good to get a bit competitive and see who comes out on top. Which of these games will you be trying this Christmas?
