What are the best selling board games trending in 2020? Like all games, board games go through popular trends.
Whereas your childhood may have been all about Hungry Hungry Hippos, it has now made ways to interactive adventures, escape rooms and variations of Monopoly you’ve probably never even considered.
Whether you’re looking for tabletop games for young children, a family gathering or an alcohol-related evening with friends – there’s always a board game out there.
This article will cover the ten most popular board games currently trending online in 2020. We will review each item, properly for the new additions, tongue in cheek for the oldies we all know.
Contents
Best Selling Board Games in 2020
1. Hasbro Connect 4 Game
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
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 | Connect 4 Classic Grid , 4 in a Row Game, Strategy Board Games for Kids, 2 Player . for Family and... | $7.50 | Buy on Amazon |
An oldie, but a goldie. There can’t be many out there who haven’t played this 1970’s classic.
The game rules are simple — a seven-column, six-row vertical game board. There are two players – red and yellow.
Each player takes one go each dropping their coloured discs down one of the columns.
The first player to align four of their colour discs in a row horizontally, vertically or diagonally wins.
After each game, you pull the slot at the bottom, the discs fall through, and the game can begin.
Like simpler paper-based games like noughts and crosses (or tic-tac-toe in the USA) Connect4 is a zero-sum game. Put simply – there is a massive advantage if you know the solution to win the game every time (I won’t spoil it).
But for mere mortals like me – the fun is just to play the game. It’s great for both children and adults alike and is sure to remain a classic for many more decades to come.
2. Monopoly Classic Game
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
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 | MONOPOLY Classic Game | 31,050 Reviews | $21.50 | Buy on Amazon |
Monopoly is one of the most popular board games of all time.
From the company who brought you the Ouija board comes this classic Capitalist board-game guaranteed to leave at least two players not speaking to each other afterwards.
It’s frustrating, it can play on for ages (the longest went on for 70 days straight), it can bring out the worst in people – but it’s so much fun to play – you can’t help but keep going.
First published by Parker Brothers in 1935 – the goal is simple, bankrupt your fellow players and become the financial and property monopoly.
Passing GO lands you with an easy £200/$200. Falling on Go Directly to Jail lands you in well… jail. You may get a card from the central Community Chest or Chance. That could get you out of jail, put you in jail, or even have you winning a beauty contest.
Players move on the role of two dice, each number representing a square on the board. The “piece” you moved is called the token. Depending on your age and when you last played – tokens do tend to change – but the most common have been; The Boot, The Battleship, The Car, The Scottie dog, The Iron and The Top Hat.
There’s a bank – you start with a princely sum each, and you should probably keep a close eye on fellow players in case they slip a loose $500 note into their collection.
Most squares are a property (a famous street, station or utility) which, if you land on it, you can buy. Buying a collection of them means you can build houses and eventually hotels.
The reason? When your fellow players land on a street you own – you charge them a hefty sum. If you have a hotel, the amounts are so substantial they may need to pawn all their properties – or go bankrupt.
It’s difficult to tell what sort of city would allow a person to charge such astronomical parking fees.
It’s difficult to tell what sort of city would allow a person to charge such astronomical parking fees, but it’s steep.
There is a lot more to this game, with so many scenarios and rules. It’s commonly accepted that no-one knows the rules of Monopoly as few actually bother to read the rules. Or lose them.
You tend to find (well I certainly do) that everyone has their own interpretation of the rules. What happens when you roll a double six? Can you change your mind on a purchase? Is it two doubles when in Jail?
Generally, this is when the arguments start, and people turn tribal. And woe betide anyone who picks up the rules to check – that’s a sure way of receiving a swollen lip.
Other than the breakup of lifelong friendships this game can elicit, it’s a genuine classic. It’s pure escapism and always a pleasure to play.
There are a ton of variations of this game now available, including a Star Wars and Star Trek version for you sci-fi fans.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve just rolled my second double-six, and I’m sure that means I win another beauty contest.
3. Codenames
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
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 | CGE Czech Games Edition Codenames Boardgame | $11.69 | Buy on Amazon |
A relative newbie to the board game market and one already in the top 5 best sellers.
Designed for 4-8 players, you must split into two teams (red and blue). Run by the two rival spymasters – they know the secret identities of 25 agents.
Players only know the code names of these agents and must take turns at hint words. From this, you must decypher codewords (names). These could be blue agents, red agents, assassins or even innocent bystanders.
This is a game of skill, as well as avoiding the pitfalls. A lot is going on here – so you really should spend some time reading the rules. I was left a little baffled at first – so the chances of me becoming a spy any time soon are certainly slim
4. Spontuneous – The Song Game
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 | Spontuneous - The Song Game - Sing It or Shout It - Talent NOT Required - Family Party Board Game… | $26.99 | Buy on Amazon |
Another new entry to the charts is the fast-paced Spontuneous – and you should be warned; it does involve singing. The rules of this party game are simple, a word is given, and players must sing a part of any song that contains that word.
This can obviously cause embarrassment, beyond having the singing skills of a goose, for those who have misheard lyrics (actually called a mondegreen) in the past and those who sing songs no-one else has ever heard of.
You’ll quickly learn that there’s no such line as “killing the Dancing Queen”, “Le freak, c’est sheep” or “Every day is like the Bible”. And while I’m sure that b-side to that one-hit-wonder you had on record as a child is fantastic – even Spotify hasn’t heard of it.
Designed for 4-10 players, this game is best played in teams.
This is a great game for all ages, and unless you’re all professional singers with PhD’s in popular music -probably a hilarious evening too.
5. Sequence
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
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 | SEQUENCE- Original SEQUENCE Game with Folding Board, Cards and Chips by Jax ( Packaging may Vary )... | $13.99 | Buy on Amazon |
Do you have a cunning plan? You’ll need one to win this addictive game of strategy.
Designed for 2-12 players aged 7+, this is a genuinely engaging and tactical game that you’ll pick up quickly but play again and again.
The game starts with a 10×10 square playing board. Each square is marked with a playing card in the standard diamond, hearts, spade, clubs deck style.
Players are given hands and play one of their cards which corresponds to a space on the board. The player then places their chip on the square. Once a player has five chips in a row – they have a sequence and have won.
Jacks are wild; players can use their cunning to block you – so stay sharp and use your best strategy to win this one.
6. Guess Who?
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 | Hasbro Gaming Guess Who? Original Guessing Game For Kids Ages 6 & Up for 2 Players | $25.97 | Buy on Amazon |
I first heard of this game back in the 1980s when this advert was played constantly for several months.
It’s a two-player game where each player has the same twenty-four characters with first names turned up on plastic flip stands.
They’re an odd-looking bunch of characters – some with hats, with glasses, moustaches and other distinguishing features.
Each player then selects a card of their choice, which corresponds to one of the characters on the board.
Players then take a turn asking yes or no questions such as “does the person wear a hat”. This helps eliminate some of the 24 characters by flipping the images down.
The winner is the first player to eliminate all the characters bar one and (hopefully) state the card the other player chose.
I’ll confess – I’ve played this game quite a number of times, but never really enjoyed it. Saying that, generations of players have loved it.
7. Candy Land Kingdom Of Sweet Adventures
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
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 | Hasbro Gaming Candy Land Kingdom Of Sweet Adventures Board Game For Kids Ages 3 & Up (Amazon... | $12.99 | Buy on Amazon |
Got a sweet tooth, then this is modern board game will give you the sugar rush you need.
This is very much a kids game. A new spin on Milton Bradley’s classic Candy Land, Kingdom of Sweet Adventures – players are on a quest to find the kidnapped king.
Each player has a gingerbread pawn and must move it along the rainbow path by choosing cards and passing through several colourful characters.
Easy to learn, this game is designed for 2-4 players aged eight years and over. Cards are colour coded with board square colours and symbols and corresponding to the game’s progression.
Some are nice; Queen Frostine’s iceberg when you draw a snowflake. Others not so much, like the Molasses Swamp you can get stuck in.
8. The Yes! No! Game
At the time of writing this article, this game is trending at the number one spot in the UK.
It contains a bell, some cards and the rules. That’s it. So, what’s it about?
Well, designed for families (2-6 players, aged eight and upwards) – the game contains 50 cards. Each of the cards has a series of questions one player asks the other in quickfire succession.
If the player answers Yes or No to one of the questions – the bell is rung, and the player asking the questions keeps the card. If they clear the entire card without saying the dreaded words, they receive the card instead.
The player holding the most cards at the end of the game wins.
It sounds easy, but it can be surprisingly difficult not to answer a question yes or no when they’re fired at you thick and fast with little time to think. No? DING!
9. Scrabble
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
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 | Hasbro Gaming Scrabble Game | 20,843 Reviews | $29.99 | Buy on Amazon |
Fewer games leave you feeling like more of a genius for knowing a word like “Taciturn” while feeling a complete idiot for failing to spot “Xenon” for triple score points.
Another of the best selling board games of all time, I’ve always loved this game. It’s a competitive crossword, and it allows me to show off.
The game is played between 2-4 players. The board is a 15×15 square grid.
Each player selects seven letters at random from a bag and lines them up on their tile.
Each letter has a score at the bottom corner.
Players must create words (they have to be in the dictionary – Flibble is not an actual word). The more complex the word, the more points you score.
Words must be at least two letters long; the first player starts in the middle. Words are then created either left to right in rows or downwards in columns crossing words already on the board.
You can expand on words already on the board; cat can become cataract. But be careful not to inadvertently cross with another word once the board spreads out to create a nonsense word.
Eventually, you will run out of tiles, and if you get stuck – you can pass. The player with the highest score at the end is the winner.
I adore this game. Yes, on occasion people do fall out playing it – but it’s such a game of brainpower, skill and strategy – you can’t help but play again and again.
10. Drumond Park Articulate!
| Preview | Product | Rating | Price | |
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 | Drumond Park 5019150000056 Articulate Family Board Fast Talking Description Game, Multi | $39.74 | Buy on Amazon |
There are four versions of this game, the classic, Articulate Phrases, Articulate your Life and Articulate for Kids.
The concept is straightforward – describe a word without actually saying it.
You have 30 seconds to describe the word presented to you on your card. You need to describe it – terms like “rhymes with jam” and “sounds like cat” are not allowed.
“Costa Rica”, “Sampling”, “Tulip” – try describing them now while you read.
You can play this game whether you have four or twenty players – the more players – the more chance the opposing team has of distracting and heckling you as you attempt to describe your way through the words.
The box contains 500 cards (that’s 3,000 different words), the board, four playing pieces, a sand timer for the 30-second countdown, a spinner and, helpfully, the rules.
It’s a very competitive game; it’s also a lot more fun than the hair-tearing experience that is charades.
The game itself follows a more traditional board game, move around the board until one team reaches the FINISH square.
Each turn – a team will nominate a describer (the person doing the word description) and another the guesser.
The more cards a guesser gets through on each turn – the more your team advances through the board.
One of the delights of this game is that is can suit a variety of different age groups and gatherings.
It could be a Christmas gift for the kids or a game for the adults to play one evening.
Summary
We hope you have enjoyed reading about the top ten best selling board games this year. You’ve probably noticed some classics like Trivial Pursuit, Battleship and even Chess are missing. But fear not, they’re still hugely popular – will the appear on the list next year?
Board games can be a lot of fun – or they can cause furious rows and vows of silence that span a generation. In an age of video games and mobile phones, they can be a great way of connecting with people and can make a legitimately fun evening.
So brush up on your dictionary skills, practice your dictum, fine-tune your vocal cords and, most importantly, enjoy yourself!
Check out our the rest of the site for other game ideas. Feel free to leave your reviews or comments in the comments section below or on our Twitter and Facebook pages.
