Fortnite: Monopoly is the top-selling board game on Amazon during the Black Friday sales. That’s not a thing I’m particularly happy about, don’t saddle a kid with Monopoly this Christmas just because there’s some Fortnite art on the board. Here are some better board games on sale right now.
Look, I get it, kids love Fortnite. Grabbing a Fortnite edition of Monopoly seems like a good idea, right up to the point where you remember that Monopoly is a terrible game. There’s no defending it, although there’s always someone that claims it’s better if you play by the rules. It’s not.
Instead, here are a number of great board games that are great for families or people looking for a way to start their board game collection.
Azul – $49.45
Azul has fast become a favourite around here with it’s simple, yet beautiful tile-drafting proving a consistent crowd pleaser.
Tiling a wall doesn’t sound like the most interesting thing to make a game out of but Azul is more about taking the right tiles at the right time. You can be a jerk and try to take tiles in a way that makes life difficult for your friends or just focus on what you need. It’s a great game for players of all experience levels.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/11/azul-review-spiel-des-jahres-board-game/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/11/DSC1755-410×231.jpg” title=”When It Clicks, Azul Is Brilliant” excerpt=”When I haven’t been playing Azul lately, I’ve been thinking about the next time I can play Azul.”]
Sushi Go Party – $32.95
The adorable card game about putting together the perfect sushi dinner, Sushi Go Party adds some new card types to the already excellent Sushi Go. Taking all that is great about card drafting games and stripping it down to a joyful burst of board gaming fun. The quick play time means that you can bust out Sushi Go Party when you’ve got little else to do or while waiting around for something else to happen. It’s the perfect filler game.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2018/10/how-sushi-gos-designer-makes-board-games/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2018/02/Phil-Walker-Harding-2-410×231.jpg” title=”How Sushi Go’s Designer Makes Board Games” excerpt=”When Phil Walker-Harding was a child he made silly little board games with his brother and cousin. Now he makes internationally successful games like Sushi Go and Bärenpark. They’re still a bit silly.”]
Codenames – $22.95
Another favourite, Codenames has two teams competing to see who can correctly guess all of their words on the board first. Each team is driven by their spymaster, who will give them single word clues to try and tie together as many words on the board as they can.
It’s a great way to test kids’ vocabularies and see just how well you know your friends. There’s also a picture based version and any number of licensed spin-offs.
[referenced url=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/09/everyone-should-own-codenames/” thumb=”https://www.kotaku.com.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/09/codenames-box-and-cards-410×231.jpg” title=”Everyone Should Own Codenames” excerpt=”You know how some games are so well designed that they’re almost perfect? That’s Codenames, the game that every gamer should own.”]
Ticket to Ride: Europe – $58.95
Ticket to Ride is the great Monopoly replacement. Instead of rolling dice and waiting for the game to be over, you’ll try to complete as many train tracks across the map before someone runs out of train carriages to end the game. Rarely outstaying it’s welcome and adding a few minor tweaks over the original Ticket to Ride, Ticket to Ride: Europe is the perfect starting point.
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