USD ($)
EUR (€)
Our son is getting more into board gaming. We love that (of course!), but it also means that my husband and I now have to push back our 2 player games to after his bedtime. And with crazy busy lives, that means either multitasking or missing out. As such, at least once per week, dinner time is becoming #boardgameandbaitnight!
Whilst Chess and Go seem the obvious choices, my husband isn’t a huge fan of these purely abstract games. As such, we are determined to find plenty of plate friendly choices within our existing collection. And after a month, we have found a few key elements when it comes to game choice to ensure a successful (and mess free!) food and fun combo:
1. Perfect information is great (i.e. games where you don’t need to hold anything in your hand)
2. Small footprint (to fit between or to the side of plates, always avoiding the “splash zone”)); and
3. Chunky components are easier for picking up one handed
Following the above should mean that you too can enjoy a game with a fork in one hand!
Rummikub
Rummikub is a brilliant 2-4 player tile laying, set collection game that is perfect for puzzling out over piles of pasta. And given that it has been around for over 90 years, there’s definitely something special about this game. Your objective is to make runs/sets of at least three consecutive or identical numbered tiles. Played over a number of rounds (or even a single game if time is tight), the game is just a pile of chunky (wipe friendly!) tiles numbered #1-13 in 4 different colours plus 2 jokers and plastic player tile racks. And whilst some rounds are calm, calculated developments of impressive melds, Rummikub turns into a tense, synapse sizzling session!
Kingdomino
Kingdomino another classic tile laying game which is fork and table space friendly. Each turn you select a domino style tile from those in the offer row to place into your kingdom. The tile you select will also determine turn order for the next round. The territory type on at least one half of that tile must match with a previously placed piece and must be placed adjacently. Tiles cannot extend beyond your own 5x5 grid (or 7 X7 in the 2 player variant) kingdom which is growing around a central castle. Points are scored for your areas of matching adjacent territory including woodlands, fields, lakes, and mountains multiplied by the number of crowns in each.
Carcassonne
Now, I know Carcassonne can be a huge table hog if left unsupervised! But limiting dinnertime game play to the base game makes this draft, place, score game a great choice for #boardgamesandbaitnight.
Once you draft a tile from the top of the pile, you then place it adjacent to a matching terrain feature (city, road, field, monastery etc). You can then decide if you want to place one of your own meeples on a feature on that tile. If you complete a feature with one of your meeples on it (each one has its own rule set), you score points! And it you are super sneaky, you can not only block other players from completing their own features (in which case their meeples get marooned for the rest of the game), but also steal some points by hijacking their cities.
Pylos
Pylos is a beauty to look at, and that’s a great distractor when I am stuffing my face with chips! . It is made entirely of polished wooden components and is borderline sculpture. There is a lovely wooden board with a grid of 4x4 indents as well as 15 spheres in light wood and 15 spheres in a darker shade placed around the outer edge in the “reserve” gullies. The object of this 2 player game is simple; be the player who places their colour sphere on the very top of the completed pyramid. But this isn’t a straightforward race to the summit. Every time you create a square of your own colour, you get to either (1) move one or two of your own spheres (which aren’t supporting any others) back into your reserve or (2) move to somewhere else on the grid. And if you create a mixed square, you can take one of your spheres from somewhere else on the board and stack it on top to form the next level, locking in the pieces underneath. Parsing the pieces in my spare hand is soothing. I just have to make sure I don’t eat them – they do look tempting!
Qwirkle
Qwirkle is another solid choice for messy mealtimes! With 108 chunky wooden blocks depicting one of six different shapes in six different colours, each turn you must lay down one of your own tiles tiles (which can be propped up in front of you). The only restrictions are that it must be laid next to a block which matches the colour or shape of those already down, but you can’t match both. Points are then awarded for the block just laid as well as any adjacent blocks (in any orthogonal direction) which follow the same pattern. If a player completes a line of 6 blocks containing all six shapes or colours they also achieve six bonus “Quirkle” points on top of the six they get for finishing the line!
So there we have it. A fairly tile-heavy list, but they are typically one-hand friendly! Hopefully these have inspired you to jump in and combine fun and feasting in your own #boardgamesandbaitnight!
