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The Olympics are well underway, and many people are watching in anticipation to see if their country can go for gold! Well with all this excitement, I am well aware there are some people who are just not interested, and to those people, I suggest our top 5 board games for non olympics fans. This is a list of 5 heavier games to hit the table, long enough to last you throughout the sports frenzy!
Go Back Into Lockdown With Pandemic Legacy
If you're someone who was glad the Olympics were cancelled last year, maybe you want to pretend it was cancelled again? For you, I suggest the Pandemic Legacy games.
Pandemic is a game released in 2008, then revamped in 2013. In it, you fight four deadly diseases with 3 of your friends to save the world! Pandemic Legacy, Season 1 having been released in 2015, adds a story to this premise. Each game of Pandemic Legacy represents a month of time, and the decisions you make in each game changes the board and components permanently. New rules and components are added to the game as certain conditions are met, creating an ever-evolving campaign to play through.
There are three Pandemic Legacy games. Season 1 sees you fighting off diseases over the course of a year. Season 2 is set 71 years after Season 1, in a post-apocalyptic shell of Earth, devastated by the virus. In Season 2, you must distribute the limited resources properly in order to choke off the spread of the diseases. Lastly, in Season 0, you play as an American agent during the Cold War, working to eliminate the threat of the Soviet bioweapon named "Project Medusa".
Beat Back The Horde In Zombicide
No, not the horde of Olympics watchers. I'm talking about hordes of mindless, drooling, obsessive... NO! STILL NOT OLYMPICS WATCHERS!
Zombicide is a cooperative game where the zombies are controlled by the game itself. Packed with 25 scenarios that portray you and your team battling through the infested city, can you face down the dead? Featuring plastic dashboards and a host of miniatures to represent survivors and zombies, it's easy to lose an afternoon (or five) to this undead game.
In 2020 we saw the release of Zombicide 2nd Edition, which features streamlined rules and several new mechanics. One such feature is the Dark Zone, which is an area that hides zombies from the attacks of the survivors.
So bring your baseball bats and crossbows into the action, because you're about to face a whole lot of undead.
Become Out Of This World In Twilight Imperium
If there's one sure-fire way to avoid a worldwide event, it's by leaving this world.
Now, since I doubt you're Jeff Bezos or Elon Musk, you can't take that literally. You can, however, take to the frontiers of space as the ruler of an alien race!
In Twilight Imperium, take control of an alien race and conquer the galaxy. With 17 races, all with unique abilities, this game is well worth the price tag. The replayability, quality, and all-around depth of this game allow it to take up a full day of play. That's a full day without having to watch the Olympics! Because why watch people compete in a sport when you could compete for the natural resources of space!
Will you negotiate trade deals? Or will you take the competition by storm (a storm of bullets)?
Take Your Leave In Exit: The Game
With the pandemic stopping your fun, escape rooms have been a bit of a no-no for a while. Well, why let the Olympians have all the fun, out doing stuff? Bring the escape room to you with the Exit series of games!
Exit is a series of boxed games that provide a tabletop version of the popular attractions we all love. Each box features a new location to escape from, using different puzzles and mechanics to keep it fresh and interesting. If you crack out a couple of these games, you can easily riddle the day away as you figure out vexing brain-teasers.
Can you escape the Secret Lab? Or perhaps you'll be able to exit the Pharaoh's Tomb? Whatever set you pick, be ready for hours of mind-testing entertainment!
Don't Get Got In... Don't Get Got
As the heading suggests, this game is about not getting got. With this game, you can host your own mini-Olympics around your house! Sports might be a no-go, but a variety of fun challenges to try and do before the end of the game can really drive up competitiveness!
The aim of this game is to get players to do certain things, then yell "YOU GOT GOT" in the loudest voice possible. I've been lucky enough to play this game, and some of the challenges I got were along the lines of "Get the same person to say bless you twice in one day" and "Get a player to open a picture of this card from a folder". These make for some pretty creative thinking and, needless to say, lots of suspicion!
Do You Feel Appropriately Un-Sporty?
I hope you do because these games are the furthest from sporty you get! In fact, instead of kicking a ball around for 90 minutes, you'll be sat at a table for 12 hours!
Thus concludes our top 5 board games for non Olympics fans. I hope you enjoyed, and I hope you have fun not watching the Olympics like me!