10 Most Underrated Board Games You Should Play

Fun for the whole family and sometimes family friends.

Deception board game
flickr

We're living in the golden age of board games, far removed from the days of having to choose between Monopoly, Blackpool Monopoly, or Hungry Hungry Hippos (but with only three hippos, the pink one is broken).

With so many options available it can be hard to decide what to spend your hard earned money on since board games aren't exactly cheap (you thinking they were cheap when you were a kid is down to you not being the one buying them, by the way).

We know the board games that have brought the industry into focus, with the friendship-killing Settlers Of Catan and unapologetically un-PC Cards Against Humanity being some of the best known, but occasionally a few titles slip through the cracks.

The current scope of board games is astonishingly diverse and it would be impossible to cover the entire spectrum of the industry, but many of the following tend to be highly regarded amongst people who frequent a table of frenemies, even though in the wider consciousness they remain something of an obscurity.

Card games count by the way. They're sold in the same area as board games, they count...

10. Labyrinth

Deception board game
Ravensburger via marktspiegel

Not to be confused with the board game based on the David Bowie movie, Labyrinth is the oldest entry and is the one that most closely resembles what is considered a traditional board game.

Labyrinth is a game of collection where 2-4 players attempt to collect relics stationed randomly in a board made up of small square tiles. Seems simple, plot a course, get the treasure, except the board is constantly changing.

At the start of each player's turn they have to use a spare tile to move a row of tiles one space vertically or horizontally along the board. This doesn't sound like a massive change, but as each tile shows a specific path – some corners, some straight, some T-junctions – any move can shift the whole layout of the maze.

As the game board is constantly moving players have to think several, sometimes hypothetical, moves ahead and judge whether their priority is to collect the treasure or stop their opponents from getting to theirs.

Very user friendly and open to the whole family, Labyrinth should be included in any board game collection.

 
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Wesley Cunningham-Burns hasn't written a bio just yet, but if they had... it would appear here.