Emily Parker

I learned the hard way that food and board games don’t mix. After hosting a wing night during a marathon of Codenames, my partner opened the box a week later and recoiled from a smell that can only be described as “mystery cheese.” A Reddit thread on r/boardgames echoed my pain: grease, sauce, and crumbs … Read more

We have all been there. You sit down for what should be a 90-minute board game, and three hours later you are staring at the same board wondering where your evening went. Someone at the table is taking forever on every turn, another player has stalled the game with no path to winning, and nobody … Read more

You spend 90 minutes around the table, and half the group keeps leaning forward to read cards or stretching across to grab dice. The fix is rarely a new game. It is how you seat and light a table so everyone can reach and read the board without strain. I have run game nights for … Read more

I have hosted board game nights at three different offices, and the biggest mistake I see people make is treating it like a regular game night. When your audience is coworkers who haven’t touched a board game since Monopoly, you need a completely different approach. The good news is that with the right setup, non-gamers … Read more

You send the invite. Three people say yes. Game night arrives and one person shows up. Sound familiar? I’ve been running board game nights for over five years, and I’ve experienced every flavor of the no-show problem. The excitement is there in the group chat. The commitment evaporates by Saturday afternoon. Most people who try … Read more

I have hosted board game nights for groups ranging from four people to twenty-six, and I can tell you one thing with certainty: everything changes once you cross the eight-player threshold. A game night for six people is just a bigger version of a regular hangout. A game night for eight or more is an … Read more

Two-player game nights used to end the same way at our house. My partner would set up the board, we would play one round of whatever strategy game we had pulled off the shelf, and I would spend the next 40 minutes watching her engine click into gear while I scrambled to keep up. It … Read more

Five is a strangely awkward number for board game design. Most popular titles aim for four or six players, and designers often struggle to make mechanics feel balanced at exactly five. Downtime increases, hidden role games lose tension, and some area control maps suddenly leave a player feeling stranded. That is exactly why this list … Read more

Nature themed board games have exploded in popularity over the last few years, and for good reason. I started collecting these games back when Wingspan first hit shelves, and our team has now tested more than 30 nature-themed titles across three years of weekly game nights. These games stand out because they turn relaxing outdoor … Read more

Looking for the best drinking games for adults that actually work at house parties, pregames, and game nights? We spent six weeks putting 10 of the most popular options through real parties with groups ranging from four friends to 30+ guests. This guide covers what we found, what we loved, and which ones fell flat … Read more