I love hosting board game nights. These 6 convert game haters.

By Heather Leith

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I'm a board game connoisseur who loves to gently force my friends to play with me at gatherings. Everyone rolls their eyes at that kind of host, but here I am, dice in hand. I have a knack for picking the right game for the right person and then seeing them hop on their phone afterward to buy it. I’m a bit like a sommelier in that way, introducing people to their perfect match.

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I'll share the games that are always a hit at my gatherings. If you need to win over that friend whose eyes always glaze over when you’re trying to explain rules, try one of these for your next game night.

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1. Listography

A game no one has heard of and everyone becomes obsessed with. 

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Perfect if they like: Scattergories, pop culture, checking things off a to-do list

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Pair with: A cozy sectional, a lo-fi playlist, and a big pot of zuppa toscana

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My family has a faction of board game haters who wander off whenever we pull out a game. But I rallied the troops for Listography one night at a fam get-together (grandparents included!), and there was a unanimous “Let’s play again” after.

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Here’s how Listography works: Players will have one minute to write down a list of items based on a prompt, like “things you plug in” or “breeds of dogs.” Every round, the goal changes between writing common answers or unique ones. 

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If you’re making a list for “Types of sandwiches,” can you think of what everyone else will write and try to match it? If you’re making a list for “Common potluck dishes,” can you think of dishes no one else will?

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2. Azul

Collect colorful tiles and get points for maximizing how you arrange them in a mosaic.

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Perfect if they like: Clear bins to organize their pantry, perfecting their phone’s homepage layout, Mahjong

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Pair with: A flat surface, vinho verde, Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

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My love for Azul knows no bounds — my sister and I can easily play for hours, I have multiple variants and expansion packs, and my partner and I brought a travel version to Mexico City and played in plazas all over the city. 

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In Azul, you’re an artist in Portugal who has a job creating a mosaic on the walls of a palace (my dream job, cute). You collect tiles in five different patterns and arrange them strategically on a 5x5 grid. You get points for achievements like completing rows and columns and getting five of one color.

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People love this game because it scratches the organizational and space-planning side of their brains. It’s calming yet intellectually stimulating, it’s not too hard to learn, and you get bonus ASMR of the tiles click-clacking.

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3. Cartographers

Slightly nerdy theming but endlessly fun Tetris-y map drawing.

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Perfect if they like: Time-blocking, packing the car for road trips, playing DnD but in a chic way

Pair with: Mechanical pencils, a seasonal TJ’s dip, the LOTR soundtrack

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This game has gone platinum with me and my partner. Every night one of us goes, “Cartographers?”

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On each turn of this map-making game, a card is drawn that will show you a shape and terrain. All players choose where to put the shape on their blank grid, rotating or flipping it in any orientation.

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There are a variety of ways to earn points based on the randomized goals you select for each game. The more you align your map with those goals, the more points you score. 

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This one’s fun because everyone gets the same prompts but takes different paths with it, and there’s just something about drawing with pen and paper. Once your friends get the hang of it, they’ll be asking to play again.

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4. Telephone Pictionary

Play this when you’ve got the giggles.

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Perfect if they like: Sending memes in the group chat, doodling in the margins, Drawful on Jackbox Games

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Pair with: Candy salad, blankets and pens, your Discover Weekly playlist

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This game goes by a few names—there’s an official board game version called Telestrations—but I like to run a laid-back, DIY version when I’m hosting.

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Hand each participant as many paper slips as there are people. If there are five people playing, for instance, everyone receives a stack of five papers.

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On the first paper, have players write a common phrase, like “Fit as a fiddle” or “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.” Everyone passes their entire stack of paper clockwise. Check the phrase you received, place that slip at the bottom of the stack, and then illustrate it.

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Pass the stacks again, this time with the drawing on top. The player you pass it to moves the drawing to the bottom, and writes what they see. Keep passing until you get your own stack back.

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This is when the game really pays off. You’ll see a “telephone”-like progression of how your original phrase got twisted, and the best part is the show-and-tell that ensues.

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5. Fishbowl

An epic DIY game unique to each group and each gathering.

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Perfect if they like: Accents, pop culture subreddits, Catch Phrase

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Pair with: Cushions on the floor, pizza, margaritas

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Fishbowl has been the vehicle for some of my funniest memories at cabin getaways, birthdays, and New Year’s Eve parties. It’s a hybrid of charades, Catch Phrase, and Taboo.

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Split the group into teams and give each person 3 slips of paper. They’ll write a word or phrase on each one for their team to guess. It can be anything from “Paul Hollywood” to “phone charger” to “Four score and seven years ago.” You can set a theme for the words if it matches your party, like “scary things” for a Halloween party or “The ‘90s” for your milestone 30th birthday.

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Put all slips in a bowl. The first player has one minute to get their team to guess as many words as possible. 

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You’ll use the same words for each round:

• First round: Use words to describe what’s on your paper. (Don’t use any words on the paper or it won’t count!)
• Second round: Charades round—act it out!
• Third round: You can only use a one-word clue. 

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This game strongly bonds party guests together, injects energy into the room, and makes memories that will last far beyond the Event Page.

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6. Codenames

A clever wordplay game with some friendly team competition. 

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Perfect if they like: PowerPoint nights, punny birthday cards, Wavelength

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Pair with: Espresso martinis, Sabrina Carpenter, the biggest table in the house

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If a group of four is at game night, I’m bringing out Codenames. In this spy-themed game, you help your teammate guess which words out of the options on the table belong to your team. 

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On each turn, you give a clue that connects your words to each other. For example, you could say “cold” to connect “Antarctica,” “medicine,” and “shoulder.” One word on the board is the Assassin—if selected, your team loses the game.

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If you like wordplay and want to get addicted to a game, check this one out.

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Drop the link to game night

Get your game night on the books with a fun (and free!) game-night-themed Event Page. You can pick from curated designs (no need to overthink it) and let guests pick the date so no one has any excuses not to show. If you’re playing for cash (hey, big spender!) you can collect an entry fee on the invite, too.

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Get your most succinct instructions ready—it’s time to win over some board game haters.

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Heather Leith is a freelance writer from Portland, Oregon and lover of punny menus, Trader Joe’s flowers, and crisp white wine. She writes about event planning, weddings, bachelorettes, invitations, and gatherings of all types. She wishes she was a chill host, but she will make you write your name on your cup when you arrive at her party.

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