Alisha Jean Life: my favorite board games

a snowy three day weekend calls for lots of time with family playing games.

i love getting together with friends to play games. this weekend was no different. i house sat for my parents and had my little sister and her husband over for a giant house party.
it was such a blast.

while i know that there are so many other games that could be on this list (and please feel free to comment your favorites) here is a simple rundown of our top 4 board games.

the farming game

i absolutely looooove this game. i remember playing it as a kid a couple of times but it wasn't until i spent some serious time with friends that i really rediscovered the fun.

the point of the game is to make as much money as possible by harvesting different commodities: grain, fruit, hay, and cattle.

it's a little bit like monopoly in that you can buy "property" and such, but no one ever has to pay you.

it's basically about where you want to invest your money. the game ends when
a.) you get bored b.) the time limit you set is up or c.) the first one to $100,000.

age: 10+
difficulty: 5/10
time: 45 minutes+ (we played for six or seven hours once)

buy here

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pandemic

another of my favorites is a fairly newer game that is more cooperative in nature (which is good for me since board games have the tendency to cause conflict)

i was introduced to pandemic on my mission and have been loving it ever since. finally i gave in this weekend and just bought it for my self.

pandemic is all about beating the game together. the point is to work as a team to not only cure the diseases, but eradicate them before they outbreak. each turn, new cities are getting infected while you rush to save the world.

we love this game for the team work aspect and the unknown. the game can be played at different levels depending on how many "epidemic" cards are in circulation. it can be intense but rewarding when you cure and eradicate all the diseases in the world.

age: 15+
difficulty: 8/10
time: typically 90 minutes, but can change depending on the cards drawn

buy here

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ticket to ride
(or more lovingly called, "the train game")

this weekend i was introduced to this fun board game (my sister had been begging me to play it for a looong time). i learned to play and actually won the first game (#beginnersluckforsure)

it was super easy to learn and play, without having to screw each other over. like i mentioned before, i hate those kind of games.

instead, this game is all about reaching your destinations by playing cards to lay trains all around the map.

we played the european version, which is apparently different from the american version because it has stations and tunnels. either way you play it though, it was a blast and easy to pick up on.

age: 8+

difficulty: 4/10

time: 45 minutes

buy here

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settlers of catan

and last but not least, settlers of catan. this intensely competitive and fun game is all about getting the most amount of points by building roads, settlements, cities, and armies.

at the beginning of the game, you have to place your homes as to give you the highest advantage over everyone else. each roll you can collect supplies that will make you king or peasant in the hunt to settle the island the fastest.

we love this game because it's skill + luck. you need to think ahead a few moves, just in case someone blocks you in or you don't get any of one resource. personally, i like the challenge of outsmarting everyone else and playing defensively.