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Weddings, what wonderful ceremonies we get to attend. If you're anything like me though, there’s always downtime that ends up with everyone not sure what they’re meant to be doing. So go on, bring some board games with you. Everyone scoffed at first, but it didn’t take long to amass a crowd of distant relatives and strangers around our table screaming along with the highs and lows! So what to bring? Well here’s my Top 5 games to bring to a wedding.
Codenames
No matter how many are on your table as you finish your desserts, this goes down an absolute treat. In Codenames you play in teams looking at a 5 x 5 grid of words. The two spymaster will take it in turns giving one word and a number, the number explaining how many of the words in the 5 x 5 link to the code word. There are some words on the grid that are blanks and one bomb word. If your team guesses that one, it’s game over! A small step up in complexity that takes a minute to explain but once the ball gets rolling it’s heaps of fun.
Monopoly Deal
Ahh yes, Monopoly. It gets looked down on quite a bit in the hobby but for those whose only experiences are around the original, this is a surefire way to move on to some crunchy numbers! Monopoly Deal distills the game into a 15 minute set collection card game. The aim is to complete three sets of the same coloured rows much like it’s predecessor, however you’ll be needing to lay down money cards just incase anyone throws out an action card demanding payment (there’s no denominations either, if you owe £3 mil but only have a £4 mil card down, there getting that extra £££) or even try and steal your sets!
Out of all games to bring to a wedding, this one is sure to go down a treat - who hasn't heard of or played Monopoly before?
Saboteur
Who's the naughtiest Dwarve then? In Saboteur you play as a group of Dwarves mining your way, creating paths via cards to get to the gold, 7 cards away. There are three cards at the end of your journey, two coal and one gold. Should be easy right? Well I hate to disappoint you aunty Helen but one of our party is a naughty Saboteur (there could be more, depending on the player count!) and all they want to do is break your equipment, use maps to look at the hidden cards and lie to you about which one is the gold.
It doesn’t take long for the mistrust to seep into this game as slowly but surely over three rounds you go from feeling confident about those around you to never trusting anyone. A small game that packs a big punch, this is a great introduction to traitor mechanics.
Cockroach Poker
Games to bring to a wedding... this one is a quicker, more distilled bluffing game that’ll have you saying “this is a rat” more times than you ever thought you would in your life. Cockroach poker has many winners and one loser; this reverse set collector will see you passing one card around the table - trying to decide if the person is lying or telling the truth. If you guess correctly, that card goes into the other player's set. The first person to lose all their cards (you begin if you guess incorrectly) to gain a set of 4 of the same animals and bugs loses. This fast paced bluffing game plays up to 6 players, just right to get to know the strangers on your table!
Secret Hitler
Are you a facist Grandad? It certainly feels that way. Secret Hitler is the hidden role game where you and your friends are either Liberals or Facists trying to pass policies to win the game. Someone in the group is also Hitler - if Hitler by a certain points gets elected the fascists win. If enough Facist policies get passed, the fascists win! The deck of policies cards is weighted towards the bad’uns so it doesn’t take long to start suspecting everyone around the table. Of course the liberals can win by either getting rid of Hitler or passing enough policies but it’s tricky to win if your on the good team!
Each round, players elect a President and a Chancellor who will work together to enact a law from a random deck - if facist policies get elected, governmental powers will come into play that will have you checking each others party cards or being able to kill of a player! It’s the biggest game in this top 5, but it can play up to 10 players, perfect to make a shouting disturbance right before the first dance!
And with that, we have the Top 5 board games to bring to a wedding!