Board games aren’t just for kids. If you’re shomer Shabbat, you hopefully already know this. If you looked around orthodox sites, you’ll really only see games mentioned for kids, so I thought it was time to refresh you on your gaming options.
But, in fairness to all opinions, you should know that some groups believe everyone over bar/bat miztvah age “should desist” from playing games on Shabbat. You should be learning Torah instead, which cannot be learned from spending social time with other people. Unless you’re using that social time to argue a minute point of Gemara. Sadly, for the person new to the frum community, this link is the second or third on Google in every Shabbat game related search I ran. Most of the others limit the discussion to games for children (or playing with children), which can justify this opinion to the new BT or conversion candidate. /rant.
- Checkers, Chess, Backgammon (I’m confused why there is a halacha book titled Can I Play Chess on Shabbas?, but the comments on Amazon make me think I would hurl this book across the room in anger.)
- Puzzles: Some opposition.
- Scrabble: Some opposition, but people seem to be more united in opposing the Deluxe version, which has a frame the tiles lock into. You’ll need to find a way to keep track of score.
- Card games: Everyone should have a pack of cards somewhere in the house.
- Apples to Apples – there’s a Jewish version!
- Risk
- Battleship: Remember to get the low-tech version without lights or sounds.
- Trivial Pursuit
- Settlers of Catan: Contrary to popular belief, you can play with “only” 2 players.
- Ticket to Ride: Similar to Settlers of Catan with similar 2 person play.
- Munchkin: Must have a sense of humor. I linked directly to the Deluxe version, but there are many expansion packs.
- Cards Against Humanity: Gaining underground popularity in the young and frum community as an alternative to Apples to Apples, its tagline is “a party game for horrible people.” It occasionally goes out of print, but the company offers a free printable version.
- Fact or Crap
- Battle of the Sexes
- Anger Management
- Reverse Charades
- CoMotion
- Spot It (A more adult-friendly version of Catch the Match)
- Bubble Talk
- Zombie Dice
- Alhambra (Note that some are opposed to the use of Monopoly money on Shabbat)
- Othello
- Jungle Speed
Michael and I also have found a game called Carcassonne which is a lot of fun and Shabbos appropriate. Next time we spend Shabbos with you, we will bring it along with Ticket to ride (and maybe we can play Settlers since I haven't played in a long time).
We play Scrabble occasionally, but more on Yom Tov. We keep score with playing cards. We used to keep score with books (put a bookmark on page 104 if you have 104 points) but that is too cumbersome physically, especially if you're trying to help a little kid keep score. With playing cards you have 4 of each of the digits, and you use the aces for zeroes.
Ooh, I love Settlers! Its so hard to find others to play with though 🙁
We play bananagrams with our non Orthodox friends all the time. Also Perpetual Commotion is a great game. Stratego.
I love 7 Wonders and Munchkin! 7 Wonders is awesome — just be sure to have someone who's good at mental addition to calculate the scores. And my college's Hillel hosted a Munchkin tournament. Once you get familiar with the game, I highly recommend the expansion packs.
You absolutely can play Clue on Shabbat! You just can't write down everyone and everything you've ruled out. It makes it more challenging and more fun, IMO. I've won multiple rounds against non-shomer friends, so I promise you it's possible.
I've played Settlers of Catan with two players
My mother and I play Skip-bo. It's my favorite Shabbath game! If you don't keep score you could also play Dutch Blitz. Very fast paced game.