Due to the horrible situation of COVID, people are not able to enjoy life like they used to; going out to movies, meeting with friends, hitting up the mall, or just getting out of the house.
Being forced to stay home so much creates a lot of stress and even more boredom. A majority of people have turned to online gaming. Making it extremely difficult to buy a console recently. (Also due to the silicon shortage.) Another market that has made a tremendous explosion onto the scene is board games.
Recently, even McDonald’s decided to ride the wave and included mini board games in the children’s Happy Meal. The selection of board games were classic American ones that you don’t see too often in Japan.
Here is a quick run down of some of the more popular board games from America. Some are quite popular in Japan as well.
The Game of Life
Internationally famous game that is mainly luck based. As you move through the board you progress through the different stages of human life. It is a fun game but your luck can quickly turn.
Battle Ship
Another luck based game. Each player has a secret board where they can place their ships. Then you take turns trying to find the other players ship by calling out a column number and a row letter. Very little strategy is involved.
Operation
This is one of my favorite games. There is no luck involved. It is a completely skill based game. You must use the tweezers to pull out the small pieces from the board without touching the edge. If you do, the alarm goes off and it is the next person’s turn.
Jenga
Another skill based game. You pull small wooden blocks from the lower area of the tower and place them back on the top of the tower. It is a great party game and becomes very noisy while playing from all of the excitement.
Guess Who?
Classic game of find the mystery person by asking yes or no questions. The first player to guess the other player’s mystery person win.
