As a college student, it’s practically the norm to go out every to every other weekend. For me and my friends, we would much rather go to a sporting event, watch a movie, or play a board/Wii game. The bar scene never fit our fancy. So, we decided to just chill in our room. We have played a ton of card and board games, in addition to Just Dance sessions, in our spare time. We all brought several games with us, and we occasionally rotate through them for a variation. I also play board and card games with my family every single time we get together. I have picked up many favorites, and this list is just a few of my favorites.

1. Quelf

One of my roommates recently purchased this game and brought it back for our suite to play it. Once we started to get a hang of this new game, we all became obsessed. If we didn’t play this game at least once a day, something was wrong. This game is very spontaneous and crazy. There are acting cards that could be anything and involve other players, there are stunts cards that usually involve the player who drew it and could be anything from writing a weird story to yelling a slew of random sentences, rules cards that are either talking, global (every player must follow), or an action rule, quiz cards that involve a random question that must be answered correctly or you must pay the penalty, and there are categories cards which is exactly like Scattergories. It’s just a fun, random game that is so amusing.

2. Parcheesi

This is a two to four player game that includes animal pieces that must get around the board. There are four animals: elephants, camels, tigers, and water buffaloes. The object of the game is to get all four of your pieces around the board and into your home stretch the fastest. There are a few tricks, however. Every player needs to roll a five in order to get their piece out. If a player lands on a space that is occupied by a different animal, the player that landed there gets to move twenty spaces, and the other player’s piece is sent back to the start. Every piece you get into your home warrants an additional ten spaces to move another piece. If you roll doubles, roll again. But if you get doubles three times in a row, you have to send your farthest piece back to the start. It’s a really fun game to play with family and friends, but it can get ruthless.

3. Apples to Apples

This card game is very family oriented. It features cards about pop culture and history and science and so many more. My family has the Party Version of this game and it’s just a nice, chill game to play at family parties and get togethers. It’s a fun and clean game that won’t make your grandparents blush. Plus, everyone will know what the cards mean, so there won’t be any awkward explaining.

4. Cards Against Humanity/Evil Apples

This game is probably more appropriate to play with just friends. Cards Against Humanity doesn’t hold back with anything. This game is very similar to Apples to Apples, but just know that the 17+ age restriction is there for a reason. Evil Apples is just the app version of the card game. That way you can have the physical card game to play in one sitting, but also have it on the go to play anywhere you like and have multiple games going on at once. One cool perk about each of these games is that you can buy expansion packs and extra decks to broaden your card playing. This game makes for a really enjoyable Friday night.

5. Bullcrap

For this card game, you deal out the entire deck of cards to the players. It’s okay if everyone doesn’t get the same amount. The game starts with one person laying one to four cards down and saying “Ace.” The next person does the same thing but says “Two.” So, it could go, “Two aces,” and then “One two,” and so on. The object of the game is to get rid of all the cards in your hand. However, the trick to this game is that the other players can call you out on the cards you lay down, by saying the word “Bullcrap,” or any form of the word. If a player is caught lying, they have to pick up all of the discarded cards. Which then makes it even harder to lie about the cards you have in your hand. I recently played this game with my friends, and it got brutal. So, don’t be surprised if there’s some tension.

6. Spoons

Every player starts out with four cards, and the goal is to go through the deck and find a set of the same four number. It can be any number or character card. There must also be an object in the middle of the table when you play too. It could be a pencil, spoon, phone, anything. However, there must be one less than the number of players. So, if there are five players, you need four objects in the center. But every player must have four cards in their hands throughout the entire game. Once you have acquired four cards of the same number, you have to sneakily grab a spoon, or whatever object you have placed in front of you and continue playing like nothing happened. Once the other players realize what happened, the player who didn’t grab anything, gets an S. And the game continues until a player loses so many times, they spell out the word, “Spoons.” It’s a very fast-paced game and can get violent when people are grabbing the objects. Consider that your warning.

7. 5-Second Rule

My family and I love this game. We play it nearly every time we’re together. It’s very similar to Scattergories. Except you have five seconds to list what the card says. The cards vary anywhere from, “Three US Presidents” to “Three brands of Soap” to “Three Fast Food Chains.” Some of the cards are super easy, and then there are some that are very hard. But it’s a fun game to play, and it prepares you for the next time you play.

8. Ticket to Ride

My family got this game for Christmas this past December, and we played it so many times over the break that I lost count. The object of this game to make train routes through the United States. You get three destination cards to pick from, but you have to keep at least one, and then you need to make that route. There’s a point scale based on how many train cars you put down. The points range from one to fifteen. And if you complete the destination cards, you get the points in the corner added to your score, and if you didn’t complete it, you lose those points. This game is very strategic and can be frustrating, but it’s so much fun to play.

9. What Do You Meme?

This game is very similar to Cards Against Humanity, except instead of the answers being put into sentences, the cards describe the meme. So, there is a picture of a meme, and the players must use the cards in their hands to caption the meme. This game is also rated 17+ and you should stick to that restriction, as well. This game is really fun, and it features a wide range of memes.

10. The Game of Life

This game is a classic. It’s more fun with more players, but that’s true for most games. The object of this game to get the most money as you travel the board. It may be smart to not buy a house, or if you do, buy house insurance. It may be smart to go to college, even though you’ll get student loans. This game has some strategy to it, but overall, it’s up to the player to decide how their life unfolds.

11. Sequence

This game can be done two ways: partners or individual. If you play with partners, the two of you need to correlate your moves with one another, but without revealing your cards. It’s kind of a guessing game. The individual version is every man for themselves. There are special cards that allow you to remove the chips or add the chips anywhere you like. But the goal of this game is to make two-five-piece sequences. The first person or team to do this will win the game. This game is also very strategic, but it’s enjoyable with friends and family.

12. Clue

My sister and I love playing this game together. The deck of cards is split amongst the players, and include weapon, people, and room cards. There is a classified envelope that contains cards of the murderer, the weapon, and the room where the crime was committed. So, the point of this game is to figure out those cards first. The only way to do that is to move your game piece into different rooms and make accusations. In order to prove the accusation wrong, a player must show you one of the cards in the accusation. If no one has the cards for your accusation, you win. But you could also make an accusation to get information about one thing. So, if you have the cards for Ms. Peacock and the rope, you can go into a room, accuse both of those things, and get information about the room. This game is very sneaky and takes a decent amount of time to play. But it’s fun and mysterious.

13. Draw Something/Write Something

I don’t know if this game has a real name or not, but it is really fun. There are two versions: one where you draw a creature, or one where you write sentences and draw the sentence. With the drawing one, you start off by drawing the head of any creature or human or unknown animal. Then you fold the paper and pass it to the next person. The next person draws the body of the creature, then the legs are drawn, and then the feet/shoes. Once every drawing is done, you unfold the paper and look at the creations you and your friends/family made. The sentences game is very similar. You start off by writing a sentence, and then the next person draws that sentence. Then they fold the paper and the next person draws that sentence. It keeps going until everyone has drawn or written a sentence. Then you unfold the paper and see how close, or how far, the first sentence is from the rest of the paper. Both of these games are so much fun and have left me laughing so hard, I was crying.