Settlers of Catan
This is one of my favorite board games of all time and one of those games everyone has played at least once in their life.
In the Settlers of Catan each player takes the role of new settlers on an uninhabited island. The players have to create villages, cities and roads to spread their settlers over the island, they do this by harvesting minerals and other materials like wood, wool, wheat and clay. You earn points by building stuff and the player who first reaches 10 points, wins.
The reason that I like this game so much is because of the social aspect. You think of a strategy and then you have to trade with other players to obtain the right materials. Quickly you’ll see an economy arise where some materials are more valuable than others. Moreover this economy can change all the time because of droughts or a sudden rise of materials getting harvested.
We always played this game with a big focus on the social aspect, alliances got made and broken and players would boycott each other all the time. Also the game is different every time because you can make your own island.
Hide and Seek
My favorite game when I was a kid was definitely hide and seek. My parents had a large garden with lots of trees and bushes, which was great for playing this game.
We played a version of hide and seek with a ball. At the beginning of the game, one player would kick the ball and the seeker would run after to collect it while the rest would go and hide. Once the seeker had put the ball back on it’s starting point, he could begin searching. Whenever the seeker found someone he would have to run back to the ball and shout the hider’s name and his hiding spot. However if the hiders could come close enough to the ball and touch it, they would be safe from being the seeker next round. The last hider left could also kick the ball and then the entire game would start again, with the same seeker having to collect the ball. At the end of the game, when everybody was found or safe, the first hider that got found had to be the seeker.
The most fun part about this game is of course the thrill of hiding and someone searching and hunting for you. The way we played it also made sure that you were constantly on the move, which made the game more dynamic. Nothing is more exciting than being the last person to outsmart the seeker and to kick away the ball. Also, even though nobody wanted to be the seeker, this role also had its moments. The gratification of finding somebody was always big and the thrill of running back to the ball was also an exciting moment.