Importance and Benefits of Board Games

In the modern world, games are an integral part of our life. Some immerse themselves in fantasy worlds in virtual reality, while others take care of electronic pets in games installed on a smartphone or tablet. In fact, it is difficult to find a person who, in one way or another, is not fond of any game – sports, computer or role-playing.

Board games, which have long occupied a small niche in the entertainment world, are becoming more and more popular every year. The number of different board games is growing day by day, allowing players to choose between economics, strategy, detective, and many other types of games. It is easy and simple to choose a board game for a large company, several people, a married couple, restless children – in a word, there are games for every taste and budget. You just need to do a little looking around in stores and on online review sites, such as Play & Ground, to find one that best suits you

Why are board games important? 

Board games are actually quite useful entertainment. First of all, spending time at the gaming table is a great way to cheer you up. Immersion in vivid gameplay, solving logical and strategic problems, excitement in an attempt to beat rivals, the anticipation of victory, joyful excitement and empathy for friends give a lot of pleasant emotions and leave unforgettable memories that you want to repeat again and again.

However,  games are not only fun. More and more people are convinced that board games develop qualities such as teamwork, the ability to find a common language, and come to an understanding. Some of them train logic, strategic thinking, learn to make decisions quickly, and plan their actions several moves ahead. Others develop imagination, associative thinking, train memory, and enrich vocabulary. In short, board games provide very real benefits for the development of mental abilities.

For those who consider this to be an insufficient advantage of board games, there is another argument in their favor: board games bring people together. In  order to play an interesting board game, players will have to gather at the same table, put aside their mobile phones, and focus on the game and those present. In this age of haste, this makes board games just a magical way to bring people together and make friends. 

Sometimes, family gatherings seem to us to be something unrecognizable, from the realm of fantasy. The reason for this is the insufficient amount of free time, inconsistency in schedules between all family members, the burden of studies, household chores, or work. Time must be found at all costs. Indeed, without timely communication and interaction, family relationships can deteriorate significantly. Therefore, we recommend that you take advantage of the time after family dinner, as it is ideal to get close to family over an exciting game of the board game.

The benefits of board games for all family members

Our brain is a muscle, and the more we train it, the more we can do with it. The most useful is considered to be playing board games for the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex (they are responsible for the processes of thinking and memory).

Psychologists and educators claim that board games contribute to the development of:

• logical, critical, spatial thinking and memory;
• positive character traits;
• creative skills;
• ability to take risks;
• ability to concentrate attention;
• patience, ingenuity, erudition, ability to communicate, establish psychological contact with other players.

Recent studies have shown excellent results among younger players. During the experiment, it was recorded that the brain speed of elementary school students who played board games twice a week, on average, increased by 27-32%.

Board games have an equally beneficial effect on the thought processes of mature participants: grandparents. Namely, they help maintain a high level of memory volume, the concentration of attention, the functioning of the speech apparatus, and figurative-spatial thinking.

The main advantage of board games is considered to be a decrease in the likelihood of cognitive impairments, such as the development of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease (during the research it was found that people who are addicted to board games have a 47% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease). When the mind is busy, neural connections become stronger, and the stronger the brain, the more resistant it is to various types of stimuli.

That is why board games are so widely known not only among amateur players. They are actively used in work by psychologists, teachers, and educators from all over the world, as the main tools for making the most of the mind, and awakening the imagination.

Sometimes playing with your family is the only way to relax. Some choose digital gadgets for this purpose, others – dubious methods. But we know how to rest so as to maintain our health and mood. 

A selection of games that are great for the whole family

Play & Ground talks about many other board games, from brand new board games to the old classics that your parents or grandparents may have played. However, the following is a list of some board games that are sure to improve the cognitive ability of players of all ages. 

1. Colonizers is considered the best economic strategy for trade and resources. Instead of the usual banknotes, as in Monopoly, it uses resources that must be exchanged throughout the game. The exchange rate is dynamic and depends both on constant conditions and on changes in supply and demand for a certain type of resource. Each subsequent move is determined for the player by rolling a die. In the course of the game, participants need to decide on a strategy for the development and seizure of lands, defend themselves from the raids of robbers, and extract resources. As a result, the most developed colony becomes the winner.

2. Alias is a youth game for explaining words, which smoothly moved into a family format, where it became fun and useful for children. The rules are very simple, the player draws a card with a list of words that he must quickly explain to his teammate, without using pantomime and cognate words. The number of team moves across the playing field depends on the number of words that were explained.

3. Scrabble is a legendary intellectual word game that expands your vocabulary. The main task is to collect as many words as possible on the playing field.

4. Carcassonne is a relaxed yet addictive strategic-economic family game with many additions and variations. Players gradually have to lay out a whole world, which consists of square cardboard cards with different types of terrain (tiles). The main task of the game is to capture territories as efficiently as possible in order to get more points for this.

5. Train Ticket is a retro-style logistics game from the early twentieth century. To get game points, participants will need to further improve their knowledge of geography. Thanks to which, during the gameplay, they will be engaged in building railway routes between neighboring and distant cities.