The Best Board Games With Simple Rules

If you’re looking to introduce your children to board games or if you want to start getting into board games yourself, it can be a good idea to choose a fun game that has simple and easy-to-understand rules.
Here, we have selected a few games with very simple rules to gently introduce you to the wonderful world of board games. All the games mentioned here can be played with family or friends for a guaranteed cheerful and memorable time.

Color Addict

Pros:
✓ Quick games
✓ Similar to Uno
✓ Multiple variations

Cons:
✕ Rules are a little complicated at first

Characteristics:
● Category: Party game, card game
● Age: 7+
● Number of players: 2 to 6
● Average duration: 15 minutes
● Manufacturer: France Cartes

A fun card game with very simple rules. The goal of Color Addict is to be the first player to get rid of all your cards. This is done by placing the correct cards on the discard pile until your draw pile is depleted.

To start a game, deal all the cards evenly across all the players. Every player should have three cards in their hand and the rest of their cards will serve as their draw pile. The dealer starts the game by placing one of their cards in the center of the table to start the discard pile.

There are several options as to what card the next player can place. The next card always has to be related to either the color that’s written on the previous card or the color of the word itself. If this sounds confusing, don’t worry, it’s actually much easier done than said, more fun too. The Joker card breaks all the rules as it can be placed at any time.

Every turn, a player places a card on the discard pile and draws a new one to complete their hand. If a player has more than three cards in their hand, they must place a card down on the discard pile and not draw another card during that turn. If a player cannot play, they must draw a card then pass their turn.

The first player to have used all the cards in their hand and draw pile is the winner. There are several fun variations of Color Addict that you should feel free to look up. You can also come up with your own variations to add more twists to the game.

Shabadabada

Pros:
✓ Various cards that make every game different
✓ A singing game that is played as a team
✓ Very easy rules

Cons:
✕ Several versions to be purchased separately

Characteristics:
● Category: Singing game
● Age: 8+
● Number of players: 2 to 16
● Average duration: 45 minutes
● Manufacturer: La Haute Roche

Shabadabada is a singing game in which you have to think of songs containing the predetermined words and then sing the part of the song that contains the word. The game is played in teams of two and the goal is to sing as many songs as possible.

At the start of the game, you will draw 11 cards, but you can decide to take more or fewer depending on how long you want the game to last. Each card has a word in French and a word in English written on it.

After determining which team goes first, you have to turn over the cards one by one. Each team will take a turn and must sing a song where one of the words is used. After singing an excerpt from the song, it’s the next team’s turn, they too must think of a song containing one of the two words and then sing it. A song that’s been used before cannot be used a second time.
If a team fails to find a song containing one of the two words, the other team wins that round and receives the card. The game ends when all the cards have been used. The team with the most cards at the end is declared the winner.

There are many possible variations of Shabadabada. You can, for example, make the game more challenging by trying to find a song that’s made by a male or female artist, etc.

Twin-it

Pros:
✓ Colorful, mesmerizing design
✓ A game of observation and speed
✓ Multiple cards are used at the same time

Cons:
✕ The visuals could be unsettling to some

Characteristics:
● Category: Card game, speed game
● Age: 6+
● Number of players: 2 to 6
● Average duration: 5 to 10 minutes
● Manufacturer: Cocktail Games

In Twin it, you must be the fastest player you can be to collect as many pairs as possible. You can also play in teams, or play different variations, but the ultimate goal of the game remains the same: to succeed in collecting 5 pairs.

After shuffling, each player will have their own deck of cards and they will take turns turning their cards over and placing them on the table one by one. Some cards have almost identical visuals. The first player to spot 2 identical cards collects them.

Every card has two other matching cards, which means that a player who has succeeded in collecting a pair of cards can lose it if an opponent manages to spot the third matching card before they do.

The first player to have 5 pairs of cards wins the game.

6 Nimmt!

Pros:
✓ A simple and fast game
✓ Can be played with many people
✓ A good hand management game

Cons:
✕ The rules are complicated for children

Characteristics:
● Category: Hand management game
● Age: 10+
● Number of players: 2 to 10
● Average duration: 45 minutes
● Manufacturer: Gigamic

6 Nimmt! is a card game consisting of 104 cards numbered from 1 to 104. The objective of the game is to have the fewest points. Each of the cards has a certain number of bullheads varying from one card to another. These bullheads indicate the amount of points they’d give you, therefore, you should try to avoid taking them if you can.

To start a game, each player will be dealt 10 face down cards, then 4 cards will need to be placed in a vertical line on the table. The game is played over several rounds. Every player must choose a card and place it face down on the table at the same time. During the course of the game cards will be turned face up and placed in ascending order.

The cards are placed in rows, increasing in value from left to right. The cards in a row don’t need to be consecutive. If the card a player has placed is lower than the latest card of every row, that player must choose a row and gather all the cards in it.
The player who places the 6th card in a row must collect the previous 5 cards of that row and then place their card as its new starting point.

The game ends when a player reaches 66 or more points. After that, the points are calculated and the player with the fewest points is declared the winner.

Pigeon Pigeon

Pros:
✓ Very simple rules
✓ Played in teams
✓ Easy setup
✓ Numerous question cards

Cons:
✕ A team who has a prearrangement can break the game

Characteristics:
● Category: Bluffing game
● Age: 10+
● Number of players: 2 to 10
● Average duration: 30 minutes
● Manufacturer: Pigeon Pigeon

Pigeon Pigeon is played in teams of two. Every turn, each team will ask a question to the opposing team and offer 3 answers, only one of which is true. The opposing team will have to bet their chips on the answers. The chips placed on the wrong answers will be lost. The first team to run out of chips loses the game.

The game box includes 440 quirky question cards, 2 answer pads, two pens and 32 chips. To start a game, the players will have to divide themselves into two teams. Each team will have 16 chips, a notepad, and a pen. Every turn, a team will have to draw a card which contains the correct answer.

The team members will have to work together to try to mislead the opposing team by creating two wrong answers. The opposing team must place all of their chips on the answers, they can distribute them however they wish (across the three answers, two answers, or just one answer).

The chips placed on a wrong answer are lost and cannot be regained during the game. The game ends when a team loses all of their chips; the other team is the winner.

Comparison