Board game for muli-lingual family
February 16, 2016 11:56 AM   Subscribe

Can you recommend an easy to learn/play board game for my family? We speak a lot of languages in my family and lack a common language that everyone masters so communication can be a challenge sometimes.

The game should be fairly easy to explain, learn and play. It shouldn't take more than 30-60 minutes to finish. No. of players may range between 3-7.
posted by Foci for Analysis to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (27 answers total) 9 users marked this as a favorite
 
Best answer: Chinese checkers. Get a beautiful set.
posted by stellathon at 12:03 PM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Qwirkle is perfect for this; pattern matching for points, no language required. Works for 2-4 players, so wouldn't be super for the entire group at once.
posted by charmedimsure at 12:18 PM on February 16, 2016 [2 favorites]


The card game SET is great. No language needed.
posted by amoeba at 12:23 PM on February 16, 2016 [12 favorites]


We kickstarted Latice and love it. There's a print and play version that you can try out. 2-4 players, no language necessary.
posted by dpx.mfx at 12:29 PM on February 16, 2016


Carcassonne! It's a tile-laying game with easily learned rules and no text whatsoever. And it's fun.
posted by smartyboots at 12:33 PM on February 16, 2016 [3 favorites]


Best answer: 7 Wonders, which is not only language-independent but will scale to 7.
posted by mkultra at 12:41 PM on February 16, 2016


Sorry!.
posted by Melismata at 12:45 PM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Dixit lacks text entirely and is based on images, and is fun for families.
posted by Cannon Fodder at 12:46 PM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: I love playing Connect4, Set and UNO. (I have played all with ESL students to great success, though not always victory.)
posted by eve harrington at 12:48 PM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Dixit lacks text entirely and is based on images, and is fun for families.

Well, Dixit is entirely based on telling (short) stories about the images on the cards, so it might not be an intuitive fit for a multi-lingual setting; if the "clue" for your card is "jellybean passion," that might not scan with somebody that doesn't know what a jellybean is.

That being said, I also came in here to recommend Dixit because of that element; I (anglophone) used to work in a mostly-francophone office where people had a keen interest in improving their English, and we would play Dixit and Werewolf during our lunch hours to help the francophones find different ways of expressing ourselves in English outside of "office language".

So if the goal of sharing language is one you think your family might be into, Dixit could be a super cool choice. Young'uns can partner with adults if the gameplay is a little too much for them at their age.

I'd put it down as a "definitely borrow" if you can find somebody who can lend the game to you.
posted by Shepherd at 12:54 PM on February 16, 2016 [4 favorites]


I bought Rumble in the House / Chicane dans la cabane specifically because it has no reading component and the French version I bought has bilingual instructions. I have a few francophone friends who don't like playing games with lots of reading, not just because of language, just preference.
posted by Gor-ella at 1:03 PM on February 16, 2016


Blokus is another tile based game for 4 players. I find it very pretty!
posted by Gor-ella at 1:05 PM on February 16, 2016 [2 favorites]


Catan doesn't need reading, and there appears to be rules available in a wide variety of languages.

It might help to know age groups and preferred types of games, for better recommendations.
posted by stormyteal at 1:15 PM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: My wife's family will basically never stop playing Ticket to Ride. No text on the cards other than placenames, and it feeds 2-5 quite nicely within the time constraints you mentioned.
posted by Phineas Rhyne at 1:15 PM on February 16, 2016 [4 favorites]


Another thought - customizing a set of Apple to Apple cards might make for an interesting project and game... grab a version in one language, add on the others with a marker?
posted by stormyteal at 1:21 PM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Hanabi is an excellent cooperative game, in which you are only supposed to tell your fellow players about the color or numbers of their cards. It would require that everyone know the numbers one through five, as well as the colors red, white, yellow, green, and blue, in a common language.
posted by nat at 1:22 PM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: There are a couple of cooperative games that I'd like to recommend - they take very little language to actually play, and replay value is super high - but you'd have to decide for yourself if explaining the rules would be do-able. It's not super-complicated - but not 30 seconds, either. Instructions are accessible from these linked pages: Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert.

Oh, and one more. Wonky is sort of a cross between Uno and a tower-building game like Jenga. I'd recommend it for those with reasonably steady hands, and a not-TOO-wobbly table. It's fairly simply to explain. If you have someone who has a REALLY steady hand, they might well have an unfair advantage on the rest of you, though.
posted by stormyteal at 1:35 PM on February 16, 2016


Qwirkle is perfect for this; pattern matching for points, no language required.

Agree. People of many skill levels can all play together too. I love Dixit but there is some storytelling involved but I think it would be good for low-stakes language practicing.
posted by jessamyn at 1:42 PM on February 16, 2016


Tsuro might work very well for you. There is no in-game text, it's about building paths with tiles. 2-8 players. Each game takes about 15 minutes and playing twice in a row is about right.

The main issue I have with it is that the goal is to force players off the edge, and then you are out of the rest of the game. Sometimes that means someone only gets to play a few turns. If your players have variable attention spans, however, this can work to your advantage.
posted by Mizu at 1:43 PM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Best answer: Sushi Go! has been my latest favorite game. Everyone I've introduced it to has loved it.
posted by monologish at 1:58 PM on February 16, 2016 [1 favorite]


Between Two Cities
posted by mkultra at 2:11 PM on February 16, 2016


PIT. Quick rounds, little vocabulary, works best with at least 5-9 players.
posted by Liesl at 3:01 PM on February 16, 2016


I recommend two card games Mille Bornes and Guacamole!.
posted by amapolaroja at 6:53 PM on February 16, 2016


Seconding Qwirkle. Also maybe Spot It and Labyrinth
posted by clorox at 7:33 PM on February 16, 2016


Best answer: How do you feel about dexterity-type games like Jenga or crokinole? Most games in that genre don't require talking — and they also tend to be fun to watch in a way that strategy games often aren't, which can make them more family-friendly. (The downside is that they're hard for small children who don't have a ton of hand-eye coordination yet.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 6:40 AM on February 17, 2016


Response by poster: We never played board games in my family so even super classic ones are interesting.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far - will probably pick up one or two of these during the weekend!
posted by Foci for Analysis at 10:22 AM on February 17, 2016


Response by poster: I just bought Dixit and Sushi Go! Gotto learn the rules so I can explain them poorly to the family xD

THANK YOU.
posted by Foci for Analysis at 11:45 AM on March 31, 2016


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