Board games for girls created by women
January 9, 2018 8:02 AM   Subscribe

A friend of mine is planning to run an afterschool program for girls at a local library and specifically would like suggestions of board games for girls that are for, about, and by women. What have people played and liked that fit that category?
posted by Karmakaze to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (14 answers total) 21 users marked this as a favorite
 
I was curious because it occurred to me I couldn't think of any board games created by women, so I went hunting on BoardGameGeek; here's a list. Of those, several are at a complexity level well suited for people who are not hardcore gamers, while not being stereotypically "girly" at all: Qwirkle, Guildhall, SET, Thurn und Taxis (cheating on the notion of female designer there; it's a couple who made it, and Andreas Seyfarth is much better known than his wife Karen). And if you do want stereotypically girly, there's also Marrying Mr. Darcy.
posted by jackbishop at 8:21 AM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]


I think Quiddler was also designed by the same lady who did SET.
posted by monologish at 8:23 AM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]


Depending on how young your group is, Sleeping Queens. It's a card game designed by a girl when she was fairly young (with some help from her family to see her vision realized). Girls 5-8 or so would enjoy playing it.
posted by Margalo Epps at 8:42 AM on January 9, 2018 [2 favorites]


I remember playing the Barbie board game, but that's probably not what you had in mind.
posted by Melismata at 8:44 AM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]


ocherdraco had a post about female board game designers that might have some good leads.
posted by LobsterMitten at 8:57 AM on January 9, 2018


A couple of female friends of mine publish (and sometimes design) board games - try Komodo or Granny Wars.
posted by Paragon at 9:08 AM on January 9, 2018


There is a fantastic game by the name of Monarch that was created mostly by women. The players play as sisters vying to succeed to the throne after the queen.

I wouldn't say it's only for hardcore gamers, but it's more advanced than SET, Quiddler, etc. You can see it played on Tabletop here.
posted by brentajones at 9:21 AM on January 9, 2018


Buffalo
posted by metasarah at 10:21 AM on January 9, 2018


Seconding Monarch. It is, in my humble opinion, feminist in various ways/levels (surface and content design, who designed it, how they went about working together to design it, and--perhaps most impressive to me and as far as I can tell still astonishingly rare--thoughtfully baked into the actual game decision-making mechanics/dynamics, what it prioritizes in terms of how one gets ahead or doesn't) which is precisely how I like my feminism. (: Not to say it's "perfect"--single attempts like this probably can't be all things for everyone--but again, as far as I can tell (and I'll be looking hopefully for more leads in this thread!), still astonishingly rare in a lot of ways in the tabletop world, and a good, refreshing start. Would love to see more games thoughtfully, thoroughly as refreshing.
posted by ifjuly at 10:54 AM on January 9, 2018 [1 favorite]


Forgot to say too, one of the other things I liked about Monarch is that it understands oft-dismissed or ridiculed feminist epistemologies WRT clothing, "gossip", and fairy tale/romance/"nature" narratives/motifs/symbology. That sort of thing can be really tricky to navigate--where you acknowledge those things are not vapid and usually have real, significant consequences and meaning for women that, because men don't deal with them as much, tend to be rendered invisible or derided...without essentializing or "quarantining" women to only those realms. I think it does a pretty impressive job.
posted by ifjuly at 11:01 AM on January 9, 2018


Seconding Sleeping Queens, which was created by a young girl and is actually quite a fun game. It's been on high rotation in our house since we got it (ages 7-11) and several of my girls' friends have gotten their own set after playing it at our house.

I had no idea Quirkle was designed by a woman, but that's a really fun game too.
posted by widdershins at 1:04 PM on January 9, 2018


Also, the artwork in the original Dixit was created by a woman and would make an excellent addition to a girls' gameplayer library.

I believe Mermaid Island was also created by a woman. It skews a little young - not sure what age group you're going for - but we played it a lot in our house because it's a cooperative game, where all the players work together to win or lose. A great game to have in your arsenal for 4-8 year olds if they start to get a little too competitive.
posted by widdershins at 1:10 PM on January 9, 2018


A while back I did some design and animation work for Barnard College about some of their incoming students, and through that I learned about Quincy MacShane's Nancy Drew board game, which she funded on Kickstarter. Maybe it could be of interest? It appears to be sold out for now, but maybe that will change?
posted by edlundart at 2:00 PM on January 9, 2018


Not necessarily for and about women but Jenga and The Landlord Game (which became Monopoly) were both invented by women. Good for background info, at least.
posted by themanwho at 4:08 PM on January 9, 2018


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