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Battle of the board games
To help your board game decisions, we have studied the most popular board games in the UK, and revealed which game is best depending on the group or person you are playing with…
13 November 2024
Choosing which board game to play at Christmas, on family breaks, or a games night with friends is tough. Depending on who you are with, you might need to tailor your selection to age, emotions, skill, and length of play!
Battle of the board games: which ones are best for you and your holiday group?
According to our poll, board games will divide the nation, with almost a half (49%) of us admitting that board games lead to tensions and disagreements, whether that be some, most of, or every time.
Just 14% say that this has never happened! So we decided to deep dive a little further into the UK’s most popular games in a study, to reveal which one is actually best for you and your group, and replace these board game battles with fun and laughter.
Which board games are most popular in the UK right now?
From 2,000 respondents, our new poll has revealed the most popular board games for this holiday season, Christmas, and going into 2025.
Top 10 most popular board games: (and how many people enjoy playing them)
- Monopoly - 55%
- Scrabble - 44%
- Trivial Pursuit - 31%
- Snakes and Ladders - 27%
- Ludo - 26%
- Connect 4 - 26%
- Chess - 24%
- Cluedo - 24%
- Guess Who - 21%
- Jenga - 20%
Monopoly reigns as the champion of board games with over half (55%) of us enjoying it the most. Interestingly, despite well over 100 board game options on shop shelves, most adults in the UK are still opting for the classic style board games.
The top three - Monopoly, Scrabble, and Trivial Pursuit - all have some of the longest play times too, of 300 minutes, 120 minutes, and 90 minutes respectively; meaning we are a nation that just loves to settle down to a board game!
Best board games for families and mixed age groups
When filtering all the games in our study to include those with the shorter play time (to keep attention spans!), child-suitable games, those with maximum players (so everyone can get involved) and those with no skill needed, we can reveal the best games for mixed age groups and families! The top five are:
- Jenga
- Herd Mentality
- Kerplunk
- Pie Face
- Snakes and Ladders
Best board games for adults and parties
Board games can easily be turned into drinking games for adults, or just enjoyed as a focal point of a group get-togethers. But which ones are best?! We have ranked nearly 30 games to include those that include the most number of players, non-child suitable included, are most popular with 18-34 year olds, and are engaging or comedy by nature - we’ve removed all serious and highly competitive games out. The results are:
- Jenga
- Cards Against Humanity
- Snakes and Ladders
- Pictionary
- Herd Mentality
Best board games for competitive players
Trying to find the best games for competitive players can be tricky. For those wanting to knuckle down, head on and play a serious game, we have the answers! We have ranked nearly 30 board games by their level of skill or focus needed, games that have a competitive or serious element, and those with the longer play times to delight those with a competitive flair. The highest scoring games for competition seekers are:
- Scrabble
- Monopoly
- Risk
- Chess
- Trivial Pursuit
Best board games for minimal effort
Sometimes you just need a game that requires little set-up, does not involve much focus or skill, and is just an enjoyable hour at most. When filtering all the games in our study to include the shortest play time and those with no skill needed, we can reveal the best games for minimal effort! These are:
- Pie Face
- Kerplunk
- Connect 4
- Jenga
- Operation
Melody Munday, Head of Entertainment at Away Resorts, comments:
“This study has been really interesting to reveal which board games are true staples in UK homes, and which new market entries are least controversial or entertaining us for hours. Comedy and entertaining games such as Pie Face, Cards Against Humanity, and Herd Mentality are growing in popularity with younger adults. The funny party game What Do You Meme is twice as popular with the 18-34 year olds group than the all-age adult average. But despite classic games like Trivial Pursuit, Draughts and Cluedo being slightly less popular amongst young adults, Monopoly remains champion as the resoundingly most popular game for ALL age groups.
“We know that Christmastime, holidays, and group get-togethers are some of the most common times of year to get the board games out. Our customers love the traditions and nostalgia that comes with gathering around a table, ready to laugh or be competitive with each other and creating new memories. This extends beyond families, even couples on romantic getaways, or adult groups enjoy our add-on games package,” concludes Melody.
Planning a UK holiday with us soon?
We have your board game needs covered as we provide board game packages as part of our ‘extras’ for your trip - check out our options here.
Methodology
This study was conducted in November 2024. We first surveyed 2,000 adults (via OnePoll in November 2024), to determine emotions and arguments during board game play, as well as the most popular board games from a list of 28 common UK board games..
We then ranked and scored each of the 28 board games based on; maximum number of players, suitability for all ages, average time of play, level of skill needed, emotion generated from the game, and popularity score from the survey.
We combined individual rankings across each of these categories to give each board game an overall score to reveal the best board game filtered by category.