Get BOARD GAMES for Kids from KSA Online Platforms

This summer, given more home time, isn’t it a great time to introduce a “game night” family tradition? An excellent package with benefits for kids – Challenge, planning, strategic thinking and all the calculations involved – when it’s presented as a form of games, they absolutely love it! 

The ones selected here are THE classic ones that will stay a long time in your family for years to come as your children grow and can strengthen family bonds. Games listed here are all in ENGLISH and generally suitable for ages 7 and up. However, take the age recommendations as reference only – our 5.5 year old enjoys some of them already (and actually beats us!) Or, look at Junior versions for kids with ages 5 and up or possibly younger.

The numbers of players, playtime and minimum age mentioned on this list are referenced from BoardGameGeek.com.

Platforms and Shipping Cost

I am going to list below 4 platforms available in KSA. Find out more about the products on the links to their pages. Links are inactive when it’s not available on that platform.

Shipping Cost (In case of shipping to Jeddah):

Be mindful of Amazon’s 2 different shipping methods. Some are handled by third-party vendors and others handled by Amazon. If handled by Amazon, you will notice a communication written “fulfilled by Amazon“. In this case they take care of the shipping and packing, as well as the returns on behalf of the vendors.It is more reliable choice especially if the vendor is not well known.

In this post, items with Amazon fulfillment are preferred for the links whenever it’s available. If not, I try to choose the items with clear descriptions (title should include the brand’s name) and clear images. When you are purchasing from a third-party seller directly, make sure to do some of your own research on them. Same thing goes for Noon.com.

MONOPOLY

Roll the dice and aim to own the properties to collect rent from other players. Build houses or hotels for higher rent, or strike negotiations with other players to optimize your asset. You lose if bankrupt. Who survives until the end with most money?

Also check MONOPOLY DEAL (card version) and MONOPOLY JUNIOR ( Age 5). Or upgraded editions for extra fun- Ultimate Banking, Empire theme, Dubai theme, Millennial theme and more.

SCRABBLE

A wonderful classic word game. Use your letters to build crosswords and use bonus spaces to add to your score. Make the highest-scoring words you possibly can with the tiles you are dealt by linking them on the game board with other words already in place.

Also check SCRABBLE JUNIOR (age 5 +) which comes with a two-sided board – words already listed on one side and regular on the other side. And SCRABBLE DELUXE for quality such as raised grid to eliminate the stress of sliding litters and rotating game board. Many other editions – electronic, retro, leather, extra tiles, nostalgia, with storage, fold-up and mobile, are not very available in the KSA online platforms.

GAME OF LIFE

This game attempts to mirror life events many people go through from going to college, raising a family, buying a home, working and retiring. The one with most assets at the end of the game wins, assets are earned primarily by working. Simply roll the dice, advance the steps and life unfolds depending on where you land on.

Also check GAME OF LIFE JUNIOR (Age 5 +). Upgraded versions exist but not available in the KSA online platforms e.g. Electronic banking, Extreme reality, Fame theme, Rock star theme.

CODENAMES

Word game played by 2 groups – teams of spies from opposing organisations. One member of each team will be the spymaster and the rest are field operatives. Only spymasters will know the codenames of all field agents (8-9 of them) and where they are. Spymasters will give the team clues to help them identify all other agents in the field. You can discuss what he/she meant openly. Complete your mission before the other side can while avoiding the deadly assassin.

Other versions Codenames Pictures pictures are printed on the cards instead of words. Codenames Duet you work all together rather than competing.

CATAN

Catan (aka The settlement of Catan) is a resource gathering game, themed in the era of discoveries in an uncharted island named “Catan”. Roll the dice and start collecting resources (cards) – wood, grain, brick, sheep, or stone to build up civilizations. The first one to gain 10 Victory points is the winner. There are three ways to get Victory points: 1. build settlements and cities. 2. build longest road or largest army out of all the players. 3. Development Cards. Be the dominant force on the island!

There is “Expansions” – makes it playable with 5-6 players and there is 9 other “Editions” – with new game pieces and NEW SCENARIOS ex Studio Scenario  – not many available in the KSA online platforms.

SEQUENCE

Play a card from your hand, and place a chip on a corresponding space on the game board – when you have five chips in a row (either up-down, sideways or diagonal), it’s a Sequence. You pick another card from the deck on your each turn. The one who gets Sequence first wins. Simple rule as such with some wild cards. with special abilities.

Also check SEQUENCE FOR KIDS (Age 3 +) and SEQUENCE DELUXE and larger version SEQUENCE JUMBO

CLUE (CLUEDO)

The classic detective game! Move from room to room in a mansion to solve the mystery of: who did it, with what, and where? It is secretly placed in the confidential file in the middle of the board. Try to uncover what cards are in other players hands by making accusations. Once you know what cards the other players are holding, you will know what cards are in the secret file. Train your detective skills!

Star Wars edition, Legend of Zelda edition are available in KSA.  Clue Junior (age 5 +) (link on Amazon US for reference) lets them discover who took the piece of cake!

SORRY

Get all of your 4 pawns from the start into the Home space by travelling around the board. The first player to get all of their pawns Home wins. Draw a card from the deck and move your pawns following different instructions on each. Some instances will allow you to bump the opponents back home – say ops SORRY!

TICKET TO RIDE

A cross country train adventure! Play matching cards to claim railway routes connecting cities throughout North America. The longer the routes, the more points they earn. Additional points by fulfilling your Destination Tickets when you connect two distant cities, or by building the longest continuous railway. The one with the highest score wins. Who can travel the most in the same given time?

Exciting editions includes France & Old West, Japan & Italy, UK & Pennsylvania, Nederland, Africa! Europe version is available on Amazon.

BLOKUS

Pick a color from green, blue, red and yellow. Each player gets 21 pieces in their color, and take turns to place their piece and occupy as much territory as possible on the board. The only rule? Place each piece with corners touching another piece of the same color. Super simple yet strategic, Blokus (“Block us”) will challenge your spatial reasoning abilities.

PICTIONARY

A member from each group draws a sketch according to the card drawn, and the first team which got the correct answer advances on the board. First team to reach to finish square and guess the final sketch correctly wins.

Others

We didn’t include CHESS since it has many makers and it’s hard to pick one product to recommend. Choosing the right chess set itself is a topic and is given many dedicated pages on the internet. Nevertheless, we had thought “No Stress Chess” (links to Amazon US) would be worth mentioning for kids who have never played chess before. It has several easy and helpful features for the newcomers. However, unfortunately, we found out that it is not available on any of the platforms mentioned on this post at the moment so you may have to find it elsewhere.

Also not included on the list but in case you still don’t have Othello / Reversi (links to Amazon US via Amazon.sa) or UNO, be sure add it to your shelf soon!

Summary

Really, I am personally convinced that getting all of these adds childhood memories for my kids. However, if you are not sure which ones to buy, you should consider which “category” you would like (word game? detective game? strategic game?) and how long the “playtime” is. The ones with long play times are Monopoly, Catan, Ticket to Ride, Game of Life. All these 4 except for Game of Life exercise your strategic thinking. Ones with short play times are Sequence, Blokus, Sorry.  Clue or Codenames for detective games and Scrabble for word game. Or Pictionary for great laughs.

In regards to platforms choice, Mumzworld do not offer free shipping to KSA which might be a deal breaker for some. On Amazon.sa and Noon.com you can find very competitive price, however you need to make sure that the vendor is trusted. I actually prefer Jarir the most since it comes directly from them, and also has physical stores for easier product confirmation, however their selection is limited. All in all, the choices are out there for you!