When life slows down, it is sometimes hard to know what to do. It’s unusual for there to be nothing on the agenda.
Fortunately, there are plenty of wildly entertaining games around to see you through the dullest of weekend afternoons. These engage your brain and encourage you to embrace challenges.
But what should you be playing during your downtime? Here we have some suggestions.
Cards Against Humanity
One option if there are other people around is to play a game of cards against humanity. This appalling card game has you constructing rude phrases from the cards in your hand according to some general themes or rules. The winner is the individual who manages to construct the most hilarious combinations.
It’s worth pointing out that Cards Against Humanity isn’t kid-friendly. Some of the phase constructions you can develop are truly appalling. But if it’s just adults in the room, it can be an excellent way to spend the time. There’s often so much laughter, that you don’t notice the hours and minutes passing.
Codenames Duet
If you’re the sort of person who loves word games, you might also try Codenames Duet for artists. The idea here is for two players to work together to identify secret agents hidden in a word grid before the timer runs out.
The game is fun because of the time element. You never know if you’re going to solve the puzzle or detect the agents before the clock stops.
What’s more, you often have less time than you might imagine. It’s always a frantic struggle against the clock.
Magic: The Gathering
Another option if you like Dungeons and Dragons is to experiment with Magic: The Gathering. This strategy game forces you to use all the cards at your disposal and to think strategically, helping you take on your opponents.
The wonderful thing about Magic: The Gathering is the sheer combination of games you can have. No two are ever the same, which is why so many people get hooked on it. In many ways, it is better than video games because there is so much intrigue and deception involved. Like Poker, you have to convince players you have cards that you don’t, and vice versa. It’s an incredible showdown and it requires you to be on your toes. You also have to collect cards that other players can’t fight against, giving you a strategic edge in any match. Rare cards and card combinations can sometimes sell for thousands of dollars.
Tetris
If you like puzzle games, you might want to try using Tetris to entertain you on a long and boring afternoon. The Russian classic is highly addictive and uses parts of the brain that most games don’t.
The aim of Tetris is to line up random block shapes into rows that then disappear from the view window when complete. Every round, the speed of the falling blocks increases, making it more challenging to complete the next row.
Eventually, the game’s speed tops out and it becomes slightly weird to play. Blocks start changing color and even the background on the original title is nothing like it was before. If you progress far enough, you eventually get past semi-invisible levels and into realms seldom explored by human players.
Of course, the prospect of achieving a world first is often enough to keep you going for hours. You never quite know what’s going to happen next when playing this title. It’s enough to hook anyone.
Spider Solitaire
Spider Solitaire is another popular option to get you through boring afternoons. The game is similar to regular solitaire, except all the action happens inside the tableau, not the tableau and the suit piles.
What’s nice about this game is that it’s a little easier than standard solitaire. Being more casual, you can pick it up any time and give it a go.
It’s also suitable for kids, so if they want to play, they can. If you’re playing it on the computer, you simply click the face-up cards and the software will place them on the relevant piles for you, helping you create suits of cards in descending order. If there are no options left, you can click the deck to add more cards to the mix and help you continue creating flushes.
Telestrations
Teletratrions is a game that builds on the popularity of Pictionary. The basic idea is pretty simple: players phone each other and whisper what they see through the telephone. The other players then have to guess what it is, even if the language is nonsense.
Telestrations are an excellent after-dinner option for people who love to play games. However, it can sometimes get quite intense so you’ll want to be careful who you have around. Don’t get too competitive! It’s just a bit of fun.
Candy Crush Soda
Candy Crush Soda is like Tetris for the post-smartphone era. The game has all the elements of the classic Candy Crush that former British Prime Minister David Cameron used to love playing on the job.
The idea is to find strings of candy and then crush them, as the name suggests. Every time you complete a crush, the computer adds additional candies to the mix, keeping you entertained for hours on end.
Candy Crush Soda is an excellent game to play when you’re tired but in a dull situation. That’s why so many people play it on their commute home from work.
It’s also the sort of game you can play on flights and vacations without offending anyone. There’s no violence or bad language, so knock yourself out!
Mario Kart Tour
Mario Kart Tour has basic graphics, but that makes it excellent for gaming on the move. You can play it on your smartphone or laptop computer without any framerate issues.
Mario Kart Tour is precisely what you’d expect: a Mario racing game with plenty of levels and power-ups. You can play as Princess Peach, Mario, Luigi, Donkey Kong, and the rest of the gang. The controls aren’t too difficult but the power-ups are a lot of fun and give the game more of a sandbox feel.
Homescapes
If you’re more of a homebody, you might want to try Homescapes. It’s sort of a combination between Candy Crush and The Sims.
How does that work? The basic idea of the game is to upgrade the family’s mansion with new furniture and decorations. But to do this, you must win various rounds of a Candy Crush-like game. Games start with the family moving into the house and disliking the décor. The player’s job is to win various rounds and then choose suitable upgrades to improve the place. You start with a simple home but by the end of it, it’s a luxurious mansion.
Pokémon Go
Another wildly entertaining game to stave off boredom is Pokémon Go. What’s nice about this one is that you can move around and find creatures wherever you go. You don’t have to stay in the same spot (like you do for most games).
Incredibly, even many years after its launch, Pokémon Go remains as popular as ever. People love traversing the streets and local parks looking for creatures to capture in the environment.
It’s also such a cool idea. In the cartoon, the lead characters go around looking to capture Pokémon inside spheres. The same thing happens on the phone in cyberspace. It makes you feel like you’re doing the real thing, and that there are actually such creatures lurking in the real world.
