Nothing quite says Christmas more than a trip to the pantomime followed by sitting around the table with the family to play a board game.

It’s one of the few times of the year when the whole family can get together and unleash their competitive spirit. There are plenty of great board games to choose from, including traditional classics we all know and love to exciting new releases. Let’s look at seven of the UK’s best-loved board games.

1.   Monopoly

One of the most popular board games of all time, Monopoly is perfect for competitive families while also delivering a crash course in capitalism and economics. The rules are simple, build your monopoly by buying up as much land as possible and then building houses and hotels on it to earn as much profit as possible when other plays to land on your property. Unfortunately, as in real life, there are taxes and rent to pay, and you can even find yourself in jail if you’re not careful.

2.   Mouse Trap

Since its launch in 1963, the Mouse Trap board game has long been a family favourite thanks to its zany action and fast-paced three-dimensional gameplay. As one of the colourful mouse characters, you must navigate around the board collecting cheese and taking cheese from other players. But as you make your way around, you must be careful of the trap! Designed for two or more players, this game is all about construction, decision-making and cause and effect. If you enjoy the excitement of the Mouse Trap board game, keep an eye out for when Agatha Christie’s murder mystery The Mousetrap comes to The Blackpool Grand Theatre.

3.   Scrabble

Scrabble is one of the most popular board games among older children, teens and adults. Test your word skills and fire up your competitive instinct as you each try to come up with the highest-scoring words. Players need seven tiles each to get started, and when it’s their turn, place the letters down or across the board to create words to score points. The game ends when all the tiles are gone.

4.   Articulate!

Articulate is a different kind of word game that requires you to think on your feet and talk fast. Each player has just 30 seconds to describe the words on their card to their teammates. The more words their team can correctly guess, the more points they get, and the faster they travel around the board. It’s loud, interactive, intense and a lot of fun.

5.   Around The World In 80 Days

In 1872, the fictional character in Jules Verne’s novel Phileas Fogg betted £20,000 that he could travel around the world in just 80 days. As he heads off on his travels, he’s pursued by a detective believing him of having robbed the Bank of England. The Around the World in 80 Days board game retraces Fogg’s adventures, with the first person to return to London winning the game. You must alternate between ambition and caution and time your return to the city just right if you want to succeed. If the story of Phileas Fogg has whetted your appetite for more, why not book your tickets to see Juliet Forester’s adaptation of Around The World in 80 Days, coming to the Blackpool Grand Theatre from 28 February to 4 March 2023?

6.   Trivial Pursuit

Since it was first launched in the 1980s, Trivial Pursuit has been a stalwart of Christmas board gaming. Its format is fairly simple, travel around the board, answering general knowledge questions as you go. Whenever you answer a question correctly, you can collect a wedge. When you amassed six wedges, you can make your way to the centre of the board to answer a question your opponents choose. The game features over 2,000 trivia questions on sports and leisure, science and nature, art and literature, history, geography and entertainment.

7.   Titanic

Playing as either Rose, Jack, Ruth, Cal or the Captain, you discover that the Titanic is sinking fast, and you need to get as many passengers as possible to safety before the ship sinks to the bottom of the sea. You’ll have to make life-and-death decisions, choosing whether to save passengers or upgrade your abilities to save more people on your next go. It all takes place over nine rounds as you pass from room to room, saving passengers and retrieving items. One of the tiles is flooded at the end of each player’s go, so it really is a race against time. If you love musicals, Titanic the Musical retraces the final hours of 14 April 1912 when the RMS Titanic collided with an iceberg and sunk during her maiden voyage from Southampton to New York.

If you are looking for other ideas for family entertainment, check out what events we have coming up at the Blackpool Grand Theatre.