Summary
Spring is here – that’s what the calendar says anyway, even if there’s rain outside your window. With the possibility of warmer weather, now’s the time to explore entertaining garden gatherings and family barbecues in the form of board games.
Outdoor board games are cool – who doesn’t love chess pieces the size of your head? However, not everyone has space to store giant backyard versions of Connect 4 or Jenga, and it may also be worth taking the entertainment indoors if unseasonal weather arises. you’re able to’t do that if your Twister mat takes up your entire yard.
So, which tabletop games traditionally seen as for inside the home can be enjoyed in the open air on a warm summer day? They need to have weighty components that won’t be blown away by a sudden gust of windy weather, and have large or bright, identifiable components that won’t get lost among the hydrangeas?
Here’s our pick of five indoor board games that are worth bringing outside.
PitchCar
Like a non-electric Scalextric, the Jean du Poël-designed PitchCar caters to a garden party atmosphere with up to eight players able to get under starter’s orders.
It’s a dexterity game, with racers taking turns to flick their car round a track designed by the groups. With expansion packs, all sorts of jumps, chicanes and narrowed tracks can be deployed to navigate round.
Heavy-duty wooden puzzle pieces and chunky, flickable ‘car’ discs ensure that nothing will blow away when play is paused to tend to the barbecue.
While some tracks can take up space, the game’s modular nature ensures that circuit designs can fit any table or patio space required to play.
The only issue may be gamers who flick their pieces a little too enthusiastically, so there’s a slight danger of cars heading off course and into the bushes. However, the components are bright enough to ensure they shouldn’t be too hard to find.
Set & Match
In keeping with the summer vibe, Philippe Latarse’s dexterity tennis game will go well with any garden party serving strawberries and cream with Pimm’s.
A game of few components (a board, a ‘tennis ball’ disc and three wooden scoring blocks – and that’s it), it’s an easy one to take out, set up and play, whether the weather is calm or windy. Though you might want to install a Centre Court-esque retractable roof when the rain comes.
What’s more, the game comes in two sizes to suit variable garden sizes and, if you wish to replicate the Wimbledon vibe, a grass-court aesthetic version is available.
The rules follow tennis’s scoring system and the sport’s patterns of play are well replicated, with the momentum of rallies judged by which scoring zone on the other side of the net players flick their disc into.
Hive
Playing with nature in natural surroundings, Hive’s critter theme is one to bring out when the sun shines. One for the more peaceful moments in the park or garden, this is a strategy game for two players in which your bugs hunt as a pack, with their own special movements, with the aim of surrounding the opponent’s queen bee piece.
No board is required, and so any flat surface will do, including a well-manicured lawn. And as well as the creature comforts in the form of various spider, ant and beetle pieces fitting in with the surroundings, it all requires very little set up – just 22, tactile and chunky hexagons form the entire game, leaving you and a friend to sit back and enjoy it as well as the summer vibes.
Dosa
A game of skill and tactics, Dosa deploys MagDrop technology in its throwing discs. What that means in practice is that players score highly when they land their efforts without the disc moving even a fraction upon impact and causing unnecessary debates about whether the piece really landed where you said it did.
The game is played over five rounds with the highest scorer winning. Its board is formed of four scoring zones – it’s also modular, meaning that even if your garden table is small, arrangements can be made to make everything fit. If not, then the patio or lawn will do.
The game comes with its own bag, ensuring portability and a safe storage space when the game space makes way for al fresco eating.
In theory, any number of players can take part, meaning this is a versatile game suitable for a quick round with a family member, or as part of a barbecue gathering. The discs have some heft on them and won’t blow away, and are difficult to lose apart from with the most wayward of throws.
Quarto
A 4x4 board and 16 gorgeous wooden playing pieces is all you need for this wooden game designed by Swiss mathematician Blaise Müller. Now published by Gigamic under its Modern Classics label – which also includes other aesthetically pleasing titles such as Pylos, Qawale and Quoridor – some players may want to wrap this up in its box indoors rather than expose it to the elements.
That, however, would be a shame – Quarto has a look that’s easily replicable and could easily be patterned directly on to tables, similar to how chess boards have been incorporated into the design of many park tables.
Got an eye for style and suitable garden furniture? Then it could be worth decorating it with Quarto’s simple board layout – that way, you only need to bring the playing pieces outdoors.
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