The best board and card games to play in Singapore

Settlers of Catan will test your wits and strategy. How to play the game? Pick fertile ground, acquire resources and build roads, houses and even cities across the map to acquire points. This long-drawn game will require patience, focus and diligence – which makes it all the more satisfying when you're the first to reach the 10 points required to win the game. 

For something less draining, try out Sushi Go!, a fun and low-stress card game good for pairs or groups of up to five. To play, players choose cards from a hand that they pass around the table. Each card has a cute picture – wasabi, nigiri, chopsticks and more – spelling out different values and combinations. The aim is to pick the right combination of cards to get the highest number of points at the end of three rounds. If that sounds complicated, rest assured that it's really not. So just pick up a deck and get playing!

A classic that continues to delight younger and older generations, the original Scrabble board ($49.99) invites players to arrange letter tiles to make the most point-worthy words (see if you can get ‘oxyphenbutazone’ down). No matter how old or good of a wordsmith you are, it’s a great game to learn new words and improve vocabulary. Be sure to have a dictionary nearby to check on the words – you wouldn’t want to be cheated out by a word that’s not dictionary-approved.

Put on your detective hat and pull out your magnifying glass as you peruse the mansion house board for clues that will lead you to the killer, location and weapon of the crime. Was it Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick? Or Miss Scarlett in the kitchen with the gun? There’s only one way to find out. While this thrilling OG version ($29.99) is suitable for players aged eight and over, the junior version is great for kids aged five and above.

The most-funded game ($39.90) in Kickstarter history has been described in three words by the creators as “kittens, enchiladas, explosions”. If that hasn’t enticed you yet, get this: players will keep pulling from a deck of cards until one draws the “exploding kitten” which detonates. However, it’s only endgame for that player. The game continues until one survives and the only way to survive is to stockpile cards that feature laser beams, belly rubs, kitten yoga and catnip sandwiches which help defuse the exploding device. It’ll make more sense as you go along, we promise.