Top 5 Board Games to Play at a BBQ
Right. The sun is shining, the sausages are entirely carbonized on one side, and Uncle Gary has already had three beers. You’ve invited people over for a "barbecue," which in Britain mostly means standing around a smoking metal bin praying it doesn't rain. What you need right now is not a heavy, five-hour negotiation simulator that requires total silence, a spreadsheet, and the emotional range of a damp sponge. You need games that can survive a sudden gust of wind, a splash of ketchup, and the attention span of a golden retriever.
These are the absolute best slabs of cardboard and wood you can throw onto a patio table. Let's get into it.
1. Crokinole
It sounds preposterous: flicking small wooden discs across a brilliantly polished wooden board. But what it actually is, is the most visceral, utterly addictive pub game ever created. It is, completely and unequivocally, the best thing you can put on a garden table. You can hold a burger in one hand and ruthlessly smack your opponent's disc into the gutter with the other. It's magnificent. It requires no reading, no complex rules explanation, and everyone from a toddler to a pensioner can understand it in three seconds flat.
Read our full review of Crokinole
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2. Camel Up
An Egyptian camel race where the camels stack on top of each other and you bet on the winner. It sounds like madness, and it is. The centerpiece is a giant plastic pyramid that regurgitates dice. It accommodates up to eight people, meaning the entire family can scream in unison as the camel they just bet their life savings on decides to run backwards. It's pure, unadulterated chaos in a box, and the perfect crowd pleaser while you're waiting for the chicken to cook through.
Read our full review of Camel Up
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3. Heat: Pedal to the Metal
Forget sedate card games. This is 1960s motorsport distilled into a deck of cards. You are burning rubber, slamming into corners, and managing your engine's heat while trying to slipstream past your mother-in-law on the final straight. It's staggering how fast and tense this feels. Plus, the cars are small enough that if you spill relish on the board, it just looks like a massive oil slick. A brilliant, adrenaline-fueled spectacle for up to six players.
Read our full review of Heat: Pedal to the Metal
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4. Wingspan
Sometimes, at a barbecue, you don’t want to be shouting. Sometimes you just want to sit in a deckchair, sip a Pimm's, and efficiently attract a Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker to your forest habitat. It’s an engine-builder about birds. Yes, birds. But underneath the gorgeous pastel artwork is a brutally tight puzzle that will keep the "serious" gamers occupied while everyone else worries about the potato salad. It's the sensible alternative to yelling at each other over Monopoly.
Read our full review of Wingspan
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5. Catan
The classic. The granddaddy of them all. Someone is inevitably going to ask "do you have Monopoly?" and you will slap this box down instead. Next thing you know, the pleasant afternoon gathering has turned into a brutal, screaming trade embargo over a single piece of brick. Is it a bit long for a BBQ? Perhaps. Will it cause an argument that ruins the dessert? Almost certainly. And that is exactly why you absolutely have to play it.
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And on that terrible disappointment (mainly because Uncle Gary just dropped his hotdog mayonnaise directly onto the Crokinole board), it's time to end. Spark up the coals, invite your friends, and whatever you do... do not roll a seven.