The Best Games & Puzzles To Get You Through Quarantine
Photo: Brigitte Bardot via Old Hollywood Stars
Anyone else suddenly feel like a kid again? Between running around outside, cooking our favorite comfort foods, doing puzzles, and playing board games, we’re basically channeling our best 8-year-old selves during quarantine. When we’re not binging Netflix, we’re getting our game-night on, so we’re sharing 12 of the best games and puzzles to help you beat boredom, from good old-fashioned Gin Rummy played with a deck of designer cards to the prettiest puzzles to the board game Pandemic—yep, it’s an actual game and it’s wayyyyy more fun than the real-life version. Read more below!
This stylish deck of cards from Casa Lopez in Paris is guaranteed to make your game of Solitaire or Gin Rummy all the more fun and special. The cards are illustrated by artist Sacha Floch Poliakoff and feature charming depictions of champagne bottles, picnic scenes, and life in Paris.
Pair this colorful backgammon set from Burke Decor with an Aperol Spritz and a jazzy soundtrack, then find a sunny spot in your backyard or a local park and pretend your vacationing in St. Tropez for the afternoon.
These Piecework Puzzles win the award for prettiest puzzles. Pop a bottle of your favorite bubbly and spend an evening piecing together this Champagne Problems puzzle.
We love these mini food-themed puzzles by Areaware. The puzzles come in a set based on various food themes and take just 20 minutes or less to complete—the perfect appetizer for an evening at home.
This two-sided puzzle depicting photographer Gray Malin’s iconic beach scenes is the next best thing to an actual beach vacation right now.
Wes Anderson fans will love this Grand Budapest Hotel puzzle from Etsy. Bonus points if you do the puzzle while you watch the actual movie. Or better yet, plan a Wes Anderson movie marathon.
These intricate puzzles from Liberty Puzzles are not for the faint of heart. Their wooden jigsaw puzzle pieces feature unique shapes and edges which make the puzzles that much more challenging. We love this Fancy Cakes puzzle and their custom puzzles—such a fun and thoughtful gift for friends or family members during quarantine. Our wedding planner, Mara Marian of Fuse Weddings & Events, sent us one of these custom puzzles featuring a favorite photo from our wedding!
THE NEW YORK TIMES JIGAW PUZZLE
Journalists and news junkies will love this personalized New York Times jigsaw puzzle depicting the front page of the newspaper on the day you were born or any other milestone date of your choosing. Such a fun birthday or anniversary gift during quarantine.
Playing this Pandemic board game is the equivalent of watching the movie “Contagion” right about now—it feels wrong but also so right. Pandemic was one of our favorite board games well before the Coronavirus pandemic occurred, and it continues to be a good time. The best part is you can play with just 2 players, so you and your partner or roommate can duke it out to save humanity. The board game is fun and easy to play, and you’ll feel extra invested and competitive when it comes to preventing the game’s global pandemic from spreading.
We love playing Codenames on a Saturday night with friends, but this two-person version of the word association game is perfect to play at home with your co-quarantine partner or pals.
Inspired by the medieval fortress in southern France of the same name, Carcassonne is an entertaining and highly addictive tile-laying game. The object of the game is to fill in the countryside with tiles surrounding the fortified city. Sounds dorky but it’s such a fun way to spend a few hours. Plus, you can play with just 2 people or up to 5 players.
This virtual game of wit and words is a fun addition to your weekly Zoom call with friends or can be played at home with roommates or family members (requires 3–8 players). Just purchase Quiplash from JackBox Games and download the game to your web-enabled device of choice (phone, tablet, computer, AppleTV, game system, etc.), and then invite friends to join your game via a unique room code. The game asks players to answer funny prompts with limited time, and then the group votes on their favorite answers.