Fox in a Box Stockholm doesn’t just offer thrilling escape room games. We share our Sveavägen 14 location with a fantastic Craft Beer & Board Game Bar, and Restaurant, Hop & Vine, who offer a huge library of board games available for guests to play! Have some food and drinks and try one of these popular board games below!
CLASSICS
Monopoly
Monopoly has been a well-known and loved board game for almost a century now. Launched in 1935 by Parker Brothers, it’s a classic that’s still a staple in many households. Nowadays, there are many themes and variations, but the original still holds up to the test of time.
In Monopoly, you move around the playing board and buy up property, build accommodations, and successfully acquire the most money in the game while forcing your competition to go bankrupt. Beware of the random events cards, which can either offer perks, or tax you, and try to keep yourself out of jail!
Scrabble
Scrabble is another household name, a board game that’s been around for almost as long as Monopoly. Designed in 1938, this word building game has swept the world over the decades, now available internationally in more than thirty different languages. It has sold over 150 million copies. with thousands of designated playing clubs, as well as established and recurring tournaments for the best of the best wordsmiths to compete.
In Scrabble, players build words for points on a tiled playing board, using the random letter tiles they receive throughout the game. Generally, the longer or more advanced the word, the higher the points you can accumulate, but if other players can build off your word using some or all of the letters you placed, they might be able to collect even more points. You must be mindful of the letters you are using and keeping also. High value letters might be worth holding onto, but any letters left in your “hand” at game end will be deducted from your point total!
Chess
The modern “Western” Chess game dates back all the way to the 15th century, making it arguably one of the earliest abstract strategy games that is still played today. An easy game to learn but difficult to master, it is favored amongst competitive players, and Chess competitions are held around the world; organizing together to crown a World Chess Champion once a year at an international Chess Championship event.
The objective of Chess is to take your opponent's King. A simple enough goal, made complicated by the set movements that each of your playing pieces can make. For this reason, you must plan ahead and adjust to your opponent’s moves. You might have to make sacrifices for your greater objective, but the ultimate winner is whoever can take the enemy King, or force your opponent into a position where no further moves are available for them to make. In competitive play, stringent time limits are also in place, so you must be a quick thinker and know exactly what your next move will be!
Yahtzee
Yahtzee is a dice game developed in 1956 and a common game for most households to own thanks to its compact playing structure and easy to follow gameplay. All you need to play Yahtzee really is a set of five, 6 sided dice, and some way to track your score. If you purchase the game you will often receive a bag to hold your dice, scoring cards and pencils to keep track of scores, and sometimes even a cup or other form of dice roller to enhance your playing experience.
The scoring in Yahtzee depends on the combination of dice you roll on your turn. With different combinations, strongly influenced by poker hand combinations like Three and Four of a Kind, Full House, and Small and Large Straights. And a “Yatzhee” is rolling all 5 of the same number on your dice. There is strategy involved also, since you can only record a score for certain combinations once during the game, so sometimes it’s better to take scoring for a more common combination and wait for a higher value roll to hit a larger point value! The winner is, of course, the person with the most points at the end of the game!
Uno
Introduced to the market in 1971, Uno is based on the classic card game “Crazy Eights”, and saw its popularity boom during the 90s when it received a rebranding to be more marketable to families as a fun and simple game for kids and adults. Today it is a very popular card game and found all over the world in different languages and variations.
The objective of Uno is to be the first person to get rid of your hand of cards, while sabotaging your opponents by color and pick-up cards to make sure they cannot empty their hand first. It’s simple rules and leads to a fast paced gameplay that is perfect for multiple rounds with a range of player ages and numbers.
Jenga
Jenga was launched in 1983, a building strategy game perfect for all ages. Its name comes from the Swahili word "kujenga" which means 'to build or construct'. It is also a popular family and party game, as its gameplay can become difficult and higher risk the longer the game goes on, and once the tower falls, the game is over!
There isn’t really a single winner in Jenga. Instead, whoever causes the tower to fall is the “loser”, so to speak. The basic rules of Jenga are simple: remove one block and place it on the top of the tower without making it fall. This makes it a great game to introduce to new people as there aren’t many rules to remember. Due to its popularity, there’s been other editions released, like one with different shaped blocks for an unique tower building experience, and also a truth or dare addition to spice up the between-turn experience!
CARD GAMES
Cards Against Humanity
CAH is a humorous party card game (recommended for adults due to some swearing, risque content and adult references) that was popularized in the last decade due to its pop culture references, crowdfunded launch, and unique marketing strategies from the publishers. After its release in 2011, the game became a bestseller on Amazon, and it’s still a popular go-to for some off-the-collar fun.
Each player gets a hand of white cards, which have various phrases and responses ranging from jokes, pop culture references, and quotes. The phrases are used to answer the group question presented each round on the black card. The objective is to have the funniest response, decided by the “Tzar” of that round, so if you are playing strategically, it’s good to know the humor types of the people you’re playing with to choose the best card to get them in stitches!
Exploding Kittens
Exploding Kittens is another modern card game which gained popularity due to being created by an established webcomic author “The Oatmeal”, and it’s marketing through well-known content creators online. It was a Kickstarter project that was fully funded within a week of launch and became Kickstarters most backed project in the website's history. Since its launch it’s been very successful and has a number of spinoffs and expansion packs!
The game revolves around the Exploding Kittens, which are shuffled into the rest of the deck at random and eventually drawn one by one. Once a player has drawn one, they are out of the game, and the last player standing wins! Along the way you will have a hand of cards with varying abilities and descriptions, all aligning with the artwork and humor of the original creator.
What Do You Meme?
Another game spawned from online pop culture, What Do You Meme? was published by popular content and advertising brand Jerry Media, who had a large Instagram presence, especially during the mid 2010s. The game was also published after a successful Kickstarter campaign, and had since seen expansion packs and popular culture collaborations.
What Do You Meme? has a similar play style as Cards Against Humanity, where the objective is to have the funniest response, in the form of a meme picture or popular online reference, to the situational card presented at the beginning of the round. Given the nature of popular culture, almost ten years later some of the references might be a bit outdated, but the game is always a fun time, especially if some drinks are involved!
Codenames
Released in 2015, Codenames is a twist on word association guessing games. It was released with rave reviews and in 2016 won the German Game of the Year award. Since its release there has been a number of spinoffs and expansions to keep the gameplay fresh for avid enthusiasts.
Two teams compete against each other to guess the code words for their team while avoiding the enemy team's words. Words can be guessed by combining associated words. A great little game to pick up quickly with minimal rules and an fun, collaborative twist
STRATEGY AND COOPERATIVE
Ticket to Ride
A railway theme “Eurogame” style board game released in 2004, Ticket to Ride has seen huge international success, leading to expansions, spinoffs, different maps to play on, and even a card game. It is renowned for being a great game to get new players into board games, specifically the more abstract and collaborative game play of “Eurogame” style gameplay. We have various editions available at Hop & Vine!
Winning is based on score, and you collect points by meeting various objectives throughout the gameplay phase. It’s not a collaborative play game, but is lower stakes than some other board games that are very head to head, so it’s a great option to get casual game players into more advanced and nuanced styles of table-top board games!
Catan
A super popular table-top board game, released in German in 1995, known for being one of the first “Eurogames” to become popular around the world. There are many different variations now since its original release, and we have a number to try at Hop & Vine!
Players act as settlers in the game, and the goal is to develop your settlements through building and trading with other players to acquire needed resources. As your settlements grows, the players receive points, and the first to reach a set number of points, wins!
Azul
A colorful, abstract gameplay style strategy game designed by German board game designer Michael Kiesling, meant to pay homage to the beautiful style of the Portuguese tiles called azulejos.
Each player collects tiles and attempts to fill rows of matching tiles to collect points that give you a better chance to win the game. Points can also be scored based on placement though, so it’s not just about finishing the game quickly, but with proper combinations!
The Quacks of Quedlinburg
Originally published in German, after winning Game of the Year in 2018, this quirky little board game received an English edition and has since received further awards for its appeal to casual board game players.
You play as Apothecaries crafting potions to compete against fellow Quack Doctors in the annual Quedlinburg city festival. Through the game you obtain different ingredients to brew your potions, with a twist of a random event each round, as foretold by the local Fortune Teller.
Root: A Game of Woodland Might and Right
Root takes a woodland creature twist to the traditional wargame style board game. Released in 2018, Root was acclaimed for its beautiful art and design, and its unique approach to its gameplay. Award winning reception has led to a digital version being released, as well as numerous expansions.
In Root, you play as separate factions in war over control of your forest. Each faction comes with unique gameplay rules, so this game will likely appeal to slightly more seasoned board game enthusiasts who don’t mind opening the rule book every now and then.
Terraforming Mars
Terraforming Mars was released in 2016 and is a semi-collaborative strategy game that was renowned for its gripping science fiction theme and replayability. Since its release it has seen expansions, a card game adaption, as well as a videogame and online adaptions.
In Terraforming Mars players act as corporations who all have stakes in the terraforming of Mars. Development is a collaborative effort, but you also want to be the corporation who has offered the most beneficial resources and technologies to acquire your victory points. The player with the most victory points once the game’s objectives are reached, is the ultimate winner, the reigning corporation of the newly developed planet.
Dead of Winter
Another semi-collaborative strategy game, Dead of Winter was released in 2014, and due to its zombie apocalypse theme and replayability, received a number of awards as well as popular culture attention. With objectives and gameplay being narratively motivated, the game received a number of expansions with new objectives, random events, and characters to play, keeping the experience fresh for avid fans.
In Dead of Winter, you play as a colony of survivors in a world overrun by zombies. Each session will have a different objective for you and your friends to collaboratively meet before the game is finished, involving killing zombies, collecting resources, and moving your characters to safety. But, each player also has their own secret objective, which they must accomplish to win the game. This secret objective might get in the way of the group's success, or intends to fully sabotage them altogether.
Pandemic
A fully collaborative strategy and story-driven game, Pandemic was released in 2008 to great acclaim due to its knack for combining the deep strategy elements into a limited time gameplay style, making it much more accessible to newer board game enthusiasts. It has seen expansions and updates, some of which permanently alter the narrative of the game, to keep things new and exciting for returning players.
In Pandemic, the players collaborate in different roles, such as dispatcher, medic, scientist, researcher, etc, to work towards saving the world from an international pandemic before the narrative events lead to the game's end. The objective can only be obtained through the collaborative effort of all players, so it’s great for players that want to avoid competitiveness and would instead like to team up to achieve success together.
These are just a few of the most popular games we have available at Hop & Vine, but there are dozens more to choose from as well! Check out our BoardGameGeek list to see our current library, or feel free to call or email Hop and Vine (contact information below) if you would like to check if we have a game you’d like to try! We have something for everyone, so come on down for a visit!
Hop & Vine
www.hopeandvine.se
info@hopandvine.se
+46 70-919 67 13
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