Summer Board Games

Get yourself beach-ready with a collection of fun summer board games the whole crew can enjoy, whether you’re on vacation, chilling at home, or daydreaming of white sands. These games theme on summer goodness without the heat and sweat of the great, hot outdoors. Dive in!

Classic Board Games for Summer

Summer is the perfect time to break out the classic board games that never go out of style. These timeless favorites are ideal for a summer evening with friends and family, offering a blend of nostalgia and fun that everyone can enjoy.

Educational Board Games for Summer

Summer is a great time to learn new things, and educational board games are a fun way to do it. These games combine entertainment with learning, making them perfect for a summer evening.

The Best Summer Board Games

Summer Camp

Age: 10+ (Community 8+) Players: 2-4 Time: 30-45 minutes

Possibly the ultimate in summer board games, Summer Camp comes as one of the most highly recommended choices in the genre, thanks to the nostalgia and fun of this sweet game. The competitive deck-building game allows players to relive the good ol’ days of Summer Camp through friendly competition as players seek to earn their merit badges and earn points by completing various activities.

Every player has their own deck of cards to start, with new cards being added along the way, strengthening their skills. Try to earn all seven merit badges: cooking, friendship, games, outdoors, water sports, adventure, and arts & crafts. Every game allows mixing and matching through three merit badge decks that create unique scenarios every play-through. Ultimately, every player’s goal is to earn those badges while also gaining the most experience points possible as they move their pawns along the merit paths. Use your own unique strategy to win and earn the title of Ultimate Camper. Summer Camp can easily become a favorite game for its nostalgic appeal.

Santa Monica

Age: 14+ (Community 10+) Players: 2-4 Time: 45 minutes

Build up that beachy feel by playing Santa Monica, set in the coastal city of California. Santa Monica is a refreshing new game for summer, perfect for those looking to enjoy a fun and engaging experience. It’s your aim to craft the most appealing neighborhood in the city, with your choice of quiet beachfront, bustling tourist beaches, or something mixed for broader appeal.

On every turn, each player plays their turn by drafting a feature card from the display to use on your beach or the street you’re developing, but you’ve got to wisely choose which ones to use for creating the “best” neighborhood around. Every successfully played feature earns victory points and ultimately, whoever has the most VPs, wins the game.

Hanabi: Grands Feux

Age: 8+ (Community 10+) Players: 2-5 Time: 25-45 minutes

A newer edition of the beloved now-classic game, Hanabi: Grands Feux gives that summery feel through the glorious fun of fireworks. The game has a lovely redesign that expands on the existing beauty of the former version, plus card stands. You’ll also find three expansions included:

• 5 Flamboyants (6 bonus tiles and player sheet)

• Black powder (10 black cards)

• Avalanche of Colors (10 multicolored cards)

The word Hanabi is the transliteration of the Japanese word for fireworks and the cooperative game is all about creating the most glorious fireworks displays possible. Players aim to craft the perfect display by placing cards on the table in the correct order.

The card deck is made up of five distinctive colors, each numbered 1 to 5. For every color, players aim to place a row of cards in the correct order from 1 to 5. The challenge, though, is that your cards are visible to other players but not to you. You’ve got to give each other hints about the colors and number-order to play correctly and avoid errors before you run out of cards.

Summer Tour: The Game

Age: 8+ Players: 2-4 Time: 30-45 minutes

Ever dreamed of touring the world with a groovy band? Now’s your chance with Summer Tour: The Game. Players take on the roles of superfans chasing epic jam bands, collecting tickets, and seeing the world – or at least a good bit of the country. Surf the chill vibes and embrace the thrill of the road as you choose your van, strategically navigate the tour routes, and advance the narrative by rolling the dice. Along the way, you’ll pick up special bonus rolls or spins, too, adding an extra layer of challenge and some additional thrill. Ultimately, whoever collects the most show tickets wins the game after players have visited all 12 cities in this tubular journey.

Parks

Age: 10+ Players: 1-5 Time: 30-60 minutes

Celebrating the beauty and wonder of the U.S. National Parks, the game of Parks engages players with stunning illustrations from fifty-nine of the most glorious parks in the country. Every player sets out as two hikers trekking the trails across four seasons of a single year, hoping to explore and discover what truly makes the U.S. National Park system such an incredible delight for the whole world. On the trails, hikers collect memories and take actions to create the most memorable experiences possible. Resource tokens denote the memories captured with imagery of mountains, forests, and other natural beauty. Players aim to collect the memories in sets to trade for future visits to other National Parks.

Every trail in the game represents a single season of the in-game year. And each season, the trails change, growing steadily longer and more challenging. The trails themselves are crafted by placing tiles, which are shuffled between each season, and then laid out for new trails as the next round begins. The challenge of finding resources along the trail increases, especially if other players are where you’re aiming to wind up that season of the game. But campfires, canteens, and gear all offer improved access to resources and shared spaces. Parks is a tile laying game where strategic tile placement is key to creating trails and achieving objectives.

Summer

Age: 8+ Players: 1 Time: 5-10 minutes

For a fast and delightfully fun, calming game centered on summertime activities, grab a copy of the sandcastle building delight, Summer. The game uses 18 cards for a microgaming experience, designed for one player alone, lasting between 5 and 10 minutes, depending on how elaborate you get with your castle-building techniques.

The easy-paced game has one goal: build a sand castle. You do this by placing a card on previously played cards and tokens. Every card offers four symbols of sand and water. Place the cards carefully to add towers and turrets (mixing the right combo of sand and water symbols) and add tokens for the ultimate, low-key fun you used to have as a kid at the beach.

Aquatica: Coral Reefs

Age: 14+ (Community 12+) Players: 1-5 Time: 60 minutes

Not a standalone game, but definitely centered on the fun of the season, the summer board game of Aquatica: Coral Reefs is the perfect addition to your summer break fun. The base game of Aquatica introduces South Tribes with a host of underwater critters and characters, while the expansion adds new critters and adventures, like Manta Ray encounters and the Sea Kings. These changes can completely flip the gameplay on the base game for wet, watery fun.

Aquatica: Coral Reefs is an engine-building strategy board game that pits players against each other as they race to become the most powerful Sea King. Players can activate powerful combos, capture unique locations, recruit underlings, and much more through careful management of their hands. Every action earns Victory Points. And, of course, your goal is to gain the most of those to win. The game is also greatly complemented by the Aquatica: Cold Waters expansion, if you want to go even deeper into this watery world of fun. Use the Coral Reefs miniatures to add that extra layer of superbly fun interplay, along with transparent reef cards and much more. The game is perfect for 1 to 5 players, and works for players aged 12 and up, according to the gaming community.

Photosynthesis

Age: 10+ Players: 2-4 Time: 30-60 minutes

Gleaming sunlight breaks through the canopy overhead, the forest sky welcoming the warmth and light for its Photosynthesis. In this game, you’re using strategy skills to help your forest grow through the natural process of Photosynthesis, the process of nature known to use light to create sustenance for plants.

Embrace the wondrous world of ecosystems in this gorgeously appointed game, by developing strategies to grow your own plants, blocking opponents from stealing all your sunlight, and growing stunning, glorious green plants across your forest world.

Every round of the game is split into two phases, the Photosynthesis phase and the Life Cycle phase. In the first phase, players count how many light points they’ve earned from their planted trees and use these to grow their forest canopy. Your strategy in this phase is built around the location of the sun, and which direction its rays are streaming. The forest itself is built through hexagons, with six outer angles. Players place Sun segments next to two of the six faces, indicating the direction in which the light is shining.

In the Life Cycle phase, players spend the Light Points in action selection. In this phase, players may buy more trees and seeds to grow on their player boards. Then, they plant seeds, grow these seeds or saplings into trees, and then collect points. These points are decided at the end of the Life Cycle phase of each round through points garnered by the life cycles of trees. 

Ultimately, the game ends after 18 rounds and whoever has earned the most Life Cycle points wins the game.

Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef

Age: 14+ (Community 12+) Players: 1-4 Time: 60-90 minutes

Compete against challengers in three arenas during the summer board game of Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef. This aquatic-themed game dives deep into the elite guardianship of the island realm where tournaments determine who is truly worthy of caring for this critical realm in the universe of Tidal Blades.

Your goal in this wildly fun game is to succeed in the tournament in 3 challenges, rising to the top of the champion’s board. Once you’ve done this, you’ll earn your place as Tidal Blade, protector of the realm. But more threats arise from monsters, and you must maintain your skills to keep your protection over this fair world.

In gameplay, every player takes on the role of a young hero competing for the title. Every tournament played takes place over five days and nights, through gathering resources, competing in action-based challenges, and engaging with time-based strategies on different islands. Each location requires different actions for the championship challenges, and every action gains resources for players. Every Tidal Blade is then judged at the end of 5 rounds of challenges completed, which means accomplishments completed, resources gained, and monsters fought.

Trailblazers

Age: 8+ Players: 1-8 Time: 30 minutes

Summertime calls for exploration in the great outdoors, so what better game to play than Trailblazers, the “puzzly route-building game of outdoor adventures.” The game from Bitewing invites adventurous souls to blaze trails for outdoor schemes, whether through hiking, river paddling, or mountain-style trail cycling. The scenic world of incredible wilderness terrain must be explored with new trails marked and paved, ultimately leading back to safety at camp home bases. Trailblazers captures the essence of summer adventures with its engaging summer theme, making it perfect for those looking to enjoy the spirit of summer in their tabletop gaming.

Players in Trailblazers compete to build the most trails and hiking loops from their home campsite bases, connecting with others of matching trail types, and, basically, creating a network of beautiful, exciting pathways for future adventurers. During each round, players are dealt 8 trail cards, from which they’ll draft 2 cards. These cards are then arranged in the personal players’ areas. Then, their hands are passed to the next player. The cards that are kept should be placed either overlapping or adjacent to other cards on the personal boards. Players may use these cards to pave long, winding, adventurous trails, or shorter, more accessible trails for the beginners coming behind. But only trails that close a loop from the base camp can score points, so players must choose their paths wisely! Whoever scores the most points in the end wins the game.

Party Games for Summer

Summer is the perfect time to throw a party, and party games are a great way to get everyone involved. These games are designed to be played by large groups, making them perfect for summer gatherings.

Also Read: The 8 Best Party Games for Unforgettable Nights

Conclusion

Grab your camping gear, swimsuits, kayaks, and your travel van, and get ready to enjoy a wildly fun collection of summer board games. Every game on the list connects to the themes of warm weather with beachy themes in Santa Monica or Summer, aquatic realms like those in Aquatica: Coral Reefs and Tidal Blades: Heroes of the Reef, or just good old-fashion summer fun in Summer Camp and Summer Tour. These make for the perfect activities as you travel to and from your summer destinations or on the occasional rainy day when outdoor fun is best enjoyed on indoor game boards.

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