Before we all had an open door to entertainment at our fingertips, there were board games that brought families together, and sometimes tore friendships apart in the process. Some have come and gone, while others have stood the test of time. Thoughboard games have evolvedover the years and become more complex, they remain beloved.
So, sit back, relax, and let’s put our nostalgia glasses on for a little while as we look back at the board games from the 90s that you have played, or if not, you’ve at least heard of. Maybe this list will inspire you to break out those games and give them a go yourself.
While some of these games predate the 90s era, we’re only after those that were rebranded and popular during the 90s.
10Perfection
Milton Bradley/Hasbro Games - 1992
If you played this game as a kid, you’ve either got fast reflexes or anxiety. Probably both. Perfection is a game where yourace against the clockto place all the pieces into the correct slots before the time runs out. It sounds easy, but 60 seconds feels more like ten when you’re facing the board exploding in your face.
Worse still, if you’ve never played before, you’d probably think that once you complete the board and get it filled up, the board is safe and the timer stops. Wrong! It didn’t matter if you completed the board or not; it was throwing pieces all over anyway. It’s a baby’s first explosive disposal practice with a 100 percent fail rate.
9Crocodile Dentist
Hasbro - 1991
Inspiring both adrenaline seekers and brave animal lovers alike, Crocodile Dentist tasks the player with finding the painful tooth by pressing on each one. On paper, this doesn’t sound fun for either party, but there was nothing better than having your friends egg you on from the sidelines for you to get bitten.
Toys in the ’90s were something else; either you were torturing game pieces, your friends, or both. If you either took the bite like a champ (come on, we were eight-year-old daredevils) or activated those faster-than-the-spring reflexes to beat the crocodile’s teeth, you earned some serious bragging rights.
8Don’t Wake Daddy
Parker Brothers/Hasbro Games - 1992
I don’t know about you, but when you’re hungry in the middle of the night, sometimes you just have to risk it all and sneak to the kitchen after hours. Hoping that you don’t trip or something, or drop a cup and wake the whole house. A high-risk, high-reward sneaking mission if there ever was one.
Don’t Wake Daddy offers a similar premise: don’t wake up your father on his twin-size bed. Instead of sneaking through, you’re encouraged to hit the alarm clock as a penalty for landing on the corresponding tile on the board. Equal parts chaotic and nerve-wracking, there’s no doubt some people are scared of alarms to this day because of this game.
7Operation - 1992
Hasbro Games
Operation wasn’t a board game so much as a true test of skill. You need to have your stats raised in dexterity, patience, and the ability to work under serious pressure. It was the kind of game where you sweat out of pure concentration rather than any type of physical exertion.
Each ailment you remove from old Cavity Sam has a price you pay. Sure, you could go for the low(er) risk pieces, like the broken heart and Adam’s apple for 100 dollars each. But, if you wanted the big bucks, you’d go for the moneymaker: the Bread Basket. Removing this would net you 1,000 dollars and a huge lead —if you could get it out.
6Mouse Trap - 1993
Most board games back then had the potential to go left and turn into a contest of who could be pettier, but this game brought out the betrayals tenfold. You see, the game forces all players to be cooperative by building the mousetrap together. You’re setting yourselves up for a mutually assured capture pact.
The worst part about this game, though, is the number of easily misplaced pieces you have to keep track of that come inside the game. While you cantechnicallyplay the game with a piece or two missing, such as the shoe or a trap cage. However, you’re missing out on the complete experience and have to rely on your imagination.
Sorry! Board Game
Are you really sorry when you do it on purpose? Sorry! was the beginner’s class in passive aggression, as it asks you to tell the other players ‘Sorry!’ when you bump into them and send them back to the start. You can guarantee lifelong grudges were quietly made on that game board that day.
There’s no dice to worry about here; your moves are determined by a deck of cards you draw from, but the RNG is just as impactful. Most cards will send your piece forward a space, but there are those other cards that are determined to block your progress by sending you backward, or allowing you to swap places with another player, potentially setting them extremely far back. It was a surprisingly cutthroat game.
Catan
Now, we have a game with much more complexity than what’s been listed so far.Catan is about who can build a civilizationfaster among up to four players. You gather and trade resources, and build roads and settlements on each turn. Catan reminds you of games like Civilization, but without the battles.
See, though you are in direct competition with the other players on the field, your true enemy is The Robber, which steals half the resources from you, while the player who moves them benefits by gaining resources instead. It’s an easy-to-jump-in, but hard to master type of game.
3Trouble - 1992
Milton Bradley/Hasbro Games
Similar to Sorry!, the premise is simple: get all of your pieces back home and inside the safety zone after going around the board. Though, unlike trouble, the gameplay is more straightforward. You don’t have to worry about cards or other traps on the board; the only thing that will get in your way is another player’s piece sitting where you need to go.
There is one thing about Trouble that puts it above Sorry!, and it’s possibly the most satisfying part of the game: the Pop-o-Matic bubble. You don’t have to worry about losing the die, and each time you press it down, it gives off a satisfying pop you can enjoy, even if you’ve lost all your other pieces.
Candy Land - Kingdom Of Sweet Adventures
Can you reunite the kingdom and get to King Kandy’s Castle before everyone else? Candy Land was as cute as it was popular among younger kids from three years old onwards. The game is simple: draw a card and move the number of spaces indicated on the card. Each card is visual and requires no reading, making it a great choice for all family members and friends.
You’d have to watch out for traps, such as the Molasses Trap or the Licorice spaces, which would also make you lose a turn in the 1990s version. However, with a little bit of luck, you can find a shortcut that will get you to the castle faster. A simple, but great time.
Monopoly
Finally, we have the most iconic and infamous game that will make or break any family gathering. Monopoly’s official rules went out the window forhouse rules that would only add to the chaos, such as not being able to buy or trade while in jail, or borrowing loans straight from the bank, effectively bankrupting it in the long run.
If you and your family were hardcore about it, games could last for days with extensive notes and IOUs that you would conveniently forget the next time you start playing. It wasn’t very merciful, and only the fiscally brave would come out as the winners.
