Board gaming is a staple of entertainment enjoyed among friends and families, or even alone these days thanks to the rise of solo board games. With such an expansive range of board games available today, from social deduction to dexterity to strategy, almost anyone can find a game perfect for them and theirs to enjoy.
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However, while "enjoy" is the word that one expects to attribute to board gaming, there are some rather infamous titles that can cause full-blown arguments around the snack bowl. The games on this list have been known to turn friends into enemies over the years through their mechanics that encourage betrayal, sabotage, manipulation, and more.
One Night Ultimate Werewolf
An Interesting Twist on the Original Social Deduction Game
One Night Ultimate Werewolf is a fast-paced version of the classic social deduction game Werewolf (also known as Mafia). Whereas the original Werewolf and Mafia take place over multiple nights and can last over an hour with enough players, One Night Ultimate Werewolf, as the name suggests, takes place entirely in one night, generally totalling ten minutes.
Every player gets a role in this version of the game, meaning that, from the word go, players will be scheming to survive while also trying to figure out who the werewolf is, as the werewolf tries to stay hidden and accuse other players. This can lead to ten minutes of blissful arguments that are only fit for the most secure friendships.
Diplomacy
The Classic Game of European Border Expansion
Diplomacy was designed by Allan B. Calhamer and first released in the United States all the way back in 1959. Players select one of seven Great Powers of Europe (Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain, Italy, Russia, and Turkey) and are tasked with making deals with other players to expand their borders with two types of military units by their sides: armies and fleets.
The game predominantly consists of forming and breaking alliances with the other players, leading to some people feeling well and truly screwed over by the time it's all said and done. When hosting a board game night with a friend who is known to not be the best of losers, it may be best to keep this game in the cupboard.
UNO: Show 'Em No Mercy
A Brutal Version of the Classic Family Game
UNO: No Mercy takes the iconic UNO and ramps up the Take That mechanics through the roof, to the point where players are fighting to eliminate their opponents through the 25-card limit as much as they're trying to get rid of all their cards.
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Players must be unapologetically cutthroat to win, and will soon find that they can go from one turn away from victory to two cards away from defeat in a matter of moments.
Secret Hitler (or The Resistance)
One of the Most Popular Social Deduction Games
From a game set just prior to World War 1 to a game set in 1930s Germany, Secret Hitler is a social deduction game inspired by the aforementioned Mafia.
Secret Hitler sees 5-10 players randomly assigned as either Liberal or Fascist, with one player being Hitler. There's always a higher number of players with Liberal cards than Fascist cards, but Liberal victory is harder to achieve than it may initially seem, as the Fascist side can use government policies to their advantage. Like almost every social deduction game in existence, Secret Hitler isn't for those who get easily upset by accusations and backstabbing.
For those who want an experience like Secret Hitler but are put off by the 1930s Germany theme, The Resistance is a great alternative.
Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition
8 Hours of Competition Can Lead to Heated Rivalries
The first edition of Twilight Imperium was released in 1997, with the second and third editions being released in 2001 and 2005, respectively. Twilight Imperium: Fourth Edition came along over a decade later in 2017 and is today recognised as one of the greatest board games of all time.
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Twilight Imperium is certainly not a game for a quick play session, as a single game of Christian T. Petersen's space opera can last well over five hours. In that time, players will negotiate trade agreements, vote on policies, engage in warfare, and more as they fight for political and military control to become the galactic emperor. As one might expect, having to compete and strategise against friends for hours and hours on end can leave players not wanting to see them again for a good few months afterwards.
Monopoly
Friendship Ruining Royalty
Monopoly is one of the most iconic board games ever made, but its reputation for destroying friendships is perhaps even more legendary than the game itself. First published in 1935 by Parker Brothers, Monopoly sees 2-8 players rolling dice, buying up properties, and squeezing rent out of their opponents until only one player remains - an experience that often takes far longer than anyone expects.
The combination of lucky dice rolls, surprise rent payments, price haggling, and kingmaking can make Monopoly an excruciating experience at times. To top it all off, the game infamously doesn't have a mechanism for defeated players to stay in the game, meaning some people can be twiddling their thumbs watching others play for over an hour, making the act of eliminating an opponent all the more cruel.
Catan
Negotiate Your Way to Victory
Catan, originally released as The Settlers of Catan in 1995, is credited with launching the modern board-gaming renaissance and, along with Ticket to Ride, for being a gateway into "hobby" and "designer" board games.
Similar to Monopoly, Catan initially seems like a cozy game of wealth/resource building... Until the negotiating starts. Players must accumulate and spend resources like brick, wheat, and sheep to build settlements, roads, and cities needed to win, but players frequently need to trade with their opponents to have the required amount of resources. This can lead to heated negotiations as players know that every trade they make could put opponents on the road to victory.
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