5 Thrilling Board and Card Games That’ll Propel You from Indoors to the Great Outdoors
So, you want to enjoy some outdoor adventure, but you’re stuck inside due to an injury or illness? Or maybe it’s pouring rain so hard or blowing and snowing so strongly, you just want to stay inside where it’s a bit warmer and cozier. But you still want to experience the outdoors, albeit from the inside.
There are some uniquely themed board games to help you re-create the “outdoor experience.” And you may even learn a few new things—about nature, the outdoors, the world—that you didn’t know before playing the game.
Most of these games involve an element of trivia—so if you’re good at storing in facts about nature and the outdoors, you’ll do well at many of these games.
Here are five games to help you get that outdoorsy-adventurous feeling while staying inside. They can even be taken on a camping trip! All of these games are available for purchase online.
CAMP
For two to eight players, this game helps teach players about the outdoors, wildlife and more. Each player assumes an “animal” playing piece—like Bruce the Moose or Susie the Salmon. Roll a die and as you advance along the path, you’ll get trivia cards asking questions at different levels of difficulty, from 1 to 4. Players choose which level they want to compete at before starting. Answer questions—like “What do you use when you go fishing?” or “What do you call a group of leopards?”—correctly and you get another turn. Eventually you’ll make it all the way along the path through the woods to camp.
Available online through eBay.
Travel Buff
An older game combining elements of knowledge, luck, risk, money and strategy. Geographic trivia knowledge is a big aid to playing successfully. You can play as individuals or teams.
The goal is to master five of the nine “Travel Areas” that correspond to nine different areas in the world: Asia, Africa, the Mediterranean, the South Pacific, the Caribbean, Australia, North America, South America and Europe.
You move around the board in your tiny jet plane playing piece into different travel areas and answer questions about food, sports, art, history, culture, geography and politics. Players can attempt questions in simple, intermediate or advanced categories. The higher the category, the more points you earn.
Available online through Amazon and also eBay.
Audubon’s Bird Spotting-Opoly
Up to six people can play this game on a board game very similar to Monopoly. If you’ve played that game, you’ll pick this one up pretty quickly. Like Monopoly, the object is to gain the most prosperity by the end of the game. Also like Monopoly, there’s a quicker version that involves dealing out the “property” cards at the start of the game.
The “property cards” in Bird Spotting-Opoly take the form of different bird species, birdwatching equipment (binoculars and scopes vs. waterworks and electric company) and four seasons rather than four railroads. Community Chest and Chance cards become Field Guides and Birders’ Journals.
Available online through eBay.
Trekking the World
While the previous game was pretty simple to learn, this game is at the other end of the spectrum. There are a lot of moving parts and learning the game is probably best done by a combination of watching a 15-minute instructional video combined with a read-through of the written instructions.
This game is for two to five players, and it’s very similar to a game called “Trekking the National Parks”—except this time, the trekkers travel on an international scale rather than just in US-based national parks.
The object is to accumulate “victory points” in a variety of ways as you travel around the world, collecting souvenirs, taking tours and going on journeys.
Available online through Amazon.
Cribbage with an Outdoorsy-Themed Board
While this card game itself is not “outdoorsy,” if you play with a cribbage board that has an outdoor theme to it—a board shaped like a canoe or a board with wildlife art engraved on it—it will remind you of the outdoors whether you’re playing in a cabin, on a picnic table or in your living room.
Take turns playing melds of cards, alternating with your opponent. You accumulate points during the play, then by counting your cards once the hand is done, you gain points through melds and card combinations equaling 15.
Score is kept on a peg board, which can be outdoorsy if you opt to use an outdoorsy-themed board. First player to reach 121 points is the winner.
Canoe crib boards available online at the Canadian Canoe Museum.
What about Risk or Ticket to Ride? I would add those to the list! There are also others like Brit Rails.