Bust boredom with geography-related board games for kids

One way we’re trying to scratch our travel itch while our journeys are curtailed is by playing geography-related board games. Thank goodness we have loved and played them long before our quarantine time.

The best part of these games is that they’re so fun that your kids may not even realize that they are learning. And, depending on your home schooling requirements, they might just count as a social studies lesson! There are several great ones that you can find on-line as a  way to pass the time, brush up on geography knowledge, and dream of places to explore.

We’ve played these geography-related board games with our boys for the last couple of years and they’re almost 10 and 12, so a good guess is that they’re appropriate for kids 8 and over.

Scrambled States:

A card game that’s based on being quick, and knowing your U.S. states well, we have played Scrambles States so much that the cards are starting to lose a little color around the edges. There are lots of reasons to love this card game, but one is that every round involves all players, so it goes fast and you have to pay attention the entire time. There are state cards and action cards. The action cards include questions like “State that has a 3-letter word in its state capital” or “State that does not touch an ocean.” or “State that’s west of Colorado.” The player who is the fastest to answer the group question wins the point, and the person with the most states at the end wins. 

Game time: about 15 minutes

Maponinoes:

“Mom, I’m pretty sure Burkina Faso is one.” I just asked my 9-year old if he knew any countries that border Ghana – and he’s right! The reason is the game Maponinoes. We absolutely adore Mapominoes games. Think of dominoes except using countries and their borders instead of the dots. Fun for kids and adults, each card lists all of the border countries, so you don’t need an atlas to figure it out. There’s a good bit of strategic play as some countries like the city-states of Monaco, Vatican City, San Marino, etc, only have one bordering country so you need to plan when to play them wisely. 

We started playing with the Europe version which only includes 45 cards. We also have the African version (54 cards/countries), and a recent Christmas present gave us the Asian one as well.  We play the Africa, Asia and Europe editions a couple of times a week, and for an extra long and challenging game, we combine the Asia and Europe cards. Not only are my boys (and me and my husband) learning geography, but it also encourages us to talk about future travels, and we can learn capitals and flags in the process, too.

Game time: 20-30 minutes 

Ticket to Ride

A long-time favorite geography-related board game, there are so many great things about Ticket to Ride – it’s a strategy and critical thinking game, great for two players or five, young, old and all ages in between. Based on the character Phileas Fogg from Around the World in 80 Days, the object is to complete contiguous train routes across the U.S. and southern Canada (variations from Vancouver to New York, Montreal to Miami and dozens of longer and shorter trips (Kansas City to Houston is one of the easier ones). 

Do you go for points or try to complete one of your three train routes first?  Do you play nice or block the route between New York and Boston so that your husband has to divert his train via Montreal? We also love it because we talk about the cities and countries of the various train routes, and it has encouraged us to add new places to our “must-see” list. There are versions with maps of Asia, Africa, Europe, Scandinavia, Rails and Sails, and more complicated ones that include tunnels and ferries. It’s won numerous gaming awards since its release several years ago, but has just recently been appreciated by the masses. We actually have three different versions of Ticket to Ride, so we always have different territory to cover.

Game time: 1 hour +

Sequence – States and Capitals

Sequence is a little like Connect Four – except that it’s connecting five states or flags in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally on a board with a grid of 100 different squares. We’ve been playing Sequence games for a long time – there are different versions (Letters, Numbers, Playing Cards) that are good from little kids on up to adults. 

For our geography-related board games, we like the States and Capitals version. Each square has a state in them. The cards are the capitals and you play your capital card to “claim” a state. Once you get five states in a row, you win. It’s a great way for kids to learn their state capitals and for parents to brush up on their knowledge, too. Pierre is the capital of South Dakota, right?

Game time: 20-30 minutes

National Park Monopoly

Monopoly turned into a geography-related board game? Yes! If you’re going to invest the time in playing Monopoly, why not enjoy the U.S. National Parks while you’re at it? What’s not to like about using a hiking boot, ranger hat, bison or canoe instead of the typical game tokens. Parks range from Acadia all the way to Denali with other stops along the way. And, you can go bicycling, rock climbing, river rafting or hiking for $200. The same Monopoly rules apply as the original game, but our family likes this version which turns the banking game into a geography-related board game. Even better, part of the proceeds from the purchase of the game go to the US National Park Foundation.

Game time: 1.5 hours to infinity!

Brain Box – All Around the World

Brain Box games are fun trivia type games with several different categories like science, inventions, math and more. Their All Around the World version has 55 cards based on 55 countries. Learn about geography, world cultures, animals of the world, and more by studying a card for 10 seconds, then answering one of eight questions about it. Collect cards with correct answers. 

The person with the most cards at the end of 10 minutes wins. It’s really easy to play, even with just two people. So far, we have learned that a quetzal is a bird found in El Salvador; that a tree called a Baobab grows in Nigeria; and that Portugal produces lots of lavender.  

Here’s a short video of how to play!

Game time: 10 minutes

Non-board game, but super fun geography online game/app: Geoguessr

Warning: you may become addicted after playing just one round. I won’t say how many games or how much time I spent on this just yesterday. www.geoguessr.com (or available on your mobile device in apps) shows you a photo from Google maps and you put a pin on a world map to guess where it is. Use your geographic detective skills to search the photos for signage, foilage, landscape, types of architecture, and other markers. It will tell you how many miles or feet away you are and divy points accordingly. You can choose specific areas of the world, landmarks or other categories. Seriously, it’s all I can do right now to finish writing and not play a couple rounds. Even better is that you can play alone or have the family join in.

Game time: 5 minutes (or all day long!)

These games are available on Amazon, Target, Mindware and other on-line retailers.

Whether your family enjoys trivia, strategy or games of chance, these geography-based board games are fun for the whole family. Not only will you and your kids pick up some extra geoknowledge, but they are a good way to pass the time and they provide ideas for where your next trip might take you.