Board games have seen a major resurgence in recent years. But why exactly are board games good for you? As it turns out, playing board games has a wide variety of benefits, from enhancing cognitive skills to improving relationships. In this article, as a professional custom board game manufacturer, we’ll break down exactly why you should make board games a regular part of your life.
Why Are Board Games Good for You?
Board Games Enhance Cognitive Abilities
Playing board games exercises important cognitive functions like memory, reasoning, and flexible thinking. In particular, board games help enhance:
Short-Term Memory
Many board games require you to remember previous moves, card placements, dice rolls, etc. Using your short-term memory keeps it strong. Games like Sequence, with its reliance on open spaces on the board, are especially good memory boosters.
Long-Term Memory
In addition to short-term memory, the stories and experiences that unfold during board games solidify them as long-term memories. You’re likely to remember epic moments from board game nights for years.
Critical Thinking
Good board games constantly make you analyze game states, weigh decisions, and problem solve. All of these analytic processes strengthen critical thinking capacities that carry over into real life.
Attention Span
Sitting down and focusing on a single activity for an extended time period pushes your attention span. As screens increasingly fracture focus, board games provide rare and valuable extended attention practice.
So in addition to being fun, board games also make your brain work harder in ways that pay dividends.
Board Games Improve Social Skills
Board games are also excellent vehicles for enhancing interpersonal skills. Playing board games enables you to:
Cooperate with Others
Cooperative board games require players to work together toward a common goal. Negotiating, planning, contributing, and compromising are all woven into the experience. These games essentially give you practice interacting positively with peers.
Read Social Cues
During competitive board games, reading body language and facial expressions provides insight into opponents’ strategies or emotions. It’s a low risk way to strengthen social perception abilities. Mastering these nuanced social skills carries over into real world people reading.
Take Turns
Taking turns and waiting to act again is an essential aspect of board gaming. Practicing delayed gratification strengthens patience and self-control. These traits extend beyond gaming tables.
Lose Gracefully
Losing can be frustrating. Board games provide a space to experience defeat in a lighthearted context. Learning to lose well and applaud the victor’s skill builds character and resilience.
Board game interactions are rife with chances to gently improve soft skills that make you a better team player, listener, and sport.
Board Games Relieve Stress
While board games elicit laughter, tension, suspense, and excitement, ultimately they provide mental relief from real world stresses. Board games are exceptional stress management tools because:
They Focus Attention
The narrow rules and objectives of board games impose structure. This constraint gently guides attention away from real life worries toward the game space. Fully engaging in the board game experience provides a mini mental vacation.
They Facilitate Social Support
Simply being around people you enjoy spending time with can ease stress. The jokes, smiles, and camaraderie of a board game night deliver stress-alleviating social comfort. Feeling connected to others through play is powerfully relaxing.
They Produce Laughter
Laughing elevates mood and relieves tension by decreasing stress hormone levels in the body. The often comical social dynamics that unfold during board games fuel outbursts of stress reducing laughter.
So if real world anxieties have you feeling overwhelmed, call your friends and set up a board game night. An evening of play can hit your mental reset button.
Conclusion
Board games offer a slew of science-backed cognitive, social, and emotional benefits that make them well worth playing. They stretch mental capacities like memory and reason that keep your brain nimble. Board games also build interpersonal skills including cooperation and communication that allow you to thrive socially. And the mirthful play they incite balances stresses and leaves you happier. For these reasons, board games deserve to be a more prominent part of everyday life.
