Nap time. Glorious, glorious nap time. Not only is this time important for young children’s health and development, but as parents we need a break sometimes too. This post is the first part in our list of “Top 10 Nap Time Games” that play in about 30 minutes or less.
10. Monopoly Deal
Don’t let the title scare you off. This is not the same Monopoly we all played as kids that was basically an acceptable way for one friend to torture you and your other friends.
Monopoly Deal is a quick playing set collection card game that plays 2-4 players. It can be surprisingly cut throat at 2 players. Gameplay is as simple as draw 2 cards, play up to 3 cards, and discard back down to 7, if applicable. Be the first player to collect 3 sets of properties to win, but watch out for cards your opponent plays to slow your real estate empire down.
The game can be swingy and some cards are outright aggressive and potentially overpowered. We tend to play “best of three” to balance the luck factor. Since each round is about 10 min (or less), this leaves us with plenty of time to sneak a treat without having to share with the offspring.
9. Azul
Generally speaking, abstract games are not something we seek out. However, they do make great nap time games since they are usually quick playing and just challenging enough to keep your brain engaged. Azul is the first of several abstracts that will appear on this list.
n Azul, 2-4 players draft beautiful, chunky tiles onto their player mat to form patterns that will eventually score as they are added to their “tile wall”. The game is made up of several coasters that form a central “factory” and player mats split into “staging areas” and the “tile wall”. Each turn, players draft all available tiles of one color from a single factory coaster and place it on one row of the staging area grid on their player mat. Because a player must take all available tiles of the same color on that factory space, sometimes they have extras that count as negative points at the end of the game. Once a row on the staging area grid is complete, the row is cleared and a tile of that type is added to the “wall” on the opposite side of their player mat. Play continues in this way until at least one player has completed a horizontal line of tiles on their wall, triggering game end.
Azul is mostly a nice little relaxing game of collecting pretty tiles and putting them on your board. But every game seems to have a hot minute where you glare dagger eyes at your opponent as they force you to take tiles you don’t want to give you negative points.
8. Dominion (And Expansions)
Good ole Dominion! We were introduced to Dominion by some friends back in 2013-2014 and it was the game that sparked Sarah’s desire to look into board games and discover the wonderful world of gaming.
Dominion is a deckbuilding game for 2-4 players vying to become the most prosperous monarch in all the land. Players play action cards giving them special effects or bonuses and then use coin cards to purchase new, more powerful cards. Actions can be chained together to generate more actions, get additional cards, or get additional money.
With over a dozen expansions available the card variety and re-playability is endless. Dominion is, undoubtedly, one of our most played games and the first game we ever really felt the “need to complete”. It scales down well for 2 players, but works well at 3 and 4 and offers so much satisfaction for such a quick playing game. Make sure to keep this one organized to help with setup and cleanup. (Emily’s edit: Sarah spent hours meticulously cutting out these tiny dividers for our carrying cases to keep everything neat. Great foresight or a bit crazy?)
7. Crokinole
OK, OK, OK, we’re veering off the theme here a bit since this is a loud game often played with beer in hand, but let’s call this one a great game to play while the kids are napping…at the cabin (or maybe that’s just a Minnesota thing?).
Being from the tundra of Minnesota, a game that resembles beer pong curling with a dash of tiny shuffleboard and can be played at the cabin is a win for us. To play Crokinole, grab a beer and send tiny wooden pucks flying at your friends with a flick of your finger. Either 1:1 or in teams, players alternate flicking their 12 discs past rubber posts and into the center ring. To score, they must crash their discs into their opponent’s discs, hopefully knocking them off the board and scoring based on which ring their disc rests in.
Crokinole is a fun and addictive game. We are cheating a little bit with this one – we don’t actually own a Crokinole board…yet. Our board is currently on order and is expected to ship in about 3-5 weeks. Not only are we looking forward to having a quick and forgiving of interruptions game, but our board will also be one of the featured wall decor pieces in our new basement.
6. That's Pretty Clever (Ganz Schön Clever)
If the idea of Roll & Write games give you flashbacks to Forced Family Fun Night and playing Yahtzee you’re not alone. Flashback to watching your brother roll ANOTHER frickin’ Yahtzee while you’re stuck on endless garbage rolls and you might be as resistant as we were to Roll & Writes as a genre. But modern versions have found great ways around the luck factor to give the players more control over the outcomes. That’s Pretty Clever (Ganz Schön Clever) is a great game that balances the breeziness of luck-based game while offering enough control over the outcome to make it a challenge.
In That’s Pretty Clever, 1-4 players take turns being “active player” rolling and selecting dice to fill out their score sheet. A bit of luck and careful die selection results in bonuses and extra actions allowing for some sweet, sweet action chaining. Unselected dice become available for “passive players” to each select and use one for their own sheet after the active player finishes their turn. After 6 rounds (2 player), the player with the highest score wins.
That’s Pretty Clever is fast and satisfying to play. The bulk of our plays came over a two day period while Emily was in labor with Sullivan (fun fact: she went into labor during a date night game night at Fantasy Flight Game Center – we stayed and played three games through early labor because it had been so long since we’d had a date night).
Want to see our top 5? Check it out here in part 2!
Follow us on Instagram or Twitter to see what we’re playing and to get notifications for new posts!