Pam BaroroStill saving up for your epic adventure around the world? Well, if you are tight on budget and can’t go outside your city, there’s a fun alternative! These board games will not just inspire your wanderlust, it will also give you a quick geography and transport + money lesson to help you in your future travels!
Also read: Quick Travel-themed Projects to Keep Your Wanderlust Alive
Are you ready to explore the world without getting off your seat?
Ticket to Ride
Image credit: Hey, Miss Adventures!
This is perhaps one of the most well-known board games today — and you have probably played it at least once or even have it in your own board game library if you are a geek (like I am).
The main objective of the game is to create train routes in a huge map and use the cards to allow them to purchase a segment of the tracks. Some players may also need to use the same segment as you do so the trick would be to get it first before they do — or you will be forced to take an alternative (and often longer) route.
Airlines Europe
Using the same concept as Ticket to Ride, they are basically the same game except this one uses airplanes instead of trains. The major difference though is that this is more of a stock game where players are able to earn points for every stock of a particular airline company that they hold. Okay, that sounds really serious. This game is truly more a finance game than a travel-related one.
Go: The International Travel Game
If you love crossing off items in your bucket list then this game is for you. Basically, what you do here is visit as many of the big cities all over the world in as little time as you possibly could. You will have to buy a souvenir from each city and then go back home to London, the starting point, after purchasing the agreed number of souvenirs.
Players will possibly go through the same problems as they would when making international travels IRL. They will also have to change currencies several times during the game.
Pandemic
Image credit: Jordi Sanchez Teruel
This game is different in that it is cooperative so you do not compete with the other players and you also do not travel for leisure but instead to help find the cure to a pandemic that has broken out. It is exciting in that it requires a lot of strategy and analysis and you will have to move from city to city to find a cure before the diseases infect the entire world.
Journey Through Europe
This travelling game assigns a home city to each of the player as well as six cities that they all need to visit through a combination of land, sea and air travel. Only mode of transportation may be used per turn which can make the game slightly more complicated than it looks. The player who is able to visit all the cities and go back home wins the game. This is definitely the ultimate EuroTrip!
10 Days in the USA
Or if you would rather limit your travels around the USA, you can also try this game. What players do here is travel the states of America either by car, plane or even on foot. This is definitely a great game to play if you are learning the geography of the USA…so you can use it for your future travels.
Also read: USA Pacific Coast: Stunning Spots to Make You Literally STOP in Awe
Around the World in 80 Days
Inspired by the book of the same name by Jules Verne, the players for this game will attempt to travel the world through a Victorian-themed map in 80 days. There are many obstacles along the way: travelling from one place to another may only be done via trains or ships and each mode will require a certain number of days for travel. The player who spends the least amount of days to travel around the world wins the game.
Dash! A Whimsical Race Through Singapore
Image credit: Eugene Kim
This racing game will let you race through the three districts of Singapore but you can also make stops along the way to see the sights and attractions of the place. Moving through the districts will get you power-ups which you can use to plot against your competition. You can dash to the end of the race but be careful because other players may be plotting against you, too.
Also read: 8 Unique Districts in Singapore that Every Traveller Must Explore
If you can’t travel just yet, you can always let yourself (and your friends) get lost in these board games and explore the world.
