Games are great for developing turn taking skills and conversational skills. They also encourage social interaction. All of these are things that are good for those on the autism spectrum to practice which is why we play a lot of games in our house. We play them internally, with grandparents, and even invite friends over to play.
Different games appeal to different people so I will try to include a variety of games that work well for individuals on the autism spectrum. I will include a brief description for each game so you will be able to pick ones that suit your family.
Card Games
Card games can be smaller than some board games. This makes them easy to throw in a bad and take on vacation, or even just going to grandma’s house. Of course, not all are small (I’m looking at you Apples to Apples) but things like Uno/Uno Flip and Monopoly Deal easily get added to the things we are taking when we head out and will have some time to play.
Something Wild Card Games
This is a fun family card game if you’re tired of the traditional card games and you even get a little Funko figure. You can mix and match other Something Wild versions (including Mickey & Friends and it’s newest Baby Groot) to change it up. The rules are simple and easy to learn. Because it is simple to learn, you can start this game with pre-teens and even younger children, and/or if your child is not at age-level, this game may still work for them.
Uno Flip
Uno Flip is a nice variation on the traditional Uno game. The “light” side is your traditional Uno cards with a few changes – instead of draw 2 you draw 1, the draw 4 wild has been replaced with a draw 2 wild and there is the addition of a flip card.
When you flip to the “dark” side the coloring is different as are some of the “special” cards, including a Draw Five, Skip Everyone and a card where you have to draw until you find a certain named color.
If your child can play Uno, they can probably play Uno Flip.
Apples To Apples
Apples To Apples is a fun family game. One person each round has a green card where they can choose between two words. They pick a word and everyone picks a card from their hand that most closely matches. You can choose to be serious with your selection, funny, pick the opposite or just toss a card that’s been in your hand for a while.
The original version was a little challenging for my oldest due to not knowing what all the words mean, but he does great with the Disney version, which is designed for younger players.
Monopoly Deal
I love playing Monopoly when I was younger, but rarely do I have 3 to 4 hours to play a game now a days. Monopoly Deal is a Monopoly game you can finish in 15 minutes. This is great when you have a short amount of time. You collect 3 property sets to win. It’s a quick paced game with cards like Forced Deal, Debt Collector and Deal Breaker that can change the game in an instant.
Cooperative Games (Co-Op Games)
Co-Op games are good to help build upon the ideas of team work. Instead of working individually, you win or lose as a team. This is often found in real life, so you can build in life lessons as you play these games.
Horrified: Universal Studios Monsters/Horrified: American Monsters
Horrified is a cooperative board game for ages 10 and up where you defend the town against Frankenstein, Dracula, the Bride of Frankenstein, the Wolfman, the Mummy, the Invisible Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Each monster has its own way to be defeated. You must defeat the monsters before you run out of cards or your marker reaches the skull icon to win.
There are different player characters, each with their own ability and number of actions they can take with their turn. The first time you play it takes a little time to figure everything out, but after that it is easy to understand. The really nice thing is that with changing up of the creatures and your characters you can play many variations of the same game. You can also keep adding extra monsters to increase the difficulty if it gets too easy. There is also a single player variation.
Horrified: American Monsters is the sequel to Horrified. The downside is that you cannot mix and match these games; each is a standalone. The game play is exactly the same except there are new monsters (with new and different ways to defeat them) and new characters for the players to choose from. The monsters in American Monsters are Bigfoot, Mothman, the Chupacabra, the Jersey Devil, the Ozark Howler, and the Banshee of the Badlands. I think this version is a little harder than the first version, but still equally fun. The Jersey Devil is my favorite monster because it adds a mystery element to the game.
Forbidden Island/Forbidden Desert/Forbidden Sky
In Forbidden Island your team has to collect 4 treasures and fly away in your helicopter before the island sinks. This game involves strategy and cooperation to win. Each character has its own abilities, which can be beneficial to the team. With each turn you draw from the treasure pile and part of the island sinks. You can shore up the island to keep it from sinking. Each time you draw a Waters Rise card, your marker moves up and you have to draw more cards causing your island to sink faster. To win, collect all 4 treasures and get your entire team to Fools Landing before it sinks.
In Forbidden Desert you work as a team to recover a legendary flying machine buried deep in the ruins of an ancient desert city. To win, you must find the flying machine and escape the desert and its sand storm before dying of thirst. This is the first sequel to Forbidden Island and the game play is different and a little more challenging than its predecessor.
In Forbidden Sky, you work together as a team to uncover a platform while fighting a lightning storm. You need to connect a circuit of cables to launch a secret rocket before you are electrocuted or blown off the bridge to win. Once again each character has its own abilities designed to help you win. This is the second sequel to Forbidden Island and is similar to its predecessors, but has a different game play.
Back To The Future Dice Through Time
In Back To The Future Dice Through Time, Biff stole the DeLorean and scattered items through time. You must work as a team to repair the space time continuum before time paradoxes unravel the very fabric of the universe. Use your time machine to complete events and return items to their correct time to win the game. It is a little challenging the first time you play, but it gets easier to understand the next time you play it. You can add more items to increase the difficulty as you master the original number.
In our family, we often like what could now be called “classic” movies, and share them with the kids, including Back to the Future. You don’t have to know the movie to play the game, but it helps.
Traditional Style Board Games
Pac-Man The Board Game
When you think Pac-Man you might be thinking classic arcade game, but the have managed to make it into a board game as well. In Pac-Man The Board Game, you move your Pac-Man around the board eating power pellets and blue ghosts just like the arcade game.
The board is 3D and you move the Pac-Man by rolling dice, while the ghosts move through cards. Each player takes a turn as Pac-Man, while the others play the ghosts. Whoever gets the highest score wins. This is a pretty quick game so if you have a limited amount of time, this works well.
Splendor
Splendor is a strategy based game played with cards and chips. There are three levels of cards worth between zero and, or more, five points. As you go up in level of cards, it is harder it is to “get “purchase” them with your chips, but they are worth more points. Purchased cards count as one chip of their color and you don’t need to turn in the card when used to purchase another card. The first person to 15 points wins.
The nice thing is that the game can be fairly easy to start learning, but you can add complexity as you add more players and/or play with Nobles. I recommend skipping the Nobles until you have some extra experience playing. Nobles are purchased with cards only and seasoned players tend to go after the Nobles quicker than the newcomers and it makes it harder for newcomers to win. There is also an expansion for this set and a Marvel version.
This game is really good at making you think and plan several moves ahead. However, some younger players may find that frustrating, so know your child.
Monopoly Gamer
For those who like Mario games and you want to get them to actually play a board game with others, Monopoly Gamer is a great choice. Each of the characters has different powers and abilities. Each time a player passes go, they get a boss battle they can play. The game ends once the players complete the Bowser battle.
This nice thing with this version of Monopoly is that it is MUCH shorter than traditional Monopoly and the powers and abilities change things up, making it a lot more interesting. There are also other versions of Monopoly gamer as well, but the original I think is the best.
Crossover Board Games
The following board games are more complicated than traditional board games. These work great for my middle son, but are too difficult for my oldest. All the games listed below have a base game and then other standalone sequel games that can be mix and matched with each other to create lots of variations and match ups. I enjoy playing all of these with my middle son.
Unmatched
Unmatched Battle of Legends is the original game. Each character fights in their own way. You do not need to know anything about the character in order to play it. Characters fight head to head. Each character plays a predetermined amount of actions, depending on your character card. Each character has certain unique abilities and/or play style. Each character has its own dial and as you take damage you turn your dial down until one player reaches 0. Then the player with the highest number on their main character dial wins. Some characters have sidekicks, while others are solo. All versions (Marvel, Jurassic Park, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and classic literature characters) of the game can crossover with each other or be played and standalones, with the exception of Unmatched Deadpool which only has one character and needs to be paired with another set. Each version also has its own double sided game board. There is tons of replay ability as you continue to add extra sets to the mix and try new match ups.
Villainous
Villainous, winner of the 2019 game of the year, is the original game in the Villainous series. Each character has its own domain and goal that they must achieve to win, while stopping the other villains from winning first. Villainous comes with Captain Hook, Maleficent, Jafar, Ursula, Queen of Hearts, and Prince John. The Fate Decks also feature heroes from their movies that the villains need to defeat to remove them from their domain. The first villain to complete their goal wins. All versions of the game can crossover with each other or be played and standalones, within their series (for example all Disney and Pixar can crossover with each other, all Marvel can crossover with each other and Star Wars at the time of writing is a standalone with no crossovers available yet), with the exception to the We Are Venom expansion, which only has one character so you must have one of the Marvel versions to play this expansion character. Each version also has its own double sided game board. There is tons of replay ability as you continue to add extra sets to the mix and try new match ups. Some characters are easier than others, so older players can select the harder characters (Ursula in this version), while younger players can select the easier characters (Prince John in this version).
Funkoverse
Funkoverse features versions from DC Comics, Jurassic Park, Harry Potter, Marvel, Universal and more. Each version can be played as a standalone (except single characters – Kool-Aid Man and Thanos) or with other versions. Funkoverse is a strategy based game where characters go head-to-head in different game scenarios. Each turn, you select one of your characters and perform two actions. Each character has access to basic actions like moving and challenges along with unique abilities that may be performed only when spending ability tokens. Funkoverse uses an “cooldown” system — the more powerful the ability, the longer it will take for the ability token to become available again so players need to choose carefully which tokens to spend and at what time.
