20 board game memes for that friend who is always wanting to do a game night

María Cetra • Writer

Sep 17, 2026 5:45 PM EDT

Board games can be the best or the worst thing according to your personality.

Some people, and when I say some people, I include myself, love to play board games. It can be 11 p.m. on a Sunday or 7 a.m. on a Monday, but they will always say yes if asked if they want to play a board game. It just works like that. 'Wanna play a board game?' is the magical phrase every board game obsessive person always wants to hear. This will make it seem as if they would love the plan no matter what game is going to get played or with who. But that is a complete and utter lie. We are obsessed with the idea of a game night, but that plan doesn't work with just anyone. There are some set characteristics that the game and the people playing it need to accomplish for the night to be the best it can be. There are two main rules, like in games, and it's important to follow them. If not, the whole night is in jeopardy.

Rule number one: the pick of the board game is the most important part. Not any board game can be played at any game night. You need to take into account everybody's likes and dislikes, and also be sure that everyone involved will be able to understand the rules without having to ask a thousand times. It also has to last long enough so that people get involved in it for a while, but not so much that everyone ends up getting tired and exiting the game to start a new one. I would also suggest that it wasn't one where someone could lose in the first few minutes, as they would have to wait too long to play again, and that will create a separate group of the people who lost.

Second rule: invite people who actually enjoy playing board games, not just your friends. If not, a separate group will be created of people just chatting, and it will eventually end the playing group as everyone forgets they are playing and just concentrates on talking to each other. You want people to be actively playing, not chatting and passively playing when you tell them it is their turn. They are gathering for everything. This one is a game night, not a chat night.

If you follow these two rules, you will, most likely, have the best game night. One that everyone enjoys and that doesn't end after just an hour of playing. I wish you the best of luck and hope that you get to host the best game night, so good that it gets into the books.