During the COVID-19 lockdown, staying at home would prove to be a challenge. However, using this time to our benefit, here are a few games which you can play indoors and spend quality time with your family.

      1. Dominoes

We all must have seen similar looking tiny rectangular blocks which are placed next to each other and when pushed, would fall in succession. Originated in China, this game is technically played by two, three or four players. If four people are playing the game, then it can be played in partnership with two people in each team.

There are different versions of playing the game. One of the most popular ones being the blocking game.

       2. Marbles

• To play this game the most basic domino variant is for two players and requires a double-six set. The 28 tiles are shuffled face down and form the stock or boneyard. Each player draws seven tiles from the stock.

• Once the players begin drawing tiles, they are typically placed on-edge in front of the players, so that each player can see their tiles. Every player can thus see how many tiles remain in the opponent's hands at all times during gameplay.

• One player begins by downing or playing the first tile in one of their tiles. This tile starts the line of play, in which values of adjacent pairs of tile ends must match.

• The players alternately extend the line of play with one tile at one of its two ends; if a player is unable to place a valid tile, they must keep on pulling tiles from the stock until they find correct tile to place.

• The game ends when one player wins by playing their last tile, or when the game is blocked because neither player can play. If that occurs, whoever caused the block gets all of the remaining player points not counting their own and wins the game.

Originated in 1588, marbles as a game was played in England for many centuries. This simple game is played all over the world.

Setting up the Game

A circle is drawn on the ground, usually with a diameter of 3-6 feet. You can use chalk, a piece of thread or a string to make a circle on the carpet while playing indoors.

Marbles are placed inside the circle, usually near the center and often arranged in an X pattern.

To determine who goes first, usually, you draw a line around 10 feet away. Players shoot or roll their marble to see who can get the closest. The closest player goes first.

Taking a Turn

The player uses their shooter marble to take a turn. To shoot the marble typically a player will use their thumb to flick the marble from their hand putting their ‘knuckles down’ onto the ground.

The goal of each shot is to hit one of the marbles in the center and knock it out of the circle. If the player knocks a marble out, then they get to keep the marble for the rest of the game, they also get to take another turn. If no marble is knocked out of the circle, then the other players get a turn.

The first shot must be taken from the edge of the circle. If the shooter stays inside the circle, then the next shot can be taken from the spot where the shooter landed.

Winning in Marbles

The player with the most marbles at the end of the game is the winner.

    3. Snake and Ladders

Snakes and Ladders are also known as Moksha Patam which is an ancient Indian board game that is considered today as a worldwide classic. It is played between two or more players on a gameboard which has numbered and gridded squares. A number of ‘snakes’ and ‘ladders’ are pictured on the board, each connecting two specific board squares. The objective of the game is to navigate one player’s game piece, as the dice rolls, from start to the finish square and is helped or hindered by ladders and snakes, respectively.

Rules of the game-

• Each player puts their game piece on the space that mentions 'start here'.

• Each player takes turns to roll the dice. According to the number of dots you get from rolling the dice, you get to move your game piece forward to that many spaces on the board.

• If your game piece lands at the bottom of a ladder, you get to move up to the top of the ladder.

• If your game piece lands on the head of a snake, you must slide down to the bottom of the snake.

• The first player to get to the space that says 'home' is the winner.

With these interesting board games to play, the lockdown period is sure going to be fun!