Best Lunch Break Board Games

[@vickilittel8630]

I bought a Smackdown Board to keep in the lunchroom and track game wins. You add a meeple of your color every time you win a game. Whenever we are about to play a game, everyone always asks, "Is this for a meeple?" Some of our favorite games are Telestrations and Green Team Wins. I also print off holiday games I find online, like Family Feud or Taboo. Everyone is familiar with those games, and it's a nice way to come together before a holiday break.

[@dominiccarbone449]

Project L is so good. My local game shop promoted it heavily because they loved it and I'm glad they did because even my non board game friends and family are always willing to play this.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

yassssssssss

[@christianbank393]

How timely! My co-worker just asked me this week if I could teach her a board game over lunch break. I asked her if she liked Tetris and she said she loves Tetris, so immediately my mind went to Patchwork. I've also had good luck teaching No Thanks! to co-workers.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

That’s so awesome!

[@mariomaqueda5135]

Very under appreciated category. Quick fun games are the way to go!Having kids and a busy life, who's got time for 4hr games. Even 1 hr seems complicated nowadays.

[@FostertheMeeple]

Epic lunchboxes!! Ha I love it! Great idea for a list, more lunch games!

[@nmsilvayt]

I know you didn't hit 1200 like, but thank you. And I'd LOOOVE to see a part 2 or 3. You introduced me to 4 games I now want...Planet, Scout, Draftosaurus & project L. And many of these look like I can play with my 8 yr old. Thanks!!!!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

You got it! and still plenty of time to get those likes so stay tuned for more!

[@hiho8084]

Thanks so much for this list. I meet with my friend for lunch often, and we both love games, so this is an opportunity to set 30 minutes aside to play!

[@malvinafis6907]

My favourites are the solos... for example Food Chain Island, Orchard and Grove

[@wl5609]

Orchard is great. I'm trying to find A Gentle Rain but its gone forever, it seems...

[@richardthomas881]

I really enjoyed this video! I started a Lunchtime Board Game group at my office about six months ago. We play every Thursday, and have at most an hour, so we try to have a variety of games that can be taught in no more than 5-10 minutes, and can be played in 45 or less. Some of the most popular are: * Azul * Calico * Imhotep * Karuba - we can usually get two rounds of this in * Kingdomino - ditto - both of these are good for people who can't spare the whole hour * Ramen Fury * Ticket To Ride went down well, but was a little long with 5 players. Similarly, whilst a couple of people have played Wingspan, I fear it would be a struggle to fit into the time constraints. * Forbidden Island, Pandemic and Dorf Romantik have also been well received, collaborative games do work well. I have Draftosaurus, maybe I should push a little harder to get that one on the table. Likewise Ohanami and Archaeology The New Adventure both seem to stay unloved in the game bag. I think they don't have the presence of the games that come in larger boxes. I can't find Project L at my usual stockists (I'm in Sydney, Australia), but I'll keep looking. Thanks again for a great run-down.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

It’s so cool to hear you have such a thriving little game scene at work! Keep it up!

[@wl5609]

Great list! Yeah, Project L... gotta try that one!..🥰

[@yotengoqueso]

The little solo game A Gentle Rain is great for a lunch break. It’s small, so easy to commute with, and the puzzly game is a great brain break on stressful days for me!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

We have always wanted to try that one! Thank you for the reminder of it

[@deejaysherman7750]

We had lunch hour games for 4-8 players. DC deck building, Avalon, Bang and 6 Nimmt were the top played ones.

[@searose6192]

We love planet. Very good choice for the list. It pretty, it's cool, and it is so simple.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Right??

[@ms15583]

I just had a 2-player gaming lunch hour at work and we played Don't Break the Ice, Point Salad, Button Men, and Strike! Similo, Cockroach Poker, Just One and Double Ditto are always hits when a larger group attends.

[@davidk6269]

Escape of the Dead p-n-p mini game and Teutoburg Forest game from C3i. Pocket Landship. Deep Sea Adventure.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Nice nice nice

[@jurds216]

I have played Fantasy Realms, Mexican Train Dominos, and Abandon All Artichokes over lunch. Love this list! Adding these to my potentials for future plays

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Those are great choices at lunchtime!

[@mrbastos]

Space Base, King/Queen-domino were lunch time staples for me. I was using lunch time to teach people games, and we started to even meet after work for longer games..then covid struck after the 1st after work meeting lol Still, these are good to know. I should grab some of these.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Yeah we realized after making this list that Covid has made it so many folks don’t really have lunch breaks anymore. Which is a bummer. Sounds like y’all had a lot of fun at work though in the past!

[@markusbiewer2756]

@@TheBrothersMurph Same here, we had 5-8 people that played games during lunch breaks, it was so much fun! Now must of the guys work from home 😞

[@Duchess-ty3ys]

OMG why hasn't someone done this BEFORE. Thanks for the list!!!!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

We got you Duchess!

[@gurnblanston2848]

Great games for a lunch break! Some of my go-to games for a quick play are Air, Land, and Sea, Codenames Duet, Silver Bullet, and definitely, any time, Radlands.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Great picks!

[@JustinNichols66]

Bonus for Project L - the rules are printed on each player's mat. Simple, Smart, Stylish.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

I love that you have all the info for action types right there. That game is just made to be easy to play.

[@alexvalentine856]

The ones we play most on lunch are skull king, Cabo, railroad ink, and fantasy realms. Currently hosting qualifying rounds on lunch for an upcoming buy-in skull king tournament that we came up with. 💀

[@TheBrothersMurph]

that's awesome!

[@cathyzampogna1200]

I live very close to work and I got one of my coworkers into gaming. She comes over once a week on her lunch hour and we play. Our favorites are Holmes, Sherlock and Mycroft, Kingdomino, Kluster, and Lost Cities, to name a few. I still want to teach her Love Letter but I am going to look into some of these. Thanks!!!

[@jenniferhaar7934]

Botanik is my new current favorite! great 2 player game

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Wanna try that one!

[@RozanovaHunter]

I used to play all sorts of lunch hour games at my last job with one other friend, and I think my absolute favorite was probably The Ravens of Thri Sahashri, a cooperative game of silent communication, deduction and all in a small box with only cards for components. There's very little I've played like it, and it's fun being either side of the asymmetric game.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

That game sounds really interesting we’ll have to look it up!

[@kells_bells9008]

Star realms, Can’t stop express, Ganz schon clever, Canopy, Onitama, 3 second try, the upside down challenge, the 5 minute games, Floriferous, Fort and Furnace. Not sure if you could crack all of these in a 30 minute window but you certainly could try ! And I love Friday ❤️

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Great choices!

[@jediquigley2192]

Love the look of draftosaurus and project L (i am of the age when tetris first came out on gameboy). We have 7 wonders duel, great game, I play this with my husband and 10 year old.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Very cool!

[@KristieMJM]

I was JUST looking for a list like this. I wanna get away from my desk, but with working from home, I'd need some solo options. But this was a great list!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Cheers we’ll definitely try to incorporate more solo-able stuff in the next list!

[@pluvia33]

Onirim is my quick solo game of choice! Some people knock it for all of the shuffling, but that's actually something I love about the game and would never want to switch to the app because I find shuffling cards to be therapeutic.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Agreed the shuffling is awesome!

[@stacie_everdell]

This was great list. Thanks guys! Squire for Hire fits this category for me.

[@codym6376]

Really like to try Planet and Project L. I have Draftosaurus on the way to my house now. My recommendation for lunch games would probably be Ohanami. But mostly we work crossword puzzles at lunch because you can alternate between the pencil and fork.

[@snypergotya]

One of our latest favorites is Jekyll vs Hyde!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Gahhhh I meant to get that at Gen con and just now remembered that i forgot to do that. Oops

[@dankelly]

7 Wonders Duel King Domino Jaipur Castles of Burgandy: The Card Game Mint Works ...are all great for lunchtime. I need to checkout some of the ones you mentioned that I've never played.

[@kylehynes2888]

Great list! I also use project L as a gateway game for non gamerish people. So satisfying to finish those puzzles! Great video as always. I enjoy your content very much. Appreciate the both of you!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Awww we are so glad you enjoy the stuff we make. Thanks so much for the kind words

[@dancameron]

I think this is my favorite video yet. Solely based on me buying two games before it ended.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Yessssssss which ones?

[@dancameron]

@@TheBrothersMurph L Project and Scout. I’m so bummed I didn’t see Scout at GenCon, errr, I can’t believe I didn’t see it.

[@justmakingthistoreply5085]

Hive and Shobu come to mind. Hive will take some teaching but it’s typically quick after the initial learning is over

[@tylermacfarlane7645]

Button shy! Tons of great solo games that I rotate through. Shout out to Spaceshipped, Sprawlopolis, and Food Chain Island!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Button shy is the perfect publisher for this. If I had to choose one publisher for that kind of thing it’s absolutely them

[@aorakis5795]

Some really nice small games there. I'm gonna add some more that are working great over here at 1, 2 nor 3 players : Skulls of Sedlec (micro game) Predators island (micro game) (solo) The Game Loco Momo Kingdomino Le murmure des feuilles (a really nice, fast and easy roll 'n write from paolo mauri) Jekyll vs Hide Those are working really great for some 10 to 20min games

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Good call on your picks!

[@Tampahop]

Small card games are always good. I like Fluxx, Jumpdrive, Race for the Galaxy and deck builders like Star Realms or Shards of Infinity. Some other small games I like are Battle Line (Reiner Knizia), San Juan (Puerto Rico's little brother), and Age of War.

[@deronfreudenthal5646]

For lunch games, I usually play simple but thinky card games. Just about any buttonshy game falls in this category. But perhaps my most played lunchtime games are Port Royal and Unmatched. They’re perfect! Both fun and approachable!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

love those choices!

[@PablowingUrMind]

I got the original because I dislike Circuses lol, but the plastic cards was also a plus. $45 on ebay was the cheapest I could find it for 😔

[@nihlify]

I pay Star Realms with a coworker on lunches. When you start to know the base game you can knock out a match real quick

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Love that and hero realms for the speed for sure!

[@benleague3115]

Great suggestions! We play Carcassonne over lunch. We have an app a friend made that randomizes which expansions we choose. We eat beforehand so we take the whole hour. Rather than the game ending when the last tile is drawn, it's usually when time runs out, and then we tally up scores!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

That’s awesome!!

[@mattalling4299]

Friday is great, I've played it close ro 80 times now but have only won 3 times

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Niiiice it’s a tough one

[@jacksonmillard7598]

Similo, silver and gold, point salad, draftasarous, happy city and super mega lucky box. And of course cribbage!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Gah Cribbage! See we have to do another list now.

[@sherylw4599]

Great intro!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Maaaayyyyyyyybe :)

[@nemysboy85]

Played games 1-4 days a week for a couple years: Race for the galaxy for gamers only Red 7 with multiple engineers (I am not one) 7 wonders if knew the player count before hand For Sale or Point Salad when new people showed up Hive or Kahuna if it was just two (and we didn’t want to play Race for the Galaxy)

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Nice! You had a plan for every situation it seems. Very cool

[@peterkarlsson1825]

CIrcle the wagons, Coloretto, Conspiracy: Abyss Universe.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Great picks!

[@TisButAScratch666]

G'day Gents!! I bought an office copy of Cards Against Humanity (so not quite the kind of game normally featured here) every Friday lunch would be full of (inappropriate) laughter that often drew in players from other parts of the office curious to know the reason for the unusual rowdiness

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Hey that’s fantastic!! If it gets people together and enjoying each other’s company we’re all done it

[@ericegan5707]

Air Land and Sea and its expansion.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

good call we still need to try the expansion

[@zacharyhale4235]

Your job is real!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Yay!!

[@TheDavidPhillips]

Mine are Hive Pocket and Skulls of Sedlec - compact games that are easy to teach but have some good depth to them. Also, which are you more offended by - someone calling you "the Carrot Top of board games" or calling Carrot Top "the Brother Murph of Stand Up"?

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Oof that’s a tough call

[@olivierjodoin2283]

We had 45 minutes lunch gaming sessions weekly at the office with 2-5 players (pre-2020): Samurai Spirit Forbidden Desert Biblios San Juan Hanabi The Resistance Avalon Not Alone Skull Good times at the office with gamers...

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Nice! Sounds like it was a blast

[@dylanshearsbyart]

Keen to see part 2! Hit that like button

[@TheBrothersMurph]

wahoo!

[@digitalsublime]

Air, land & sea 🤙

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Good call!

[@HiddenKeep]

Ohanami in 10 minutes

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Good call!

[@megaman1on1]

Onitama, easily.

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Good call!

[@henriwhitehead]

Tussie Mussie or Sprawlopolis

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Great picks!

[@shardeus8637]

Pear 🍐 down the list … 😎

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Ayyyyyye

[@DekarNL]

Friday is terrible. 7 wonders duel is the best :) my fav is Perudo though. I also like pickomino and that's pretty clever

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Nawwwww Friday is great. We’ll have to look at Perudo and Pickomino

[@hansaugustsson7288]

Project L(unch break)

[@lordoftheflings]

no Battle Line?!

[@TheBrothersMurph]

Nope. To be fair we haven't played it

[@lordoftheflings]

@@TheBrothersMurph OMG its a two player Knizia classic! Do yourselves a favor, get it (its cheap and in print) and play it and review it. Or dont review it, just play it!