Get Out the Games this Holiday Season, Montana. Here are Your Favorites

The holiday season is upon us and for many Montanans that means spending time with friends and family. After the dishes are cleared, we might return to the table for traditional holiday get-together games.

What are the most popular board games in Big Sky Country?

My family are card players. We played Hearts a lot when I was growing up, and Norwegian Rummy usually gets played at Thanksgiving or Christmas too, a fun - frustrating - game with multiple decks of cards that can take hours to complete.

Gaming site clash.gg analyzing Google search trends in each state over the last 11 months, using terms such as [game] rules, purchase, how to play, etc. According to those search results, these are the most popular board games in Montana.

1. Sorry!

Patented in England in 1929, Parker Brothers brought the game to the US in 1934, where it remains quite popular. This game is great if you have younger kids because it's easy to play.

2. Monopoly

If starting a family feud over the holidays sounds like fun, then whip out a Monopoly board for your post-turkey game action. Someone will be upset in no time.

3. Backgammon

A classic game that I never learned how to play. I still don't know what the flip side of the checkerboard (with all those pointy arrows) is for.

4. Catan

Unfamiliar with Catan? Me too. It appears to be an empire-building board game, where you and other players trade resources, draw cards, and roll dice to become the winner.

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5. Risk

Inducted into the National Toy Museum Hall of Fame in 2021, the strategy game was invented by a French filmmaker in 1957 and released in the US in 1959.

6. Chess

One of the oldest games in the world (invented in India in 600 AD), the game of chess can be easy to learn, but hard to master.

7. Parcheesi

Around 1870 Parcheesi was introduced to the United States and is one of the oldest trademarked games in America (1874).

8. Ticket to Ride

This train-themed game is somewhat similar to Monopoly; instead of hotels and houses, players attempt to connect matching railways across the board.

9. Trouble

Another go-to option if your game night includes younger kids. Trouble is simple. Pop the bubble with the dice inside and try to get your four pieces across the board to "home".

10. Wingspan

We're talking birds for this board game, described as "a competitive, medium-weight, card-driven, engine-building board game from Stonemaier Games."