This list was recommended to us by the winner of one of our 25k like giveaway posts! This list's title gave us such a laugh that we decided that we had to write up a full blog about it!

These games have been claimed as notorious destroyers of friendship and betrayals alike! And I’m going to explore why below!

1. Settlers of Catan

For many, Settlers of Catan is their gateway board game. It offers a look into what you might be getting yourself into if you continue your journey into the world of board games.

In Settlers of Catan, you are going to need to use a combination of strategy and resource management to come out as the winner! Needing to get the right materials to build roads and houses and relying on dice rolls to get these resources and determining how much you can build. On the surface, Settlers of Catan appears to be a nice engine building game that you can share with your friends.

Settlers of Catan encourages trading and negotiation between you and the other players, offering trades for resources or even for another player to stay out of your path so you can finish your road. These are not binding contracts and someone will definitely renege on their end of the bargain. This is where you learn who your true friends are.

2. Splendor

In Splendor you and your friends take the roles of wealthy Renaissance merchants buying and selling gems to refine into beautiful jewels. 

As these wealthy merchants you will be using strategy and tactics to get the upper hand and become the most established merchant. To do this you will need to be purchasing development cards and attracting nobles to shop for your jewels. You are trying to ensure that you are being as efficient as possible when crafting your engine and want to be buying cards for as little gems as possible!

Though this game is quite simple, don’t let your friends fool you, because in doing so it will leave you left behind! Splendor is in essence, an engine building game, however as the information is mostly open, you can see what other players are going for. So you will have plenty of opportunities to decide whether to make a move to help your engine along, or to cripple one of the other players’. Alternatively, other players will be able to see what you’re going for and could take that emerald card that you needed for your engine. Always keep an eye on everyone around you as you don’t really know what they’re going to do 👀

3. Ticket To Ride

You and your friends will be creating train lines across the country in Ticket to Ride. Easy to understand and easy to play!

Ticket To Ride is a strategy game about making routes between cities to form connections between the desired destination. Players will need to balance collecting new cards by locking new routes in the board, while also reacting and adapting to what other players are doing. You will need to do this all while deciding how much you are willing to push your luck with additional destinations.

Don’t let the accessibility of this game fool you, while playing, your friends can ruin your life. Depending on your strategy you will eventually need to take additional destination cards, but when is the best time to take them? Do you take them early so you have more time to optimise your track? Leaving your plans to be ruined by the actions of other players? Or do you focus on completing your initial destinations and risk your snake friends ruining your chance at gaining extra destinations.

4. Exploding Kittens

It’s time to blow yourself up, or your friends up, with kittens. You and your friends will be drawing cards in hopes to not be the one to draw an exploding kitten who via proximity, will explode you too.

In Exploding Kittens, players will be rewarded for concentrating, being patient and having a good poker face. Easy to learn, but not so easy to master, players will be challenged to be the last player standing to be crowned the winner. 

While there is a small bit of luck in drawing the cards that may save you, this game will have your friends trying to send exploding kittens your way. It will have you thinking whether your opponent knows that you know that they don’t have a defuse card left. Or that they know that you think that they think that you know that they don’t have a defuse card left. You’ll never be able to trust your friends again.

5. Fluxx

In this game with its rules that are always changing, will you get lucky?

The set up for Fluxx is very simple, you shuffle the deck of cards, deal each player three cards and then placing the deck in the center of the play space. The basic rule of the game is to draw a card and then play a card every turn, although it will not stay this way during play! Players can play rule cards to change up the rules!

Having the rules changed constantly can either help or hinder you. If you’re close to achieving the end goal and a player changes the rules, it can put you back to square one. If your friends are anything like mine, they will be constantly changing the rules to try to mess with you. You will probably be confused, and you will definitely turn to your friend in absolute disdain as they rip your chances of victory away from you in seconds!

And there we have it! Based on the winning entry from Jordan Noyce from our 25K like giveaway! What do you guys think? Let us know in the comments below!