9 Ways to Make Sure Your Next Board Games Night is Accessible for Everyone

Welcome to Press Play, POPSUGAR Australia’s first-ever gaming initiative focused on accessibility. Our aim is to shed light on the experiences of people with disability who play games, while helping to identify the features needed within games to make them truly accessible to all players.

The initiative includes interviews with key figures in the gaming space as well as first person pieces produced by writers with disability who can speak from experience about these features. Press Play is supported by our newly launched text-to-voice feature. You can find all the pieces here.

Gathering around the table for a board game can be a popular activity at family get-togethers and weekend getaways with friends. Sometimes, however, it can be tough to choose games that are appropriate or accessible for the whole group, especially if some have very different needs. Someone with ADHD, for instance, may struggle to remember all the rules for a certain game, or they may not find them very stimulating. Someone with visual or auditory impairments might not be able to play some classic table-top games that lean heavily on speech in the same way others can. People with mobility issues or tremors might find it difficult to play games that require holding cards or involve many small pieces.

But there are a few simple things you can do to make your next games night accessible for every player. While not everyone is the same, and we shouldn’t expect everyone to need or enjoy the same things, consider this list a good starting point when you’re organising your next games night. You’ll find some suggestions for accessible games, as well as some helpful tips that can make any game more accessible.

#1 Play Cooperative Games

These are known to appeal to us neurodivergent people with ADHD and/or autism because they involve groups of people coming together to form coalitions and work together for a common good. Examples include Pandemic, Hanabi, Hocus Pocus, Codenames: Duet, Spirit Island, Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective: The Thames Murders & Other Cases and The Captain Is Dead.

My personal favourite is Hanabi because of its simplicity, beauty and portability — since it’s a card game, you can easily bring it with you anywhere you go. The cards are sleek and look pretty, and the rules are simple enough to be accessible for anyone, while still being complex enough so that it’s actually pretty hard to truly “win” beyond working together.

#2 Play Games With Short Turns

People with ADHD generally experience hyperactivity and have difficulty paying attention, which means they can get distracted playing games with long waiting times between turns. The rules for Ticket to Ride are quite simple and the pacing of each turn is quick, but the strategy can get a bit more complex. In between turns, players have just enough time to consider their next moves, so there isn’t much down time as the other players make their moves.

#3 Choose Games that Spark their Interest

One of the best ways to appeal to someone who has ADHD is to simply choose games that ignite their passions — we’re known for our capacity to hyperfocus and fixate on the topics we love. Are the people coming to your games night passionate about dragons, words, numbers, puzzles, magic, jokes or art? There are games to fit all kinds of interests.

#4 Invest in Accessible Accessories

Sometimes, when playing games with older folks or people who have physical disabilities or limited use of their arms, hands or fingers, it can seem challenging to choose a game that includes everyone. Not only are there ways to adapt almost all games to be more accessible in these situations, but there are card holders available. Whether you’re playing Uno or something like What Do You Meme?, buying a few pieces of simple equipment can instantly make your games more accessible.

#5 Play Games That Don’t Need a Board

Games that are primarily cognitive can be a good option for people who have limited mobility in their arms, hands or fingers. Balderdash can be a good choice in this case since the game is mostly about coming up with alternative definitions to words to trick the other players into thinking your definition is the correct one.

#6 Write Down Your Answers

While there are some games that are made specifically for people with audio impairments, there are also many ways games can be adapted to meet the needs of those who have difficulty hearing. One approach to adapting games that usually rely on speech is to have everyone write down their answers rather than speaking them aloud. This can be done with games like Codenames and Decrypto.

The main issue you might have is other players who don’t want to change the way the game is normally played. The best thing you can do when playing a game with someone who has some degree of an audio or speech impairment is for everyone to get on the same page of communication — that is, everyone plays in a way that means everyone else can understand.

#7 Play Games That Don’t Require Speaking

Games that explicitly rule out speaking can be a good option to play with people who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech impairments. Games like Mysterium, Magic Maze, The Mind and The Fox in the Forest Duet, for instance, actually prohibit speaking, so there’s no unfair advantage given to any player.

#8 Play Games That Don’t Require Vision

The game Nyctophobia was created specifically for people who have visual impairments. It is a cooperative game where you try to escape a predator while unable to see. When you play, you wear dark glasses and have to touch the board and play pieces in order to plan your next move. Because no one can see in Nyctophobia, it’s a good game to play with people who have visual impairments as it gets everyone on the same page of communication again.

#9 Adapt Games You Already Play to Be More Accessible

The company 64 Oz. Games creates accessibility kits to adapt games you might already have to include tactile and braille components for people who are visually impaired. You can also check websites like Meeple Like Us, which reviews accessibility in games (although the site is currently on a hiatus and isn’t putting out new reviews, there’s still a large back catalogue offering great insights).

The number of accessible games available is growing, too, with many companies working on creating games with that mission in mind. So there are many tabletop and board games to play with the people you love who have different needs — and lots of ways to adapt your existing games to be more accessible.