10 Most Creative Board Games To Tap Into Your Inner Artist

For those with a more creatively inclined mind, board games revolving around trivia and numbers can sometimes just miss the mark. Whether you want to sit down and play with family or pull out the board games at a party, here are 10 of the best creative board games. 

Grab some pencils, and dust off the right hemisphere of your brain – it’s known as the creative side, if you’re wondering what on earth I’m talking about – because we’re about to dive into some drawing, laughing, think-outside-the-box fun times. 

The Cat Game

The Cat Game is like Pictionary, except in every drawing, you have to use a cut out of a cat as part of the scene. With cat pun categories, such as fLICKS, PURRsons, and CAT-tivities, your aim is to depict your chosen cat in a way that clearly displays who or what it’s supposed to be. 

For small groups, each player creates their own cat-based work or art while other players try to guess what they’re trying to depict, and the first player to guess five correctly wins. For larger groups, players split into two groups and battle it out against each other until one team gets 20 points. 

Ransom Notes

As a writer, I couldn’t complete this list without a word-based creative game, and Ransom Notes is absolutely the best of the bunch. 

If you’ve played games like Cards Against Humanity or New Phone Who Dis?, you’ll know how to play Ransom Notes. You’ve got a limited number of word magnets, and you need to use them to answer prompts. With 840-word magnets and 250 prompt cards, there is an infinite possibility for replaying Ransom Notes and an endless possibility for hilarious outcomes. 

Six Second Scribbles

Six Second Scribbles challenges players to complete ten drawings within a minute, then pass their drawings on to the next person in order to let them figure out what on earth is on the paper. If the guessing player manages to decipher the doodles, both get some points. It’s simple and yet somehow incredibly chaotic. A minute has never felt so short. 

If you aren’t feeling creatively stretched enough with Six Second Scribbles, there’s also a follow-up in the shape of Six Second Scribbles 2, which comes with 100 additional categories and 1,000 new prompts.

Drawing Without Dignity

Imagine if Cards Against Humanity and Pictionary hooked up and spawned offspring, and you’ll end up with someone pretty close to Drawing Without Dignity. If there’s any game on this list that I’d recommend playing without children, it would absolutely be this one. Maybe save this for a grown-up get-together because your mind is heading straight to the gutter.

With prompts such as ‘drunk driving’ and ‘naughty school girl’, you’re going to have to be quick but accurate with your drawing skills. Drawing Without Dignity can be played individually with the included drawing pads or in teams if you happen to have a whiteboard handy. 

Artsy Fartsy

If you do want to play a potty-humor drawing game with children involved, then let me introduce you to Artsy Fartsy. 

Unlike the other games on this list, Artsy Fartsy was created with kids in mind (and a lot of the prompts were suggested by actual kids, which definitely shows) and can be played by anyone ages 10 or up. Not only do you have to draw things such as a dog eating poop or a farting lunch lady, but you may also find yourself challenged to draw blind or with your wrong hand. 

Pictionary

If you thought I was going to write this list without including the utter classic that is Pictionary, I’m sorry to disappoint, but there’s no way I could do that. 

Pictionary shouldn’t need too much explaining, but just in case:

Players are tasked with drawing an item as described on their prompt card, and other players must guess what that item is. Pictionary has been around for 40 years, comes with drawing prompts for players with differing capabilities, and can be played by players both young and old. It’s the perfect game for families, regardless of age or skill level. 

A Fake Artists Goes to New York

A Fake Artists Goes to New York is a team-based drawing game where players must collaborate to create a masterpiece by taking turns adding a line to the picture. However, one player has absolutely no idea what’s being drawn and must avoid being identified as the fake artist. 

A Fake Artist Goes to New York can be played with as many players as you like, though having more players will make it more difficult to find the imposter in your midst. Each round has a Gamemaster who comes up with the prompt, and the fake artist is randomly selected by drawing cards. 

Draw it, See it, Say it

Draw it, See it, Say it requires more than just drawing skills, instead asking players to collect nine cards from three different categories in order to win the game. Pink cards test your drawing skills, yellow cards test your memory, and green cards test your bluffing skills. 

Each player rolls a dice and whichever color ends up on top, they need to take a card that’s the same color. In each turn, players can win one or three points, depending on how much they want to challenge themselves, and bizarre prompts lead to a lot of laughter. 

Drawsome: Disney Edition

Drawsome: Disney Edition challenges you to not only draw your friends in the style of Disney, but also Disney characters in new and bizarre situations or combinations. Could you take Kermit the Frog and somehow combine him with Forky in order to create a cohesive work of art? I couldn’t, and I’m still trying to figure that particular combo out in my mind. 

Drawsome: Disney Edition is great for families, especially those with Disney-loving adults or children, and can be played with 3 to 10 players. You get five drawing boards and pens included, but this could easily be played using a simple pen and paper if you have more players. 

Block Party

If you’re not a fan of old-fashioned drawing, then Block Party might be for you. It’s like pixel art in physical form, and each player must build whatever is on their prompt card using the colored cubes provided. Imagine Pictionary and Minecraft joined forces, and you’d get Block Party.

There are also further challenges, such as ‘Technicolor,’ which challenges you to use the most possible colors, or ‘Tall Order’, which challenges you to create the tallest structure. There’s little need for artistic talent, although it definitely helps, and Block Party can be played by players of all ages.