We may have replaced our old family board games with fancy consoles, but there are only so many Mario Kart circuits we can race before our brains begin to feel, well…like mush. Trying to entertain yourself by only reading books can nudge you further into self-isolation mode, while 1,000+ piece puzzles—although truly satisfying to complete—can be too challenging. But family board games? A foolproof cure for cabin fever.
Some games bring us together, others tear us apart (lovingly, of course)—either way, they’re exactly the kind of distraction we need right now. And it’s not just us; retailers everywhere are having a hard time keeping their board game from flying off warehouse shelves. And it makes sense—kids and adults alike are staring at monitors more than ever, now that we’re schooling or working from home. So to give your tired eyes a break from all the excess screen time while also reminding ourselves that social distancing doesn’t have to mean being antisocial, we rounded up the best family board games to play right now.
Whether you’re playing with two or four people, here are 16 options that will make to make every day feel like a Sunday. Ready, set, play.
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If you thought the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team was going to stay quiet about recent outrageous comments by U.S. Soccer regarding their equal pay lawsuit, you don’t know this USWNT.
In case you missed it, earlier this week court filings revealed some of the arguments U.S. Soccer (the team’s employer) is making as part of their argument that female players do not deserve the same pay as the men. (The USWNT sued the organization for gender discrimination in March 2019.) Among the U.S. Soccer claims are “biological differences” that they say prove the men’s team “requires a higher level of skill” and that “the job of a [men’s national team player] carries more responsibility within U.S. Soccer than the job of a [women’s national team] player.”
Megan Rapinoe and the rest of the women’s team had something to say about that. On March 11, the team was playing (ironically enough) for the She Believes Cup championship and chose to wear their warm-up shirts inside out during the National Anthem, hiding the U.S. Soccer crest in protest. “We just wanted to do something as team to show solidarity not only with ourselves but with all the little girls that those words were spoken to and the little boys and women out there as well who have been told that they are lesser than, just because of who they are,” Rapinoe said in The Guardian.
What was still showing, however, were the four stars representing the four World Cup titles the team has won. “We always feel like the most important and the most powerful thing is to play,” Rapinoe continued. “What we do on the field I think is the most powerful and inspirational, so it actually turned out that the only thing that was truly visible was our accomplishments, the stars on top, so that was a little unintended bonus. But we just wanted to show that that kind of rhetoric is obviously completely unacceptable. I know that we’re in a contentious fight but that crossed a line completely.”
Many fans on Twitter expressed their support for the women’s team.
Rapinoe talked about the damage caused by the information learned in the court filings. “It’s undertones and undercurrents, sometimes blatantly, that we’ve experienced before which is why we’ve filed the gender discrimination lawsuit,” she told The Guardian. “But for them to go that low and take it there in this lawsuit is not just disappointing for us, but more so for what it says to every other person in the country, every kid growing up, not only girls but the boys as well. You’re not lesser because you’re a girl and you’re not better because you’re a boy.”
Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Apparently, U.S. Soccer took notice because as the She Believes Cup was ending, the organization’s president Carlos Cordeiro issued an apology. “On behalf of U.S. Soccer, I sincerely apologize for the offense and pain caused by language in this week’s court filing, which did not reflect the values of our Federation or our tremendous admiration of our Women’s National Team,” he said in a statement, per ESPN. “Our WNT players are incredibly talented and work tirelessly, as they have demonstrated time and again from their Olympic Gold medals to their World Cup titles.”
Cordeiro also said they are adding new legal counsel to their team. “I have made it clear to our legal team that even as we debate facts and figures in the course of this case,” he continued, “We must do so with the utmost respect not only for our Women’s National Team players but for all female athletes around the world. As we do, we will continue to work to resolve this suit in the best interest of everyone involved.”
Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West attended the NBA All-Star game on Sunday (February 16) and had a slightly awkward moment on the jumbotron. When cameras pointed to Kim in the audience, she smiled and blew a kiss—looking as chic as ever—but then things turned hilariously cringe-y when she went to kiss Kanye. The rapper clearly didn’t notice Kim was going in for a smooch because he just sat next to her, totally expression-less. It’s truly so, so good.
See it for yourself in the Twitter video, below:
People on Twitter are, naturally, living for this moment. Below, just a few reactions:
Of course, you shouldn’t read too much into this. It’s clear Kanye wasn’t aware Kim was trying to kiss him. If he was, things probably would’ve panned out differently. Some fans pointed out that, despite being such an open couple, Kim Kardashian West and Kanye West don’t really do much PDA in the traditional sense.
“I don’t think he was paying attention lol y’all make something out of anything,” one person tweeted. Another wrote, “He’s obsessed with her. I’m sure he wasn’t paying attention lol.”
Kim’s had a string of viral moments lately. Earlier in February, the internet went bananas over her children’s playroom, which includes a mini-supermarket and concert stage.
“You guys always say my house is so minimal—well, you guys haven’t seen my playroom,” she said on Instagram Story before giving a tour of the space. And in January, people were just as infatuated with Kim’s fridge, which is walk-in. “I saw a bunch of comments from people wondering what I feed my four children,” she wrote in an Instagram Stories caption. “And since you guys are dying to know, here a little peak [sic] inside our main fridge filled with lots of fruits and veggies!”
It’s only a matter of time before the next viral Kardashian moment comes rolling in.
On sleep: Since the second official day of the [impeachment] trial began, I’ve been getting up in the mornings at 5 a.m., get into the office at 9 a.m., and then leave the office at 7 p.m. and then continuing to work until it’s over at 1:30 a.m. from home. The schedule is that [the senators] would go from 1 p.m. until about 9 p.m., if they took no breaks…and that’s not going to happen. We’re going as long as they’re going.
On running a literal marathon: I think this is the biggest impact that is happening—I still have to do my long runs. [Beesch will run the DC Rock ’n’ Roll Marathon on March 28.] This morning I had an eight-mile run; Friday, I have to do five; and Saturday, I’ll have to do 18. The trial will just change how much I’m able to rest for the next week or so.
On breaks: I usually just go get a coffee or take a walk around the block. I go into Union Station, if anything is still open.
On unwinding: Cooking and watching The Bachelor.
On making history: Working for C-Span is a truly unique experience at this point in our history, when so much of the public is divided on who to turn to for their news and information. The long hours can be jarring, but I feel grateful at this point in my career to be given the opportunity and responsibility to help cover an event of this magnitude.
Rachel Stassen-Berger, politics editor, the Des Moines Register
Stassen-Berger has been politics editor at the Des Moines Register since 2018. Before that she was capitol bureau chief at the St. Paul Pioneer Press in Minnesota.
Olivia Sun/Des Moines Register
On a normal work day: I generally wake up just before dawn, check my phones, and the work begins. My day at the office begins with a 9 a.m. news meeting with other editors, and then I go until I can go no more. [During the lead up to the] Iowa caucuses, I work seven days a week. Most of those days are long—between 12 and 14 hours.
On snacks: I am a snack provider, not a snack eater. I have six candy dishes (chocolate, wild card, hard candy, Starbursts, Altoids, and lollipops) and, currently, two mini gumball machines on my desk. I do nearly constantly chew nicotine gum (though I quit smoking more than a decade ago) and almost always have a big glass of water from which I guzzle.
On breaks: I don’t take actual breaks, but I occasionally break my concentration. And when I do, it’s to sing badly, groan at puns, and sometimes dance (also badly).
On unwinding: I’m currently streaming Bob’s Burgers. That and my lab-mix dog, the very smart and demanding Joplin, help me unwind.
On motivation: I truly believe in the work we do at the Des Moines Register. Covering the Iowa caucuses, being exposed to the people who want to be president and delivering needed news to Iowa, the nation, and the world is a thrill and an honor. The reporters and colleagues with whom I have the opportunity to work help make the work fun and inspiring.
I’m being truthful when I say I’ve never watched a televised sporting event from start to finish—baseball is boring, football too complicated, and I tend to lose interest in the frenetic back-and-forth of basketball, soccer, and hockey. Even so, I’ve known who Erin Andrews was since the early 2000s when she started working as a sideline reporter for ESPN, probably because there were so few women in her field that she became newsmaking by virtue of just existing. Since then, I’d argue that she’s risen to become one of the most well-regarded, influential sports reporters in the game, and the fact that she landed a hosting gig on Dancing With the Stars in 2014 speaks to her mass appeal with American audiences.
For her episode of “What I Wore When,” Erin wanted to talk about a sweater. Specifically, the three-quarter-sleeve V-neck she chose for her first major on-air job: Game 7 of the 2004 Stanley Cup playoffs between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Calgary Flames. A monumental opportunity for any burgeoning sports reporter, and one that seemed to call for neon green.
“I’m from Tampa Bay, and it was a huge game,” Erin told me. “I was like, ‘I really, really need an awesome shirt to wear.'” And so begins the story of how Erin and her parents went to the mall to find her something perfect. “We went to Ann Taylor, and it was in the front of the store, the front table … It was bright fluorescent green. I remember there was a yellow fluorescent one [and] a pink one. For some reason, that green one was calling my name.”
Andrews’ pivotal neon green sweater, which she wore during her first big on-air game in 2004. (YouTube)
Remember how obsessed we all were over the Case of the Game of Thrones Coffee Cup back in May? Well, rest easy, people: We finally have some answers.
If you need a refresher on the situation, here you go: In one of the episodes from Game of Thrones‘s final season, fans noticed an errant coffee cup placed next to Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), which was an obvious anachronistic mistake.
People were outraged that a show with such a massive budget could miss something so glaring—but, hey, people are human and they need their caffeine on long shoots.
People blamed Clarke, Sophie Turner, and Kit Harington at various times. “I hear this every day of my life. This coffee-cup thing,” Turner said in an interview on Conan back in June. “It’s good to know the coffee cup got more press than the final season altogether. The coffee cup was where Kit’s chair was. At first I blamed it on Emilia, but I don’t think Emilia would do that. Kit is lazy, and I think he would’ve done that. It was in front of Kit’s chair and then, obviously, he moved so this picture was taken, and it looked like it was in my seat. But I wasn’t there, either. It was Kit. It was 100 percent Kit.”
Yet, the mystery remained unsolved. But on last night’s The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Clarke put the questions to rest for good.
“Here’s the truth: We had a party before the Emmys recently and Conleth [Hill], who plays Varys—who’s sitting next to me in that scene—he pulls me aside and he’s like, ‘Emilia, I have got to tell you something, love. The coffee cup was mine,’” she said.
“It was his! It was Conleth’s coffee cup! He said so,” she continued. “He said, ‘I think it was. I am sorry, darling. I didn’t want to say anything because it seemed the heat was very much on you.’”
Watch Clarke explain this for yourself, below:
There you have it, everyone. I’d still probably blame it on Bran, but that’s just me.
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