The Most Popular Games of All Times for Seniors

It’s amazing how games can be timeless, loved by many generations of people around the world. Yet there are some games, classic or trendy, that really appeal to our senior folks. In this article, we will tell you all about the favourite games of seniors. The most popular games for seniors cover a wide variety of gameplay and designs. But regardless of the differences, these games have one thing in common: Seniors love these fun games and enjoy playing them in groups or solo.

Most Popular Games for Seniors: What Do Seniors Like Playing?

Games that find popularity among senior citizens fall into different categories. One by one, we will introduce games in the most well-known categories, in case you’ve never heard of a fun, entertaining game for seniors.  

Puzzles

A puzzle is an umbrella term for games requiring players to use their logic, put the pieces together, and solve a problem. Many seniors find this kind of game fun and challenging, not to mention appreciating its benefits and positive effects on our mental health.

Jigsaw Puzzle

This form of puzzle is so popular that it owns the general notion of puzzle games. Normally, when we hear the word puzzle, the first image that comes to our mind is a number of pieces that make up a whole picture after assembly.

Jigsaw puzzles are one of the best mind games and brain teasers for seniors.

Crossword Puzzle

Crosswords are the most famous kind of word puzzle that many seniors seem to enjoy. There’s something really enjoyable about filling the small squares with the correct words and coming up with answers.

Crossword puzzles are perfect for seniors, helping them improve their vocabulary, general knowledge, and memory.

Word Search Puzzles

There’s another type of word puzzle that needs you to find meaningful words out of the rows of letters in a box. Finding words and circling around them vertically, horizontally, and diagonally provides seniors with so much fun and confidence.

Word Games

Crosswords are fun word games, but many other word games have also stolen seniors’ hearts. Here are the most popular word games for seniors.

Scrabble

Any discussion on word games for seniors would be incomplete without mentioning the world’s favourite word game.

Scrabble is a fun group game that requires you to get the highest score by creating meaningful words on the board with your letter tiles.

Scrabble is popular because it is exciting, fun, and educational. It can improve our spelling, strategic thinking, and mental health.

Guess the Word

Another fun word game is a simple paper-and-pencil guessing one that brings so much fun to a group. The rules are simple: Someone draws a number of lines representing the number of letters in a word, and the other players have to guess the letters and find the word in question.

This game has many variations, but the most popular one is probably Hangman.

Boggle

Boggle is another word game seniors find enjoyable. This two-player game consists of a cube grid, 16 random lettered dice, and a timer. Each player tries to earn the highest score by finding meaningful words within the cube.

Tabletop Games for seniors

Many popular games have the label of tabletop games because players usually sit at a table while playing them. Tabletop games fall into different categories, including:

Dice games

Dice is an essential component for many board games, but many people seem to forget that you can play many games with dice only. Two of the most popular dice games are:

Farkle: In this game, each player throws six dice in every turn and keeps a record of their scores. The first player who gets a total score of 10,000 will win.

Yahtzee: There are 13 different scoring categories and 13 rounds for this game. Every player rolls five dice in each round and tries to get the highest score based on the chosen category.

Card Games

Obviously, one of the most entertaining game forms are those involving cards. Card games have so many variations, and you can play them in groups or on your own. 

Here are the best card games for seniors that can fill their days and nights with joy and fun:

Crazy Eights

This game is super fun. After dividing the carts among the players, you place one card face-up. Then, everyone puts a card underneath the one on top, matching either the suit or number. You are allowed to decide which suit each player should continue putting down cards of that suit when you play an Eight. The first player who runs out of cards wins. 

Bridge

This card game is rather simple. Of course, it has other complex variations. But for the main game, teams of two compete against each other, trying to bid the most for tricks.

Slapjack

Slapjack is also a very popular card game for older adults. The rule is simple: Be the first one to slap the jack! After dividing a card deck among all players, every player leaves their first card on the table facing up in clockwise order. The one who slaps the jack will get the whole pile of cards underneath it. 

Board Games

Board games are a classic choice for seniors because they come in many kinds with different kinds of gameplay. There is a fun, engaging, and challenging board game for every different taste and interest. Perhaps that’s why the game industry never stops producing different models of this game type. 

There are many types of board games, but the award must go to the following games when it comes to popularity among seniors:

• Chess 
• Checkers 
• Monopoly
• Qwirkle

All of these board games are challenging in their own way and help keep older adults’ minds sharp, especially chess, which is one of the fun brain games for seniors. 

Tile-Based Games

Another class of tabletop games includes games with tiles in different shapes. So many different gameplays are available in tile-based games. In fact, it’s safe to say that this group can easily compete with board games in terms of variety and range of models. 

Still, some tile-based games have more popularity among older adults than others, and those are: 

• Mahjong
• Dominoes
• Jenga

Seniors enjoy playing these widely famous games so much they can play them with family and friends for days. 

Video Games for Seniors

We are not sure why some consider video games to be only suitable for teenagers and younger people. In fact, some video games have a high percentage of senior players. Video games are entertaining, challenging, and available for computers or mobile phones. 

Here are the best video games for seniors:

• Wii Sports
• Animal Crossing (Series)
• Super Mario (Series)
• Candy Crush Saga
• Minecraft
• Plants vs. Zombies

 

Party Games for seniors

While there is no limit to the games you can play at a party, in this section, we want to talk about games of chance or conversation games that are super enjoyable for seniors when played with others.

Some of these games are actually pretty cool options for retirement parties, so have them in mind if you or any of your loved ones are close to retiring. 

• Bingo
• Truth or Dare
• Never Have I Ever: One player states a thing they have never done, and those who have done it must take a drink. 
• Who Am I: Write the name of a celebrity or any famous figure on a sticky note and stick it on a player’s forehead. They must guess the name of the person on the note. 
• Two Truths and a Lie: Everyone tells two truths and one lie about themselves, and others should guess which statement is a lie. This game can show how much a group knows about each other. 
• Finish the Lyrics: Someone starts singing a song, and the others should continue. You can make it nostalgic by singing the hit songs of the good old days. 

Final Words

Given the benefits of games for seniors, it’s no wonder why they try their best to fill their free time with all kinds of games. But it is worth mentioning that every senior has different interests. Some games, while widespread, may not appeal to some of us. While this article talked about the most popular games for seniors, we should focus on playing the games we like the most, not the games the world likes the most.