The Five Most Famous Board Games in the World
People play board games in every country. Here are the five most famous ones.
Number 1 is chess. It is about 1,500 years old. It comes from India. Two players move pieces on 64 squares. The queen is the strongest piece. About 600 million people play it.
Number 2 is checkers. The pieces are small round discs. You jump over the other player's pieces. A piece at the end becomes a king. It is easy to learn.
Number 3 is Monopoly. You buy streets and build little houses. It started in America in 1935. Shops in more than 100 countries sell it. One game can take many hours.
Number 4 is Scrabble. You make words with letter tiles. Hard letters like Z give big points. It can help you learn English.
Number 5 is backgammon. It is about 5,000 years old. You roll two dice and move fast. Old and young people play it together.
These games do not need a screen. You only need a table and a friend.
Big words
- board game
- A game you play on a flat board on a table
- piece
- A small object you move in a game
- dice
- Small cubes with dots from one to six
- tile
- A small flat piece with a letter on it
- square
- One small box on a game board
What do you think?
Which of the five games do you want to play first, and who will you play with?
Talk about it with a grown-up, or write your answer in English.
For grown-ups
This is a real story from Encyclopaedia Britannica (chess), Encyclopaedia Britannica (Monopoly), rewritten for children. Read the full version for English learners at A1, A2 or B1 — with vocabulary, a grammar note and a quiz. How we write the news.
