2010s Games: Best Board, Card And Video Games

Codenames and Cards Against Humanity at parties, Minecraft and Fortnite everywhere else.

Below: the board games of the 2010s, the card games people played, the video and arcade games of the era, and how games actually got played at home.

Handy for a themed party, a quiz round, a reminiscence session or working out what someone played growing up.

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Cards, prints and badges, made by us

Funny and warm greeting cards, art prints and pin badges, printed in the UK. We do not sell games - this guide is free to read, print and copy.

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Board games of the 2010s

  • Codenames (2015) - two teams, one grid, and a lot of shouting.
  • Pandemic Legacy: Season 1 (2015), which changed what a board game could be.
  • Azul (2017) and Wingspan (2019), both beautiful and both award winners.
  • Articulate!, Jenga and Trivial Pursuit, still the family Christmas three.
  • Escape rooms in a box, from about 2016.

Card games of the 2010s

  • Cards Against Humanity (2011) - crowdfunded, rude, and at every student party.
  • Dobble (2009 in France, and a UK staple through the decade).
  • Exploding Kittens (2015), one of the biggest crowdfunders ever.
  • Sushi Go! (2013) and Love Letter (2012), small boxes, quick games.
  • Pokemon cards, back again with the next generation.

Video and arcade games

  • Minecraft (full release 2011) - the game that a whole generation grew up inside.
  • Candy Crush Saga (2012) and mobile gaming as a mass habit.
  • Pokemon GO (2016), which got the country walking round parks.
  • Nintendo Switch (2017) and Fortnite (2017).
  • Among Us (2018), which would not become huge until 2020.

How people played

  • The phone became the most played games machine in the house.
  • Board game cafes and Kickstarter between them created a proper hobby scene in Britain.
  • Party card games got shorter, louder and easier to explain.

Years covered in the 2010s

  • 2010 - A hung parliament, a volcano that stopped the planes and the first iPad. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2010
  • 2011 - The royal wedding, the riots and Adele's 21. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2011
  • 2012 - The Diamond Jubilee and the London Olympics in one extraordinary summer. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2012
  • 2013 - A royal baby, Andy Murray at Wimbledon and the horsemeat scandal. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2013
  • 2014 - The Scottish referendum, the ice bucket challenge and streaming joining the chart. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2014
  • 2015 - The Queen's record reign, Leicester's title run beginning and Adele's return. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2015
  • 2016 - Leicester won the league, Britain voted to leave and a lot of people died. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2016
  • 2017 - Grenfell, the Manchester Arena attack and a snap election that went wrong. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2017
  • 2018 - A royal wedding, a heatwave and England reaching a World Cup semi-final. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2018
  • 2019 - A cricket World Cup final nobody could believe and a December election. Full year: /blogs/news/look-back-to-2019
  • That is every 2010s year we have written up so far: 2010 to 2019.

How to use this

  • Themed party: pick one board game and one card game from the list and have both out on the table.
  • Quiz round: read a game and ask for the decade, or read the year and ask for the game.
  • Reminiscence: ask what was under the tree one Christmas. Games get remembered better than clothes.
  • Anyone born in 2010 turns 50 in 2060, 60 in 2070 and 70 in 2080.

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Found your words? Now find the card

Shop greetings cards Look back to 2010 Look back to 2011 Look back to 2012

How to write it so it lands

  • Release years matter: a game can be invented in one decade and only reach British shops in the next.
  • For a party, pick a game people can join halfway through. Nobody wants to start Monopoly at ten o'clock.
  • Boot sales and charity shops still turn up the original boxes, usually with one piece missing.

Where to shop next

Frequently asked questions

What board games were popular in the 2010s?

Codenames (2015) - two teams, one grid, and a lot of shouting. The full list above covers the rest of the decade's boards.

What card games did people play in the 2010s?

Cards Against Humanity (2011) - crowdfunded, rude, and at every student party. The card games section above has the others.

What video games came out in the 2010s?

Minecraft (full release 2011) - the game that a whole generation grew up inside. The section above lists the arcade, console and computer games of the era.

Do you sell games?

No. We make greeting cards, art prints and pin badges in the UK. This guide is free to read and free to copy - charity shops and second-hand sites are the best place to find the older games.

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