Boosting Teenage Reading Skills: Engaging Strategies to Inspire Young Readers
An important question is whether teenagers even want to play board games. We’ve addressed this in a separate piece, but here we want to focus on the moments when board gaming is truly motivating for them.
It’s also possible that board gaming is already a hobby they enjoy, but we haven’t yet considered using it as a tool to boost their reading motivation.
Written by
Máté Lencse
Educator, game designer,
founder of PlayWise
Why listen to him?
Máté has been regularly playing modern board games and classic abstract board games since 2013. He plays because he loves to. He plays because as an educator, it is his most important motivational and developmental tool. He plays because as a father, it is one of the highest quality times spent with his daughter. He plays because it adds to his marriage. He plays to get to know games and as a game designer, to be able to create new ones. Thus, it's not surprising that he often plays through 15-20 games weekly. Learn more about him and his background on his author page or follow him on social media:
I think the best way to approach this question is through the concept of coolness. Or, to put it another way, my experience has shown that this often works.
Offering teenagers a cool card game—one that appeals to their competitive spirit, fast-paced gameplay, and the fun of messing with each other—can be a great entry point. And the fact that they have to read while playing doesn’t necessarily bother them. Or if it does, they quickly get over it.
Card Games
It’s incredibly easy to find simple, quick card games with short playtimes. They require nothing more than a few cards, maybe some tokens, and can be played anywhere. And if the cards contain text, then we’re not just having fun—we’re also boosting reading motivation and improving comprehension skills.
A clever hidden-role game where you never know whom to trust.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 10 and up, 30-60 min, 2-8 players
Tools
Citadels (2016) includes: 27 character cards, 84 district cards, 30 gold tokens, and 1 crown marker.
Skills
From a language perspective, it enhances reading comprehension, strategic decision-making based on card text, and verbal interaction as players negotiate and bluff.
Instructions
In the game, players take on different character roles each round, using their unique abilities to collect gold, build districts, and outmaneuver opponents, aiming to construct the most valuable city.
Love Letter
Just 16 cards and 9 characters, yet it's clever and exciting.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 10 and up, 20 min, 2-4 players
Tools
16 character cards, 4 reference cards, 13 favor tokens, and a rulebook.
Skills
The game enhances reading comprehension, deduction, bluffing, and strategic communication, as players must interpret card effects and anticipate opponents' moves.
Instructions
Players take turns drawing and playing cards, using character abilities to eliminate opponents, gather information, or protect themselves, with the goal of delivering their love letter to the princess by being the last player standing or holding the highest-value card at the end of the round.
The Deadlies
If you love messing with your opponents, this is the game for you—but only if you're good at finding the right combos.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 10 and up, 30 min, 3-6 players
Tools
57 playing cards, 7 reference cards, and a rulebook.
Skills
The game enhances reading comprehension, strategic thinking, and verbal interaction, as players must carefully interpret card abilities and plan their moves accordingly.
Instructions
Players compete to be the first to empty their hand by playing cards that represent the seven deadly sins, each with unique effects that disrupt opponents or manipulate the game state. Strategic card play, clever combos, and reading opponents' intentions are key to victory.
Quick Games
Another winning strategy is choosing games with a short playtime—something that fits into a school break, 10-15 minutes. Teenagers are usually willing to play for that long, even if they’re not immediately hooked. But if the game is good, we can use these short sessions to convince them to try more complex language-based games later.
In any case, it’s always smart to have a few quick game ideas up your sleeve. That has never been a problem.
Bananagrams is a fast-paced, Scrabble-like word game where players race against each other to build a grid of words using their letter tiles, without the need for a board or a turn-based system.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 7 and up, 15 min, 1-8 players
Tools
The game includes 144 letter tiles, all stored in a unique banana-shaped pouch for easy transport and storage.
Skills
Bananagrams enhances vocabulary, immediate word formation skills, anagram creation, linguistic creativity.
Instructions
The game begins with a number of tiles drawn face-down and proceeds as players draw and rearrange their tiles to form words in crossword fashion, adapting as new tiles are drawn until the pool of tiles runs out.
Word Bits
Simple rules, simple ideas, true Knizia ease.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 8 and up, 20 min, 2-4 players
Tools
60 cards, 4 dice, 1 rulebook
Skills
Develops vocabulary and quick thinking skills.
Instructions
We flip a card that has a word on it and an indication of how many dice letters need to be used. Then we roll the 4 dice, and the player who can quickly say an appropriate word wins the card.
A fast-paced word game where you either win with smart questions or deceive others with clever bluffing—but watch out, the werewolf is watching!
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 8 and up, 10 min, 4-10 players
Tools
40 word cards, 22 role cards, 36 "Yes"/"No"/"Maybe" tokens, 1 mayor marker, and a rulebook.
Skills
The game enhances vocabulary, deductive reasoning, question formation, and verbal communication, as players must ask strategic questions to guess the secret word while identifying hidden roles.
Instructions
Players try to guess a secret word by asking the mayor yes/no questions, while a hidden werewolf misleads them. If they guess the word in time, they win—unless the werewolf can identify the Seer, who secretly knew the answer all along.
My own game designs
Although the following two board games are currently available only in Hungary, their mechanics make them a perfect fit for this topic, showcasing my passion for language-based games. However, I’m also sharing them here to encourage you to explore your own local market, as there are likely many nationally developed games out there that I haven’t even heard of.
Language games, in particular, can be highly culture-dependent, making them unique and deeply rooted in their linguistic context. So, happy hunting—and hopefully, you’ll find some great inspiration below!
Abszolút képtelen sztorik (Absolutely Impossible Stories)
Tetris? Word formation? Brain burner? Roll and write Scrabble.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 9 and up, 60 min, 3-6 players
Tools
30 double-sided story cards, 9 number cards, 42 character and voting cards, Story booklet and notepad
Skills
Linguistic expression, listening comprehension, text creation, writing, reading.
Instructions
Players create sentences based on their own story card, which are then put to a vote. The best sentences come together to form a complete story, but points aren’t earned just for good writing—you can also score by accurately predicting the preferences of the other players.
Abszolút megvadult betűk (Absolutely Wild Letters)
Tetris? Word formation? Brain burner? Roll and write Scrabble.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 9 and up, 60 min, 1-6 players
Tools
1 pad of double-sided paper game boards, 6 dice, game rules
Skills
The game develops vocabulary, creativity, and strategic planning.
Instructions
The dice in the game only feature consonants. After rolling, you must form words by adding vowels and then write them on your board in any way you choose. The goal is to cover as much area as possible and to place letters on highlighted spaces that can be used to form additional words.
