We Have No Time for Anything – Short Board Games for Developing Reading Comprehension
I often hear the excuse that we don’t have time to sit down and play board games—work, kindergarten, school… However, the golden age of modern board games is also about having a huge selection, making it easy to find great games with a playtime of just 10-15 minutes.
Let’s take a look at a few!
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:
Working with children and searching for board games with a learning purpose, I have always found it particularly exciting to discover games that offer a lot in a short amount of time.
After all, children's attention spans often don’t extend beyond 10, 20, or 30 minutes. Many times, we only have a short break between classes, during lessons, or in the afternoon. As parents, we are often too tired to learn and manage complex, long games.
That’s why it’s always good to have a few short gems up our sleeve.
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.
Boggle
Dice, letters, words. A great combination.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 8 and up, 10 min, 1-8 players
Tools
16 letter dice, a 4x4 grid tray with a lid, a sand timer, and a rulebook.
Skills
The game enhances spelling, word recognition, vocabulary expansion, and quick thinking.
Instructions
Players shake the letter dice in the grid, then race against the timer to find as many words as possible by connecting adjacent letters. When time runs out, players compare words—only unique words score points. The player with the highest score wins.
Similo
Many themes, simple, clever, with minimal yet engaging text.
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 7 and up, 10-15 min, 2-8 players
Tools
Similo includes 30 illustrated character cards and a rulebook.
Skills
The game enhances reading comprehension, inference skills, logical reasoning, and associative thinking.
Instructions
One player gives clues using character cards, placing them vertically to indicate similarities or horizontally to show differences. The other players must eliminate characters based on these hints until only the correct one remains.
Speedy Words
A fast-paced word game that challenges players to think quickly, recall vocabulary, and react faster than their opponents—perfect for sharpening language skills in a fun way!
Age, Playing Time, Players
Recommended for ages 6 and up, 10-15 min, 2-8 players
Tools
60 double-sided category cards and a rulebook.
Skills
The game enhances vocabulary, quick word recall, categorization skills, and reading speed.
Instructions
Each round, a category card is revealed, showing a topic and a letter. Players race to say a word that fits both before anyone else. The fastest player wins the card, and the game continues until all cards are played. The player with the most cards wins.
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.
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.
