The computer takes the other chair
Most of these games were made for two people and a table. Here the computer plays the other side, and it is a patient opponent: nothing times your move, so you can think it over at your leisure, or get up and come back. Chess, Reversi, Checkers and Line of Four each offer Easy, Medium and Hard, so you can decide how much trouble you want. The one game that keeps moving without you is Bingo, where the numbers go on being called, though you can set the pace to Slow.
Thinking games, old games and dice
Thinking games. Chess includes castling, en passant and promotion, and its undo button is there for the slip of a finger. In Checkers captures are compulsory, and the game tells you when one is waiting. Go can be played on a 9 by 9 or a 13 by 13 board, and the question mark at the top opens an illustrated guide to the rules.
Old games. Hnefatafl comes from Viking Scandinavia, and it is played here in its nine-by-nine form with two unequal sides: a king with eight men who must get him to the edge, and sixteen attackers who must stop him. You can take either side. Nine Men's Morris has been found cut into Roman roof tiles. In Mancala everything can be counted, because the number of seeds in a pit tells you exactly where the last one will land. Fox & Geese sets one fox against thirteen geese on a cross-shaped board, and here too you choose your side.
Dice. Backgammon gives you a choice with every throw. Yatzy is a scorecard you fill in alone, against your own best total. Farkle and Pig come down to knowing when to stop rolling, and Shut the Box to choosing which numbers to close. Ludo has more choices in it than people remember. Snakes & Ladders has none, which can be a relief once you have made enough decisions for one day.
For the time you have
A game of Line of Four or Tic Tac Toe takes a couple of minutes. Checkers or Backgammon will last about as long as a pot of tea. Chess on Hard, or Go on the larger board, can fill an evening if you let it. If you have not played a board game in years, Checkers on Easy is a good way back in, and its undo button is as forgiving as the one in Chess.
Elsewhere on the site: logic games, word games, memory games, card games.