Beat the heat this summer, grab a friend, and play a STEM inspired board game!
The Society of Military Spouses in STEM (SMSS) is a gathering place for students and professionals across the globe to network and share their career journeys. Play is an important part of brain development not just for children researchers argue, but for adults too.
The SMSS mission is to help military spouses in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics fields reach their full potential and create a positive impact in their communities. Find out how you can join SMSS today.
Through these fun and informative games, you’ll manage flight operations on a NASA Apollo Mission, learn to balance the biochemical building blocks of life and flex your engineering skills as a builder of ancient wonders. Take a break from the lab bench and computer screen and add some nerdy play to your day!
*SMSS has no affiliation or relationship with any board game designer or developer.
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- Ages: 8+
- Players: 2-4
- Time: 45 min
- Type of game: cooperative game, strategy, public health, medical
- Work together as a team of international public health professionals to contain and cure diseases before they spread across the world. You’ll have to strategize each member’s special skills (scientist, quarantine specialist, medic, etc.) to move around the world and find a cure before the next outbreak arrives. Pandemic has three expansions and several spin-off games in which players can tackle diseases across time and space.
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- Ages: 12+
- Players: 2-6
- Time: 1 hour
- Type of game: strategy, environmental, ecological
- Can you survive with the fittest? In Evolution, players get to select which traits they think will best help their animal species thrive in their ecosystems. Each round players decide how to evolve their species, bigger, stronger, smaller, or swifter. This gives the game great replay as the combinations and species adaptations have endless options. In fact, there are 12,000 species to create! The fun continues in a stand-alone game called Evolution: Climate.
Space Explorers by Yuri Zhuralov
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- Ages: 10+
- Players: 2-4
- Time: 20-40 minutes
- Type of game: family, strategy, space, economic, exploration
- Join the scientists, engineers, and astronauts of the early space race. Players are put in charge of their very own research sections and your mission is to recruit specialists with the right skills to complete as many projects as you can. Build satellites, rockets, and space shuttles to be launched into space and history.
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- Ages: 8+
- Players: 2-4
- Time: 45 min
- Type of game: plant life, environment, strategy, energy, family
- Nurture your very own forest from seedling to old-growth tree. In Photosynthesis, plant your trees where they will gain the most light and nutrients. As the sun’s light moves around the board with each round, gather light points to grow your trees. Beware: growing in the shadows is tough work for young saplings!
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- Ages: 8+
- Players: 2-4
- Time: 45 min
- Type of game: family, planet building, environment
- Think you can build a sustainable planet that will support a diversity of plants and animals? Try it out! In each round players work to select an environment to add to their world. By skillfully arranging environments like oceans, deserts, and forests, players compete to build the best conditions for life to succeed.
Cytosis: A Cell Biology Board Game
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- Ages: 10+
- Players: 2-4
- Time: 1hr+
- Type of game: biology, cells, science, strategy, medical
- Learn how life works at its smallest level. Players direct cellular resources around the cell, triggering reactions that transform ATP and mRNA into proteins, hormones, steroids, and enzymes. Strategize what you build to earn the most health points and win! The game also includes a virus expansion in which players work to develop immunity against multiple viruses.
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- Ages: 10+
- Players: 1-5
- Time: 1hr+
- Type of game: wildlife, conservation, ornithology, family, strategy
- In Wingspan, players get to collect and preserve over 170 unique birds by laying eggs, feeding, and sustaining each bird’s habitat, from water and grasslands to pristine forests. The game’s beautiful illustrations are also educational and inform players of each bird’s home range and life cycle requirements. Ready to fly to new lands? Check out the Wingspan European and Oceania Expansions.
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- Ages: 12+
- Players: 2-6
- Time: 90-120 minutes
- Type of game: economic, energy, resource management, investment, strategy
- Players compete to build the largest energy network across the land, using coal, uranium, oil, or green resources. Collect income to bid on power plants and expand your network. Can you balance your budget and build an energy empire? Power Grid has multiple expansions that include maps of North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, as well as robot and stock market expansions.
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- Ages: 8+
- Players: 2-6
- Time: 45 min
- Type of game: family, environmental, travel
- Marvel the wonder of the Grand Canyon, soar over the Great Smokey Mountains and sail to the Hawaiian Volcanos as you trek across the National Parks. Players gain points as they build campsites and collect experience gemstones. It’s a race to visit the most parks and gain the most stones to win!
Tesla Vs. Edison: Current Wars
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- Ages: 14+
- Players: 2-5
- Time: 20+ min
- Type of game: economic, strategy, engineering, technology
- Players are dropped into a historical battle as competing investors work to build the wondrous technology of electricity and spread it across the United States. Battle your opponents by manipulating the stock market, build a company with skilled inventors, and expand your electric company. Game expansions include a duel game for 2 players and Tesla vs Edison: Powering Up!
Apollo: A Game Inspired by NASA Moon Missions
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- Ages: 12+
- Players: 2-5
- Time: 20-60 min
- Type of game: space, aeronautics, exploration, strategy, cooperation
- Work on team astronaut or team mission control to make history and send mankind to the moon. Players work together to overcome the challenges of engineering and manning a spacecraft into orbit, as well as maintaining communications, and conducting experiments. The success of each mission, inspired by historical NASA flights, hinges on the team’s ability to complete flight assignments and experiments.
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- Ages: 10+
- Players: 3-4
- Time: 60-120 minutes
- Type of game: family, resource management, economic, negotiation
- Does this board game classic of 25 years even need an introduction? Grab your friends and travel to the island of Catan where you’ll compete for natural and manmade resources to build your civilization. There are multiple expansions and spinoffs of Catan from space to sci-fi and fantasy worlds.
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- Ages: 14+
- Players: 2-5
- Time: 45-75 min
- Type of game: family, environment, animals, ecology
- Join the epic migration of monarch butterflies from Mexico up across North America in Mariposas. Guide your family of butterflies by scoring points with life cycle cards, seasonal points, and pollination resources. The player with the most butterflies returning home wins!
Subatomic: An Atom Building Game
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- Ages: 14+
- Players: 2-4
- Time: 40-60 minutes
- Type of game: atoms, deck building, family strategy, math, chemistry, particle physics
- Players start with the smallest particles of photons and quarks and work up to build atoms and elements in Subatomic. As players gain points, they can recruit the assistance of historical scientists to help them gain special skills.
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- Ages: 10+
- Players: 2-7
- Time: 30 min
- Type of game: civilization-building, economic, history, war, science, strategy
- Step back in time and discover what it takes to build an ancient world wonder. Players must wisely collect and manage resources to build their city, all the while keeping an eye on their neighbors for trade and war. After three ages, the player with the most advanced civilization wins the game. But will you win with science, trade, military, or diplomacy? 7 Wonders also features several expansions that feature historical leaders, additional cities, and seafaring armadas.
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- Ages: 10+
- Players: 2+
- Time: 45 min
- Type of game: computer security, IT, strategy, teamwork
- This card game, developed by Black Hills Information Security, allows players to learn how to address and overcome digital security incidents. With over 3, 840 scenarios for players to tackle, the re-playability is high. Can you stop a vicious malware attack and protect your company? Developed for workplace tabletop exercises this game is also a blast for computer science students and fans.
Code Master: Programing Logic Game
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- Ages: 8+
- Players: 1
- Time: 10 +
- Type of game: logic, basic computer programing, strategy
- In Code Master, players learn the basic rhythm of how computers use step-by-step sequences to make things happen. With over 60 levels to puzzle through, this single-player game will keep you busy. Players can adapt Code Master to various levels of difficulty for added brain ticklers. Additional games in the logic and coding series from ThinkFun games include //CODE: Rover Control, On the Brink, and Robot Repair.
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- Ages: 10+
- Players: 2-7
- Time: 30-60 min
- Type of game: strategy, card building, civilization-building
- Do you have the engineering know-how and political acumen to become a master builder? Find out in Citadels, where players must hire the right skilled workmen to build eight grand buildings and gain the favor of the king to win. Citadels has an expansion called Dark City.
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- Ages: 14+
- Players: 2-4
- Time: 15-30 min
- Type of game: math, programming, history, problem-solving
- Work with geniuses Ada Lovelace and Charles Babbage to mathematically build their groundbreaking computer. Racing against the clock, players work through math problems to gain the support of historical patrons and build new knowledge. New calculations, subroutines, and character abilities will shake up your experience each time you play.
- Ages: 12+
- Players: 1-5
- Time: 2 hours
- Type of game: space, strategy, economic, world building, technology
- Can you build a successful settlement for humans to thrive on Mars? Each player acts as a CEO of a unique company. It’ll take great skill to find the right balance of technology, resource management, and environmental planning to make your corporation the winner. There are five expansions to add unending challenge and fun to your time in on the Red Planet.
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