Physical board / tabletop games?

[penguinwithasuitcase]

I'm English, DP and DSS are Spanish.

DSS speaks English at about the same level I speak Spanish - decent, but not super-confident/fluent. DP fluent in both.

I'd love to find a game we can play at Christmas that's more acting/dexterity/physical-based, so everyone's on a level playing field language-wise.

I've got us a Gravitrax kit which I'm really excited about, but what else is there that we can play together that doesn't involve words TOO much?

How old is dss?

King domino involves building you own little landscape area of tiles. Definitely more thinking than talking.
Sagrada - you have your own board and you are focusing on creating a stained glass window (far more fun than it sounds).
Quacks of quedlingburg- you have your own cauldron board and pull ingredients out of your bag to put in your own cauldron. You mainly focus on not letting your cauldron explode.

None involve acting or moving about (so not quite what you asked for) but they are all good games where you must focus on your own board to win!

They all have walk through available on you tube.

@plixy

How old is dss?

He's 15

@Authenticcelestialmusic

King domino involves building you own little landscape area of tiles. Definitely more thinking than talking. Sagrada - you have your own board and you are focusing on creating a stained glass window (far more fun than it sounds). Quacks of quedlingburg- you have your own cauldron board and pull ingredients out of your bag to put in your own cauldron. You mainly focus on not letting your cauldron explode.

None involve acting or moving about (so not quite what you asked for) but they are all good games where you must focus on your own board to win!

They all have walk through available on you tube.

Thanks! I'd like to find something that has us playing more together than separately, but I'll definitely check these out

DSS is a kinesethetic learner, so elements of what you've described could be great for him.

Flick em up?

It immediately sprang to mind, as I accidently bought the Spanish version for DH one Xmas, but it made no difference 😅. It is cowboy themed, and you have to shoot each other by flicking a disk at each other's cowboys to knock them over. It's the sort of game where you would probably evolve your own rules, rather than referring to the instructions too closely.

(King Dominoes and Quarks as listed above are both great too)

Blokus
Rummikub
Beer pong
Quirkle
OK play
Simon Air
Shut The Box

Ooh lots to check out! Thank you @CaptainMerica and @Ricekrispie22!

Jenga

Twister

Skull Island Adventure is a table top pin ball game.

Lightening Reaction - you watch the flashing light and then press a button and slowest to react gets an electric shock.

Labyrinth isn’t kinaesthetic but it’s mostly pointing and pictures so might be suitable if you’d like a quieter one too.

Rummikub is great

Azul is very visual and you can get the instructions as pdf online in different languages.
Spanish/Portuguese theme in some ways so depends if he would notice/think it was cheesy.
boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/230802/azul

My DD is a younger than your DSS but she loves Ticket to Ride. It is based mostly on colours and city names. We have the European version, which could be a nice game to play - you could give bonus points for Spain to UK train routes!

Authenticcelestialmusic has given 3 games I would also recommend- we've played all three in the last week!
I immediately thought of Magic Maze as you mostly aren't allowed to talk during it; it's basically working together to navigate an emerging maze & both great fun & utterly infuriating

Another vote for Quacks. Also:

Greedy Greedy Goblins
Sheriff of Nottingham
Galaxy Trucker
Clank
Carcassone

Came on to say Carcassonne.

We have a game called Battle Dome. Basically, balls cascade down the dome and players use flippers to protect their goal mouth and at the same time fire the balls into other players goal mouths.
I don't think you can buy it new but ebay has them secondhand.

www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vintage-1991-Parker-BATTLE-DOME-Rapid-Fire-Motorised-Game-/333798309180?var=0&mkevt=1&mkcid=1&mkrid=710-53481-19255-0&campid=5338268676&toolid=10044&customid=EAIaIQobChMI96KTmprv8gIVlJCyCh2zPg6tEAQYDCABEgIcr_D_BwE

@Gibbonsgibbonsgibbons I immediately thought of Magic Maze as you mostly aren't allowed to talk during it; it's basically working together to navigate an emerging maze & both great fun & utterly infuriating

We have this and love it but people tend to bang tap the table and make very frustrated faces and serious eyebrow movement when someone misses the move you wish them to make.