Our Family’s Favorite Board Games to Play Together
We love to play games together as a family. I bet your family enjoys having family game nights too!
Playing games is a great way to unwind together and connect as a family. Here’s a list of our family’s favorite board games for our weekly family game night.
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As the kids have gotten older, we have passed on some of the classics for younger kids, such as Memory and Chutes and Ladders, to our younger cousins.
(Check out this long list if you are looking for the best educational board games just for preschoolers.)
These family game night games are the ones we’re enjoying now that our kids are in upper elementary to high school.
Best Games for Family Game Night
Here are some of our family’s favorite board games, in no particular order.
Strategy-Based Games
Blokus – This one has been great for my kiddos with language delays and dyslexia because it only uses visual processing skills. We have both the 4-player and the travel size 2-player versions.
Chicken War – This quirky game requires strategy as well as guessing, but is much easier than many other strategy type games (like Catan or Risk). This one also uses visual skills to help those with language or reading difficulties.
Risk – This strategy game has also been around a while. It is my son’s favorite and will definitely keep a family busy for a LONG time! The game board is a map of the world and the object of the game is to take over the world! (mwaahaha!) There’s even a Lord of the Rings edition if you are a fan of that series.
Settlers of Catan – This one is my favorite as it requires some strategy, but doesn’t take as long to play as Risk. You build settlements and roads using the natural resources collected from your lands. Get the “base game” to begin with, then add the expansion packs as birthday gifts for your kids. There are additional themed base games too, like Starfarers and Seafarers. There’s a Catan Jr. for your younger kids too.
Forbidden Island – Like the reality show, Survival, this strategy game requires you to work with the other players to get the treasures from the island.
Ticket to Ride – A classic strategy game that is in most homeschooler’s game closet because it incorporates a bit of US geography into the play.
Classic Clue Board Game – A classic, I remember playing Clue when I was a child. It is a game that requires a little bit of luck and a little bit of logic to figure out who committed the crime.
Just Plain Fun or Silly Games
Wits and Wagers Family Edition – This game is comprised of random questions that can all be answered with a number, but there’s no way you’re going to know the answer. So everyone has to just guess. The person who’s closest to the correct number gets the point. It’s great to play when some of your kids are too little to know the answers to trivia, or can’t play strategy games yet.
Cranium – Cranium is great because it is like four games in one. As you move around the board, you might get to answer trivia questions, spell words backward, draw a picture with your eyes closed, act out a character, or sculpt something with play-doh. This one usually has us laughing until we cry at some point during the game.
Cranium Cadoo – Similar to Cranium, but on an easier scale for younger players. It includes several different types of activities to keep things exciting. This one is really expensive new because it’s no longer being manufactured, but used copies work just as well and are easily found at garage sales and thrift stores.
Exploding Minions – A very fast Russian-roulette style game that your teens will love to play with their friends. Basically, a spin-off of Exploding Kittens, which we also have, but they usually pull out the Minions version.
Watch Ya’ Mouth – Family Edition If you are in the mood to laugh until your sides hurt, pull out this game, which comes with cheek retractors (in various sizes) to wear while trying to convey silly phrases to your teammates!
Telestrations – This is our family’s number one favorite game of all time! If you come over to our house for game night, we are definitely going to be playing this one! Imagine combining the old Pictionary game with the icebreaker group game, Telephone. It’s so, so much fun, especially if you are particularly bad at drawing!
Favorite Card Games for Family Game Night
Taco vs. Burrito – My teens loved to play this one with their friends. Seriously, like all the time.
Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza – Another card game that gets played at every single game night with their friends. We also have the Christmas version of this one, called Santa Cookie Elf Candy Snowman.
Uno – We love playing this fun, easy card game. Okay, full disclosure, we actually have about 12 different decks because we like to buy ALL of the different variations. Currently, our favorite version is Uno Flip, with Uno House Rules being a close second. We play a couple of rounds of Uno almost every day after breakfast. (Don’t tell my kids, but they are getting Uno Dare for Christmas!) Uno is another great choice for kiddos with unique learning needs and is one that I often played with my high school aged special needs speech therapy clients.
Gamewright’s – Trash Pandas (A Raucous Raccoon Game) – Like most games by Gamewright, this is a mash-up of a card game and a board game. It’s easy to learn how to play; whoever collects the most trash wins. A favorite of my youngest daughter, who also happens to love raccoons.
Dutch Blitz – Are you really even a homeschooler if you don’t have this classic card game AND the expansion pack? Perfect for large families like mine.
Five Crowns – A rummy style game that can have up to seven players, so it’s also great for large families or groups of friends.
Deduckto – Another Gamewright game (ALL of their games are terrific!). This one is kind of a combination of Clue! and the old Who Am I? icebreaker game you played in youth group, only with ducks.
What is your family’s favorite board game? If you don’t see it listed here, shoot me an email so my family can try it out too.
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