Family Games
Pre-kids we would often take a game to a coffee shop and sit and play and talk and drink coffee. We enjoyed it so much that once kids came along we replicated it at home, building up our collection of two player games and having at home date nights after the boys were in bed.
As the boys got older we started introducing them to games, and as they got more skilled in those we introduced more and more different types of games.
This post includes these categories: Games for Two, Games for Kids, Family Games for Family Night, which is broken into two categories: Board Games for families and Card Games for families and Games for Groups (meaning, more than 4 people!) Some games may end up overlapping in which category I place them in, but if so, it’s because we found them to be excellent games that belong in a couple of places.
Games for two
Wooly Bully was the very first unique type of game Paul and I bought FOREVER ago – we would take it to coffee shops pre kids and play together. These days other games tend to trump it on the fun scale, but we always enjoy it when we play. It has a 4 person limit and is fun for 2-4 players.
Chess is one of those games I find many people feel like they can’t learn – but you totally can! It probably has more online tutorials or apps to teach you than any other game. It is such a great game to take the time to learn and to play. While it is a 2 player game you can always buy multiple games and play tournaments.
Blokus is a really fun game that is like a meandering game of Tetris, with other players competing for the same space – only at a slower pace. It is a fun puzzle game and is good for 2-4 players.
Mastermind is an older game (and one you could technically make with colored pencils). This is a strategy game where you’re trying to solve your partners color sequence.
Rummikub – a tile version of the classic game. We sometimes set a timer to make the turns go faster – which makes the whole game more intense! Good for 2-4 players.
Triominos is a fun twist on Dominoes – just three sided. It’s pretty quick to play a round, but you can play many rounds to get up to a certain point value or just see who has the most points after a designated amount of rounds or time. Good for 2-4 players.
Mancala is a fun game played in many countries (therefore, known by many different names!) It is very simple to play – you pick up stones from one of the little pockets and distribute one stone in each pocket. But don’t let the simplicity bore you – we really enjoy this strategy game and the more you play the more you’ll like it, too!
Spot It we have had this game for years and still enjoy it. It is a really easy game to throw in my bag and pull out places and super easy to teach to other people. Sometimes we combine multiple versions of this game, give everyone one card from each deck, shuffle the rest of the decks together, and play that way. We love it with anywhere from 2-10 players. It’s really a super fun game that transcends all ages.
Games for kids
Chess – I highly recommend teaching your children how to play! It will take awhile for them to become proficient at it, but it is SO worth starting them out on it. Lots of apps are available to teach it if you don’t feel like you can.
Blokus is a really fun game that is like a meandering game of Tetris, with other players competing for the same space – only at a slower pace. For young kids, it is a shape fitting game where they will start to learn strategy (ie: starting with the largest tiles). There are many small pieces, so you don’t want to expose children too young to this. The box says 7+, but I think if your child can follow instructions, fit various shapes on a board, and not eat the pieces then they’ll enjoy it. Perhaps 5+. It is a fun puzzle game and is good for 2-4 players.
Mancala is a fun game played in many countries (therefore, known by many different names!) I described it above as it is strictly a 2 player game, however this is a fun one for children as it is very simple, and yet surprisingly strategic.
Spot It we have had this game for years and still enjoy it. It is a really easy game to throw in my bag and pull out places and super easy to teach to other people. Sometimes we combine multiple versions of this game, give everyone one card from each deck, shuffle the rest of the decks together, and play that way. We love it with anywhere from 2-10 players. It’s really a super fun game that transcends all ages – and don’t be surprised if it is the children that beat everyone at this! When the boys were little Spot It and Story Cubes were the two games I kept in my purse for us to play while we had to wait places.
Uno A classic, old game but one that really gives opportunity for the kids to do well AND teaches great number/color coordination. I really like playing this with the boys.
Lucky Sock Dip This is like Memory for the ADD person. You are trying to match socks {all of which are very similar to each other} and collect 5 pairs first. While probably best for kids to play against each other, we adapt for adult/child play by allowing the kids two hands and the parents can only use one hand. Way better than a monotonous game of Memory. But if you enjoy Memory, than this is probably not your game.
Story Cubes We love story telling and improv activities and rhymes and silly things like that and while these story dice are intended to inspire the imagination, they don’t quite do that for us; they teach the boys how to stay focused with their story telling. It’s a good thing, and I love what these add to their creative process. We have used these in so many ways. Basically you roll the dice and then tell a story based on what you roll – so many fun ways to adapt this to your own family and needs! When the boys were little this and Spot It were the two games I kept in my purse and strangers would stop to ask about it when they would see us playing and laughing over it.
Favorite Family Game Night Games
Family Game Night is a favorite evening in our home for all four of us. It isn’t a scheduled night, but we tend to play games often. It is something all four of us really enjoy and they teach some great skills.
We love games because they are fun – but they also teach many things which is a great bonus! From observation skills to strategy to math to how to win or lose graciously … board games and card games can contain many great skill teaching moments.
We’ve been playing games with the boys since they were little and family game night has definitely gotten a whole lot more fun as they’ve matured and grown in their game playing skills. We also really enjoy having a friend or two over to join in the games – it’s something we already do and (most) people enjoy joining in on family game night. Add some popcorn or cookies and hot tea and it is an easy and fun evening for all.
A lot of the family game night games we play are a little different, but I would say they could be broken into two categories: board games that take a bit of time to learn and to play and then card games that are quicker to learn and relatively quick to play so I have divided them accordingly below. This is a very rough breakdown of the games for organizations sake.
I have recommended what we feel is the perfect amount of players to play the games taking into consideration the length of the game and the amount of fun had – this is NOT necessarily the recommended number of players from the box, just our opinion. Be sure to check the games out yourself if you’re looking for a game for more players than I have listed as they may still be great for a larger family!
Favorite Family Game Night Board Games
I think our very favorite Family Game Night game is The Settlers of Catan. There is most definitely a learning curve and if you’re considering buying it to play I would highly recommend finding someone who has played it to explain it to you. And then settle in for the first game or two to be a bit tedious as you figure out the ropes! But once you have the hang of this strategy game it is so much fun. Game length ranges from 30-60 minutes, but can be shortened by changing the amount of points required to play the game. It is perfect with 4-5 players. We love learning new games, but this is our go-to game that we come back to over and over again. Note: there are a variety of expansion packs available for this game.
A close second since December 2018 is Azul. I can’t even describe how this game is as fun as it is! It’s a tile matching game, but takes a lot of strategy and is really fun. Great for 2, 3, or players.
Another fun strategy game is Ticket to Ride. It is relatively easier to learn then Settlers and takes about 60 minutes to play. It is perfect with 3-4 players, but Paul and I sometimes play this one on our own. We have the USA version and I really love that the names of US capitals are becoming parts of the boys vocabulary through a game, and yet they just see it as tons of fun.
Carcassone is another unique strategy game. This one requires a bit more strategic thinking than the other two as the points really come in to play at the very end of the game and you need to be thinking big picture the whole game. We also have the Princess and Dragon expansion, but haven’t yet taught the expansion to the boys. This game takes roughly 45 minutes and is great with 4 players.
Blokus is a really fun game that is like a meandering game of Tetris, with other players competing for the same space. It is a fun puzzle game and is good for 2-4 players.
Triominos is a fun twist on Dominoes and is one the boys and I really enjoy playing together. It’s pretty quick to play a round, but you can play many rounds to get up to a certain point value or just see who has the most points after a designated amount of rounds or time.
Dominion was a Christmas gift in 2017 and we averaged playing it about once a day through 2018. In the Spring we purchased an additional expansion pack which added a lot to the game! We have tweaked the game to accomodate 6 players, and we have played with 3, but 4 is really the perfect amount of players for this game. It is a strategy game and the game is built up of 10 decks of cards that you randomly or purposely chose from a lager stack of cards. Each deck of card performs differently in the game, making the possibilities for this game endless!
Dominion: Prosperity – this is the expansion pack we have for Dominion. It is SO much fun! You do need the original game in order to use this one but it has been an excellent addition and we have thoroughly enjoyed it!
Tokaido – this is a really unique game. The board itself is beautiful. The play is a bit complicated to figure out at first, but once you have played through it once it will all make sense. Everyone travels at the same speed across the board and there are no negative points, so it feels like a very relaxing and enjoyable journey across the board – but it isn’t without its own strategy!
We have only ever played with 4, and that is a great number to play though the board says 2-5 can play.
Favorite Family Game Night Card Games
Saboteur was a game introduced to us in the summer of 2019, and while our boys really enjoy us playing it as a family of 4 it is so much better with more player (there can be up to 10). I played this game with my camp cabin and the teen girls loved it. I love it. Everyone who plays it loves it! It is really simple to play – you’re secretly assigned either a miner or saboteur card at the beginning of the game, and this is then your role. You’re either trying to mine for gold or destroy the efforts of those trying to mine for gold. But all played with cards. It’s super fun!
Bohnanza This is a fun and mildly strategic game where you collect different bean cards and harvest them for points. It is best for 4-7 players.
Guillotine is such a unique card game that involves characters from the French Revolution and, as the game tagline says; “you win by getting ahead.” haha! You try to collect the most points and can rearrange the order of the cards to your benefit and the others detriment. It’s pretty quick to learn how to play it and we’ve only ever played with 3-4 players, but it may be great with more!
Anomia is a fun game that is somewhat like Scattergories if you grew up playing that, only much faster in its card game style. We haven’t actually played this game with our kids because there’s really no competition – we’d beat them. They play with their friends and we play with ours and we all love it!
Exploding Kittens is a funny card game that was first funded on Kickstarter. It is another luck of the draw style game where drawing an exploding kitten will kill you unless you have a detonate card … in which case you get to choose where you will place the exploding kitten back in the deck. It’s been described as being like Russian Roulette but with exploding kittens on cards … while that’s obviously an exaggeration, it definitely gets tense drawing those cards and anticipating a kitten.
Spot It we have had this game for years and still enjoy it. It is a really easy game to throw in my bag and pull out places and super easy to teach to other people. Sometimes we combine multiple versions of this game, give everyone one card from each deck, shuffle the rest of the decks together, and play that way. We love it with anywhere from 2-10 players. It’s really a super fun game that transcends all ages.
Codenames – is so much fun! We like playing with four people (we’ve tried more and less, we feel 4 is perfect!) The game is a very descriptive game, requiring you to use lots of words so probably not one to play with someone who doesn’t know English well.
Skip Bo is another classic game – I use to play it every evening with my grandparents when I lived with them for a year when I was 17. It is a slow version of Dutch Blitz and totally my style of card game – everyone takes a turn. Ha!
Games for Groups
Games here are ones that are just better played with more than 4 people – some because the game requires it, others because we’ve discovered they’re just more fun that way! So whether you’re planning for a family reunion or just a group of friends to come over, here are our suggestions for a larger gathering.
Secret Hitler is a game Paul bought us and we pulled it out to play at our family reunion. It was totally appropriate for our kids to play, and everyone enjoyed it so much. Everyone is given a secret role they play during the game – Hitler, Fascist, Liberal and you are lying and killing each other off in an attempt to win.
Box says 5-10 players. Better with 6+
Saboteur was a game introduced to us in the summer of 2019, and while our boys really enjoy us playing it as a family of 4 it is so much better with more player (there can be up to 10). It’s kind of a more gentle version of Secret Hitler.
I played this game with my camp cabin and the teen girls loved it. I love it. Everyone who plays it loves it! It is really simple to play – you’re secretly assigned either a miner or saboteur card at the beginning of the game, and this is then your role. You’re either trying to mine for gold or destroy the efforts of those trying to mine for gold. But all played with cards. It’s super fun!
Dutch Blitz is a classic game that gets wildly crazy. I actually struggle with this game and keeping on top of how fast it moves (and the one just below!) but everyone else adores it and it is fun, I just never win. We have a couple decks combined and marked to play with up to 8 players … any amount is too much for me, haha. But really, the more the merrier!
Pit is another really wild and fast paced game where you are constantly trading and trying to collect cards with NO semblance of order. It is really fun with 5-8 players.
We Didn’t Play Test This At All (and its sequel We Didn’t Play Test This Either) is the most hilarious and bizarre game. The point of the game is to not lose … and whether you do or not is pretty much left up to what the card you or your team mates play. It’s made us cry from laughing so hard at the oddness of it. If you buy this it will be slightly confusing at first, but you’ll pick up on it really quickly. It’s a quirky game and that’s what makes it so great!
Apples to Apples a classic, hilarious group game.
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Linda H. Salter
We have played triominoes for ever, and i love skip bo
Jessica
we should do a game night together some evening!!
Diana
I have played most of those games, but Setters is still my favorite!
Jessica
It never gets old!!
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