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30 Board Games Your
Whole Family Will Love
The popularity of board games for kids increased significantly during quarantine and the beginning of the pandemic. Families were looking for ways to pass the time while they were stuck at home. But even after everything has opened up again, game night has continued to stick around, as parents and kids have re-discovered the joys of rolling the dice and shuffling the deck.
So if you’re looking for some screen-free time activities, here are 31 board games to choose from to engage your kids and create fun memories.
1. Eye Found It
If you have a kid that loves seek and find books or i-Spy, they’ll love this game! It comes with a huge board that’s full of things to find. You pick a card, grab a magnifying glass, and see how many things you can find before the timer runs out! There are a number of different versions of this i-Spy style board game including a Disney one, a BusyTown one, and more!
2. Life Jr.
You’ve probably played the classic game of Life before but this is nothing like the classic game of Life. In this version, you go around the board collecting stars as you visit places like amusement parks, playgrounds, and the beach. But you also have to pick cards that tell you to act things out, do silly things, and other activities to earn money to visit those places!
3. I Can Do That Kids Activity Game
A Cat in the Hat inspired game, you randomly pick cards that are associated with objects, parts of your body, and actions (like spinning in a circle). After you choose your cards, you have to try your best to complete the silly actions that the random cards say.
5 Second Rule is so easy—just pick a card, read a simple topic aloud, and within five seconds name three things that fit the topic. Surprising and funny answers are the result and laughter is guaranteed!
This is like the classic game Connect 4, but even more fun! Instead of just placing in your coin, you have to shoot balls into the game instead, so it’s a lot more about luck than strategy.
6. Guess in 10
There are so many different variations of this game, but the idea is that players use clues to ask up to 10 questions to guess the object on the game card.
7. Double Ditto
To play, simply pick a card, read it aloud and then quickly write down two answers you think other players will write. You’ll find out whose mind is in sync with yours.
The classic game of charades, specifically developed for kids. It has 3 levels of picture and one word clues which is easy for little ones, but still challenging enough for older kids.
9. Pictionary
Even more exciting than the original Pictionary game, this one includes a light-up pen and clue cards and even links to smart devices. Each player takes turns drawing clues in the air while your teammates guess the images that appear on the screen with the free Pictionary Air app.
10. Outfoxed
A little like Clue and a little like Suspicion, you have to narrow down the suspects to figure out which fox did it. But watch out because if the fox catches you, you lose! It’s surprisingly fun even for adults because there’s an element of chance as you have to guess which action you’re going to roll!
Get it here!
11. Hedbanz
There are so many different variations of this game, but the idea is that you put a card on your head and your teammate has to give you clues to get you to guess it. Pick a version that well suits your family, whether it’s a generic one or something more specific like this Pokemon Hedbanz or this Disney one.
12. Spontuneous
Each player writes down several Trigger Words on their Hit List. When it's your turn, you announce a word from your list and flip the timer. The first player to sing at least 5 words from any song containing the Trigger Word gets to advance on the board.
13. Ticket To Ride First Journey
Players compete to build train tracks across the United States, working to connect all the different train stations to each other. To win, you need to create the longest continuous train ride on the board.
14. Beat That
Beat That is basically a bunch of different minute to win it games that use just a couple of items, and that are all included in the game box. Players do funny challenges to earn points and beat together.
15. Hoot Owl Hoot
This is one of the very first cooperative board games for kids we tried. Everyone works together to get the owls back to their nest before the sun comes up. It’s a good educational game as kids work on colors, patterns, and strategy—-which also makes it great for older and younger kids to play together.
16. Clue
The object of the game is to figure out who murdered the victim, where the crime took place, and which weapon was used. Each player attempts to solve the crime by moving around the game board representing the rooms of a mansion and collecting clues about the circumstances of the murder from the other players.
17. Drone Home
Each person gets three little aliens and you have to race to get your aliens to land in the drone. When they land in the drone, it turns on and flies up above. My kids loved that it comes with a drone!
18. Mickey's Clubhouse Surprise Slides
Similar to chutes and ladders, but better. In this new version of the classic game, if you spin a switch—the board switches and changes everything up. It’s a fun alternative to the typical chutes and ladder game and even better if you’re a Disney fan!
19. Ice Cool
Each player gets a little penguin that is weighted down. You set up the board, then have to flick, slide, and otherwise move your penguins through the rooms without being caught (hit) by the other penguins.
20. Otrio
This is a total strategy game that is like Tic Tac Toe but way more. Each player gets circle pieces and you have to figure out a way to make three in a row before the other players do. It’s fun because you can play with up to four people and unlike Tic Tac Toe, it’s hard to keep track of all of the other players’ pieces long enough to block them from winning.
21. Snail Sprint
This game is similar to the Snail Pace Race but it’s a little more fun and challenging. The players get a secret set of cards that match snail colors on the board. You have to try and get your snails to finish first without giving away which snails you have. Snails move based on the roll of the dice and they move up, down, and all around!
22. 5 Minute Marvel
This is a cooperative game where each player takes on a Marvel character and as a team you have to work together to beat the villains. It takes a few minutes to set up each game, but then the games themselves are less than five minutes. It’s always a little different because the Marvel characters each have different abilities and card decks.
23. Sorry!
A timeless classic, Sorry! is a simple board game in which players work to move all of their pawns to the finish line while avoiding being sent back to the beginning.
24. Candyland
Another timeless classic, players encounter all kinds of "delicious" surprises as they move their cute gingerbread man pawn around the path in a race to the castle.
25. Monopoly
Players buy out neighborhoods, sell properties, and grow an empire in the Monopoly Game. In this popular family board game, the more players build, the more rent money they can collect.
26. Dragon Dash
In this game, players have to connect tiles on the board to get their pieces from one side of the board to the other. But watch out – if you roll a dragon, that dragon could disrupt your progress and make it impossible for you to get across!
27. Llama Drama
This card game is similar to Lucky Unders and the basic idea is that you have cards in your hand and laid down in front of you that you have to get rid of. The only way to do it is to play higher than the person before you or use one of your special llama cards.
28. Apples to Apples
Select the card from your hand that you think is best described by a card played by the judge. If the judge picks your card, you win that round. And everyone gets a chance to be the judge! Each round contains funny and surprising comparisons for a wide range of people, places, things and events.
29. Bananagrams
This is a fast and frantic game, as players scramble to use all of their letters to create a word grid before everyone else. It comes in a compact and fun banana-shaped pouch, which is great for small spaces or to play on the go.
30. Twister
You can’t play a game of Twister that doesn’t end in uncontrollable laughter. One of the few physical board games around, Twister is a classic, and it’s easy to understand why. Seeing friends contort in any way possible to place a left hand on green and a right foot on yellow will never not be funny. There is nothing better than collapsing in a giggle-induced pile with some of your favorite people.
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