The Best Family Board Games

This clever card game is a cooperative trick-taking challenge for three to five players with tons of replay value. Each game of The Crew features an underwater mission with a brief background story, and they gradually grow in difficulty and complexity. For mission success, you have to complete a set of tasks, which requires some cooperation, but you aren’t allowed to discuss the cards in your hand. It’s easy to learn, quick to play, and highly addictive.

For 2 to 5 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is around 20 minutes.

Martial arts styling, accessible gameplay, deep strategy, and randomization for replay value—Onitama has it all! We were instantly hooked on this clever strategy game for two, where each side faces off with a master and four pawns and tries to defeat the other master or occupy their temple. It is deceptively simple at first, but as you learn to watch your opponent’s cards displaying their available martial arts styles, you start to see the bigger picture. This game is also good training for budding chess players, because it encourages you to think ahead.

For 2 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is 15 to 20 minutes.

It feels a little strange playing Pandemic after recent events, but the beauty of this game is that it’s cooperative. Each player has a role, and you work together to eradicate four deadly diseases before humanity’s fate is sealed. It’s often exciting, as communication and group strategy are encouraged. The key to success is taking advantage of each player’s unique abilities, and you can complete a game in less than an hour. There are also some deep expansions if your family likes it.

For 2 to 4 players aged 8 and up. Playing time is around 45 minutes.

Refreshing and unlike anything we’ve played before, MicroMacro: Crime City is a cooperative game about solving crimes for up to four players, but it also works as a solo game. Plenty of space is needed to unfurl the city map and move freely around it with the magnifying glass, hunting for suspects and clues. There’s a Where’s Waldo element to the hunt, but it’s combined with loose narratives that take you through each crime scene, unraveling the mystery step-by-step as you work together to track down the culprit. Discussing theories is a big part of the fun here, and cases take anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour to solve. While younger kids will enjoy it, the game is recommended for ages 12 and up because some cases deal with adult topics. There isn’t much replay value here, but the sequel MicroMacro: Crime City—Full House ($26) offers fresh cases on a new map.

For 1 to 4 players aged 12 and up. Playing time is around 30 minutes.

Players are snake oil salesmen or quack doctors in a German town in the Middle Ages and must combine ingredients to brew up elixirs and make their fortune. This unlikely but deliciously original premise makes for lovely theming and tactically interesting gameplay based on pushing risk. Players draw tiles from their bags simultaneously to add to their pots, but too many cherry bombs blow you out of the round. After each round, you spend your ill-gotten gains, mostly on advantageous tiles to add to your bag, and the winner is the one with the most points after nine rounds. We had a lot of fun with this. The round limit allows for tactical planning once you understand the game and keeps the action under an hour.

For 2 to 4 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is 40 to 60 minutes.

If you think you’ve seen everything a trick-taking card game can offer, Cat in the Box will have you thinking again. There are a few mechanics at play here, including bidding on how many tricks you think you’ll win before play begins, but what makes this game different is that you must also decide on your card’s color. It seems complex at first, but younger kids used to card games will be able to grasp this because its thoughtful design maintains clarity. A cat theme is also always a winner in our house.

For 2 to 5 players aged 13 and up. Playing time is around 30 minutes.

You must correctly identify secret agents in this clever word game. The spymaster gives a single-word clue and a number to denote how many of the words on the game board it relates to. Players must guess the correct associated words to reveal the agents within the time limit, but it’s possible to accidentally identify enemy agents or hit an assassin who will end the game immediately. Codenames is quick to play, but you’ll want to go again because it’s very addictive.

For 2 to 8 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is around 15 minutes.

Beautifully designed and completely unique, Isle of Cats is an instant hit with cat-lovers like my daughter. You must rescue cats and fit them onto your boat, Tetris style, to escape from the island before the baddie turns up. You need fish to tempt them aboard, and there are lots of cards to add layers of strategy. It can seem overwhelmingly complex in the beginning, but after a few rounds it all makes sense. We preferred the full game to the simplified rules, though scoring is quite complicated, and you’ll want to set aside a few hours.

For 1 to 4 players aged 8 and up. Playing time is 60 to 90 minutes.

As merchants trying to build an influence in the Caribbean, you must first amass a fortune, recruit a crew, complete expeditions, and capture ships. The base game features a 120-card deck with lovely artwork and is easy to pick up. The big hook here is the gamble, as you decide when to stop drawing cards. Push your luck too far, and you lose out on that round. The mix of cards allows for many strategies, but young kids (maybe 7 or 8 years and up) can grasp the gameplay and compete. It’s for two to five players (we found it perfect for four), and games come in under an hour. There are several expansion packs if you enjoy the base game.

For 2 to 5 players aged 8 and up. Playing time is 20 to 50 minutes.

Build a 5 x 5 tile kingdom around your castle using randomly drawn tiles that connect just like dominoes in this light and speedy game. Each piece of matching terrain scores you a point, multiplied by the crowns on the tiles you chose. It is simple enough for younger kids to grasp but still offers some room to try different strategies. You can play with up to four players, but we like it best with two.

For 2 to 4 players aged 8 and up. Playing time is around 15 minutes.

With a lovely 1920s art deco style, Big Boss challenges you to dominate the business world by founding and expanding companies, accumulating shares, and overseeing mergers and acquisitions. It’s a nice mix of luck and skill that’s more fun than it sounds. The game features a board with numbered tiles and a stack of plastic building blocks that slot together to form skyscrapers as you expand. Cards determine where to build or expand, and when companies overlap, the smaller business is acquired, so mergers are critical strategic points. A surprise hit with my kids, Big Boss allows for different strategies, and the winner isn’t always clear until you cash in your shares.

For 2 to 6 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is around 90 minutes.

This might be the pinnacle of nature-themed board games and will appeal to anyone who loves our feathered friends. It blends authentic knowledge about different bird species and their needs, habitats, and abilities, with a healthy dose of strategic depth. It can feel quite complex at first, so you’ll want a few games to get into it, and younger kids may struggle. But, once you have a handle on it, this game is very moreish and works equally well with different numbers of players (you can even play solo).

For 1 to 5 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is 40 to 70 minutes.

This deceptively simple card game is easy to pick up but has layers of strategy as you try to avoid exploding kitten cards. It combines fun elements from classic card games, like Old Maid, and adds a modern twist. There’s just enough complexity to make things fun, but never so much that it gets confusing. The card art features some cute, and not so cute, cats with all sorts of special powers to turn the tables on your opponents. When it starts to get old, the expansions do a great job of breathing new life into the game.

For 2 to 5 players aged 7 and up. Playing time is around 15 minutes.

With lovely steam engine styling and rules even young kids can quickly understand, Ticket to Ride is a wonderful introduction to more complex board games. The aim of this game by beloved publisher Days of Wonder is to claim different railway routes across the US and Canada using your colorful plastic rail cars. You spend cards to claim routes, and there are bonus points for connecting certain destinations. The European version adds ferries and tunnels, and there are lots of other expansions. The only downside is that my wife always wins. (There’s also a version called First Journey ($28) that shortens and simplifies the gameplay for younger kids.)

For 2 to 5 players aged 8 and up. Playing time is 30 to 60 minutes.

There’s a topic card with 16 words, and a dice roll determines the chosen word. One player gets the Chameleon card. Their mission is to avoid detection, but the catch is that they don’t know which word was chosen. Each player says a related word, then everyone votes to try and expose the bluffer. It is a quick and easy party game for up to eight players and always has our kids chortling with glee. While you can play with three, it’s best with more players (six or seven is perfect). Some topics can be tricky for younger kids, but you can write your own topic card.

For 3 to 8 players aged 14 and up. Playing time is around 15 minutes.

My kids find this game hilarious, and we used to play it a lot when they were younger. It’s a simple idea: The other players choose a card and stick it into your headband facing out without letting you see it. You have a limited time to ask questions and figure who or what you are. We used to play an adult version of this in college by writing on cigarette papers and sticking them to each other’s heads, but this version is completely family-friendly.

For 2 to 6 players aged 7 and up. Playing time is around 30 minutes.

When you have played Clue to death and crave a more challenging murder mystery game, try Awkward Guests. The aim is to solve the murder of the thoroughly unpleasant Mr. Walton by figuring out who killed him, where they did it, what they used, and whether they had an accomplice. But there’s more depth to this deductive game, as you must collect and swap clues. The information exchange is a tactical balance between amassing knowledge and hiding juicy clues from your competitors. Recommended for kids aged 12 years and up, but some younger children will enjoy this too.

For 1 to 8 players aged 12 and up. Playing time is 45 to 75 minutes.

Can you save the town from classic movie monsters like Dracula, the Mummy, and the Bride of Frankenstein? This title pits up to five players against a revolving cast of monsters. Each villain behaves differently and can only be banished when you work together to defeat them. There is tons of replay value as you work out the best strategy to save the town, the villagers, and yourselves. Cooperative play like this can also help you avoid arguments on family board game night. If you enjoy Horrified, you should also try Horrified: American Monsters ($40) and Alien: Fate of the Nostromo ($28), though both may prove a little too scary for younger kids.

For 1 to 5 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is around 60 minutes.

Loosely based on the classic Telephone game, Telestrations challenges you to draw words or phrases and identify sketches as you pass erasable books around the table. By the time they get back to their owner, signaling the end of the round, the original words have often morphed into something wildly different. This party game gets everyone involved, and going through the sketchbooks to follow the journey is often hilarious. It’s recommended for between four and 12 players aged 12 years and up, but it works best with at least six players, and our 9-year-old daughter loved it. There are six and eight-player versions linked, but you can also get a 12-player version ($49) for larger groups.

For 4 to 6 players aged 12 and up. Playing time is around 30 minutes.

Everyone loves the colorful, decorative tiles in this game, inspired by the Moorish designs in the Alhambra palace in Southern Spain. The goal is to decorate the royal palace for the King of Portugal. Each round, you pick tiles from the central discs and use them to fill your game board, paying attention to the points that different sets and patterns score. The description doesn’t do Azul justice—you must play it to see why it’s so appealing. Like many of the best games, it’s quick to learn but has real strategic depth.

For 2 to 4 players aged 8 and up. Playing time is 30 to 45 minutes.

Kids love animals, and this wildlife adventure into the Pacific Northwest focuses on laying terrain tiles and populating habitats with appropriate wildlife tokens. Match habitat tiles to form contiguous areas, like wetlands or forests, and complete wildlife goals, like amassing runs of salmon or pairs of bears. Special nature tokens allow for more strategic depth. This is a gentle game for one to four players aged 10 years and up, but there’s nothing to stop younger kids from playing if they can grasp the rules.

For 1 to 4 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is around 45 minutes.

Part of the popular Clank series, this standalone game adds a modular, expanding dungeon for fun exploration. As you push deeper into the catacombs seeking treasure, you build a deck of cards and can use lock-picks to enter new areas, free prisoners, discover handy potions, and fight monsters. You may also be haunted by ghosts and attacked by dragons. My kids’ eyes glazed over as I read the rules, and they were annoyed by the lengthy setup, but once you play a couple of times, it gets quicker. Much of the excitement hinges on how deeply you delve and whether you can make it out alive with your loot. Clank games always force you to weigh risk versus reward. Timing is everything, and greed can get you killed.

For 2 to 4 players aged 13 and up. Playing time is 45 to 90 minutes.

Trying to describe words to your team without saying them, using the first letter, or resorting to rhyming is the fun challenge at the heart of Articulate. There’s a kid’s version, and we use cards from that mixed with the original to get the right level of difficulty for adults and children. Fast and frenetic, this game often provokes the giggles, but can also cause frustration and the occasional huff. It works well with big groups because you can divide into teams and take turns to describe.

For 4 to 20+ players aged 12 and up. Playing time is around 60 minutes.

This cooperative game for two to four people is one of the best movie tie-ins we have ever played. Game designer Prospero Hall shows real reverence for the source material. And E.T. lends itself to coop gameplay, with players taking on the roles of Elliot, Gertie, Mike, or Greg to ferry E.T. around on their BMXs and keep him out of the clutches of the authorities until the mothership can rescue him. Solid mechanics, a balanced challenge, and a sprinkling of movie magic make for a fun hour of family gaming.

For 2 to 4 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is around 45 minutes.

Collect sets of super cute sushi cards to match the menu and score points in this accessible card game. You select a card on each turn to build a delectable meal and pass on the rest of your hand to the next player. The gameplay is compelling and easy to grasp but allows for many different strategies. You can tailor it for your group by switching the menu, which provides enormous replay value. Sushi Go Party! works with two to eight people, but four is perfect. The only negative is that it leaves you craving sushi.

For 2 to 8 players aged 8 and up. Playing time is around 20 minutes.

Anyone interested in linguistics, slang, grammar, or etymology will get a kick out of this beautifully crafted trivia game. Players roll a wooden dice that decides the category and win an artifact if they answer correctly. Questions in League of Lexicon range from fiendishly difficult to deceptively simple, and full answers add some educational value. With contributions from a brain trust of linguists, authors, and lexicographers, the 2,000 multiple-choice questions offer real depth, with cards divided into ticklish and tricksy difficulties. We’ve been enjoying this as a family of four, with the kids sticking to the easier questions, but you could also play in teams. It’s recommended for children aged 10 and up, but vocabulary level is more important than age.

For 2 to 6 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is 30 to 90 minutes.

Budding pilots and navigators will love this two-player cooperative game, challenging you to land your plane at various airports. Strategize before each round, because there’s no talking once you take off. Secret dice rolls and turnabout gameplay require careful cooperation to clear air traffic out of the way, keep the plane level, get the flaps and landing gear ready, and touch down safely at your destination. There are few co-op games for two, and none quite like this. The makers suggest ages 14 and up, but my 12-year-old daughter loves this game.

For 2 players aged 14 and up. Playing time is around 20 minutes.

This frenetic party game is a big hit with groups of kids, but it’s best played outdoors or in a room with plenty of space and no fragile ornaments. The card game portion is a race to find sets of three and pass along cards you don’t want, but some combinations trigger attacks that see everyone grasping for the squishy toy burritos in the center of the table and throwing them at each other.

For 2 to 6 players aged 7 and up. Playing time is around 15 minutes.

A great party game for up to 20 players, the aim of Herd Mentality is to write down the same answer as everyone else. Subjective questions like, “What’s the best pizza topping?” or “Would you rather have robot arms or robot legs?” provoke debate and laughter. When you’re in the majority, you collect a cow token. The first player to amass eight cows wins. It’s simple, quick to play, and great for larger family gatherings.

For 4 to 20 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is around 30 minutes.

This game is a little bit spooky and combines elements of Clue with deeper role-playing games. Set at a séance in 1920s Scotland, players are cast as mediums, with one person taking on the role of the ghost. The psychics work together to interpret vision cards from the ghost and work out who murdered them, where, and with which weapon before the break of dawn. It works best if an adult or older kid takes on the most challenging ghost role, and there’s quite a lot of setup, but this is engrossing once you get going.

For 2 to 7 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is around 45 minutes.

While this game certainly has an extra hook for Grand Prix fans, you don’t have to be obsessed with race cars to enjoy it. You get the fast-paced excitement of an actual race as you play cards to advance while trying to keep your engine heat under control. Momentum is crucial, and there are lots of tactical decisions to make as you try to build a deck that will give you a chance of winning. Most folks will need a few laps to get the hang of this, but the clever slipstreaming mechanic keeps things tight. The Championship mode makes things more interesting with a series of races and the chance to upgrade your car.

For 1 to 6 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is around 60 minutes.

We played Disney Villainous a few times, but it failed to hook us, so I wasn’t expecting us to enjoy Star Wars Villainous as much as we did. This beautifully themed board game casts each player as a different villain from the Star Wars universe, from Darth Vader to Moff Gideon. Like other games in the Villainous series, every character has a unique set of victory conditions, and the other players get opportunities to meddle. It takes a few plays to get your head around and is best for four players aged 10 years and up. It also makes a great gift for Star Wars fans.

For 2 to 4 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is 40 to 80 minutes.

Born from the Evolution series, Nature is a strategic card game that challenges you to grow your animal species in a shared ecosystem with limited food. You can use cards to develop useful traits, grow your species size, or increase the herd, but players turned predators are a constant threat. There’s an educational element here, and the animal theming is lovely. You can also expand the base game with modules; we liked the Jurassic dinosaur pack ($25). It’s elegant, easy to grasp for kids aged 10 years and up, and can be played in under an hour. There’s also a decent solo mode.

For 1 to 4 players aged 10 and up. Playing time is 30 to 50 minutes.