The Best 30 Games for Family Game Night, According to Kids and Parents

Inside: Want your family to feel closer? You need the best games for family game night. These fun family board games are loved by kids and parents.

The right game for family game night can bring your family moments of pure delight, shared giggles, and an even stronger connection. But the wrong game can leave you scratching your heads and feeling disappointed.

Whether it’s a new-to-you game with confusing directions, one that doesn’t work for your family’s age range, or one that turns out to be a total dud, some games can make your game night fizzle out faster than you can say “Colonel Mustard in the library with the candlestick.”

If you want your family game night to nurture your bond as a family and create moments that will turn into treasured memories, you need this list of the best games for game night.

What Makes This List Different

When you search for the best games for family game night, you’ll find no shortage of lists recommending certain board games. But spend a few minutes browsing those lists, and you’ll quickly discover they seem to have been put together by people whose bosses told them: “Yeahhh, I’m gonna need you to write an article about the best game night games. Just search Amazon for a few board games and slap a list together.”

In other words, very few of the lists you’ll find were compiled by actual real-life families with a weekly family game night tradition.

But this list is different. My family has been testing board games with our crew of six for more than 10 years, then roping friends and neighbors into testing our favorites too. Over the years, we’ve uncovered the absolute gems—and rooted out the total clunkers.

In fact, we’re such big board game aficionados that a couple years ago, we opened our own family-owned game shop.

Every game we recommend has been kid-tested and parent-tested. Not just tested and approved by our own family but by thousands of other families who’ve added to their own game collections based on our recommendations over the years.

The Best 30 Games for Family Game Night

Getting all geared up for the perfect family game night is no small feat—you need to clear your schedule, whip up your favorite game night snacks, and wrangle your crew to gather around the coffee table. So if you’re going to all that effort, you’ll want to make sure the night will deliver maximum fun by picking one of the best family game night games.

The list below grew out of my family’s experience of being on the hunt for the best board games for family game night for more than a decade. For this list, we researched for hours and hours to find all the top suggestions of board games for family night, then market-tested them with our own family, neighbors, friends, and the families who are patrons of our family-owned game shop.

Not only will your kids have a blast with these family game night games, but you will too.

A Quick Note About Suggested Ages

Each game below includes a suggested age range. But keep in mind that as with anything when it comes to kids and suggested ages, your mileage may vary. For example, some 6-year-olds might be able to play and enjoy some games for 7-year-olds, whereas some 7-year-olds might need help playing them.

If you try a game and your child doesn’t seem ready for it, put it away for a couple weeks or a month, then try again. Your child’s brain is growing constantly, so they might surprise you sooner rather than later!

Note: indicates my family’s absolute favorite family games for game night. These are the games my whole family can’t get enough of! In fact, we love them so much that we stock them in our store. Order from us here, and you’ll be supporting a family-owned business while also treating your own family to a fun new game!

Quick Games for Game Night: Play in 20 Minutes or Less

Many families like to kick off family game night with a quick game. Here’s why: Everyone in your family will likely have a different favorite game, so starting your night with a fast round of an extra game gives you another chance to incorporate someone’s favorite.

This strategy also works well when you have a younger child who will need help with the primary game you’ll be playing during game night. That way, you can kick off with a game they feel confident playing without help, which will build their confidence moving forward and make the night more fun for them.

Quick games also work great as fillers in between longer games, such as if someone gets up to prepare more game night snacks while everyone else plays something quick.

Here are the best family game night games that you can play in 20 minutes or less.

1. Sushi Go or Sushi Go Party

Time to Play: 15 minutes for original; 20-30 minutes for party edition
Number of Players: 2–5 for original; 2-8 for party edition
Age Range: 5 and up for original; 6 and up for party edition
Get It: Sushi Go or Sushi Go Party

This fun card game is one of our favorite picks for family game night because it’s quick.

To play, you pick one card from your hand to keep for yourself, then pass your cards to the next person. Everyone keeps doing this until all cards are picked. Then you score points based on which cards you picked to keep: Did you get the most maki rolls? Did you dip your nigiri in wasabi to triple its value?

The Sushi Go Party edition is perfect when you want a quick game for a large group because you can play with up to 8 people. You also get fun new cards that aren’t in the original edition, plus you can customize each game to change up the strategy and keep it fresh.

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 8 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 5- and 6-year-olds are ready for this game, especially if you help them out a bit at first until they learn the different cards.

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2. Rhino Hero

Time to Play: 5-15 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Age Range: 5 and up
Get It: Rhino Hero

In this card-stacking game, you take turns adding more levels to a skyscraper and try to avoid knocking the whole building down. It’s kind of like Jenga in reverse, but you don’t have to preemptively cringe every turn because instead of a loud crash from dozens of wooden blocks falling all at once—it’s just a few playing cards falling.

This game is simple, quick, and fun, but it’s also educational. While you play, you’ll help develop your child’s fine motor skills and spatial intelligence, plus encourage patience and strategic thinking as they plan ahead to keep the tower from tumbling down. The best kind of practice for budding young engineers and scientists!

But don’t worry—the game is still challenging enough to keep you engaged and having fun, too.

3. Rat-a-Tat Cat

Time to Play: 10 minutes
Number of Players: 2-6
Age Range: 5 and up
Get It: Rat-a-Tat Cat

In this fast-paced card game, your goal is to collect cards so that you’ll have the lowest possible point value. That means getting rid of the high cards (rats) and going for the low cards (cats). When you think you’ve got the lowest score, you call out “Rat-a-Tat Cat!”

This quick game builds your child’s memory skills and number sense, plus you can play a whole game in about 10 minutes, which is great for kicking off family game night.

This game is in our regular rotation because it’s the perfect mix of silly, challenging, and fun!

4. Dragonwood

Time to Play: 20 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Age Range: 7 and up
Get It: Dragonwood

Of the quick family board games in this section, this one is my personal favorite.

In this card and dice game, you recruit adventurers to go off on quests and battle magical creatures including trolls, wolves, and dragons. Your child will build their strategic thinking skills and get lots of math practice, but they won’t even realize it because they’ll be having so much fun. An excellent game for the whole family!

For an extra dose of fun, when one of us captures a creature, we celebrate with a “Huzzah!” or “Take that!” or “A plague upon thee!”

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 8 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 7-year-olds who can read are ready for this game.

5. Spot It! Classic

Time to Play: 10-20 minutes
Number of Players: 2–8
Age Range: 5 and up
Get It: Spot It! Classic (also called Dobble in some areas)

This matching game is deceptively simple, so it’s perfect for all ages from young kids to adults. Don’t be surprised if your child regularly beats you to a match in this game! Plus, you can finish a game in as little as 10 minutes, so it’s a quick option for kicking off or wrapping up your family game night.

And the best part? It’s small and portable. You can throw it in your purse or your luggage before a trip and bring family game night with you.

The small tin holding the cards also makes this game a great fit as a stocking stuffer for kids.

For kids ages 3 to 4, the junior edition of this game is a better fit because it features larger images and fewer images on each card. Also, some editions of the regular version require some reading, but the junior edition doesn’t require any reading.

By the way, out of all the family board games in this list, this one is the most frequently recommended by readers!

6. Outfoxed!

Time to Play: 15 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Age Range: 4 and up
Get It: Outfoxed!

This cooperative whodunnit game is like Clue but for younger kids—and yet still fun for adults too. A fox stole a pot pie, and you have to work together as a team to figure out which fox it was before they escape into the foxhole.

When you have younger kids who want to participate in your family game night, this game is a fantastic way to include them. And as your child tries to solve the mystery, they’ll also grow their logic and deductive reasoning skills!

7. Quiddler or Quiddler Junior

Time to Play: 20-40 minutes
Number of Players: 1-8 for original; 1-6 for junior
Age Range: 8 and up for original; 6 and up for junior
Get It: Quiddler or Quiddler Junior

This is one of those rare educational games that’s actually fun for kids and adults. Case in point: I love this game just as much as my kids do!

Each card in your hand features a different letter, and the goal of the game is to use those letters to create words. Creating words scores points, and the person with the most points at the end wins.

Teachers and homeschoolers rave about this card game because not only will your child improve their spelling and build their vocabulary, but they’ll also practice math skills when adding up their points.

As a bonus, this game also includes instructions for playing a solitaire version—an excellent option for when your child announces, “I’m bored!”

Note: The manufacturer says this game takes 40 minutes to play, but that’s for a full seven rounds. If you’d like a shorter game for your family game night, you can just play fewer rounds and then add up everyone’s points.

8. Sleeping Queens

Time to Play: 10-15 minutes
Number of Players: 2–5
Age Range: 4 and up
Get It: Sleeping Queens

If you get nothing else from this list, you must play this game. Promise me! Because of all our favorite family night board games, this is our number one go-to. The rules are simple enough for young kids to understand, but the game still keeps everyone on their toes.

We never get tired of this one! Plus, you can play a whole game in about 10 minutes. Perfect for a quick dose of fun before kicking off a longer family game night game.

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 8 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 4-year-olds are ready for this game, especially if you help them out a bit with the number cards.

Silly Games for Game Night: Giggles Guaranteed

You know your family game night has been a success when everyone’s cracking up together.  Here are the best family games for game night that will get you laughing.

Related: The Best Family Board Games for All Ages (No Candyland!)

9. Crossing

Time to Play: 15 minutes
Number of Players: 3-6
Age Range: 6 and up
Get It: Crossing

This quick game of strategy is perfect for a small pocket of time in between other games during your family game night. Kids love trying to collect as many gemstones as possible, and the strategy aspect of the game is enough to captivate adult players, too.

On each turn, all players make their moves at the same time. You can choose to go after a new batch of gemstones, protect your current stash, or steal from another player. But if two players both go after the same gemstones, no one gets them. That means you need to think ahead and predict what the other players might be going after.

Plus, your child will get bonus math practice when adding up the points for their gemstones at the end.

Good, quick fun for a wide range of ages!

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 8 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 6-year-olds are ready for this game.

10. Trash Pandas

Time to Play: 15-20 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Age Range: 6 and up
Get It: Trash Pandas

This quick card game has a “press your luck” element that most kids love.

The setup of the game is delightfully silly—every player is a raccoon who’s tipping over trash cans to find food and shiny objects. You roll dice to determine whether you get to dig through the trash (i.e. draw a card), take something from someone else’s trash (i.e. steal a card), stash your goodies so they stay safe until the end of the game (i.e. stash a card), and more. The more cards you stash, the more points you get. But if you push your luck and keep rolling the dice, you could lose all your goodies from that turn.

Trash Pandas is easy to learn, quick to play, and perfect for kicking off or wrapping up your family game night. Plus, your child will learn about probability without even realizing it!

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 8 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 6-year-olds are ready for this game.

11. Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

Time to Play: 10-30 minutes
Number of Players: 3-8
Age Range: 6 and up
Get It: Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

This twist on Slapjack is more fun the more players you have, so it’s an excellent choice for family game night.

Each person takes turns placing a card from their hand face up into a community pile while saying the next word in the sequence of taco/cat/goat/cheese/pizza. For example, suppose it’s your turn to say “goat” and as you lay the card down, you see that the card matches what you just said. Then everyone slaps! The last person to slap picks up the pile and adds it to the bottom of their hand. The person to get rid of all their cards first wins.

The deck also has a few special cards where you have to act something out before you slap the deck, like with the gorilla card where you have to beat your chest like a gorilla before slapping. This game is great silly fun!

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 8 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 6-year-olds are ready for this game.

12. Yeti in My Spaghetti

Time to Play: 5-15 minutes
Number of Players: 1 or more
Age Range: 3 and up
Get It: Yeti in My Spaghetti

This game is similar to Ker-Plunk, but it’s a better fit for younger kids because Ker-Plunk’s marbles are choking hazards.

To play this fun little game, you lay the spaghetti pieces across the bowl then put the yeti on top. (No logical backstory behind this—just go with it.) Then each player takes turns pulling out one piece of spaghetti. If the yeti falls to the bottom of the bowl on your turn, you lose. This is usually the point at which kids collapse into giggles, which can be contagious!

This game is perfect for younger kids because it helps develop their executive functioning skills when they learn (the hard way) to be patient and pull the spaghetti pieces out slowly. But because it’s so quick and silly, even tweens and teens get into it too!

13. Go Nuts for Donuts

Time to Play: 20 minutes
Number of Players: 2-6
Age Range: 6 and up
Get It: Go Nuts for Donuts

This is a quick card game that always makes us laugh. The goal of the game is to get as many points-scoring donuts as you can and end up with the highest score, and kids definitely love the donut theme.

But what really makes this game worth it is what happens when you go after the same donut as someone else. Because if you both go after the same donut, no one gets the donut. That means you need to think ahead and predict what the other players might be going after—so you can avoid going after the same donut. But then…are the other players predicting the same thing about you and therefore picking a different donut than you’d expect, so now you’re actually going after the same donut after all?!

My husband and I always end up picking the same darn donut turn after turn, so our kids tend to beat us handily.

Most families who enjoy Sushi Go end up loving this quick card game too.

14. Here, Kitty, Kitty!

Time to Play: 30 minutes
Number of Players: 3-6
Age Range: 7 and up
Get It: Here, Kitty, Kitty!

In this game, your neighborhood is overrun with stray kittens, and your goal is to collect as many as possible before your neighbors claim the adorable kitties for themselves. You can lure cats to your yard, move cats into your house, and even steal cats from your neighbors with cards like the cat burglar.

This is a fun (and funny!) game for the whole family. The kitty theme in this game is adorable, and kids love the backstory and pretend play aspect of the game especially. In fact, my 7-year-old will regularly pull out the game to play by herself just because it’s so much fun for her to pretend she’s a cat collector giving a loving home to stray kitties.

While the game does have a strong element of chance, it also has enough strategy for it to be fun for older kids and adults, too. And the cards in this game are an absolute hoot!

By the way, this game is not just for kids who love cats, but if your child does happen to love cats, they’ll adore this game.

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 10 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 7-year-olds who can read are ready for this game.

Exciting Game Night Games That Will Make Your Heart Race

These family games for game night will get you working towards a common goal against a shared enemy—or desperately trying to out-maneuver your opponents so you’re not left in the dust.

Related: Be a Close-Knit Family: The Best 35 Family Tradition Examples

15. Forbidden Island or Forbidden Desert

Time to Play: 30 minutes for Island; 45 minutes for Desert
Number of Players: 2-4 for Island; 2-5 for Desert
Age Range: 7 and up
Get It: Forbidden Island or Forbidden Desert

Both of these games are so fun you’ll enjoy playing them even without your kids. My husband and I regularly play these after the kids are in bed!

These are cooperative games, which is always a plus when playing with a wide range of ages during family game night. In Forbidden Island, you work together to collect treasure before the ancient island you’re on sinks into the ocean—plus you have to rescue your whole team off the island with a helicopter before you sink with the island.

Forbidden Desert is the sequel to Forbidden Island, and now your team of adventurers is trying to recover a legendary flying machine buried in the ruins of an ancient desert city. You have to survive the lack of water and sandstorms, retrieve all the pieces of the flying machine, and escape before the desert claims you forever.

Even though I know it’s not real, my heart races every time we get to the end of these games!

Note: The manufacturer says these games are for ages 10 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 7-year-olds are ready for this game. If your kids are still a bit young for these, check out My First Castle Panic or Castle Panic (also included in this list) for another awesome cooperative game for family game night.

16. 7 Wonders

Time to Play: 30-40 minutes
Number of Players: 2-7
Age Range: 8 and up
Get It: 7 Wonders

This is my personal all-time favorite game for family game night. In fact, if we’re halfway through a game night and we still haven’t played 7 Wonders yet, I’ve been known to whine about it until we do. Luckily for me, my husband and my kids share my obsession with this game, so I never have to twist anyone’s arm into it.

In the game, each player is the leader of one of the seven great cities of the Ancient World, and your goal is to build your city and erect an architectural wonder that will stand the test of time. You collect cards to accumulate resources for your city, develop commercial routes, advance scientific discoveries, and build your military.

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 10 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 8-year-olds are ready for this game. Younger kids will need help with thinking through their strategy the first couple times you play, but the payoff is well worth the slight stretch at first. When my 8-year-old reigns supreme at this game, she beams the rest of the night.

I never get tired of playing this game!

17. My First Castle Panic or Castle Panic

Time to Play: 20 minutes for the kids’ edition; 45-60 minutes for the regular version
Number of Players: 1-4 for the kids’ edition; 1-6 for the regular version
Age Range: 3 and up for the kids’ edition; 7 and up for the regular version
Get It: My First Castle Panic or Castle Panic

This is another favorite board game for family game night. Because it’s a cooperative game, you work together to fight off a horde of monsters who are trying to tear down your castle walls and destroy your towers. It sure is fun to work together as a family towards a common goal that doesn’t involve loading the dishwasher!

If you’re not sure which edition is right for your child, the regular version’s printed rules include a few variants for younger kids. The manufacturer says the regular version is for ages 10 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 7-year-olds who can read are ready for the regular version.

18. Catan

Time to Play: 60+ minutes
Number of Players: 3-4 or 5-6 with this extension set
Age Range: 8 and up
Get It: Catan and Catan Extension: 5-6 Player

This is one of the most popular board games for family game night, and for good reason. The gameplay is challenging enough that adults don’t get bored but still straightforward enough that kids can figure it out.

Your child will learn strategic thinking and negotiation skills, all while having a blast. Forget Monopoly and play Catan instead!

If you’ll be playing with more than 4 family members, you can add on the Catan 5-6 Player Extension here.

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 10 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 8-year-olds are ready for this game. For younger kids, grab the Catan Junior edition here.

19. Pandemic

Time to Play: 45 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Age Range: 7 and up
Get It: Pandemic

In this game, you work together to stop deadly diseases from running rampant across the world. This has always been one of our all-time favorite family game night board games, and playing it right now has also felt a bit cathartic. It even helped my kids understand more of what’s going on in the world, and the pretend aspect helped them work through some of their anxieties about a real-life pandemic situation.

If you’re playing with a wide range of ages, the rules include variations so you can increase or decrease the difficulty level to fit who you’re playing with.

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 10 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) many 7-year-olds who can read are ready for this game, especially if you help them with figuring out the strategy the first few times you play. And because it’s a cooperative game, helping each other is encouraged.

Smart Game Night Games That Will Keep Your Mind Sharp

If you enjoy a clever game that keeps you on your toes, here are the best games for family game night that will do just that.

20. Splendor

Time to Play: 30 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Age Range: 8 and up
Get It: Splendor

This game is one of my family’s all-time favorites and a particular favorite for my husband and me. It’s easy to set up and fairly quick to play, and it will make your brain hurt—in a good way! In my family, we’ve been known to finish this game and then immediately kick off another round right after that. In fact, if you forced me to choose the single best game for family game night, I would be hard-pressed to choose between Splendor and 7 Wonders. (And if you read the section about 7 Wonders above, you know that’s saying something!)

Here’s the setup: Each player is a merchant from the Renaissance, and your life’s goal is to build your prestige. You do that by purchasing gem mines, modes of transportation for your wares, and artisans who can turn your raw gems into jewelry you can sell in a storefront. Collect enough gems and cards to do all that, and you might even receive a visit from a noble, which gives you a mega prestige boost.

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 10 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 8-year-olds are ready for this game.

When playing with a younger child, you’ll want to help them think through their strategy the first couple times you play, but then they’ll be off to the races. Even my 6-year-old loves to join an adult’s team to play this one! When I’m playing with my younger kids, I try to keep an eye out for when they might need help thinking ahead, plus I intentionally hit the “off” switch on my own cutthroat mode before we start playing—I save that mode for playing against my husband and teenager instead.

21. Dixit

Time to Play: 30 minutes
Number of Players: 3–6
Age Range: 5 and up
Get It: Dixit

Our oldest used her 10th birthday money to get this game, and we all fell in love with it right from the start. (The artwork is absolutely gorgeous!)

If you want to nurture your child’s creativity, you need this storytelling game. Each round, one player picks a card (without showing anyone else!) and makes up a one-sentence story based on the picture on that card. Then all the other players pick a card that best fits with that story, and everyone puts their cards facedown. The storyteller shuffles the cards and turns them all over, and everyone has to vote on which was the “correct” card that inspired the original story.

The best part of this game is watching how your child pieces a story together and literally seeing their imagination at work. I never get tired of seeing what my kids come up with. Sometimes their clues are more literal, and sometimes they completely surprise me.

22. Azul

Time to Play: 30 minutes
Number of Players: 2-4
Age Range: 8 and up
Get It: Azul

This tile-laying game is the perfect choice for a cozy weekend afternoon. In our family, we like to brew up a batch of tea for grown-ups and hot chocolate for kids, then gather around the dining room table for this quick brain puzzle of a game.

The game has gorgeous art, and the colorful, chunky tiles look like candy. But the gameplay is where Azul shines: You’re a tile-laying artist, and you’re hired to build a mosaic fit to decorate the king’s palace. As you build your mosaic, you get points for linking tiles together, laying a whole row of tiles, and for using a variety of tile colors. A fun way to build your child’s strategic thinking skills while also giving your mind a workout!

When you’re playing with younger kids, you can choose to take a more laidback approach and be considerate when choosing tiles so that you don’t leave your kids high-and-dry—and vice versa. But when you’re playing with tweens, teens, and adults, the gloves can come off. Every artist for themselves.

Playing this game with my kids always wakes up my overtired parent brain, and that feels good.

Note: If your family game night has more than 4 players, we’ve paired up kids and adults on teams to play Azul, and that added a fun collaborative feel on top of the mind-bending vibe.

23. Kingdomino or Queendomino

Time to Play: 15-20 minutes for Kingdomino; 25-30 minutes for Queendomino
Number of Players: 2-4; combine both games for up to 6 players
Age Range: 6 and up
Get It: Kingdomino or Queendomino

In this fun twist on the classic game of dominoes, you’re royalty in search of new lands so you can expand your kingdom. But you’ll need to hurry to snag the best spots before other royalty gets there first.

Kingdomino is simple to learn, quick to play, and challenging enough to keep both kids and adults coming back for more. And when you play this tile-laying game with your child, you’ll build their strategic thinking and problem-solving skills, all while having a great time together during your family game night.

Queendomino adds some fun details on top of the original Kingdomino game, with buildings you can build on your land to earn more points, knights you can send out to collect taxes, and a dragon you can bribe to burn buildings down. Plus, if your lands boast the most towers, you can host the queen, which means you can purchase buildings for one coin less while you’re hosting her.

Queendomino is a standalone game and does not require Kingdomino. However, both games are in our regular rotation for family game night, depending on how much time we have and whether we want something super simple or a little more involved. Whether you decide on Kingdomino or Queendomino—or both so you can play the “Royal Wedding” variation with up to 6 players—you can’t go wrong.

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 8 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 6-year-olds are ready for this game.

24. Ticket to Ride First Journey or Ticket to Ride

Time to Play: 15-30 minutes for the kids’ edition; 30-60 minutes for the regular version
Number of Players: 2-4 for the kids’ edition; 2–5 for the regular version
Age Range: 6 and up for the kids’ edition; 8 and up for the regular version
Get It: Ticket to Ride First Journey or Ticket to Ride

In this game, your goal is to figure out the best train routes to travel across America. Not only will your child learn strategy and geography, but they’ll have a blast too.

The kids’ edition is simple enough for younger kids but still challenging enough for the whole family to enjoy. In fact, because the games are quicker with the kids’ edition, most game nights, my family prefers to play that one over the full edition!

When your child is ready, move up to the regular version for even more of a fun challenge. The full edition of Ticket to Ride is so much fun that my husband and I love to play it after the kids are in bed, just the two of us.

25. My First Carcassonne or Carcassonne

Time to Play: 10-20 minutes for the kids’ edition; 30-45 minutes for the regular version
Number of Players: 2–4 for the kids’ edition; 2-5 for the regular version
Age Range: 4 and up for the kids’ edition; 7 and up for the regular version
Get It: My First Carcassonne or Carcassonne

Whereas some family board games for all ages are all luck and no strategy, this game gives kids a fun introduction to thinking strategically. To play, you place tiles to build streets in the city of Carcassonne, so the road-building aspect is fantastic for growing spatial intelligence.

This game is fun for kids and parents!

26. Word on the Street Junior

Time to Play: 30 minutes
Number of Players: 2-8
Age Range: 6 and up
Get It: Word on the Street Junior

Some board games touted as “educational” are so focused on the learning aspects that they’ve sucked all the fun out of the game. But not Word on the Street Junior.

Even though the game is marketed as educational for kids with many teachers using it in their classrooms, as an adult I love this game. If you enjoy word games like Scrabble but your child isn’t yet ready for those games, you need Word on the Street Junior.

This game is like tug-of-war—but with letters. On your team’s turn, you get a prompt like “something with a shell” and you have to think of a word that fits that prompt, like “snail.” Then you get to move all the letters in your word one lane closer to your side of the “street” board. The first team to move eight letters all the way off the board wins.

Pro tip: When playing with younger kids, many families find it helpful to play with a small dry-erase board or scratch paper. After your child comes up with a word on their turn, you can help them spell it on the board or paper. Not only will that help them complete their turn, they’ll get some bonus spelling and handwriting practice.

27. Qwirkle

Time to Play: 30-45 minutes
Number of Players: 2–4
Age Range: 5 and up
Get It: Qwirkle or Travel Qwirkle

This game is simple enough for beginners but challenging enough for adults, so it’s the perfect fit when you need a game that will work for a wide variety of ages during your family game night. Your child will have fun while practicing math and building strategy skills at the same time.

To speed up the game for younger kids, we skip keeping score and put the focus on matching the colors and patterns. You can play a whole game in about 30-45 minutes, and then after the game our younger kids will extend the fun by building towers with the tiles.

This game also comes in a compact travel version, so we keep it in our suitcase and take it with us wherever we go.

28. Rummikub

Time to Play: 45-60 minutes
Number of Players: 2–4
Age Range: 5 and up
Get It: Rummikub

This classic board game will build your child’s math skills, but they’ll have so much fun they won’t even realize they’re growing their brain at the same time. As a bonus, Rummikub is challenging enough to keep even adults on their toes. When grandparents come to visit, this is the game both kids and grandparents love to play!

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 8 and up, but according to several other families (including mine!) most 5-year-olds—and even some preschoolers—are ready for this game.

29. SET

Time to Play: 20-30 minutes
Number of Players: 1 or more
Age Range: 5 and up
Get It: SET

This game will give your child’s brain a workout—and yours too. To play, you compare patterns on the cards and find a SET of three cards before anyone else does.

Confession: At first, I thought this game looked too simple and that it wouldn’t keep my interest as an adult, but it came highly recommended so I gave it a chance. As it turns out, I was dead wrong. The shapes are deceptively simple, and finding a SET is challenging enough to keep adults on their toes too.

Another plus for this game: Your child can play the game alone. So when they come to you saying, “I’m bored,” don’t say a word. Just put this game in their hands, and they’ll be all set.

Note: The manufacturer says this is for ages 6 and up, but because the game requires no reading, most 5-year-olds and even some 4-year-olds are ready for this game.

30. Sequence for Kids, Sequence Letters, or Sequence

Time to Play: 20 minutes for Kids and Letters; 10-30 minutes for regular
Number of Players: 2-4 for Kids and Letters; 2-12 for regular
Age Range: 3-6 for Kids; 4-7 for Letters; 7 and up for regular
Get It: Sequence for Kids, Sequence Letters, or Sequence

This classic strategy game is easy enough for kids but still challenging for adults. Kids can build their number sense and strategic thinking skills while adults get a workout for their brains—all while having fun!

Plus, you can play a game in 30 minutes or less. And because you can play with up to 12 people, Sequence makes the perfect choice for a family game night.

For kids who aren’t yet ready for the classic Sequence game, the Sequence for Kids version is a great way to get them familiar with the game before they’re ready to graduate. For a fun alternative with similar gameplay, Sequence Letters will help your child with recognizing letters and the sounds they make.

Want More?

For even more games that are perfect for different age groups, check out:

• Ages 18 months to 3 years: The Best Toddler Board Games
• Ages 3 to 5 years: The Best Preschool Board Games
• Ages 5 to 6 years: The Best Board Games for Kindergartners
• Ages 13 and up: The Best Board Games for Teens

Your Turn

What would you add to this list of the best games for family game night? Share in a comment below!