There's nothing better than getting together with the family and pulling out a good board game to get the laughter going and the competition pumping. Maybe you don't want to play Yahtzee or Cribbage for the 50th time, or perhaps you just want to try something new. Here are our favorite family board games that you can pull out for hours of fun!
Connect the words
Codenames will put you into teams, and you'll designate one team member to be the clue giver. Using one word and a number, the clue giver, is trying to get their team members to guess which words in the tableau are the code words. The first team to guess all their code words wins. It's a fantastic word-association game that I love and have played numerous times — it never fails to be fun.
Trade your way to the top
Compete against your family to build the best settlement in one of the most popular board games ever. You'll need to trade with your opponents to succeed, but only one of you can be the victor. Build roads, trade sheep, and, most of all, have fun!
Highly expandable
Ever wanted to trek across North America on a train? In Ticket to Ride, you'll be competing to collect train cars of a specific color to connect rail lines so you can place your trains — the more trains you place on the board, the more points you get. Each player also has secret objectives that require them to connect certain cities. If you love the base game, there's a ton of different editions and expansion you can get if you're into that sort of thing.
Friend or foe?
This little card game will show you just how well you can trust your family members! You play as a resistance team trying to sabotage a corrupt empire; however, some of the players are spies, and it's up to the rest of the players to figure out who the spies are before their resistance fails.
A kid-friendly dungeon crawler
Get ready to dive into this fantastic kid-friendly dungeon crawler where you play as stuffed animals that have come to life to protect the little girl that owns them. You'll roll dice, encounter friends and foe, pick up items, and finish an epic quest all in this cute and cuddly world displayed in the adventure book.
Who done it?
Blending classic board games with technology, Chronicles of Crime puts you in the shoes of detectives trying to solve numerous cases. The game comes with an app (for iOS and Android) that lets you scan in pieces of evidence or persons of interest to the case allowing you to ask questions and discover clues. Fair warning there is some mature language and scenes, so best not to play with young kids.
Better than Yahtzee
Roll the color dice and decide where to use them to score the most points, but choose wisely, you only have so many rolls a turn, and you don't get to re-roll anything lower than the last die you picked. This game is just rolling dice and writing numbers on a sheet, but it's so fun and challenging to do well, that it will keep you coming back.
Classic movie monsters
This game brings the classic Universal Studios monsters like Frankenstein's Monster, The Invisible Man, Dracula, and more to life. You'll need to work together as a team to destroy these monsters once and for all and save the town. Be careful though, each monster has a different set of win and lose conditions, meaning you have to make sure you're playing smart.
The life of the party
Just One is a simple and wonderful party game. Everyone works together as a team trying to get a team member to guess a specific word by writing down a one-word clue; however, any duplicate clues your teammates give, makes that clue ineligible. Just One will have you wondering just how many different ways you can describe a soccer ball with hilarious results.
Board games bring people together
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Board games are a fantastic tool for bringing family and friends together. Friendly competition and lots of laughter are the best medicine for anyone stuck at home, and it encourages everyone to stop what they are doing and engage with each other.
I can't even tell you the number of hours I have spent playing Codenames. The words change each round, and you can switch clue givers for your team as often as you want. I have pulled this game out with many different types of people, and it always goes over well.
If you do like Yahtzee, I highly suggest checking out Ganz Schön Clever (That's Pretty Clever). Don't be scared off by its german name, this game is excellent. Rolling the dice and finding out which dice you need to use to score the most points is extremely satisfying.
Lastly, I want to shout out Stuffed Fables for being a super cool concept. It's like playing a simpler version of D&D with this cute stuff animal characters. The game has so much character, and the story is charming and fun. It's effortless to play pretend with a game that's as good as this.
