What Makes a Great Family Board Game?
When I think of board games that are great for families, there are several important criteria I think they need to meet:
With that said, here are my picks for the best family board games of all time that are absolutely worth playing right now.
Note:Despite considerable overlap, we consider party board games as separate from family board games. Want something more party-style? See ourbest party board games for groups.
11. Blokus
Blokusis a classic family board game where players take turns and aim to get all of their polyomino pieces (thinkTetris-style shapes of various sizes) on the board before space runs out.
The twist is, you can never place a piece in a way that makes it adjacent to any of your other existing pieces on the board. Instead, youmustplace pieces so that theyonlytouch corners with at least one existing piece.
Blokusis a wonderful game that’s half puzzle, half strategy, and one hundred perfect fun. It’s particularly great for kids with its abstract visual gameplay that exercises their spatial intelligence.
Related:The Best Educational Board Games That Are Fun and Creative
10. Castle Panic
Castle Panicis a fairly simple board game that’s entirely cooperative—you’re all working together to fend off waves of enemies as they storm your castle, and the goal is to survive to the end.
The gameplay is straightforward, with monsters spawning in a circle around your castle and moving in every turn, and players each having a hand of cards that determine which areas they can attack.
Castle Panicis the perfect kind of game for parents to play with younger children. It’s tactile, visual, and a great introductory game for strategic cooperation that isn’t overwhelming.
Related:The Best Two-Player Coop Board Games for Couples, Ranked
9. Carcassonne
Carcassonneis the quintessential “gateway” board game because it’s simple to play, indirectly competitive, deceptively strategic, with enough variation from play to play that it doesn’t grow stale.
All of that makes it great for families to play together—it’s no wonder why so many families loveCarcassonne.
Players take turns and each player’s turn is dead simple: draw a tile, place that tile, and optionally place a meeple token to claim territory. At the end, completed territories grant points to whoever has more meeples in them.
Carcassonneis a board gaming classic for a reason. Not only is it perfect for family nights, it can fit into pretty much any board gaming group.
Related:The Most Popular Board Game Genres and Types, Explained
8. Ticket to Ride
Ticket to Rideis right up there withCarcassonneas one of the greatest “gateway” board games of all time, primarily for its simple gameplay that remains fun despite how many times you might replay it.
InTicket to Ride, you play against each other as you all play cards from your hand to complete railroad routes across the country. Most routes can only be claimed by one player, so that’s where competition comes in.
If you’re looking for a board game thatfeelslike a proper board game, one that’s easy enough for kids to learn but interesting enough to keep adults engaged, thenTicket to Rideis one of your best options.
7. No Thanks!
No Thanks!is a simple reverse auction-style game that involves nothing more than a deck of cards numbered from 3 to 35, plus tokens that players use to say “No thanks!” to avoid taking cards.
The goal is to get the lowest score, with each card’s number being its point value. Players take turns placing a token on the card to avoid taking it—but if someone decides to take it, they get the card along with all the tokens placed on the card.
There’s a little more to it than that and it probably sounds unimpressive on paper, butNo Thanks!is one of those games that you have to experience for yourself. It plays very fast and it’s lots of fun for any family.
Related:The Best Quick Filler Board Games You Can Play in Under 30 Minutes
6. Kingdomino Origins
Kingdomino Originsis one of the best family board games of the past few years, mainly because it comes with three different game modes of increasing complexity.
In other words, you can play the basic Discovery game mode—similar to the originalKingdomino—with kids and the Tribes game mode with teenagers and adults. (The other game mode is more of a transitionary ruleset that bridges the Discovery and Tribes modes.)
The Discovery mode is about drafting and placing tiles to build up a kingdom of different terrain regions, while the Tribes mode introduces tribespeople who score points in additional ways.
Related:The Best Starter Board Games for a New Board Game Collection
5. Bohnanza
Bohnanzais the ultimate trading and negotiation card game that’s perfectly playable between kids and adults.
InBohnanza, each player is a bean farmer who manages a hand of different bean cards that can be “planted” on the table in front of them. However, you only have two plots and each plot can only hold one type of bean—to plant a different type, you have to uproot what you have.
The other twist is that your hand of cardscan’t be rearranged! You have to plant them in the order you draw them—which is where trading comes into play, as you’ll want to skillfully trade beans to maximize your plots.
Bohnanzais simple enough for kids to comprehend yet deep enough for adults to enjoy, making it a timeless classic of family game nights.
4. Cascadia
Cascadiais an amazing board game for families that want something that’s relaxing with simple rules and no direct competition, complete with puzzly gameplay that gets you thinking (but not stressful).
InCascadia, players are building up their own national parks. On their turns, each player drafts from a selection of tile-and-token pairs—the tiles represent terrain and tokens are placed within tiles.
You need to place habitat tiles to maximize the sizes of different regions, whereas wildlife tokens need to be placed in different patterns that are specific to each animal. That’s what makes it a relaxing puzzle.
Cascadiais my personal favorite of all the games released in 2021, and it’s the kind of game a family can play every night if they wanted to!
3. The Quest for El Dorado
The Quest for El Doradois a lovely board game for families who want to step up from the usual fare and try something just a tad bit more complex.
InThe Quest for El Dorado, all players are competing to travel across the map and reach El Dorado before everyone else. What makes this game interesting is that it’s a deckbuilding game.
You start off with a small deck of weak movement cards. As you explore, you can buy better cards that get shuffled into your deck, allowing you to make better moves as you draw from your evolving deck.
The Quest for El Doradois a race to the finish, and it has surprising replayability because the map is modular—every game’s race can be different from the last, requiring different tactics.
Related:The Best Board Games for Three Players
2. The Quacks of Quedlinburg
If you’re seeking a thrilling night that’s fun for all ages—for board game newbies and veterans alike—it’s hard to beatThe Quacks of Quedlinburg.
This is a push-your-luck game where every player has their own personal pouch of potion ingredients. Each round, players pull out ingredients one by one to add to their cauldron for brewing a better potion.
But beware! Every player’s ingredient pouch also contains several cherry bombs—and if too many cherry bombs are pulled out, that player’s potion will explode that round.
As the game goes on, players can buy better ingredients to add to their pouch, but the threat of cherry bombs is always there.
The Quacks of Quedlinburgprovides all the thrills of a slot machine with none of the monetary risk. You’ll be excited one minute and devastated the next—and not just you, but everyone else.
Related:The Best Push-Your-Luck Board Games and Card Games
1. Survive! Escape From Atlantis
For a family board game that maximizes player interaction and thrilling entertainment, there’s none better thanSurvive! Escape From Atlantis.
Players each control several people on an island that’s slowly sinking into the ocean. The goal is for each player to get as many of their people off the island to safety on the mainland.
The trouble is, each player picks which island tile sinks every turn, so the safety of your people rests in the hands of everyone else.
Not only that, but the waters around the island are infested with sharks, whales, and sea monsters—and they’realsocontrolled by players. They make it much harder to reach the mainland safely!
Most of the islanders will meet their doom and fail to reach safety, and that’s whySurvive! Escape From Atlantisis so entertaining. Even when you’re losing, it’s just fun to be part of the mayhem.
Warning:Survive! Escape From Atlantisis decidedly cutthroat. While this can be very fun and exciting, if someone in your family is prone to being a sore loser, you may want to skip this. Emotions can run hot with sensitive players.
Read next:The Best Island Board Games, Ranked
