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13 top board games for the whole family to enjoy

Who doesn’t like a relaxing evening playing fun board games with family? And if you have a competitive family, the evenings can get very, let’s just say, ‘heated.’ So board games become more fun. However, playing the game is not the issue!

This is a collaborative post

The problem is, which one do you even choose? With so many options, how do you find a game that everyone will enjoy? We rounded up 13 of the most fun board games everyone, from the kids to the adults, will enjoy.

1. Battleship

Battleship will give you endless family fun if you love strategy board games. The stakes are high, and the rules are simple to understand. You and your opponent will take turns sinking each other’s battleships – hence the name.

The rules are pretty straightforward. There are two grids for each player. One grid is for placing your ships. It is also used to keep track of hits your opponent successfully made against you. Finally, you will use another grid to keep track of misses and hits of your opponent’s ship.

You will put a white pin on the grid to mark it if it is a miss. Then it is all about strategizing and calculating where the opponent’s ships can be on the grid. It is sheer harmless fun. The only gripe is that only two people can play it at a time. Mind you, if you’re stuck for knowing what move to make, you could always use Picker Wheel, an online spinner game that helps you make any random decision.

2. Monopoly

The classic board game Monopoly was released way back in 1935. Since then, it has been one of the most popular board games every family enjoys. You can even play monopoly online too. Players will buy the property and charge rent whenever someone lands on it.

As the game progresses, players buy the property and pay rent to land on other players’ property. Eventually, they start to go bankrupt. The one left standing wins.

Monopoly requires strategy and also a bit of luck. First, you have to try to bankrupt your opponents. Then, players can keep improving their real estate empire and charge more and more rent. It is absolute fun.

A dice roll decides how many squares the player can move. Be careful, though, and your roll could also land you in jail – in the game, of course. However, if you lost your dice, or do not have one, do not worry. An online dice roller does the job perfectly.

Close up of a monopoly board game board

3. Ticket to Ride

Some of the best family board games are easy to learn but hard to master. Ticket to Ride is precisely that. It is a laid-back board game that involves strategy and risk.

Since it is easy to learn, you will not feel any mental drain while playing. However, as the game progresses, the gameplay becomes very fun.

Players essentially need to create train routes to score the highest points. However, you cannot go about it willy-nilly. There are opportunity costs. You could build longer routes to get the most value. Or you could build smaller ones initially to score faster. Which strategy do you go with?

4. Scrabble

If you want to work your family’s mental muscles a bit, Scrabble is a great word game. We particularly like playing Scrabble with the whole family (especially kids) since it can be a teaching experience.

Players must create words with the letter tiles they have for the most points. As a result, you will stretch your vocabulary capabilities. The goal is to get the most points by aiming for highly-rewarding words. It is a fun and fantastic time to spend quality time with your family.

Letters from the board game Scrabble

5. Guess Who

Think you have a family of detectives? Guess Who is the perfect board game for your family, then. There are many characters in the game, and players need to come up with creative questions to deduce which character the opponent player is.

Guess Who has tons of different characters with many characters of colour and female ones – 11, to be precise. So everyone will feel included and represented.

We love this one for how inventive it allows you to get with the questions. The rules are simple, and it all comes down to intuition and reading each other’s body language to try and deduce their characters.

6. Sushi Go

If you want a board game with your family that takes less time to finish, then Sushi Go is it. Each game lasts about 15 minutes and is easy to pick up.

So, if you have little kids, they will not get bored. Your goal is to get the best sushi dish combination. It can be played by 2 to 5 players, and each player is randomly dealt cards.

There are three rounds, and each round will differ since the cards are shuffled. Sushi Go is tremendously fun to play. It is lighthearted but also very rewarding.

More board games all the family will enjoy

7. Twister

While most games are played on a board, Twister is a bit different. It will have you twisting and moving your body in various ways. If you and your family like getting hands-on and are up for a laugh, Twister is a must-play.

Although the game does not promise any laughs, the positions you find yourselves in will not fail to crack you up. 

The game is played over a large coloured mat. There is a cardboard spinner with different quadrants. Wherever the spinner lands where you must place a body part, needless to say, it can get chaotic, and the laughs never stop.

Twister is one of the best family games to play.

8. King of Tokyo

You may have heard of the board game King of Tokyo. If you have not, you are in for a treat. The game will give a monster to each player. The objective of the game is to ‘take control of Tokyo.’

Players take turns with a roll of dice. You need to be strategic about it too. The game is over when a single monster is left standing. Therefore, the King of Tokyo can get competitive at times.

9. Just One

This game is straightforward to play. However, it is far from boring. First, all the players will help a single player guess a phrase or word. Then, everybody will give them a clue on their little personal whiteboards.

So, the better you write the clues, the easier it will be for the person to guess. Just One’s gameplay is pretty open-structured.

As a result, you can create exciting game formats with it. For example, if there are four people in your family, you could have two teams of two people. Each team can then take turns to guess the phrase with the help of their teammate.

If you want to make it more interesting, add a time limit. If you leave your kids at home, this game is great for keeping them occupied.

10. The Crew: Mission Deep Sea

This game is perhaps one of the most addictive cooperative card games. It is challenging but easy to learn. Moreover, the twist is, although you need to cooperate to finish the missions successfully, you cannot discuss your cards. It adds an exciting element to the game. 

Also, you can replay the game many times and still have fun. The replay value of it is excellent. Each session of the game will have you complete some tasks. The mission will start underwater, and the background story will get you invested.

11. Dungeon

This is not Dungeons and Dragons. However, it can very well be a gateway to it. Dungeon features many elements of D&D, like looting, fighting monsters, and dice rolling to perform combat moves.

However, it is more beginner friendly. If you and your family want to embark on an RPG adventure, Dungeon is a great way to start.

Dungeons is a great game to keep your kids entertained on holidays. Since it is easier, Dungeons will not be too difficult to learn, even for kids. 

The game also sets its difficulty according to the character each player picks. So after you and your family feel like you got the hang of it and are still hungry for more, you could give Dungeons and Dragons a shot if you dare.

12. Candy Land

Candy Land invokes all kinds of nostalgia for many of us here. We played it so much back in those days. It is simple, whimsical, and downright fun to play. There are excellent characters and iconic landmarks too.

The gameplay revolves around finding King Kandy. First, you must draw cards telling you where to go. Then, your piece moves along the squares according to the cards you draw till you find King Kandy. The player that finds the King first wins.

13. Connect Four

We love Connect Four just because of how deceitfully strategic it is. There is a grid with 42 slots. Players must connect four of their tokens either vertically, horizontally, or diagonally.

It seems easy, doesn’t it? But if you are playing with a good player, it can get exciting. For example, you may need to stop your opponent from connecting their tokens by placing yours to block them.

You will also need to think about how you can connect four of your tokens more quicker than theirs. It is quite an exciting game that will have you thinking two steps ahead of your opponent.

A family play games including Connect Four

Wrapping Up

We all love fun board games that we can play with our families. The kids love it too. They get some mental stimulation, and the adults can relax. 

The best thing about board games is that there is one for every family. So you only need to pick the right one for endless fun and spend quality family time.

How did I do?

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