Playing board games with your family is a fantastic way to bond, laugh, and create lasting memories. Whether you’re looking for something that’s quick and easy to learn or a game that will keep everyone engaged for hours, the right board game can bring people of all ages together. Here are the best board games to play with your family in 2024, offering a mix of fun, strategy, and teamwork that’s perfect for players young and old.
1. Ticket to Ride
Players: 2-5
Playtime: 30-60 minutes
Best For: Families who love a bit of friendly competition
Ticket to Ride is a modern classic that’s perfect for family game night. In this game, players collect train cards to claim railway routes across the map, connecting cities and completing destination tickets. The game’s simple rules make it easy to pick up, while the strategy of blocking opponents and completing long routes adds depth.
It’s a great mix of luck and skill, making it enjoyable for both younger players and adults. Plus, with maps of various countries and expansion sets available, there’s endless variety for future game nights.
Why It’s Great for Families:
- Easy to learn, quick to play.
- A good mix of strategy and chance that levels the playing field for all ages.
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries
Ticket to Ride: Nordic Countries takes you on a Nordic adventure through Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden as you travel to the great northern cities of Copenhagen, Oslo, Helsinki, and Stockholm. This version was initially available only in the Nordic Countries of Denmark, Norway, Sweden, and Finland; a worldwide limited-edition release occurred in August 2008 and it has since been kept in print again by Days of Wonder.
2. Catan (formerly Settlers of Catan)
Players: 3-4 (expandable to 6)
Playtime: 60-120 minutes
Best For: Families who enjoy strategy and resource management
Catan is a family-friendly game that combines strategy, resource management, and negotiation. Players work to build settlements, cities, and roads by collecting resources like wood, brick, and wheat. The game involves a lot of player interaction through trading, making it a highly social experience.
While the game has some strategic depth, it’s easy enough for kids to grasp, especially with a bit of help. Catan also teaches valuable lessons in resource management and negotiation, making it both fun and educational.
Why It’s Great for Families:
- Teaches strategic thinking and planning.
- Encourages family interaction through trading and negotiations.
CATAN
In CATAN (formerly The Settlers of Catan), players try to be the dominant force on the island of Catan by building settlements, cities, and roads. On each turn dice are rolled to determine what resources the island produces. Players build by spending resources (sheep, wheat, wood, brick and ore) that are depicted by these resource cards; each land type, with the exception of the unproductive desert, produces a specific resource: hills produce brick, forests produce wood, mountains produce ore, fields produce wheat, and pastures produce sheep.
3. Carcassonne
Players: 2-5
Playtime: 30-45 minutes
Best For: Families who love building and tile-laying games
In Carcassonne, players take turns placing tiles to build a medieval landscape of cities, roads, and fields. As the landscape grows, players can claim these features with their meeples to earn points. The simple tile-laying mechanic is easy to understand, but the game offers plenty of room for strategy as players decide where to place their tiles for maximum points.
Carcassonne is accessible for younger players, but the strategy of claiming territories makes it enjoyable for adults as well. Plus, the ever-changing game board means no two games are alike.
Why It’s Great for Families:
- Quick setup and playtime make it ideal for younger children.
- The tile-laying mechanic is simple, but the strategy keeps it engaging for older players.
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a tile-placement game in which the players draw and place a tile with a piece of southern French landscape on it. The tile might feature a city, a road, a cloister, grassland or some combination thereof, and it must be placed adjacent to tiles that have already been played, in such a way that cities are connected to cities, roads to roads, etcetera. Having placed a tile, the player can then decide to place one of their meeples on one of the areas on it: on the city as a knight, on the road as a robber, on a cloister as a monk, or on the grass as a farmer.
4. Dixit
Players: 3-6
Playtime: 30 minutes
Best For: Families who love creativity and imagination
Dixit is a beautifully illustrated game that encourages storytelling and creativity. Players take turns being the storyteller, giving a clue based on one of the whimsical images in their hand. The other players then submit cards that they think match the clue, and everyone tries to guess which card belongs to the storyteller.
The game is light-hearted and open to interpretation, which makes it perfect for younger players who can use their imaginations. It’s also a great way for families to share laughter and surprises as they try to outwit one another with their clues.
Why It’s Great for Families:
- Encourages creativity and imagination.
- Non-competitive and perfect for younger players.
Dixit
Each turn in Dixit, one player is the storyteller, chooses one of the six cards in their hand, then makes up a sentence based on that card's image and says it out loud without showing the card to the other players. Each other player then selects the card in their hand that best matches the sentence and gives the selected card to the storyteller, without showing it to anyone else. The storyteller shuffles their card with all of the received cards, then reveals all of these cards. Each player other than the storyteller then secretly guesses which card belongs to the storyteller.
5. Forbidden Island
Players: 2-4
Playtime: 30 minutes
Best For: Families who enjoy teamwork and cooperation
In Forbidden Island, players work together as a team to collect treasures and escape an island that’s sinking beneath the waves. The cooperative nature of the game makes it perfect for families, as everyone must work together to win. Each player has a special ability, and coordinating your actions is key to success.
The game is tense and exciting, with every turn adding to the sense of urgency. The cooperative aspect means that younger players can get involved without feeling the pressure of competition.
Why It’s Great for Families:
- Encourages teamwork and cooperation.
- Easy to learn and quick to play, with plenty of exciting moments.
Forbidden Island
Forbidden Island is a visually stunning cooperative board game. Instead of winning by competing with other players like most games, everyone must work together to win the game. Players take turns moving their pawns around the 'island', which is built by arranging the many beautifully screen-printed tiles before play begins. As the game progresses, more and more island tiles sink, becoming unavailable, and the pace increases. Players use strategies to keep the island from sinking, while trying to collect treasures and items.
6. Kingdomino
Players: 2-4
Playtime: 15-20 minutes
Best For: Families who love quick, strategic games
In Kingdomino, players take on the role of rulers trying to build the most impressive kingdom by selecting and placing domino-like tiles. The game is quick to learn and easy to play, making it perfect for families. The challenge lies in strategically placing the tiles to create large, connected areas of land for maximum points.
The fast pace and simple rules make Kingdomino accessible for kids, while the strategic depth keeps adults engaged. It’s also a great introduction to more complex tile-laying games like Carcassonne.
Why It’s Great for Families:
- Short playtime is ideal for younger children.
- Simple rules with enough strategy to keep older players interested.
Kingdomino
In Kingdomino, you are a lord seeking new lands in which to expand your kingdom. You must explore all the lands, including wheat fields, lakes, and mountains, in order to spot the best plots, while competing with other lords to acquire them first. The game uses tiles with two sections, similar to Dominoes. Each turn, each player will select a new domino to connect to their existing kingdom, making sure at least one of its sides connects to a matching terrain type already in play.
7. Blokus
Players: 2-4
Playtime: 20 minutes
Best For: Families who enjoy spatial puzzles
Blokus is a quick and fun game that challenges players to place their pieces on the board while blocking their opponents from doing the same. The twist is that each new piece must touch your previously placed pieces, but only at the corners. It’s a simple concept, but the spatial challenge keeps players on their toes.
The game is perfect for families because it’s easy to learn, fast to play, and offers just the right amount of competitive tension. Even younger players can grasp the basic idea and enjoy figuring out how to fit their pieces on the board.
Why It’s Great for Families:
- Easy to learn and quick to play, with a satisfying puzzle element.
- Great for teaching spatial awareness and strategic planning.
Blokus
Blokus (officially pronounced "Block us") is an abstract strategy game with transparent, Tetris-shaped, colored pieces that players are trying to play onto the board. The only caveat to placing a piece is that it may not lie adjacent to your other pieces, but instead must be placed touching at least one corner of your pieces already on the board.
There is a solitaire variation where one player tries to get rid of all the pieces in a single sitting.
Goal of the Game:
Each player has to fit as many of his/her 21 pieces on the board as possible.
8. Qwirkle
Players: 2-4
Playtime: 45 minutes
Best For: Families who love pattern recognition and matching games
Qwirkle is a tile-laying game where players score points by creating rows and columns of matching shapes and colors. It’s a simple game that’s accessible for younger players but still requires enough strategy to keep adults engaged.
The game’s colorful tiles and easy-to-understand rules make it appealing for family play. It’s a great way to develop pattern recognition skills in younger children while providing plenty of strategic depth for older family members.
Why It’s Great for Families:
- Simple gameplay that’s easy for kids to understand.
- Engaging for all ages with its mix of luck and strategy.
Qwirkle
The abstract game of Qwirkle consists of 108 wooden blocks with six different shapes in six different colors. There is no board, players simply use an available flat surface. Players begin the game with six blocks. The start player places blocks of a single matching attribute (color or shape but not both) on the table. Thereafter, a player adds blocks adjacent to at least one previously played block. The blocks must all be played in a line and match, without duplicates, either the color or shape of the previous block. Players score one point for each block played plus all blocks adjacent.
9. Codenames: Disney Family Edition
Players: 2-8
Playtime: 15-30 minutes
Best For: Disney fans, families who love word games
Codenames: Disney Family Edition is a family-friendly version of the popular word game Codenames, featuring beloved Disney characters and scenes. In this game, players work in teams to give clues that help their teammates guess which cards are theirs on the board, while avoiding the opposing team’s cards.
The Disney theme makes it an instant hit with younger players, while the word-guessing and clue-giving mechanics are engaging for adults. It’s a perfect blend of fun and strategy that can accommodate larger families or groups.
Why It’s Great for Families:
- The Disney theme appeals to kids and adults alike.
- Cooperative elements promote teamwork and communication.
Codenames: Disney – Family Edition
In Codenames, two teams compete to see who can guess all of their words correctly first — but those words are hiding in plain sight in a 5x5 or grid that includes the words of the other team, neutral words, and an game over card that will cause you to lose the game immediately if you guess it. One person on each team is a spymaster and only these two know which words belong to each team. Spymasters take turns giving one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board.
Final Thoughts
The best family board games offer a balance of fun, simplicity, and strategy, providing entertainment for all ages. Whether your family enjoys cooperation, competition, or creativity, there’s a game on this list that will bring everyone together for an unforgettable game night. So gather around the table, pick a game, and get ready for hours of laughter and shared moments!
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