More Family Board Games
Photograph: Simon Hill
There are so many family board games. Here are a few more we liked.
Flip 7 for $13: The thrill of pushing your luck is the draw for this hybrid card game, as you hit or stick Blackjack-style, trying to get seven different face-up cards. Special action cards and modifiers mix things up, allowing for some tactical play. Suitable for three or more players aged 8 and up, it only takes 20 minutes to play.
Tension: The Top 10 Naming Game for $43: Topic cards have 10 items within a category, and the opposing team has 60 seconds to guess as many as they can. Cards are divided into two colors (easy and harder), making it easy to play with kids or adjust the difficulty on the fly. This works well with any age or team size, but be prepared for lots of shouting and laughing.
Indiana Jones Cryptic for $31: An escape-room puzzle game with Indiana Jones styling is a licensing match made in heaven. This game is beautifully illustrated, with three cases to solve that match story beats from the original trilogy, narration from Indy’s journal, and coin rewards for success. The puzzles are a bit hit or miss (sometimes too easy, sometimes too hard), but once solved, you won’t want to play again, though you can always pass the game on.
You Gotta Be Kitten Me! for $11: A simple twist on liar’s dice that focuses on bluffing and calling bluffs; I am of two minds about this game. On the one hand, the game is nothing special, but on the other, cute cats! My moggy-obsessed daughter immediately wanted to play, and we had a few laughs with outrageous bluffs on the number of glasses, hats, and bow ties on these felines.
Poetry for Neanderthals for $20: Every card has a word, and your seemingly simple task is to get your team to correctly guess it within the time limit by speaking in single syllables only. If you break the rules, the opposition can hit you with the inflatable “No” stick. Suitable for two to eight players aged 7 and up, it’s loud, silly, and usually makes everyone laugh.
Danger Danger for $15: Fast and frenetic, this simple card game for two teams is about trying to have high-scoring cards showing at the end of each round. There are no turns, you can cover the other team’s cards, and rounds are timed, but you must guess when the round will end. Super simple and very quick to play, this game can get chaotic.
That Escalated Quickly for $20: This game is quick, easy, and fun for up to eight players. Featuring scenarios such as “I have invented a new sport, what is it?” players must provide suggestions from least dangerous (1) to most dangerous (10) based on their assigned number for each round. The leader of the round has to try to get them in the correct order. It works best with witty players who know each other well.
Kitchen Rush for $53: A truly unique title that proves too many cooks can spoil the broth; this game can get chaotic fast. You work together to cook dishes for customers within a strict time limit. It’s a little too complicated for young kids. (I’d say 10 years and up is best.) If you like this, try the video game Overcooked.
Sounds Fishy for $20: Another fun group game from Big Potato, the challenge in Sounds Fishy is to spot fake answers. Each card poses a question, but only one of the answers you get is correct. It’s for four to 10 players, and we found it more fun but tougher with more people.
Zillionaires Road Trip USA for $13: Each of the 49 squares on the game board is a quirky roadside attraction, from Bubblegum Alley to the National Mustard Museum, and players bid to buy them with the aim of securing four in a row. My kids loved this, the adults not so much.
Cards Against Humanity: Family Edition for $29: You can play this party game with up to 30 players, and it will produce a fair bit of juvenile giggling and chortling. Like the adult version, there isn’t much strategy here, but finding the perfect combination to crack everyone up is satisfying.
Don’t Bother
We were not so keen on these games.
Photograph: Simon Hill
Connecto for $20: Connect different symbols on your board with a dry-erase marker based on a randomly drawn challenge card to make a picture of something (like connect the dots). The first one to guess what it’s supposed to be wins the round (some are only vaguely like what they’re meant to be). Longevity takes a hit, as there’s no fun in replaying solved puzzles.
A Game of Cat & Mouth for $13: Incredibly simple, this dexterity game challenges you to fire rubber balls through a cat’s mouth with magnetic paws, but they end up everywhere. Games tend to be very one-sided, and my kids got bored almost immediately. It is also impossible to play with actual cats in the vicinity.
