18 Best Board Games for the Whole Family

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The Game: Count Your Chickens

We're on board (heh) with any game that serves up country charm alongside the spirit of competition. In this scenario, baby chicks have flown the coop and Mama Hen needs your help getting them back.  Players unite against a shared obstacle, meaning this game's a good confidence booster for little ones who may not be ready for sibling smack talk.

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The Game: Candyland

Is there anything not to love about this "sweet little game for sweet little folks"? Candyland remains a marzipan-lined memory lane for older players who will find refuge in its peppermint forest, lollipop palace, and licorice lagoon.  Fortunately, it remains just as resonant with today's kids, who, no surprise, also inherited a sweet tooth. (Turns out those don't skip a generation.)

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The Game: Top This!

If you're a discerning, design-minded parent who chooses toys based on aesthetics (we get it), then this charming ice-cream game will likely be your favorite on this list.  (Fortunately, it's a visual feast for kids, too!) Each player gets a sundae board and must spin the spoon to acquire six toppings to complete the dessert. The sweet scalloped napkin cards serve up additional 

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The Game: Top This!

challenges posed by the pretend parlor.

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The Game: World of Disney Eye Found It

Well, for starters, this is a six-foot-long board game, so you'll win over the kids with its sheer epicness upon foldout.  Join Mickey and company through 12 illustrated, familiar-to-Disney-fan worlds, from Wonderland to Neverland, while using your mini mouse ears to locate hidden pictures along the way.

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The Game:Kids Against Maturity 

This fill-in-the-blank game, a riff on the popular Cards Against Humanity (definitely not for the kids!), will have the whole family laughing at the silly answers.  Yes, there's lots of potty humor here, and some innuendos for the adults, but even your hard-to-please tween will be caught laughing.

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The Game: Beat the Parents

It's kids versus grownups in this battle of smarts, wits, and trivia. The rules are pretty simple (answer correctly, move your piece), which means it's game on once you unfold the board.  (In other words, it's a home run for parents who aren't looking to wade through longwinded instructions or a complicated, read-the-instructions setup.)

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The Game: Stone Soup

In this sweetly illustrated board game/matching game hybrid, players work together to cook up their soup, matching pairs of vegetables and seasonings before the fire under the kettle goes out. Bonus: Maybe, just maybe, it'll foster an appreciation for vegetables?

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The Game: Mouse Trap

Scurry around the board while stealing cheese wedges — the first to six wins — while trying your best to evade the coolest-ever cause-and-effect contraption.  (That part takes a second to set up, but it's worth it to see your kids' faces when that little silver marble goes on its first trip around the 3-D board and that little green diver leaps into his pool.) 

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The Game: Mouse Trap

Also: This means they'll grow up to be engineers, right?

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The Game: Retro Sorry!

When it comes to board games, anything featuring the words "retro edition" tends to make our nostalgic hearts flutter a little faster.  Take, for example, this reintroduction of a 1958 edition featuring vintage graphics (thump), classic wooden pawns (thump, thump), and collectible packaging (thump, thump, thump). The rules are equally 

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The Game: Retro Sorry!

classic: Bump, slide and — "sorry!" — send your opponent back to the beginning as you make your way around.

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The Game: Guess Who

Is he wearing a hat? Does she have glasses? Ask a series of questions to guess the other player's mystery character before they can guess yours.  This one's technically a two-player game, but you can divide your crew up into teams. (Have time on your hands? Give the game a crafty customized treatment by cutting out two sets of photos of classmates, 

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The Game: Guess Who

extended family members, or even celebrities and tailoring the fun to your brood's interests.)

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The Game: Azul

In this eye-pleasing diversion, players — make that artisans — compete to decorate a royal palace with beautiful mosaic tiles. (It's like the decorative tile-loving hashtag #IHaveThisThingWithFloors has come to life in game board form!)  Warning: Unlike other board games on the list, this one may also leave you wanting to renovate the master bath.

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The Game: Spontuneous (The Song Game!)

One player says a word from his/her Hit List — "mountain," for example — and participants race to sing a five-word portion of a song with that word for the chance to roll the dice and advance on the board. (Cue Grandma's rousing rendition of "Ain't No Mountain High Enough.")  A great game for groups and multiple generations, it's also one where you'll need to check your ego at the door.

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The Game: Electronic Battleship

You sank my submarine! This nautical classic gets a light electronic upgrade, with sound and lighting effects to bring your shots to life.  Watch out for "super weapons" that can strike more than one square at a time. The two-player guessing game is infinitely replayable — as long as you're stocked up on batteries.

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The Game: Ticket to Ride

All aboard! This award-winning board game is a crowd-pleasing cross-country adventure in which players collect and play cards to claim routes across North America.  It's also — welcome to the future, y'all! — compatible with Alexa, which means you can skip the rule book and have the device walk you through how it works. (You can even play against Alexa.) 

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The Game: Ticket to Ride

This requires roughly 30 to 60 minutes to chugga through, so just know it's a bit more of a commitment. (But well worth it, insist devotees.)

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The Game: Monopoly

Aspiring real estate moguls take note: This classic game of high-stakes property deals recently added a few new tokens with which to pass Go, including an adorable rubber ducky and a T-Rex.  You can find all kinds of variations — from Frozen II to Fortnite — but there's still something special about a big hotel on Park Place.

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The Game: Scrabble

Sure, there are less pricey options available, but a timeless, generation-spanning game like Scrabble is practically a family H-E-I-R-L-O-O-M and well worth a splurge. (Take our word for it!)  This keeper, which also makes for a thoughtful wedding or birthday gift, is made of solid wood with a mahogany finish, comes with a built-in lazy Susan, and 

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The Game: Scrabble

boasts a hardcover scorebook — think of the latter as a family journal, of sorts. Lift off the top and you'll find storage compartments for all of your components.

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The Game: Risk

Being stuck at home doesn't mean you can't conquer the globe. This classic game of world domination provides a perfect combination of strategy and chance and even a little geography lesson to boot.  A hint: Start in Australia. Roomy, fun locals, and you can build up your army while everyone else dukes it out.

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The Game of Life: The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Edition

Chances are, you're already familiar with the Game of Life, and this playful twist featuring the tag line "life isn't fair, but it can be funny" takes inspiration from the hit Amazon Prime show.  Try to find fame and fortune against a backdrop of 1950s New York City. Will you vacation in the Catskills or wind up in a dumpy apartment? Only the board knows.

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