Our family loves playing games, especially now that all four kids are old enough and able to play games we all enjoy. Finding a chunk of time that works for all six of us to sit down and play together is rare, so when we find it, we jump on it!
We are trying to come up with a new family game or group game to get our kids for Christmas this year. Because you are all brilliant and always full of great ideas, I thought I’d ask you what games you love at your house. First, I’ll give you a list of what we already have and enjoy together:
- Settlers of Catan (with extentions)
- Ticket to Ride
- Carcossonne
- Bohnanza
- Life
- Risk
- Manhattan
- Guestures
- Taboo
- Blink (Malachi and I play this quick card game a lot while the older brothers are at basketball practice.)
- Headbandz
- Acquire
- Sequence
- Clue
- Apples to Apple Junior (This is probably our favorite group game.)
- Scattergories
- Pictionary
- Cranium
- Boggle (This game totally counts as school work, but no one knows they’re learning.)
- Monopoly
- Sorry
- Quelf
- Racko
- Balderdash
- Yahtzee
- Farkle
- Pass the Pigs
- Huskerdu (great for younger kids – still fun for adults)
- Mastermind
Wow, after making that list, it kind of makes me wonder if we actually need another game this Christmas. We have oodles in our closet! Still, tell me your favorites. Our lives may just not be complete yet without one more game. :)
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Dutch blitz..card game…i would get the expansion pack since you have 6.
Funny enough, Stock Ticker is a favorite around here. I do NOT enjoy talking about, dealing in or paying much attention to finance in ” real life” but playing with it is fun. This is another game where you don’t realize your brain is doing math all night. We ditch the fake money and just keep bank records on paper. You may need to hunt through thrift stores to find this old game…http://www.stocktickerclassic.com
The 10 Days in. . series. We have Europe and the Americas and want to get more! Also, Family Flux. It is a really fun card game.
Uno
Aggravation
Parcheesi
Chinese Checkers
Phase 10 (card game)
Lots of card games with a deck of cards: hearts, spades, ect.
I was going to suggest Phase 10 as well. Love it!
The Game of Things. It’s a great group game and I know boys love to be fun and silly with it! Also Nertzs is our all-time favorite card game. It’s extremely competitive and fast-past. All you need is a deck of cards for every person (or 2, if you do teams).
The Farming Game!!
Pit! (This one is LOUD, but so fun!)
We actually branched out in our gaming selection because of you! We stayed at your house so we could be in town for my sister’s wedding almost 11 years ago and we saw Settlers of Cataan. My hubby read the rules and decided that we needed to buy it. We’ve been hooked on games since then. :)
Power Grid is up to 6 players and is a great game with a bunch of different educational elements.
DiXit (sounds like “deceit”) has beautiful art and is fun as a party game and has a Balderdash element because you all vote on which card you think is the right one. It’s more creative, I think.
We love phase 10. Just a special deck of cards so it’s easy to pack– some strategy but basically anyone can win!
Blokus. The game comes in a couple different variations of shaped playing pieces. We have the triangle version. A surprising amount of strategy and spatial reasoning is involved to get all your pieces on the grid and keep others from playing theirs.
I second Dutch Blitz and Blokus. We have and enjoy most of the games on your list and these two are in our top favorite. We have three versions of Blokus, but prefer the original. I believe it is four player so we just partner up and work as a team when we have more players. You definitely want the extension pack with Dutch Blitz to allow for more players.
I can see your family (as if I actually know your family…) loving Spot-It. I would suggest purchasing 2 (of the same) games as you have at least 6 people playing and more if you play with friends and you can combine as many sets as needed. Lots of fun for all ages!
We also love Qwirkle. My husband and I played Sumoku for the first time last night and I am certian we will be playing that again tonight! A great way to improve addition skills!!
PIT!!! Can be rowdy…so much fun…
QWIRKLE! I think it’s a newer game. I love it and I am not a big ‘game player!’ It’s sort of a combination of Dominos and Scrabble and is a lot of fun! It’s constructed well and is a high quality game.
Thanks for this post. I just started looking for a new game for Christmas.
We love Telestrations! It is a version of telephone, but instead of speaking the players draw on draw erase tablets. My aunt gave it to the kids for Christmas last year and it is still our current favorite.
We love games! Some of our favorites include: Dutch Blitz, Set, Sherlock (a variation of memory), 7 Wonders (my current favorite), Citadels and Dominion!
Another plug for QWIRKLE! A little like Scrabble, but with shapes. It also takes a LOT less time to get through a game. We tend to get in “game ruts” and play the same one time after time, then we switch. This is the one we are “stuck” on right now. We also love Rummikub, Monopoly, and Sequence.
We love 5 Second Rule, Game of Things, Bananagrams, and Mille Bornes!!
Spot It!
Rummikub is our favorite. It works well for two which we find to be rare. We try to play at least once a week since it is good for critical thinking and keeping our brains working. At our age this is really helpful. We also enjoy Mille Bournes and dominoes with another couple.
Monopoly Deal (card game), Coloretto, Dutch Blitz, Tenzi, Hey That’s My Fish, Hannabi.
Your family would fit right in with mine! Our TN side LOVES playing games – so every Thanksgiving, that’s what we do after dinner – especially phase 10 and dominoes (especially Mexican Train). I’m a fan of Taboo, Sequence, Balderdash – all ones you already have!
Oh and Blokus. The other side of my family likes that one.
Evens Stevens Odd—http://www.amazon.com/Educational-Insights-Even-Stevens-Odd/dp/B00ATWSQQ4
Great educations, fast thinking game!
Catch Phrase is our go-to game especially when we have a group. We never tire of this fast-action game. For just our family we really enjoy playing Set Card Game – one of those that sneaks logical thinking into the action. We are amazed how often our youngest does the best at this one! Here is a link: http://www.amazon.com/Set-Family-Game-Visual-Perception/dp/B00000IV34/ref=sr_1_1?s=toys-and-games&ie=UTF8&qid=1416843414&sr=1-1&keywords=set+card+game
One of our favorites is Pic Wits. It plays a lot like Apples to Apples, but with pictures and word cards instead of 2 sets of word cards. You have to match the picture with the phrase or word. (we did remove a few pictures that we thought were a little bit distastful…but nothing really bad.) We also discovered there are extensions to Bohanza. We havent’ played any of them yet, but I think I might be getting one for our crew this year too.
Another vote for Spot It. We have the camping version. It’s a round deck of cards in a metal tin, so easy to store and easy to bring on a trip. My four year old can play if we go a wee bit slower, but a table full of adults can also have a blast.
On a side note, I have a Malachi too! :) He’s only 2.5 years old though.
Mexican train dominoes! My grandparents loved the game and we would sit around their table playing nearly every night when we visited! Lots of good memories with that one and I can’t remember, but I think you can either have 5 or 6 players (you would want to make sure of the players…)
Some really good “oldies but goodies” would be Cribbage (only up to 4 people, though) and Backgammon— you can do tournament style… 2 on 2 and winners play winners…
We also love games! Here are a few that we enjoy that I didn’t see on your list:
1. Another vote for The Farming Game
This one is easy to learn, and a lot of fun. . You can raise crops, buy equipment and deal with fees. Each time around the board represents a year.
2. Luck of the Draw
Everyone draws a picture of the given word and puts their creation into the middle for voting. Then the fun starts! One round you might be voting on the most creative, most realistic and most likely to hang in the center of the wall. The next you might have to vote on worst drawing, or the squiggliest.
We like this one because the best artist doesn’t always win, and it’s fun for everyone. Since everyone also draws at the same time, it’s more engaging than Pictionary, at least for our family.
3. Scribblish
Another drawing game, but with yet another twist. Each person starts with a caption that they must draw a picture to. Then they roll up their drawing a bit and everyone passes. You have to decide on a caption for the picture you receive. Then you pass again and someone else draws your caption. You keep going until the round is over. Then the pictures are all unrolled and you have to figure out which picture originally went with which caption, and vote on the best drawing and funniest caption. It’s like telephone–some pictures end up so far away from the original that it’s just hilarious!
This one is also played simultaneously.
Good luck picking your new game!
We love Buzzword, Five Crowns, and Quiddler.
A recent favorite of ours that I think your family would like is king of Tokyo. Seven wonders has also been a favorite of ours for a couple of years. Blokus and spot it are simple, but fun.
Our family loves Telestrations. We got the 12 player (party pack) that way if we have another family or friends over we have more of the erasable note pads. It’s especially fun for for people who love drawing
We have a ton of games also. Telestrations is our newest favorite. It is hilariously fun.
We really enjoy Qwirkle, also. It’s a fun game to play with multiple ages. Bunco is another of our favorites and a bonus is that you can play this game with both small and large groups — great for parties! If you like Sorry, you might also like Sorry Card Revenge. Family games are my favorite thing to do!
Looks like our families like the same types of games. We also really like Dominion (and the expansion sets) and Quiddler (one of my favorites!).
New games are always great to have over the winter. Have fun!
Telestrations! It is alway hilarious to see the end result! Also Wits and Wagers is a lot of fun.
Another vote for both Telestrations (like the description above of Scribblish) and also Spot it. We are getting Spot it and the Apples to Apples pictures version for Christmas this year.
Just looked into the Apples to Apples picture version. You might want to read the reviews on Amazon before purchasing. It seems there are many inappropriate cards included that do not make it “family friendly”. This sure discouraged me from wanting to get it for my kids. So sad.
We like Milles Borne, Bible Trivia, and Bible Baseball. I don’t think you can have too many board games!
We used to do a lot of game nights before we had kids and have tons of games for adults and older kids but not many for littles. We got our kids “Don’t Break the Ice” last year for Christmas (they were 20 months and 4 years old at the time). The one-year-old could play with help. They loved it! I’m hoping to add another classic, “Don’t Spill the Beans” to our collection this year.
GameWright makes some excellent games for little kids (ones that don’t make adults want to gouge out their eyes – I’m looking at you, Candyland). We love “Take the Cake” (shape matching and a tiny bit of strategy), “Skunk Bingo” (mostly about taking turns and “if I do this, then that happens”), and Hisss (we play it as a cooperative matching game). We also love the HABA game “Zitternix” – it’s one of those “remove an item” game that can be fun for everyone, down to age 3, or even 2 if they have good coordination.
I will have to look into those! Thanks!
Wow! you already own my top picks! even mastermind!!! I didn’t know they still made that game…
our oldest child is only 11, but their favorite family game is mousetrap :)
Pente is one I enjoy,
we also like Sequence Junior.
Last year one of our children received IOTA as a gift, which looks challenging and great fun, but we have yet to try it!!
What?!?!? You don’t have Blokus? Wonderful strategy game-but only 4 of you can play at a time.
Password is a classic word game for our family….it is usually for 4 people , but we always play it with a larger group and rotate who gives the clues on a team. Mad Gab is another fun one I haven’t seen mentioned here.
Another vote for Qwirkle. We love it!
Qwirkle and Qbitz are our newest favorites! Both by Mindware! Thinking games and fun too!!
We enjoy phase 10, Dutch blitz, farming game, catch phrase and banana grams.
Wow, you ladies are brilliant! You just made my Christmas list for me! We love Qwirkle and Acuity. Fat Brain Toys has a lot of learning games that are a blast.
Dominion is a fun game and each time you play it is a little different. Great game for your age boys!
Right now is mexican train, uno pick up sticks and yaztee. Got two more games. We try to have game night couple of times a week.
We like dominion and expansions ( a card strategy game, your boys will love it! ) blokus and the card game wizard also.
Ok, so going for something different here… how about a Christmas game? We received a game as a Christmas gift called To Bethlehem (by Familyman Ministries) that we love to play during December. All ages can play. It makes a great family gift too.
Also, we love Apples to Apples too, but you just have to get the Bible edition! We have played the regular and junior editions, and neither is as fun as the Bible version. Seriously!
Since our oldest is only 6, we have three categories of games in our house. “Kids play” is ones that the middle child (3 1/2) can play and sometimes the two of them can play without supervision. “Family play” are ones where there are adults needed (to referee or read instructions/rules, etc.), and “Adult play” are the ones we save for game nights with friends. Some of our “adult play” ones would be fine for your family. But that said, here are my suggestions:
a cooperative game, like:
Castle Panic (easiest – we can play this with the 6 year old)
Forbidden Island / Forbidden Desert (6 year old needs some help)
Pandemic (hardest)
Family Fluxx (the rules change as you play)
Zitternix (a simple “remove-the-stuff” game, takes less than 5 minutes to play, but ANYONE with decent motor skills can play)
Zeus on the Loose
Sushi Go
Smash-Up (choose two groups, like “Pirates and Ninjas” or “Dinosaurs and Wizards”. Your groups team up and fight together against other groups to control the board.)
Our family loves to play Apples to Apples Disney. The cards have pictures, so it’s even pretty easy for my 4 1/2 yr old to play :)
We enjoy Settlers of Catan as well. We have gotten the Cities and Knights expansion and the Seafarers expansion and those add a challenge and twist to the original. Definitely our family favorite.
We love also love Blokus! Our other 2 current favorites are Slamwich and Eye Found It. All 3 are lots of fun, but we love Slamwich because it is easy to travel with and Eye Found It is great because everyone works together to win as a team.
Blokes
Qwirtle
Wits and wages
Sorry – auto correct error
Blokus is the name of the game
We like Mille Bournes.
I love your list of games. I’d add:
10 Days in …Africa, USA, Asia, etc.
all of the Ticket to Ride expansions
Scotland Yard
Forbidden Island – group works together – very fun!
Empire Builder
We have just about all the games you do, we love playing board games! We found a new game a few years back that we really love,its called Killer Bunnies! Lots of fun! Check it out! :)
Castle Panic is a family favorite of ours, players work together to defend the castle from monsters. Pandemic is also a great co-op game where players work together to stop the spread of a virus.
Quiddler and Dutch Blitz are.favorites for my family.
dominion, pandemic and 7 wonders.
We love Qwirkle – kinda like dominoes and scrabble mixed up (no words, just 6 colors and 6 shapes) and all ages can play. Our extended family always asks us to bring it to gatherings/trips! :) Also, Sleeping Queens, a kids card game that is fun for all ages. And we love Monoply Empire, it’s a great game with fun new twists to the game, plus easier to play than the original (smoother transactions) and faster – one game is about 20-30 minutes. :-)
Does anyone have suggestions for a family game with a blind child? We can adapt it with braille and tactile pieces, but only to a certain extent. She is a very smart 6 year old and her current favorites are bop-it and Simon says (she plays only by sound, not the lights). Thanks guys!
Tough question!
Blokus?
We also like Great States – it’s a fun trivia game my kids have enjoyed for years. There are some cards with ‘find the picture’, but you could take them out.
Simply Fun is a great game company. Maybe they’d have ideas or create a game for you!
Thanks for the reply, I’ll check them out!
Another vote for Telestrations here. Huge favorite for kids and adults alike.
We also like to play Would You Rather (ages 12+). It’s hysterical…..although there are a few cards that are mildly inappropriate (depending on your standards).
Catch Phrase is a lot of fun, also.
Does a card game count? Uno?!
My favorite topic! I was just going through my collection to pick a few to bring to Thanksgiving. You’ve got some great ones already on your list. For teens, I’d recommend:
Dixit
Pandemic
Castle Panic
Forbidden Desert (a bit more complicated than Forbidden Island, it needs more strategy)
A great resource for detailed information on board games is http://boardgamegeek.com.
Happy gaming!
Bananagrams :)
When we were kids, my siblings and I enjoyed The Farming Game.
We love Eurorails…it’s an older game, so I’m not 100% sure you can find it in stores, maybe online. It’s also great European geography practice!
I second Mad Gab. We laugh so hard when we play it. There is also a Bible version. Also, my daughter and I love to play Boggle.
We love Mexican Train. It’s a dominoes game.
We like to get games for Christmas as well – we discovered “Oddly Obvious” last year – tons of fun, especially for larger families/groups. Now off to check out your list and other suggestions to see what we get this year! :)
You absolutely need the game Telestrations – it’s the game of telephone and pictionary together. It’s good for up to 8 players and even people that profess to hate games love this one. It is an absolute riot, your family would love it!
You should get Agricola.
It is not based so much on chance, much more so on good decisions {or not so good} – We’ve had it for a couple years, and the kids and hubby are still improving their strategies. {while I am usually content just to watch if my brain is fried by holiday excess ;-) }
That’s my hubby’s game. Our two boys own Settlers/Catan with multiple expansions and Ticket to Ride.
For 20+ years we’ve been playing Dutch Blitz and dominoes {Mex train} Jenga is also fun with a group. And Telestrations – which if you learn how to play, you can do it with homemade materials known as a pile of scratch paper and your imagination ;-)
But so far I’ve ordered Spot It, Qwirkle, Scotland Yard, Pit, and Quarto for gifts this month :o Yes, we like table games… and the cupboard is sorta full already. ^.^
I refer to this list every year now. Thank you for introducing us to Ticket to Ride and Headbandz. Fun for all ages! This year we are going to try Catan. Merry Christmas!