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Playing board games with your family doesn't have to be a case of breaking out dusty copies of Monopoly, Clue, or Trivial Pursuit anymore, thanks to a booming tabletop market that now caters to players of all ages. Gone are the days of boring, drawn-out game nights, and in comes the new era, provided you know where to look.
We've picked out some of our favorite family board games that you need to try if the classics have gotten stale. Not all of our picks are new board games by any means, but they're certainly games that make family game night much more interesting.
Honorable Mentions
We start, as always, with the games that sit just off our list of the top picks. For one reason or another, these games couldn't quite sneak into our list, but are well worth looking into if you need more recommendations. Feel free to make any recommendations that you thing we should be playing to add to the list!
- Stomp the Plank
- Sushi Go Party!
- Flip 7
- Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza
- Ka-Blab
- Unstable Unicorns
- Ticket to Ride
- What Do You Meme
- Dixit
- Dobble
- Chicken vs Hotdog
You can also check out our best board games in 2026 list if you want some broader options, while our best solo board games guide shows you games that can be played without anyone else around the table.
Strike
It's All Luck... Right?
We kick off this list with a dice game called Strike. It's a risk-versus-reward rolling game where the objective is to be the last player standing with dice in hand.
Each die is numbered two to six, with the one replaced with an X symbol. You'll roll the dice trying to match numbers. If you get a match, you take the dice back into your hand. If you roll an X, that die is out of the game immediately. If, at any point, a turn begins and there are no dice in the arena, that player must roll all their dice at the same time.
The risk is how many times you're willing to roll to get a match, since technically you only need to roll once per turn, though we personally play with house rules that require you to roll until you get a match.
Once you run out of dice, you're out of the game, and it's last player standing rules, meaning the last player with dice in their hand wins. Rounds rarely go beyond two or three minutes, but the fast-paced, high-intensity nature of the game sees even the calmest players get competitive in a flash, and you'll all be playing "just one more round" time and time again.
Exploding Kittens
Tick, Tick, BOOM
This fast-paced and explosive card game is great for players of all ages. There isn't a huge amount of strategy to it, although you can add house rules to make things a little bit unpredictable.
Each turn, you'll play cards from your hand until you're ready to draw a card from the middle of the table (unless you play a card that lets you skip the draw action). You'll hope you draw anything but an Exploding Kitten; otherwise, you're out of the game, unless you still have a defuse card in your hand.
It's become hugely popular for good reason, and it's easy to get out on family game night. Better still, it only takes a minute to explain the rules to new players.
Colorbrain
Rainbow Rampaging
Colorbrain is a brilliant logic/guessing/knowledge game that's fun for the whole family. Granted, you may want to consider Junior Colorbrain or Disney Colorbrain, depending on the age of the kids who will be playing.
Each round of Colorbrain poses a subject and a number. For example, the United States Flag and 3. This question asks how many colors the US flag has. From the 11 color cards you have in hand, you must place down the three you think are right, then all players reveal their guesses together, before the answer is revealed. Players who get the question right get points equal to the number of players who got it wrong.
The first player to reach the required points is the winner; if there is a tie, you can play sudden-death questions until just one player remains. It's a quirky game that feels really inclusive for all ages, as many of the questions are about household or common items, and when you're not sure, you can just take a logical guess and sometimes get it right.
Villainous
It's Never Been So Fun To Be The Bad Guy
Disney's Villainous sees you take on the role of iconic villains trying to achieve a character-specific goal. You'll navigate a location board, playing cards from your character's deck, and occasionally deal with the consequences of your fate deck.
We would argue that the complexity of the turns in Villainous requires younger players to have some supervision for their first game, even if they're playing as an easier character like Prince John.
If Disney isn't your bag, you can always try the Star Wars or Marvel-themed editions of the game, and there are plenty of expansions to help keep your time with the game fresh between sessions.
Micro Macro: Crime City
Where's Waldo Gets Dark
This self-proclaimed hidden-picture detective game tasks you with solving crimes using a giant black-and-white map depicting a bustling environment of cartoon characters.
It's great to play cooperatively or competitively using house rules. There are plenty of cases to solve included with the game, and they get progressively more difficult to solve, testing your ability to spot clues in a busy landscape.
The only downside is that once you've played through all the cases, the game loses its edge, although there are expansions to call upon, and the game is priced very reasonably due to its limited campaign nature.
Mycelia
Fun With Fungi
The 2024 edition of Mycelia is an adorable family game where players all race to solve their puzzle first by clearing all the dew drops from their board. Each turn will revolve around building a deck of actions and taking those actions to move and remove dew drops from your board, according to what each action card specifies.
Some quirks take a little time to get used to, such as a beetle on an action card representing the exact requirements, whereas action cards without a beetle can be used flexibly.
Ultimately, the game is very family-friendly and finds a sweet spot between competitive and relaxing. Initial setup can take some time, especially building the dew drop portal, but this only needs to be done once, and all components fit back into the box thanks to the way it is initially packed with space to spare.
Hues And Cues
Fifty Shades Of Every Color
Like any good family game, Hues and Cues might cause a few arguments, not necessarily due to the rules of the game, but because you're likely to discover just how colorblind some of the players around the table are.
In this vibrant guessing game, you'll choose one of four colors on a card and give a one-word clue to all other players. They will then attempt to guess what color you're describing on the game board. From there, you may then give a two-word clue, and players make a second guess.
After guessing is complete, you place a scoring square around the answer, and players score points depending on their position on the board relevant to the scoring zone. The winning score depends on the number of players in the game, but games never feel like they're too long or short.
