Fun Board Games For The Whole Family
Board games are a great family togetherness activity. Children learn to follow rules of the game, develop strategic thinking and forward planning, work together co-operatively, take turns, learn how to compete – winning with humility and losing with grace. Board games provide the perfect opportunity to press the pause button for a while and have some wholesome fun!
1
Ticket To Ride: New York Board Game
8+
2-4
Days of Wonder
Ticket to Ride is an incredibly fun and quick family board game that is very easy to learn. The aim of the game is to use your transport cards to claim as many routes as possible on the board, to complete the destination tickets and add as many bonus points as you can by passing city attractions en route.
This game is a good combination of chance and strategy.
2
Ice Cool 2
6+
2-4 or up to 8 with both games
Blue Orange
Ice Cool 2 is both a standalone game in its own rights as well as being an expansion set for the original Ice Cool game allowing you to play with 8 players not only 4 and with a new game mode called Race.
Ice Cool is a unique board game consisting of nesting boxes that form a game board.
3
Cobra Paw
7+
2+
Bananagrams
Ninja-like reflexes, sharp visual recognition skills, and mental fortitude steal the game in this tile-snatching challenge known as Cobra Paw! Players take turns rolling the dice (featuring 6 unique symbols), spotting the tile with the matching pattern, then trying to grab it before their opponents. You have to keep your wits about you because if you have the tile someone else needs, they can steal from you!
4
Codenames
12+
4-8
Czech Games
Codenames is a team game that involves giving your team clues to link words on the ever-changing game board which is a grid of 25 words. Two teams compete to see which spymaster can get their team to make contact with all of their agents first. This means uncovering your team’s word path without accidentally linking them to the word on the assassin square or to any of the other team’s words.
5
Dr Eureka
6+
2-6
Blue Orange
Dr Eureka is an unusual family game. Race to organize the molecules in your test tubes as fast as you can without using your hands, pouring the coloured balls from one test tube to the other at speed, matching the pattern on the challenge card. Play on your own or race against other players to see who can be the fastest to complete the task. Requires forward thinking, spatial planning, co-ordination and problem solving to get the molecules in the right order at speed.
6
My First Scrabble
6+
2+
Mattel
What a great way to get kids ready to play classic Scrabble! Children will love this game board filled with colourful pictures making it fun to match the letter tiles to the words on the crossword style grid. Players move their funny tokens up the score track as they score points.
Flip over the board for the more difficult version which enables them to come up with their own words getting them ready for Classic Scrabble.
7
Pictionary Board Game
8+
4+
Mattel
No more paper and pencils needed. This all-time classic has gone green, had a refurb and now comes with two erasable markers and white boards to draw on. It also has a new updated pop culture of clues. As with the original, Pictionary promises lots of family fun and laughter. Split into teams and see who is an artist and who isn’t. The guesses can sometimes be as funny and off the wall as the drawings.
8
Time Flies
8+
4+
Piatnik
A quick and hilarious board game played in teams – this is fast becoming one of our favourite games for games night because variety is the spice of life. We love how this game offers you a bit of everything – a great mixture between Pictionary, 30 Seconds and Charades.
9
Sunny Day Pond
2+
1+
Peaceable Kingdom
A perfect first board game that incorporates puzzle building into the fun. All players work as a team to build the three animal puzzles before the rain comes. Players take turns spinning the spinner and adding puzzle pieces. Finish the puzzles before all of the rain drops are on the board and everyone wins!
10
Catch
2+
1+
Peaceable Kingdom
A great co-operative game for young players, who will have lots of fun with this game of cat and mouse. The cats work together to catch the mouse and win the game. They must surround the mouse on all four sides before it’s able to get to the fence to escape. This game requires strategy, cunning and team work to win.
11
Guess Who
6+
2
Hasbro
Guess who is a brilliant game of deduction and is a classic that has stood the test of time. A lovey quick game to connect with your kids whilst having some fun. Guess Who has tabletop style boards. Each player chooses a mystery character and then using yes or no questions, they try to figure out the other player’s mystery character, shutting down windows as they go.
*Disclaimer: All items listed are subject to availability.
