The 47 Best Family Games in 2025 (Reviewed by Parents)

Players ask “yes” or “no” questions to try and guess the animal, food or object on their playing card.

Brittany Kozielski said:  Hedbanz is one of the all time best family games in our house. You put on a headband and put a mystery card in the clip so that you can't see it. The other players give you clues and you have to guess what the picture is on the card on your head. Lots of laughs. We have even made our own personal cards over the years to give the game a little more variety.

Joseph Kelley said:  A fun twist on a matching game! This is a fast paced family game where you must pick out the matching symbols out of a large group of symbols. Great for a when you have some kids who are reading and some who aren't because there are no words in this game. The storage tin makes it a great game to take along for a road trip.

Players earn points by claiming railway routes connecting cities through North America.

Kelly R said:  I think this is one of the best family board games for older kids, and also gets pulled out a lot on adult game night after the kids have gone to bed. Winning takes a mix of strategy and luck, and it can get a little cutthroat when people are competing for the same real estate!

Kelly R said:  This game has stood the test of time in our house for years and years, possibly better than any other. Games come and go depending on the age of our kids and what's new, but we all agree on playing Qwirkle numerous times every year...little kids, big kids and adults all love it. I'd say it's as close as you get to a "must have" game for all families!

This family card game was created by a 6 year old girl! Earn points by playing your cards to wake the Pancake Queen, the Rainbow Queen, and all of their friends.

Erin said:  This game is a hit in our house with all ages! My 10-year-old son frequently pulls this one off the shelf, and it's so fun and easy to understand for his younger siblings as well. We have had this one for a few years now, and it's still one of our most-frequently-played card games!

In this favorite cooperative board game for preschoolers, the goal is to get a family of owls back home before morning.

Jaclyn Keifer said:  My son is 5 and we love playing this together. I appreciate that this is a cooperative game and he’s learning that in this game, we work together to win!

A game of comparisons that will have the entire family laughing, and enhancing their vocabulary and persuasion skills while they're at it! One player at a time gets to be judge, and selects a card displaying a one-word characteristic like "goofy," "excellent" or "smelly." Then, all players choose a card from their hands (with words like "monkeys," "sandcastles" and "spinach") and try to convince the judge that their card best fits the chosen characteristic. Although the manufacturer's suggested age is 9, younger kids can also enjoy it.

Jaclyn Keifer said:  One of our family favorites! We enjoy basing the “winner” off of the amount of time we have. You can shorten the game by allowing the winner to be the first to reach four cards or keep it going by making it the first to get to 10 or something similar. This allows us to still spend a bit of time with our big kids even if we’re short on time. We enjoy that it’s a fun way to grow their vocabulary as well!

A combination of Pictionary and the telephone game, where you draw and pass sketches around in a circle.

Kelly R said:  This is one of our go-to family games for a mix of ages, and it's best if you play it with a larger group. My 10-year-old daughter loves it the most of all of us.

Collect and trade resources to strategically build roads, settlements and cities on the game board and score points. Game setup and play can take over an hour, so this isn't a board game that you can squeeze in right before the kids head off to bed. But it's a fun and immersive game to play with older kids for a family night in!

Alexandra F. said:  This game is SO fun. We got it for Christmas and have been playing obsessively with my teen and tween all break. It seems complicated when you look at the long instruction manual but it's actually pretty easy once you get started, though the endless variations keep every game unique and interesting.

Kelly R said:  This bingo-style family board game is perfect for both pre-readers and early readers. Players race to match words and pictures to the spaces on their cards. We played this A LOT when my kids were little, though we always had to establish ground rules for who got to slide the tile spitter outer (technical term) to release the tiles each turn.

Kelly R said:  This game has been a family favorite in our house for years! This is a great way for kids to learn concepts like probability and strategy. One of those rare games that is just as much fun with 2 players as it is with more.

A simpler (and much shorter) card game version of Monopoly, players collect properties, steal properties from other players and collect rent with action cards. 

Kelly R said:  This game is fabulous! Only the best parts of Monopoly, and none of the annoying dealing with money, endless dice rolling, and hours of gameplay that suck away the fun.

Players start with 8 face down cards in front of them, and take tuns flipping and swapping numbered cards until they are all revealed. Points are tallied at the end of each hand, and the object is to have the lowest total score, just like in golf.

Kelly R said:  This isn't one of those board games for older kids that relies on modern graphics and silly humor, but give it a try - my 10 year old loves it! We brought this game with us on an extended family vacation (ages 6 to 60s), and we all looked forward to playing it every evening.

Kelly R said:  We were big fans of the kids edition of Sequence during the early years, and switched to this regular version when they became tweens. Still a family favorite! We like playing as teams, as you work with a partner but can't discuss strategy...this makes it more unpredictable and exciting.

Splendor is a strategy game where players collect gems, buy cards, and gain prestige to become the most renowned Renaissance merchant.

Kelly R said:  Collect gem chips to "buy" and accumulate cards and earn points. Multiple different strategies can win the game, and the game feels a little different every time depending on how the cards are dealt. Compared to other popular strategy-based board games for older kids, the rules are very simple and straightforward and it generally takes much less time to play! My whole family gets into this one, and I love that the kids and adults are equally likely to win.