Board games, including card games and tabletop games, are becoming increasing popular. They have a unique way of prising kids off their screens, bringing people and families together. Providing fun, laughter and memorable moments, they offer fantastic entertainment. Whether you’re celebrating a birthday party, a family gathering, or hosting game night for your friends, there’s a game to play for every occasion. Here’s our small guide to choosing the perfect games for various events and gatherings.
Family Game Night
A weekly game night for a fun-filled evening with loved ones is fantastic, but you need games that are easy to understand and suitable for all ages. For fun family game nights for the adults and kids to take part in together we recommended:
- Ticket to Ride: This is a fun board game that is perfect for strategy-loving families. This game involves building train routes across the map. The original game (and the one we love the most) involves building routes across North America, but there are several versions available including Europe and various cities around the world. Suitable for 2-5 players, age 8+, Ticket to Ride is perfect for families as the rules are easy to understand and the gameplay is straightforward with a plenty of strategy involved – do you go for a collection of short routes? Opt for the long game and go for the long routes for more points? Or do you try and block other routes to disrupt your fellow players? Read our Ticket to Ride reviews here.
- Do You Really Know Your Family?: How well do your know your family, and how well do they really know you? Well, in this fun family trivia game you are about to find out. A card game where you can use all your newfound knowledge and uncovered secrets to impress and/or blackmail (just kidding) your relatives. Suitable for 3-8 players, age 8+. Read our review here.
- Host Your Own Family Quiz Night: Quiz games can either be too easy for the adults or too hard for the kids as the questions are usually geared to one group of the other. With Host Your Own Family Night that problem is solved – with one set of questions for the adults and one set for the kids, families can race around the board without one group being at a disadvantage, and it is lots of fun. Suitable for 2+ players, age 8+. Read our review here.
Birthday Parties
Birthday celebrations can be high-energy occasions. With large groups that need entertaining, board games are great for accommodating larger groups, keeping the fun and energy at its peak. Here are our recommended picks:
- Exploding Kittens: A quirky, fast-paced card game that’s great for party vibes and no pets are harmed while playing. It has kittens, goats, magical enchiladas, weaponised back hair and explosions! The aim of the game is simple, avoid getting an Exploding Kitten card and you won’t explode! Suitable for 2-5 players, age 5+. Read our review here. And if kittens aren’t your thing, check out our review of Exploding Minions.
- Step Right Up: Technically not a board game, but this game of challenges guarantees laughter and movement for all ages. Step Right Up! is a game of challenges. Players take it in turns to complete a random challenge. Throw, dodge, jump, roll, shoot and balance your way to victory! Pick a challenge card, then compete with others to complete it. Suitable for 2-8 players, age 8+. Read our review here.
- Shake Off: A game to play BEFORE the kids have over-indulged on birthday cake as it involves a lot of movement. Strap on a Shake-o-meter and the more you shake, jump and move, the more points you score. It’s like Zumba meets Twister, with a dash of competitive spirit that’ll have grandma shaking her groove thing like it’s 1965 again! Suitable for 2 or more players, age 4+. Read our review here.
Game Night with Friends
Game nights are not just about family time, you need to make time for your friends as well. Here are our recommendations for some more adult gaming fun:
- Horrible Therapist: A card game where you make very unpleasant (and hilarious) 3 part comics. Players take it in turns to be a “therapist” and lay down a question and answer card and the other players lay down a “treatment” card, this funniest answer wins. A simple card game with hilarious consequences. Suitable for 3-8 players, age 17+. Read our review here.
- Host Your Own Pub Quiz: The British pub quiz is a beloved tradition that combines socialising with a bit of friendly competition and now you can have your own right in your own living room with your friends (and hopefully without the sticky carpets). 2000 questions which are spread out over 8 popular categories. Suitable for 2 teams of players, age 14+. Read our review here.
- Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window: If you love classic mystery thriller films then you will love the board game based on the 1954 movie Rear Window. Has a murder been committed … or not? You will need to observe the strange clues to try and work it out. Suitable for 3-5 players, age 13+. Read our review here.
Educational Play
While playing board games is excellent fun, they can also be fantastic educational tools. Here are our picks for games that have great gameplay and wonderful educational value:
- Word Families: An excellent fun word and phonics game of creating three to five letter words using two different letter tiles. Great for using phonics skills and word recognition. Suitable for 2 players, age 5-8. Read our review here.
- Twisted History: A trivia board game that combines fun and historical facts. An award-winning laugh-out-loud, conversation-starting party trivia game for teens and adults that takes you on a journey through the seven twisted eras of history, where life and death were weird and rather gruesome. Suitable for 2-7 players, age 14+. Read our review here.
- On the Map: When exam time comes around, playing board games can be a great way to relax. On The Map is a fantastic geography-based revision and learning board game that is perfect for geography enthusiasts. It combines learning and revision with exciting gameplay. Suitable for 3-4 players, age 10+ and supports KS3 (11-14 years) and the CE (Common Entrance) syllabus. Read our review here.
Rainy Day Indoors
When the ever-changing weather keeps you inside, a board game can brighten the mood and make the day feel special. Our recommended picks are:
- Monopoly: While the rain makes the day grey, Monopoly is the game is to play. Work your way around the board buying up properties, building houses and hotels… all with the aim of bankrupting your opponents and becoming rich. A family staple found on many board game shelves around the world. Suitable for 2-6 players, aged 8+. Read our review here.
- The Game of Life: A board game about decision making through life. Do you go to college or get a job? Maybe you want to get married and have kids? What about buying a house, making investments and retirement? It is a game for 2-4 players, aged 8+. Read our review here.
- The Disappearance: Stuck indoors? Maybe you need to escape the room with an escape room in an envelope. Venture into the Arctic and try to solve the puzzle of a missing researcher. solve the puzzles to uncover her fate – before it’s too late. Suitable for 1-8 players, age 14+. Read our review here.
Outdoor Fun
When the rain has gone away and the sun pops its head out, it lightens the mood and brings everybody out to soak up the sun and fresh air. Why not enjoy the sun playing games. Here are our picks for outdoor gaming fun:
Throw Throw Burrito Extreme Outdoor Edition: A dodgeball card game complete with jumbo-sized water-resistant playing cards and 3ft inflatable burritos that make it great fun to play outside. A fantastically fun game to get everybody outdoors having fun and battling each other in burrito wars. Suitable for 2-6 players, age 7+. Read our review here.
Jumbo Playing Cards: Playing cards are always fun, especially when they have had a growth spurt over the winter months and have become jumbo-sized for garden fun. Lose yourself in a massive solo game of Solitaire on the grass, compete in a family game of Snap where even granny without her glasses can see what’s going on, or maybe you just fancy gin, gin rummy that is, or a fast game of Crazy Eights. Read our review here.
This Side Up: An electronic parcel flipping reaction game, suitable for solo or competitive play with friends and family. Perfect for some parcel-flipping garden fun. Suitable for 1 or more players, age 8+. Read our review here.
Travel-Friendly Gaming
With Summer on the way you are probably thinking about planning the holidays and how to keep the kids entertained and boredom at bay. Here are our recommendations for some portable games for long train rides, rainy nights in a caravan, or more exotic trips.
- Bananagrams: Can you become the Top Banana in this word-building game. All the tiles are neatly stored in a handy travel-sized banana pouch, making it ideal to play on any flat surface and taking up very little room in your luggage. Suitable for 2-8 players, age 7+. Read our review here.
- Rummikub Mini Pouch: If word games aren’t your thing but you love numbers and sequencing then you can’t go wrong with the classic game of Rummikub. A tile-based game with the aim of the game to be the first player to get rid of all your tiles by building number groups or runs. Suitable for 2-4 players, age 7+. Read our review here.
- UNO: A card-shedding game of matching colours and numbers. Simple to learn and easy to play. And extremely addictive! Suitable for 2-10 players, age 7+. Read our review here.
Final Thoughts
Board games, including card games and tabletop games, are more than just fun entertainment – they can be a great way to connect with others, learn new things, and create lasting memories. The power of a well-chosen game can work wonders at bringing everyone together for fun and laughter. Whether you’re planning your next move and working out the perfect strategy, laughing at hilarious guesses, or solving mysteries, the right board game can turn any occasion into an unforgettable event.