Popular Family Games

Popular Family Games

While just about any board game can be enjoyed by the whole family, some games are just classic “family” oriented games. In general, that means they’re good for a wide range of ages and players.

Here’s the five most popular family games.

5. Boggle

Though Boggle is described as being “for 2 or more players”, we’ve found that more than five or six makes the game very difficult. Boggle is listed as being for ages “8 and up”, though you may find that many children younger than 8 are perfectly capable of playing.

In Boggle, players compete with each other to find as many words as possible in a 4×4 grid of jumbled letters. There’s a three minute time limit, after which point totals are added up based on the number of words you’ve found. The only words that count at words that the other players didn’t find.

Boggle is a fast-paced “word game”, and the easy game play and quick setup make it a repeat play for many families.

Popular Family Games

4. Chutes and Ladders

This is a pretty boring game, especially for people above the age of six. Unfortunately, it is also most kid’s favorite game when they are younger. The reason this appeals to families is because kids demand to play it. They understand the simple way you play the game, they’re drawn to the colors and the drawings, and once kids win a few rounds of this simple “progression” game, they’ll want to play again and again.

Many different versions of Chutes and Ladders exist, but they’re all pretty much the same. Buy this one for the kids, but try to get them into Monopoly as soon as you can.

3. Checkers

Checkers boards are as easy to find as 7-11s. You can buy checkers and chess sets at retail pharmacies, big box stores, and even travel versions at gas stations and truck stops. Checkers is popular because almost everyone knows how to play, and because kids and adults alike both love to “jump” the opponent, form Kings, and dominate a Checkers board.

Part strategy game (similar in many ways to Chess) and part “capture” game, Checkers is playable as young as five years old and is a game the whole family can agree on.

2. Jenga

Jenga is a simple board game involving player’s using their fingers to gently draw blocks out of a pre-fabricated structure. A strange board game, in that it involves more physical and less intellectual skill, Jenga appeals to kids because of the dramatic way in which the Jenga blocks fall to the ground. Older people like Jenga, too–it turns out that there’s plenty of strategy in removing Jenga blocks.

1. Clue

When I was a kid, Clue was my family’s main board game. If you grew up in the 80s, your family may have been the same. Clue is one of the earliest “simulation” type games in which you pretend to be something you’re not, in this case, a detective investigating a murder. The board is unique–a layout of an old mansion complete with secret passageways and murder weapons. Clue is playable as young as 8, and “junior” versions exist if the game is still a bit too “grown up” for your kids.

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