To find the very best products that no human being would have the time to try, look to the best-reviewed (that’s four-to-five-star ratings and lots of ’em) products and choose the most convincing. You’ll find the best crowdsourced ideas whether you’re searching for comforters, bed sheets, or even Christmas trees. Below, the best board games for families determined by the hard-nosed reviewers on Amazon. (Note that reviews have been edited for length and clarity.)
Best Family Board Game For All Ages
4.6 stars, 3,115 reviews
“We have four kids ranging from age 3 to 10, and we are always searching for games that the whole family can play and enjoy. Games made just for young kids are not fun for adults, but this is a game that people of any age can play. You can make it as complicated and difficult as you want to, or you can play it safe, and keep it simple and balanced. Suspend is a simple game to learn with very few rules and yet it is fun for everyone. Even the grandparents enjoyed playing this game and learning new tricks about balancing and strategy.”
BUY: Melissa & Doug Suspend Family Game (31 pcs)
$15, Amazon
Best Family Board Game For Toddlers
4.7 stars, 1,098 reviews
“This game is a real winner with my 3- and 5-year-old boys. Whenever we have family game nights, this is the game they pull out. The rules are simple, the board is colorful, the games are relatively short, and parents won’t be bored playing along. I like the ‘Where’s Waldo’ aspect of this game, as it’s good vision practice for young kids. It’s even a good game to practice memory because you sometimes need to remember things you searched for in previous games.”
BUY: Wonder Forge Richard Scarry’s Busytown, Eye Found It
$19, Amazon
Best Family Board Game For 5-Year-Olds and Up
4.7 stars, 2,695 reviews
“Wow, this has been fun for the entire family right out of the box! Don’t hesitate, buy this and you won’t regret it. You can vary the level of difficulty by keeping your tiles face up or down. The games last 30 to 60 minutes, which is nice staying power. Make sure you have a large enough table. Our rectangular craft table sometimes just isn’t wide enough for the pattern of the tiles, and we need to do our best to improvise. Easy to keep score, easy to follow and remember the rules, this game has staying power and will be a go-to for game night for kids as young as 6!”
BUY: Qwirkle Board Game
$21, Amazon
Best Family Board Game For Tweens
4.7 stars, 4,112 reviews
“I purchased this game for my 11-year-old son for Christmas … We have played this game every single day since Christmas and continue to enjoy it. I was a bit uncertain when we were reading the instructions for the first time, and it took us just a bit to figure out just how to play. Once we got it figured out, we have enjoyed it greatly. Initially, my son wasn’t sure that it was going to be any fun, but now my techno-wizard, video-game-playing preteen son asks to play it every day! It’s nice that it can be a ‘nice, family-fun game’ (everyone just working on completing their own lines) or you can play it a bit more ‘cutthroat’ by trying to block other players from completing their lines. This was a great purchase for us.”
BUY: Ticket to Ride
$40, Amazon
Best Cooperative Board Game For Families
4.7 stars, 2,256 reviews
“We bought this as a family game. We had never played a cooperative game before. In fact, our family is very competitive, and we love games, but we just could not imagine a game where the players were cooperating with one another. We all win, or we all lose—what!?! It made no sense and definitely didn’t sound very fun. We were wrong! Pandemic is a very fun game, and it is very competitive, but the competition is in trying to beat the game together. The first time we played it (on the easiest setting), we thought we were doing well, and the game was too easy, but then the cards ran out, and we lost! That was all we needed to get our competitive juices flowing and wanting to play again and again! We weren’t going to let some game beat us! There is only one way for the players to win, but three different ways for the game to win … We now regularly play it with five players (using two cards like with a four-player game). The game doesn’t seem harder or easier with the fifth player. Our success rate is about the same if we play with four players. We found out that we also love cooperative games! Pandemic is a great game: cooperative, competitive, and tense.”
Best Family Board Game For Horror Movie Aficionados
4.5 stars, 1,965 reviews
“My family loves this game. The haunted house is built differently each game and there are many different stories that could apply, which gives great replay value. I found that the traitor role is balanced with the heroes. Excellent mix of fun gameplay and horror theme. We add spooky music and dim the lights to really set the mood. Excellent game.”
BUY: Betrayal at House on the Hill
$32, Amazon
Best Family Board Game For Families Who Like to Sing
4.6 stars, 1,218 reviews
“My family and I played this on Easter. Once the rules are explained, the game is very fun! We’re very competitive, so it was funny having everyone singing songs all at once. This isn’t the kind of game I’d recommend playing if kids are sleeping in the other room; it got a bit loud. We played the game with eight people, and when it was done (about 30 minutes), we wanted to play again. Well worth the money.”
BUY: Spontuneous – The Song Game
$30, Amazon
Best Disney Family Board Game
4.5 stars, 279 reviews
“I am a Disney FANATIC, and this game is SUPER fun! It has great questions for people of all levels of play: Even my 3-year-old enjoyed playing this as ‘teams’ on family game night. The cards have fun, bright pictures; the game pieces are fun colors and shaped like Mickey’s head. The gameplay takes about 30 minutes to play when you have two people, and about 45 minutes when you have four people. The rules are easy to understand and out-of-the-box; the game is ready to play in about 10 minutes. Overall, this is a great family game or fun for anyone who loves Disney trivia.”
BUY: Pictopia-Family Trivia Game: Disney Edition
$16, Amazon
Best Family Board Game With Drawing
4.4 stars, 745 reviews
“My children, ages 7 and 10, received this game as a gift. I played the game after school with my son, daughter, and a couple of their friends who are 8 years old. Everyone had a great time trying to draw and guess the pictures wearing the googly-eyes glasses. One of the boys who played with us doesn’t even like board games. He is always glued to his tablet. He was quickly intrigued and probably laughed the hardest. I liked that the game was fast-paced and engaging. None of the children were the least bit upset if they did not guess the picture correctly because they were too busy laughing. There are two spaces on the board where you have the ability to draw without the glasses. Surprisingly, the kids were actually disappointed to land on those spaces. They love the silly glasses!”
BUY: Googly Eyes Game
$16, Amazon
Best Word Board Game For Families
4.6 stars, 1,389 reviews
“We played this game two ways. We had 22 people at our house, all families. We asked each kid (the youngest kiddo was 3 and the oldest was 7) to pair up with an adult they aren’t related to. This pairing became a team. Then, we moved forward with play! It was a blast to see the kids come up with their own ideas, with a bit of help from the grown-ups. When the kids’ game was over, the adults played their own. We played nine rounds and had a great time. So much fun that we decided to make this a monthly gathering where we rotate houses and get together. My son said, ‘Mom, I love that game! Can we do it again?’ Thanks for the fun memories created!”
BUY: Scattergories
$17, Amazon
Best Board Game For Large Families
4.8 stars, 1,739 reviews
“Telestrations is so much fun—the bigger the group, the better. This game works best when you have eight, or close to eight, players, just because of how the rotation is set up. The game consists of eight dry-erase drawing tablets and markers, and a set of double-sided playing cards. Each player chooses a card so that they know what word or phrase they are starting with. You draw the item, then pass your tablet to the next person. They guess what you drew, then pass it on. They draw the guess, then pass it on. And so forth until it gets back to you, and you can see how far from your original word that the guesses traveled. This isn’t set up as a competition game, but rather a cooperative game. So there isn’t a winner, but it is an absolute blast to play. We played with ages ranging from 8 years old to 72, and everyone loved it. It’s a nice break from fierce competition on game night, and a fun way to spend time with family.”
BUY: Telestrations – The Telephone Game Sketched Out!
$25, Amazon
