# The best board games to play as a family

The games that show up most in 2025 recommendations for playing with kids and grown-ups: rules you can explain in five minutes and short games. Taken from press guides and specialist shops.

- 63 votes · 21 items
- Sep 20, 2025 · donostiwordsmith
- https://even.best/en/l/47/the-best-board-games-to-play-as-a-family

## Top 15

1. **Virus!** (10 · ▲11 ▼1) — By Tranjis Games, for 2 to 6 players and about 20 minutes: be the first to collect four healthy organs.
2. **Codenames** (5 · ▲5 ▼0) — By Vlaada Chvátil, in teams: spymasters give one-word clues to find their agents. Spiel des Jahres 2016.
3. **Ticket to Ride** (4 · ▲5 ▼1) — By Alan R. Moon, for 2 to 5 players: claim railway routes with train cards. Spiel des Jahres 2004.
4. **Dixit** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — By Libellud, for 3 to 8 players aged 8+: guess which illustrated card the storyteller is describing. Spiel des Jahres 2010.
5. **Concept** (4 · ▲4 ▼0) — For 4 to 12 players: get others to guess a word by placing markers on universal icons.
6. **Catan** (3 · ▲4 ▼1) — Klaus Teuber's 1995 classic: trade wood, brick, grain, wool and ore to settle the island.
7. **Trivial Pursuit** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — Questions on geography, entertainment, history, art, science and sport to win all six wedges.
8. **Cheating Moth** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — For 3 to 5 players: the first to get rid of their cards wins, cheating without being caught by the watchful bug.
9. **Guatafamily** (3 · ▲3 ▼0) — 480 cards of speed and imagination where you have to answer within 8 seconds.
10. **Skyjo** (2 · ▲3 ▼1) — A card game for 2 to 8 players aged 8+: the goal is to score as few points as possible.
11. **Carcassonne** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — For 2 to 5 players aged 7+: lay tiles to build cities, roads and monasteries. Spiel des Jahres 2001.
12. **Rummikub** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Numbered tiles combined into runs and groups, for 2 to 4 players; games last 30 to 60 minutes.
13. **Cluedo (Clue)** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — Hasbro's detective game: work out who, with which weapon and in which room; 2 to 6 players.
14. **Jenga** (2 · ▲2 ▼0) — A tower of 54 wooden blocks: take one out each turn without knocking it down.
15. **Hanabi** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — A co-op game for 2 to 5 players where you see everyone's cards except your own. Spiel des Jahres 2013.
16. **Beat That!** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Crazy physical challenges with cups, balls and other props, for 2 to 8 players.
17. **When I Dream** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — For 4 to 10 players: one player wears a blindfold and must guess their dream from the others' clues.
18. **Ubongo** (1 · ▲1 ▼0) — Grzegorz Rejchtman's time trial puzzle game in which each player fits pieces onto their board.
19. **Kids vs Parents** (0 · ▲1 ▼1) — Over 100 questions and 50 challenges pitting kids against grown-ups; ages 6+.
20. **Spot It!** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — A reflex game with 55 round cards: any two cards always share exactly one symbol.
21. **Taboo** (0 · ▲0 ▼0) — In teams, get your partners to guess a word within a minute without saying the forbidden words on the card.

How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.