Board Games...

[lingovise]

So, I'm looking to add to our board game/family game library this Christmas and was looking for some suggestions. Care to share a few of your favorites?!

[crystalbella77]

oh hmm....we play a lot of cards more than anything but we like to play sequence, apples to apples, yahtzee, life, payday...the same old ones.. Dicecapades is one that is SUPER fun and we play with my sister but I haven't bought it yet. Maybe I will for christmas!

[farrijc]

How old are your kids? My kids are 8,10, 13. They are currently loving Beat the Parents, Mille bornes, Pit, Pictionary, Monopoly Deal, Hedbanz, LCR. They are getting to the age where we are rediscovering games I used to play like Taboo and Scattergories. For Christmas, I ordered Ticket to Ride and Wits & Wagers.

[3BluEyedBabi]

Monopoly, pit, headbands, uno (not really a board game, but a good one!), game of life, parcheesi, trouble, jenga.

[YepBrook]

We love board games! We have way too many! :p These are ones we've played and enjoyed recently. I am including card games also:
Ravensburger Labyrinth
Ravensburger Enchanted Forest
Ticket to Ride - one of our absolute FAVES
Sushi Go
Zeus on the Loose
Dutch Blitz - a fast paced card game, Ben (10) just learned to play
Dragonwood
Stratego
Sequence
Catan Jr. - this isn't really our absolute favorite so we haven't bought the regular Catan yet
Clue - Grace, 7, loves this one
Blokus
One Night Werewolf - Ben can play this, but Grace doesn't get it
Ravensburger Race to the Roof

Games I am buying for us this Christmas:
Codenames
Haba Karuba
Gubs

[breakingbrie]

I got the girls the card game Exploding Kittens for Christmas. Hope it's entertaining, but no idea yet.

[nesser1981]

Small World is one of our Favorites, Ticket it to Ride and Carcassonne.

Slapzi and Tenzi are current most played games. Apples to Apples Jr and Hedbanz are some other favorites.

[nesser1981]

I got the girls the card game Exploding Kittens for Christmas. Hope it's entertaining, but no idea yet.
It's fun, DH got it for me last year, but he got me the grown-up version, so the kids can't play. LOL!

[breakingbrie]

It's fun, DH got it for me last year, but he got me the grown-up version, so the kids can't play. LOL!

Ha! I saw they had an adult version, too!! :D

[YepBrook]

Oh! Vanessa reminded me of Carcassonne! Not sure how I forgot it, it's one of our faves.

[wendyp]

here we play a lot of monopoly (junior) and the game of life

[renatasluis]

Monopoly
Cluedo
risk

[wendyp]

oh cluedo i played a lot when i was a child myself

[renatasluis]

We have a harry potter cluedo :)

[mnjenlittle]

Small World is one of our Favorites, Ticket it to Ride and Carcassonne.

Slapzi and Tenzi are current most played games. Apples to Apples Jr and Hedbanz are some other favorites.

We also got Carcassonne and a ticket to Ride last Christmas. My kids are almost 8 and almost 10. My youngest feels like those games are a little too long. He still loves card games and for some reason loves chess. I guess because you are always engaged. A shorter game is That's My Fish. It is really inexpensive and there is also an app. We also got Machi Koro, which is supposed to be a similar building game. Now for us, we also got Sherlock Holmes consulting detective and you solve 4 different mysteries.

[lingovise]

okay, so that's weird. i'm not sure what happened to the rest of my post! i had a list of our favorites, but don't know what happened... lol!
anyhow, my boys are 10, 7 & 5.
we're huge game players at our house! board games, card games, we love'em all. here's a list of some of our favorites:
King of Tokyo
Sleeping Queens
Rat a Tat Cat
Qwirkle
Uno / Blink / Skip-Bo
Slamwich
Othello
Sequence
Loot
Zeus on the Loose
Sorry!

the boys love Apples to Apples & Headbanz, but i rarely play those with them. and my husband & 10 year old play a lot of Chess.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions!
Here's what I'm picking up this year :
Dragonwood
Parcheesi Royal Edition [i loved this one as a kid]
Blokus
Carcassonne
Clue
Gubs

Harry Potter Trivial Pursuit & Stratego are incoming gifts from family.

I actually bought Ticket to Ride last Christmas, but then held off, because i was afraid it might be too old for Boy2... so am adding it in the mix this year!

Brook, I bought Ravensburger Enchanted Forest a couple of years ago and it just never caught on with us. It was like no one seemed to "get" it... i should pull that one out again & give it another go! & how do you like Sushi Go? That's been on my list for awhile, we really LOVE everything we have from Gamewright.

I also looked at Exploding Kittens, but wasn't sure, I've heard a lot of bad things about the card quality.

[lingovise]

curiously... for those with Carcassonne, did you just buy the regular version, or did you get the "My First" version? I would love it if my 5 year old could play.

[YepBrook]

We loved Sleeping Queens for a while too, but I think we played it too much because the kids never want to play it anymore. They also hate Qwirkle (I have no idea why!) and we don't play King of Tokyo because it's one of those where we forget the rules every time and decide to play something else. Sorry! is one we play, but Grace (7) hates it and ends up crying because she feels like everyone gangs up on her. Haha. Sorry!!!

Enchanted Forest is still hard for the kids to win, which makes it lose some appeal. Because it is like memory, counting/adding, and a strategy game at the same time it takes a lot of effort on their part. But we still enjoy playing it because it's one of those games you feel proud about when you win.

Sushi Go is more fun for us than Sleeping Queens because it takes an element of planning and strategy which makes it interesting. It's tricky to play with the kids the first 3 or 4 times as they grasp the idea, but then it is SO addicting. It's best played with at least 3+ players.

ETA: Realized I didn't answer your question, Loni! We have the regular version. It's pretty easy if you stick to the basic game without any of the add-ons when you play with the kids. No farmers or any other expansions, those confuse the kids too much.

[YepBrook]

curiously... for those with Carcassonne, did you just buy the regular version, or did you get the "My First" version? I would love it if my 5 year old could play.

Carcassonne is like a puzzle game, but you have to really use strategy and hang in because it can feel like a long game for kids. They love it, but often leave the table during other people's moves. Have you looked at Haba Karuba? That one is a puzzle type game, too, but there's never any waiting... everyone plays at the same time. It might be better for the 5 year old, because he is responsible for his own game? And if he can't hang in there it doesn't effect everyone else.

[icindi]

We LOVE Telestrations with a group of people! It's like a cross between the telephone game and Pictionary.

We like Blokus and Yahtzee Free For All.

So glad someone started this thread - I was looking at games myself and was thinking either Quelf or CodeNames

[Kjersti]

My girls have been loving Battleship lately!!

[aurian]

Hi there, another boardgaming family over here! My eldest is 5 and he manages Ticket to Ride, Quirkle and Carcassonne with modified rules (and King of Tokyo is his favourite!).

Some other family-friendly suggestions might be: Zooloretto, Camel Up, Catan Jr (my son LOVES this!), Flashpoint. Good luck adding to your collection, remember that Ticket to Ride has many expansions too. :)

[JMC1988]

Clue
Sorry
Aggravation
Trivial Pursuit (so many different versions)
Triominos
Operation
Racko
Outburst
Jenga

Card Games:
Phase 10