These Family Board Games Are Great Alternatives to Screen Time

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Board games have a way of bringing families together. After long weeks of work or school, it’s nice to gather around a table for a little friendly competition. So unplug, take a break from your screens, pull out a board game from your family’s library, and engage in actual face-to-face interaction. (How novel?!)

Whether you’re playing a strategy game like Catan, tackling a puzzle or brainteaser, or navigating a winding maze of surprises, the right board game can turn an ordinary evening into a fun little adventure. Need more games to add to the mix? Here’s a curated selection of the best board games for families with kids both big and small. Take a quick look, then scroll down for our full reviews.

With Mother's Day, Father's Day, and summer birthdays approaching, board games are a great go-to gift. Here are our all-time faves.

A Card Game for Mischief Makers

Inspired by the very adult game Cards Against Humanity, this family-appropriate card game prompts players with fill-in-the-blank questions. Each person then chooses a card from their hand that they think is the best response.

Warning: The answer cards are totally ridiculous, so be prepared for some wacky combinations. Our kids love this game for car trips.

More: These Are the Best Games for an Adults-Only Game Night

Catch The Moon

This collaborative, cooperative, and competitive family board game requires players to build a structure by stacking ladders one on top of another. It’s a bit like a cross between Jenga and Yeti In My Spaghetti — quick-playing, easy for even little kids, and tons of fun.

Shadowlands Board Game

Your kids probably love Bluey already. And if they do, they’ll love this Bluey game. It’s wildly fun and fast, based off of the episode in the show where Bluey and her friends play a game similar to “the floor is lava.” Players must navigate around the board, dealing with spaces that change via a rotating tree in the middle.

Happy Salmon

If you combined the classic Old Maid and War games and made it faster and more fun, that’s what Happy Salmon is. It’s the fastest you’ve ever played, and yet, you’ll just keep playing it because it’s so much fun.

And it appeals to kids because of the way their minds work — quickly and chaotically. There is no time for second-guessing, and it’s a wild ride.

The Song Game

Spontuneous has players taking turns providing words as prompts. The first player to sing five words of a song with that prompt word gets to move along the board. Not only will everyone have a blast getting goofy, but this game doubles as an opportunity for kids to build confidence when it comes to expression, creativity, and improv.

When our family plays, it takes about 45 minutes to complete a game, making it a solid choice for younger players with maybe not the longest attention spans.

Kids Against Maturity

Like Not Parent Approved, this family-oriented, fun, fill-in-the-blank game will have your kiddos coming up with the most hilarious combinations in Apples to Apples fashion.

Filled with child-appropriate humor and innuendos that all of the grown-ups can chuckle at, this game is an all-around family night win. Think of it as a way to blow off steam within respectful and entertaining limits.

Heist Board Game

How well can you and your family work under pressure? Heist is a family board game that tests how level-headed you can stay while trying to crack open a safe and steal all of the loot. It’s not super easy, but kids 8 and up shouldn’t have a problem with it.

Follow the instructions carefully, because after three false moves, you’ll trip the alarm. Heist has some replay-ability too, since there are five progressively harder levels.

Beat The Parents Classic

Oh, it’s on. Finally, it’s our chance as parents to prove how good/terrible we are at board games once and for all. This hilarious game will have you battling your children through trivia, challenges, and daring wagers.

Be prepared to do the dishes for a week after playing a few rounds of Beat the Parents. We’re pretty sure it’s rigged.

Labyrinth Family Board Game

True story: Playing this game may lead to inexplicable quotations from Lord of the Rings, Labyrinth, and The Neverending Story. We know because we speak from experience. (And the Goblin King was a wonderful babysitter. Fight us.)

Labyrinth is a classic board game where players have to find the shortest route through the maze to win. It’s easy to learn to play and absolutely habit-forming.

7 Wonders Board Game

Perfect for ages 10 and up, this game has you build an entire civilization from the ground up using just cards and the board. It’s all about strategy and genuinely one of the best ways in which you can spend a Saturday night.

This game takes a few hours for our family to get through, so it’s definitely for slightly older kids with the attention spans to stay invested.

Brain Freeze

If Memory and Guess Who decided to have a baby, this game would be it. It requires a little bit of subterfuge and a whole lot of free space in your brain, which is pretty much perfect for kids who want to beat their parents. It’s also like Among Us, but less terrifyingly online.

Early subterfuge lessons for the young aren’t a bad thing, right?

Disney Villainous Strategy Board Game

Even if you hate to admit it, the most entertaining character in a Disney movie is most definitely the villain. This board game is all about tapping into your inner bad guy to win.

The game comes with some of your favorite evil characters like Scar and Ursula, and which each player chooses determines how they play and their end goal to win. But Ravensburger also sells other Villainous expansion packs.

Clack!

When your family consists of a blend of kiddos of all different ages, you need a game that everyone can quickly understand and enjoy. Clack is it.

The directions are super easy. Spread out the magnetic discs and roll the two dice. Depending on the shape and color each shows, everyone playing will race to pick up each disc that matches. No need to spend hours arguing over the directions — just get to playing. Whoever has the tallest stack of discs at the end wins.

No Stress Chess

With more than 1,000 rave reviews on Amazon, this classic strategy game is a hit with parents who get to pass along their love of chess to their kids. Drawing from the deck of cards determines which piece the drawing player moves, with an illustration showing them how their rook, knight, pawn, bishop, king, or queen can navigate the board. It’s easy to break down, quick-playing, and it’s the perfect entry point for kids to learn the game.

Mouse Trap

This classic is just as fun to set up as it is to play. Build the ultimate mouse trap for players to then navigate. Will your mouse land under that cage?

Play with two to four players, and strategize the best ways to move about the board without triggering the trap to fall on your character.

Dragonwood

Have a kid in the family who loves ogres, goblins, and other fantastical creatures? Enter Dragonwood, a mythical forest that comes with adventurer cards for you to collect during your game play.

Use these cards to earn dice to roll against your opponents. Some strategy is required in order to emerge victorious.

Catopoly

By now, you’re all too familiar with Monopoly. You journey around the board and collect (or pay) properties. This cat-themed version of that classic is played exactly the same way, except you’re collecting cat breeds.

Know a family who is cat obsessed? This will make for a perfect gift.

Poo Bingo

Ever wonder what sloth poop looks like? No? Well, this fun game will teach you just that anyway.

In the ultimate game of matching an animal to its waste, this board game will illicit the loudest laughs out of your little ones. Who ever matches the most poops the fastest wins!

Kerplunk

As simple as they come, but more thrilling than most, Kerplunk will have your family in suspense, then roaring. Players simply pull sticks out one by one and wait to see who pulls the last stick that makes the marbles fall.

Just know it’s not suitable for families with really young kids because the marbles are a choking hazard.

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