Family game nights are awesome, but they aren’t always practical. With school, sports, and other schedule filling activities, planning out an entire night to play games can be overwhelming. It can also mean it never happens.
Games have a great way of connecting us, they give kids a safe place to practice winning (and losing) gracefully, they teach patience and sometimes even math or reading.
Plus, playing family games is a great way to just have fun… together. That’s why games at our house are a priority. Right now our busy schedules don’t allow for a set game time, that means we need to be ready with the best family games for the amount of time we have. Luckily our game closet is well stocked.
So, how much time do you have? I have the best family game for you…
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best family games for 5 min
- The Line Game
- Ratuki
- Tic Tac Toe (This link takes you to Tic Tac Toe using sight words. You could also use letter or shapes.)
- Tenzi
- Art Dice (TinkerLab)
best family games for 15 min
best family games for 30 min
- Make ‘N’ Break
- HedBanz
- Lego Game
- Mexican Train Dominoes
- Spoons (Coffee Cups and Crayons)
- Uno
- Sorry
best family games for 1 hour or more
- 10,000 (We alter this a bit and play 5,000 when we want to get a quick game it.)
- Monopoly
- Phase 10 Twist
- Labyrinth
- Clue
- The Game of Life
- Catan
(We came across this game a year or so ago. EVERYONE loves it. It’s great for adults only and great for adults playing with kids. We decided to go with the original version (there is a Catan: Junior
) and have been very happy with that decision. There are expansion packs you can buy (and an Catan 5-6 Player Extension that makes this four player game a six player game). I see this being a game that is worth investing in. It will grow with us and be a game we play for years to come.)
(We came across this game a year or so ago. EVERYONE loves it. It’s great for adults only and great for adults playing with kids. We decided to go with the original version (there is a 
) and have been very happy with that decision. There are expansion packs you can buy (and an What do you think the best family games are? How long do they take to play?
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This post originally appeared on October 17, 2013.
Scrabble is another all time favourite, although like monopoly, you need to allow at least an hour to play.
What a great list! Gosh, so long since I played Guess Who. Thank you for linking it up to the Monday #pinitparty. Have pinned 🙂
My husband (and his family) love games and now I do too! Our all time favorite is dominoes, but we just found this new one Qwirkle that is super fun. It’s all about shapes and colors and great for kids!!! Great post! Love your blog!
Qwirkle looks awesome Carisa!
What great ideas! We are a game playing family and I always need new ideas for games for us.
My 11 year old daughter and I play Yahtzee all the time. Adding up the dice really helps with her math skills!
We love playing Qwirkle. Quality made. Requires only knowing shapes and colors so young ones can play. But challenging that groups of my adult friends play. Fairly expensive, but found one at Goodwill for $.99!
I love finding awesome games used! Garage sale finds have often become our favorites.
If you like Catan, check out Carcassonne and if you like party games check out code names.