We play games a lot as a family.
Our boys, 8 and 6-years-old, enjoy the family time. We’re so glad to have my husband home from work, and it’s a great time to laugh and enjoy each other before bedtime.
Here are our top 20 favorite games in no particular order.
Ticket to Ride First Journey
This was a great one to start around age 6. It’s a little involved, but takes between 45 minutes to an hour to finish.
Find it here.
Battleship
Who doesn’t love shouting, “You sunk my battleship!”? Our six-year-old still struggles with the grid on this one, but the eight-year-old is amazing at it. We typically team up for this since it’s only a two player game, anyway.
Find it here.
Uno
Numbers, colors, and a great one to play with the whole family or in teams depending on your family’s needs. Sometimes the amount in the boys’ tiny hands can get to be a bit much, so we’ll let them lay them down or put some back.
Find it here.
We also really love this Harry Potter version here!
Tapple
This game is fun to play faster with bigger kids, but will need to be slowed way down for the younger ones. What kid doesn’t love to push a button and shout words? Super fun and easily adaptable to any age.
Find it here.
Guess Who
Another classic favorite! We find that both boys handle this game particularly well, even if the six-year-old does sometimes give away who his guy is!
Find it here.
Clue-Retro
Okay…real talk… I just don’t like the new version! The 1986 version is where it’s at! We definitely have to pair the six-year-old up with one of the adults, but our oldest gets along just fine.
Find it here.
Chinese Checkers
Oh, goodness do our boys love this game! It’s simple, quick moving, and like a more fun version of checkers with all the jumping everywhere.
The trick is to avoid the tin version. Those marbles slide all over the place, and the tin gets warped over time. The link below is for the best-priced wooden one we like best.
Find it here.
Life
Truth be told, the boys like this one everyday, and Steve and I like it most days.
It’s a bit time consuming, but it really lets our oldest one work with bigger numbers with such high currency (he always calls banker).
The spinner is our youngest’s favorite thing ever, and he loves it when more babies are added to his car. It takes a bit of parental help, but it’s a good weekend day game.
The version we like best is here.
Trouble
I loved this game as a child, and playing it with our boys is the most fun! I like this game as a simple way for little hands to learn moving and counting. Of course, the popping bubble is the kids’ favorite, though!
Find it here.
Connect 4
For some reason this game gives our family the giggles! We like how simple and quick-paced it is. The boys crack up when they let all the checkers fly out of the bottom!
Here’s the version we have.
This giant yard version is definitely on my wish list, though!
Jenga
Speaking of games with giant yard versions, Jenga is one that we love both inside and outside!
Find the indoor version here.
The outdoor here is still small enough to allow all-family play.
Yahtzee
I happen to have an over-the-top YAHTZEE! shout that makes my husband roll his eyes and the kids howl with laughter.
This game gets confusing for the six-year-old, so we let him join one of the adults while my eight-year-old is pretty good on his own.
Find it here.
Outdoor version here.
Mastermind
This game was something I picked up thinking my eight-year-old little code breaker would love the sound of, but it turned out to be one of our all-time favorites!
Find it here.
Pay Day
This game is so fun and simple. We also like the flexibility of time since you can choose to go as many times as you’d like through the calendar. If it’s a night after not a lot of sleep the night before, we’ll choose this game, so we can run through the calendar once and head right up to bed.
Find it here.
Headbandz
Truth be told, we ditched the headbands themselves because it was a bit too intense for tiny fingers to stick the cards into the slot attached to their head all while trying to beat out the clock.
Instead, we opted for holding the card up in front of us and letting the person on our team shout clues at us. This was all it took for our kids to fall in love with this game!
Find it here.
Scrabble
I like how we can change up Scrabble to fit both a kid who devours books and one who’s just learning to read. It’s fun to play, and as a homeschool mama, it tips me off on any spelling words we need to add to our school day!
Find it here.
Stratego
My husband grew up loving this game and couldn’t wait for us to play after the boys got it for Christmas this year.
It’s surprisingly easy enough for both boys to understand, even if the strategy of the six-year-old doesn’t quite outmatch the eight-year-old just yet.
Find it here.
Sorry!
I will never forget how exciting it was when my now eight-year-old could finally read his own Sorry! cards. He felt like such a big kid, and I know our six-year-old is on his way!
We love this quick and simple game. For some reason our boys get such a kick out of sending Daddy back to home but feel so bad if they have to do it to me. But I don’t mind. Not one bit.
Find it here.
Clack
We have to slow down a bit for our six-year-old to take a look at the pieces and grab them, but the eight-year-old is out to win now that his reflexes are much sharper!
This game is fast and fun!
Find it here.
Pie Face
This game is one that comes with past stories they tell others about.
We laugh so hard when we play Pie Face, and the boys are always begging to play it! If you haven’t played Pie Face yet and are okay with some mess on the table, your face, and table, this is the game for you!
Find it here.
We hope you have enjoyed our list of favorite after-dinner games.
We are soaking up every minute of time with our boys, and these game times are such a part of our story.
Let me know in the comments which games I didn’t list that we need to try!
