Popular Family Games

Best Family Games

Popular family games are something people seem to come to this site wanting to learn about a lot. For that reason, I wanted to include another list of popular family game ideas you might enjoy playing with the kids or the cousins.

I’ve tried to include famous games and relatively obscure games alike, focusing specifically on games that have high entertainment value and playability. There’s going to be something about each of these games that entertains the crowd of people around the board, whether it’s solid game play or silliness.

Clue: The Card Game – You can now play the classic murder-mystery boardgame, Clue, as a card game. The game mechanics are fairly similar. Each player starts the game with a checklist, which they must use to mark off those who couldn’t have committed the murder, so they can solve the crime by process of elimination.

Instead of the name of the person, the murder weapon and the room they committed the crime in, it’s now the murderer, the means of escape (vehicle) and their destination. You solve the murder and catch the criminal, but since there’s no mention of a murder weapon, your kids aren’t exposed to that mess.

Each person is dealt a number of cards they can mark off. Occasionally, others will draw cards allowing you to see or more of your cards, while you can do the same. Seeing these cards substitute for moving around the game board, though there is an aspect of movement in Clue: the Card Game. You’ll have to move around to make accusations from certain locations, which requires a special card to move.

In the end, the game may not play exactly the same, but Clue: The Card Game definitely captures the spirit of the original game. I played along with a couple of 6-year olds and they were able to follow along and participate, though they occasionally gave away a little more than they should. It was fun.

Electronic Catchphrase – Provide your teammates with clues to guess the word or phrase on your turn, then hand over the electronic clue provider to the opposing team. The challenge is to avoid being the one holding the device when the buzzer goes off. This is a lot of fun for kids, though I’ve seen this used as a pretty entertaining party game.

Parcheesi – One of the oldest race board games on the market. Parcheesi has been popular with game players for over a hundred years, back to the days of the Raj. Parcheesi teaches strategy, counting skills and decision making, in a game that was played in India as early as 500 B.C. Legend has it the Hindi royalty played the game on giant boards with costumed dancers as the game pieces, which is why Parcheesi is called the “Royal Game of India”.

What’s great about Parcheesi is that it’s unpredictable and players can mount big comebacks to win the game.

Encore Board Game – Encore is a singing game, where you try to give clues to the identity of the song by singing 8 or more words. Show off your vocal talents or entertain with really bad renditions of songs. This game is harder than you would think. No song knowledge needed, though it can’t hurt.

Wits & Waters – Another one that’s great for family get-togethers and parties, because Wits and Wagers is designed for kids 10 and up, while it also allows up to 21 players. Wits & Wagers is a trivia game, except the person who guesses right doesn’t win. Instead, you collect the trivia answers on a piece of paper, then wager points on which answer you think is correct. This means the trivia buffs get to show off their talents, while everyone else competes on a level playing field.

Payday – It’s been a while since I played this game, but Payday is always a good way to teach your kids why you’re always telling them to “wait until payday” for us to buy the new toy or new pair of shoes.

Barbarossa – Think of the clay shaping game in your Cranium Board Game and then imagine this as a full game, or imagines Charades with clay. Hilarity is sure to follow when a group of people try guessing what the heck your trying to tell them with your clay. A great way to brake the ice at staid old family reunions, or just have fun with the kids on a rainy day.

More Games to Consider

• Caribou
• Time’s Up
• Kill Dr. Lucky
• Mancala
• Ultimate Werewolf

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This entry was posted on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 3:54 pm and is filed under Board Games, Card Games. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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