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James Bricknell Senior Editor
James has been writing about technology for years but has loved it since the early 90s. While his main areas of expertise are maker tools — 3D printers, vinyl cutters, paper printers, and laser cutters — he also loves to play board games and tabletop RPGs.
Expertise 3D printers, maker tools such as Cricut style vinyl cutters and laser cutters, and traditional paper printers Credentials
- 6 years working professionally in the 3D printing space / 4 years testing consumer electronics for large websites.
David Priest Former editor
David Priest is an award-winning writer and editor who formerly covered home security for CNET.
CNET’s expert staff reviews and rates dozens of new products and services each month, building on more than a quarter century of expertise.
Classic board games are classic for a reason. These games have stood the test of time and usually lead to an enjoyable night for all involved. However, it’s never a bad idea to switch things up. If you or your kids are bored with the classics, then it might be time to try some new options. Luckily, you can skip the trial and error because we’ve found the best family board games for adults and young players.
There are countless new board games released each year, but you don’t need to sift through all of them to find the best ones to play with your family. We’ve done the research for you. We’ve found some interesting and fun board games to help you spend quality time with loved ones. Check out our top picks below, and let the games begin.
What’s the best family board game?
When you want to involve the most family members of different ages, a game like King of Tokyo is the best place to start. It feels like a simple game for kids ages 8 and up, and it is, but it has plenty of layers to make it fun for adults, too. King of Tokyo has a lot of expansions as well, making it fun to play regularly.
What makes the best family board game?
The perfect family game needs to be:
- Accessible to a broad age group
- Appealing to people with a wide range of interests
- Quick to set up
- Potentially easy to drop midway through
If you have younger kids or older adults intent on never learning new tricks, finding the balance between complexity for enthusiasts and simplicity for everyone else can seem impossible.
No single game does it all, but these are the best for achieving each goal. I’ve personally played every one of these games, many of them dozens of times. After years of experience and informal research, here are the best family board games you can pick up right now.
Read more: Best Strategy Board Games
Best family board games
As you can imagine board game testing is a grueling and often stressful experience. I’m kidding; testing board games is awesome. It is, however, subjective in a lot of ways. I tend to look at certain criteria as to what makes a board game “good, however.”
- Is the board and piece quality good?
- Are the instructions clear?
- How long does it take different age groups to learn?
- How long does the game take to play?
- How fun is it? (This is incredibly important)
- Can you replay it and it still feel fresh?
Because board gaming is a team sport, my family’s opinions are used to help me average out testing. While I may like a 5-hour-long game with 1,000 pieces, my 17-year-old son may not feel the same. Getting a good spread of opinions helps me find the best overall games in each category.
