A good family game night gets the whole family off their phones and spending quality time together. Most families want more nights like that, but it gets harder every year. Children ages 8 to 18 now spend an average of 7.5 hours a day looking at screens alone, which leaves less time for the family to connect.

That's why families keep putting more effort into a proper game night. It gives the kids and the grown-ups something to do together instead of mindlessly scrolling on social media. But with so many games to choose from, where do you start?

We've rounded up the best games for weekend fun across different ages, group sizes, and moods. You’ll also find included instructions on how to host the night itself, so the whole thing runs smoothly from setup to the last round.

A few of the games we’ll cover run on Board, a new kind of game console that combines the best of video and board games. It’s an interactive, tabletop console where physical pieces control gameplay, designed for the whole family to gather around and play together.

Explore the Board here.

Key takeaways:

• The best family game night comes down to matching the game to your group: their ages, their energy, and how much time you actually have.
• Short, easy games work best on busy weeknights and as warm-ups. Save the longer, strategy-heavy games for when nobody's watching the clock.
• Beyond the fun, games quietly build planning, patience, and teamwork, and give kids a low-stakes place to practice handling a win or a loss.
• Board is a new kind of game console that makes family game night easy with tabletop devices that handle quick arcade rounds, deep strategy, and everything in between.

Quick game finder: Best games by family style

To build this list, we looked for a few factors in every game on top of positive reviews. It had to be easy to learn, so nobody spends twenty minutes reading rules while the kids lose interest. It had to capture the interest of the whale family, from the youngest player to the grandparents, instead of leaving someone watching. And it had to bring a fresh twist or format so it doesn’t feel like the same old games you’ve been playing.

Find the style of game that matches your family’s interests the best.

Best games for family game night

This list mixes two kinds of games: classics you can grab off a shelf, and games built for Board.

Board is a new kind of game console that combines the best of video and board games. Custom pieces control moves on the tabletop touchscreen, so games feel as tactile as a board game but handle setup, scoring, and rules for you.

1. Best strategy game for family game night: Spycraft

From New York to Tokyo to London, use your Spy Kit and your wits to crack puzzles and unravel an international mystery. Each case layers clues that reward careful deduction and teamwork, so players compare notes, test theories, and think a few steps ahead. With new puzzles and routes to work through, it has the replayability of a great escape room, and it lands especially well with teens and adults who want a real challenge. Ages 8+.

Platform: The Board

Play Spycraft on Board

2. Best retro-inspired game: Retro Arcade Collection

The Retro Arcade Collection bundles reimagined arcade classics into one fast, pick-up-and-play set. Grab the space ships and robots, pick teams, and jump between games in rounds short enough to fit between dinner and bedtime. The throwback style clicks with grandparents who grew up on the originals and kids meeting them for the first time, which makes it a reliable common ground for multi-generational game nights. Ages 6+.

Platform: The Board

Shop the Retro Arcade Collection

3. Best action and adventure game: Save the Bloogs

The Bloogs need a hero. Use cannons, stairs, a shapeshifter ring, and blocks to guide adorable Bloogs across tricky terrain, collecting crystals and exploring new worlds. Levels move quickly and ramp up the challenge, so the energy stays high whether one player is steering or the whole family is shouting out the next move. It’s easy to pick up but keeps everyone leaning in, which makes it a strong choice when the room wants action. Ages 6+.

Platform: The Board

Guide the Bloogs across tricky terrain on Board

4. Best spatial thinking game: Strata

Strata is a multi-layered strategy game where Tetris meets Chess. Place polyomino blocks to claim territory and outmaneuver opponents in a beautiful contest of spatial skill. Every turn is a quiet puzzle: Read the board, picture how each shape will fit, and think a few moves ahead to box out your rivals.

Simple grids ease beginners in, while expert grids and height tiles give seasoned players room to go deep, so it grows with whoever's at the table. It rewards the planners and spatial thinkers in the family, and a match holds its tension right to the last block. Ages 8+.

Platform: The Board

Claim your territory block by block in Strata

5. Best co-op chaos game: Chop Chop

Tie on your apron, grab your knives, spoons, spice grinder, and sponge, and hit the line. It’s co-op chaos, culinary strategy, and party-night energy, without the messy clean-up. Orders pile up fast, so a calm kitchen turns into happy bedlam as everyone shouts instructions and scrambles to plate in time. The teamwork and the comedy of near-misses make it a favorite for game nights. Ages 6+.

Platform: The Board

Ready, Set, Chop Chop!

6. Best classic card game: Uno

Uno is a card game where players take turns matching cards by color or number, then shout "Uno" when they reach their last card. The last player(s) holding cards loses, so everyone races to empty their hand first. Anyone who can recognize colors can play, which makes it a good fit for younger kids as well as adults. You deal a hand in seconds and can wrap up a round in ten minutes.

Platform: Physical card game

7. Best cooperative game: Pandemic

Pandemic is a board game where the whole family plays on the same side against the board. You work together to stop four diseases from spreading across the map, trading cards and planning each move as a team. Everyone wins or loses together, which encourages families to work together. A round runs about 45 minutes and suits ages 8 and up.

Platform: Traditional board game

8. Best drawing and guessing game: Telestrations

Telestrations is a party game where you draw a word, pass your sketchpad to the next player to guess it, then they draw their guess for the person after them. The picture changes with every pass, and the reveal at the end shows the gap between the first word and the final drawing. Nobody needs to draw well to play. It allows for up to twelve players, which fits larger family gatherings where everyone wants a turn.

Platform: Notepad and marker

9. Best strategy board game for beginners: Ticket to Ride

Ticket to Ride is a board game where players collect train cards and claim railway routes across a map to connect far-apart cities. The rules take about five minutes to learn, but choosing which routes to chase gives grown-ups plenty to think about. The map changes with every game and a round runs 30 to 60 minutes for ages 8 and up.

Platform: Traditional board game

10. Best word game for mixed ages: Codenames

Codenames is a card game where two teams compete to identify their own agents, hidden in a grid of word cards, using one-word clues. One player on each team gives the clues while teammates discuss which cards the clue points to before guessing. The discussion between teammates carries the game, so players communicate constantly across the table. It works best with four or more players and runs about 15 minutes a round.

Platform: Word game with cards

11. Best fast-paced party game: Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza

Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza is a card game where players flip cards while chanting those five words in order, and slap the pile when the card matches the word spoken. The slowest player to react collects the pile, and the first player to empty their hand of cards wins. The game relies on speed and reaction rather than reading or strategy, so players of most ages can join. You can learn it in under a minute, and a round rarely takes more than 10 minutes.

Platform: Card game

12. Best storytelling game: Dixit

Dixit is a card game where one player invents a clue for an illustrated card, and the others each submit a card from their hand that could match that clue. Then, everyone votes on which card they think belongs to the clue-giver. Players make up their own clues each turn, using a single word, a phrase, or even a sound. The cards use pictures instead of words, so younger players can take part alongside adults. A round runs about 30 minutes and suits ages 8 and up.

Platform: Card game

13. Best game for competitive families: Azul

Azul is a board game where players draft colored tiles and arrange them on their board to score points for completing patterns and rows. The rules are fairly simple, but the game rewards strategy, since players plan which tiles to grab and often take the ones an opponent needs before they can. The tiles are physical pieces and the finished boards form mosaic patterns. A round runs 30 to 45 minutes and suits ages 8 and up.

Platform: Board game

14. Best quick-play family game: Sushi Go!

Sushi Go! is a card game where players pick one card from a hand, pass the rest to the next player, and keep passing until the cards run out. The pick-and-pass action is simple enough for new players to follow from the first round, while the scoring, where different sushi cards earn points in different ways, gives the game its depth. Most games finish in about 15 minutes. It suits ages 8 and up.

Platform: Card game

15. Best chaotic family party game: Throw Throw Burrito

Throw Throw Burrito is a card game where players race to collect three matching cards from a deck of silly cartoon pictures, like a burrito-riding dinosaur or a brain. Completing a set triggers a duel where the two players throw soft foam burritos at each other. The mix of quiet card collecting and sudden burrito throwing drives the game's humor, since a calm turn can break into a foam fight at any moment. It needs open space to play and works for groups of two to six. A round runs about 15 minutes and suits ages 7 and up.

Platform: Card game and foam burritos

The importance of family game nights

Game night gives your kids more than just something to do. Most games make players think a few turns ahead and weigh their options before acting, which builds planning skills that carry over outside the game.

Turn-based play also forces patience, since everyone has to wait their turn and sit with the outcome they get. Researchers who study family play connect board games with skills like planning ahead and staying flexible when a turn goes badly.

Games work for building social skills too. Cooperative games put the whole family on one team, so kids practice working toward a shared goal instead of only competing. Every game also teaches them to handle winning and losing, and one study found that games give children a safe setting to feel strong emotions and practice controlling them—the same self-regulation they use elsewhere in life.

The reason this works is that none of it feels like a lesson. Kids learn these skills while they play, not while they study, so they pick them up without resistance. You get a closer family and a habit worth keeping.

How to host a game night

A good game night comes down to a few simple choices you make before anyone sits down. Get these right the first time and the night runs smoothly, everyone stays involved, and you spend the evening playing instead of refereeing.

1. Choose games based on age and attention span: Match the game to your youngest or least patient player. Anything that runs two hours or buries players in rules will lose the little kids fast.
2. Mix competitive and cooperative games: Plan at least one of each. Competitive games bring the energy, cooperative games pull in anyone who prefers friendlier play, and alternating them keeps any single mood from taking over.
3. Keep snacks and setup simple: Pick snacks people can grab with one hand and that won't smear on the cards, like popcorn or pretzels. Set out everything before you start and put phones in another room.
4. Rotate who chooses the game: Let a different person pick each round, and say so out loud at the start. It gives all kids a turn and prevents disagreements around game selection.
5. Start with a quick warm-up game:Open with something short before you bring out anything more time-intensive. A ten-minute round of Uno or Taco Cat Goat Cheese Pizza can kick off the energy before focusing attention before a longer game.

Make family game night a tradition worth repeating

Hosting a single game night is easy. Keeping it going week after week for regular family connection is the real goal, and that takes intention. Pick games that fit the people at your table, keep the setup easy, and let everyone have a hand in choosing an option for each session.

Start with one or two games from this list and see what lands. Some will become instant favorites, while others won't make the second round, and that's how you learn what your family actually likes. A few weeks in, you'll have your own rhythm and a night everyone looks forward to.

If you want one thing that covers most of this list, it’s Board. A new kind of game console that combines the best of video and board games, it comes with seven games ready to play out of the box and a growing library you can add to your system à la carte, with no subscription.

From quick arcade rounds to deep strategy challenges, there’s a game for every age, every skill, and every group around your table. Gather round and see how it feels: Board ships with free returns and a 30-day risk-free trial, so your family can put it through a few game nights before deciding.

Explore the Board