Our staff reviews games to help your family find new games to play that are worth your time and money! Please see our review policy for more information.
Oh no! All the animals have escaped the barn and are hiding out. Can you fill your pen with the most valuable animals and avoid the sneaky crows? Barnyard Roundup is a simple bluffing game for 2-6 players designed by James Hudson and published by Druid City Games.
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One of my recently adopted criteria for a good family game is total length – from setup, through play time, to teardown. In this, Clear for Takeoff excels. Designed by Hagen Temeryazev, an airline pilot, illustrated by Etienne Hebinger, and published by Blue Orange Games, Clear for Takeoff is a card game that has you racing to get all three of
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Unbelievable tales of legend filled with debauchery, treachery, and heroism make the stories of the Greek gods fascinating to anyone who enjoys a good adventure. From the snakes of Medusa to the rippling muscles of Hercules, to the near invincibility of Achilles, every hero and villain captures our imagination with their epic tales of adventure, victory, and heartbreak. With virtually
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Hoyle, the familiar name in playing cards, is introducing its own line of original card games for kids, under the brand name Hoyle Play. Their motto is “fun with room for a lesson”. The Family Gamers were given three of these games to try. All three reinforce early math skills, but are they fun enough to keep playing?
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Whether it’s the intricate twists and corners, the woven patterns, or the unbroken strands, Celtic knots capture the imagination. Now you can build beautiful Celtic knot designs with Knot Dice, from Black Oak Games.
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Test tubes clank as their contents are poured back and forth. “Eureka!” a voice shouts. “I’ve got it!” Dr. Eureka promises fast-paced, family-friendly gameplay. But does this dexterity-puzzle game master the formula for fun?
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In 1982, a few newspaper editors came together to eventually create a game that became a household phenomenon. Using a non-linear board that facilitated stumping friends with trivia questions across various disciplines, Trivial Pursuit became firmly entrenched in the cultural zeitgeist of the United States. But for Gen-Xers and Millennials, it existed as a game with impossibly difficult questions and
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I love playing games with my kids that have either a simple setup, a simple cleanup, or simple rules. Battle Sheep, designed by Francesco Rotta and published by Blue Orange Games, has all three. With just a handful of quality components and a very limited set of choices to make each turn, games are breezy fun with your little lambs…
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Digit’y Do is a simple pen-and-paper game that combines Bingo, counting, probability, and guesswork. It keeps kids and adults engaged and entertained. It takes less than five minutes to explain, so you’ll be playing in no time. Best of all, proceeds from this game go to a good cause: the UnitedHealthcare Children’s Foundation (UHCCF), which provides medical grants for children
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Cube Quest promises fast-paced fun that is easy to learn. Are you ready to mobilize your fingers to defeat your opponent’s king and defend your own?
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Sushi Dice is a fun, fast-paced dice-matching game for 2 to 6 players, designed by Henri Kermarrec. For this review, we heavily “kid-tested” the game, with good results, and it’s easy to learn, at any age.
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Family Gamers, we think silliness is a great way to relate to your children, and with the game BattleGoats from CardLords, there is ample opportunity for less-than-serious play.
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Monsters in the Elevator is a math-based card game from Yaya Play. Players work together to keep the elevator from overloading as monsters enter and exit. Reach the 20th floor without crashing to win!
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Stories: The Path of Destinies is a video game that blends traditional action-RPG with choose-your-own-adventure style. This makes for a game that you must play through multiple times in order to “win”.
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Dragonwood is a dice and card based game designed by Darren Kisgen and published by Gamewright Games. A “game of dice and daring” with a medieval fantasy theme, it is designed for two to four players age 8+, but any child who can read can play. With some minor rule shifting, Dragonwood was playable by our four-year-old.
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Stowaway 52 and Jump Ship! inaugurate the new Cardventures series from GameWright. Do these solitaire, choose-your-own-adventure story games live up to their promise? In Stowaway 52, you have stowed away on an alien spaceship. You’re trying to escape, but first will you spy on the aliens to discover their plans for earth, or sabotage their spaceship on your way out?
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Petting Zoo is a card drafting game by Little Flower Games. In Petting Zoo you are expanding your own zoo, earning coins, and buying victory point cards to demonstrate your supremacy in the petting zoo business! Are you cut out to build your own petting zoo? Read more to find out!
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Gimme 5 is a trivia party game that is designed to scale up to an arbitrarily large number of people. Seriously – The game is advertised to support 50 players.
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Robit Riddle, by Baba Geek Games, is a co-operative storytelling game. Can you and your robot friends find the missing robits?
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Crazier Eights: Camelot is the sequel to Crazier Eights from creator James Gray, this time with a King Arthur theme. The basis of the game is Crazy Eights, but getting rid of your cards isn’t the only way to win; and anyone can lose if they aren’t paying attention. Between discarding to reduce your hand or playing action cards for power-ups and attacks like
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