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.
We recommend Mind Up! for families; but not for kids under 8. You’ll bid cards from your hand to acquire cards on the table… but the cards you bid become the cards you might get next turn!
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Some board gamers might thrive on the nail-biting tension caused by resource acquisition and challenging fighting in this game. We, however, often found it overly frustrating in many of our plays.
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Compile is a two-player card dueling game with just 18 cards on each side, but a huge variety of possibilities! Why do Andrew and Anitra enjoy it so much?
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Pátzcuaro drew me in with its unique theme, colorful art, and set collection mechanics. Its star mechanic, a rondel for action selection, blew me away.
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Place your marker on a graph to get other players to guess which word is yours! Mind Map is a party clueing and guessing game that’s best for nerdy families and small friend groups.
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We’ve played this game before, and others like it. But we’d never tried something quite like this with our kids.
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If you’re looking for an immersive D&D experience, you’re not going to find it here. But if you’re looking for a quick and fun game that can be enjoyed by all ages at home or on the go, Dungeon Scrawlers: Heroes of Waterdeep will do just that.
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Montmartre is an elegant card game that feels familiar and comfortable for avid board gamers but is also simple enough to introduce to new players.
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Ten word games in a small box, with an intuitive card design. Is Tapple 10 right for your family?
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Surf’s Up is all about timing – play your high-energy card right to catch the wave you want. Bid on ocean wave cards with energy and reputation, and avoid being stung by jellyfish!
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Sherlock Holmes doesn’t really work alone – he works best when Dr. Watson is beside him. Sherlock Solitaire is the same way: it can be played solo, but is more fun as a two player cooperative game.
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In Time Division players take on the role of agents at two competing time agencies that don’t see eye to eye on how to best approach that mess.
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A game that’s light on rules – but someone MUST act as a countdown timer and be “mean” to make this game fun.
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In Flashback: Lucy, Scorpion Masqué didn’t bother calming your nerves, but leaned into creepiness instead of a light-hearted adventure.
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This is definitely the kind of casual game a non-board game family will lean into. Doomlings is a fantastic game to get on the table after a family meal, and it’s easy to teach even while you play it.
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Wandering Towers brings a special kind of magic to the table. It’s a game that will click after a single turn, and keep you super engaged until the last wizard drops into Ravenskeep.
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If you’d like a super-fast game that will force you to cooperate in lots of different ways, you should try Skyrockets.
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Explosion in the Laboratory is best for families looking for a more challenging press-your-luck game. It packs a lot of options into a small box with a really interesting ramp up of risk and reward.
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