Favorite Family Board Games?

[SandyMom]

Please share here your favorite family board games.
I'm looking for new stuff for our own game nights and also thinking ahead to holiday gift giving.
We've got all the usuals...
Anyone have anything new they love?
thanks!
Sandy

[reezley]

What the age range of kids we're talking about?

[MAMom]

Both my kids (7.5 & 4.5) love to play Maask - a memory game. They also like Speedy Eddy by the same company.

Other games we often play:

- Mystery at Hogwarts
- Kids on Stage
- Hi Ho Cherry-O
- Hullabaloo (they usually play that one themselves or with friends)

[pianojazzgirl]

It really depends on what sort of ages we're talking here.

I think the Cranium games are all pretty good family games.

Some of the Family Pastimes games are good fun too (see boardgamegeek.com for extensive reviews!).

There are sooo many great games out there though. It would help to know ages of the kids playing, and interests as well (word games, chance, cooperative, etc, etc).

[lillyfire]

My son is 3 1/2 and we LOVE:

UNO Moo
Zingo
Thomas the Train Uno
Hi Ho Cherry-O
Candy Land

I am hating Chutes and Ladders right now, even though he likes it. The switchback style of the board is confusing for him and it takes FOREVER sometimes.

[alison77]

we love:
chutes and ladders
candy land
hi ho cherry -o (probably play this the most often)
spunky monkeys
twister

my guys are 7 and 4
we're getting one or two cranium games for christmas, too.

[Whocares]

How old are your kids? My two oldest(9 & 6) love Blokus,Banagrams Cranium,Sorry,and Trouble.When they were younger,they loved Hi Ho Cherry O,Hungry Hippos,and Candyland.

[Petie1104]

We have a memory game for the littlest one, uno for all of us, apples to apples junior for the 9 yr. old, and apples to apples for the 13 yr. old. We also have the typical ones, monopoly, scrabble, dh is teaching the 13 yr old risk, and the 7 yr. old girl is now old enough that she is starting to learn chess, the older two 9 and 13 already play it. Checkers is a favorite and the 4 yr. old is starting to learn that one.

[LaughingHyena]

My kids are 6 and 4

We've just started playing tantrix with the kids. Since everyone has their tiles laid out in front of them it's easy to help DS out.

I;ve heard good things about http://www.amazon.com/MindWare-32016...8253593&sr=8-4 and we might gat that for Christmas this year

On her own DD likes rush hour

I second the suggestion of looking at boardgamegeek for ideas. DH and I have several of the rio grande games which all seem good and would be suitable for older kids.

[ollyoxenfree]

Mancala is a good game for a pretty wide age range - from about age 5 to adults. For younger kids, it's great to learn counting. It's a strategy game but not as complicated to learn as games like chess or go.

[MJB]

We LOVE to play Apples to Apples Kids. It is the height of hilarity.

[Niamh]

My kids are 6 and 4.

A lot of the Family Pasttimes games are fun. Definitely look into those.

The Ladybug Game is fun, especially for non-readers.

But our favorite has been Dragon's Journey It is *really* fun, especially for fantasy minded kids.

[SandyMom]

Thanks for all the great resources!!!!
Should have mentioned in my initial post ages = 12 & 10 y/o but we often have neighbors over in evenings ranging in age from 3 to 75! So I'm on the look out for things that everyone can get involved in. We had a rockin' good game of Mexican Train Dominos going last night!
I will look through all the links posted - thanks to all - keep the suggestions coming please!!!!
Sandy

[4evermom]

I just posted and sold right away 2 boardgames on Amazon. I thought they looked nice and they went fast but we are not into boardgames. One was called Lifestories and the other was called Headbandz. I noticed Headbandz had a few different versions, one more for young kids and another for older kids and adults. It involves putting a card with a character, like Napoleon, or a thing on a headband where you can't see it but everyone else can and having to guess what it is, maybe kind of like 20 questions.

[Ornery]

My favorite board game growing up was The Farming Game. I have the original early 80's version and we love to play it with our oldest. I'm not sure about the newer version as I don't know what they've changed.

[Alison's Mom]

We have a bunch of the 3-7yo ones from this company http://www.familypastimes.com/index.html it's nice that they are cooperative and not competitve.

Also this game is quite good, I think http://www.jouetschoochoo.com/camelo...r-p-10094.html and the company makes several others.

[SandyMom]

Great suggestions and links you guys! Thanks so much.

The Farming Game looks really cool.
And the ones at family pastimes too.

I'm going to look at the Lifestories game.

4evermom:

I just posted and sold right away 2 boardgames on Amazon. I thought they looked nice and they went fast but we are not into boardgames. One was called Lifestories and the other was called Headbandz. I noticed Headbandz had a few different versions, one more for young kids and another for older kids and adults. It involves putting a card with a character, like Napoleon, or a thing on a headband where you can't see it. but everyone else can and having to guess what it is, maybe kind of like 20 questions

Sorry to be so dense - but what do you mean you posted and sold games on Amazon? I didn't know ppl could do that - I was just thinking I wish there was a good place to buy second hand games that ppl are ready to pass on.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by SandyMom

Sorry to be so dense - but what do you mean you posted and sold games on Amazon? I didn't know ppl could do that - I was just thinking I wish there was a good place to buy second hand games that ppl are ready to pass on.

I had sold books before on Amazon and I noticed the little "Sell yours here" next to the games so I clicked on it, lol. At first, I thought it wasn't going to work because it said only certain people could sell things as "collectibles" which was the only option for the board games. But it went through. However, the shipping allowance wasn't enough to cover the actual shipping (board games are heavy and can't be shipped media mail) and Amazon now takes a cut as well. So the sellers have to have the price on the high side and it probably is not the best place to get a used game. Thrift stores are a good place to look... Sometimes people freecycle them (and you can ask for things through freecycle, too).

[RaeDyCo]

Jenga!

[mkksmom]

Cranium Hulabaloo is a lot of fun. DH and I play with our 6 YO a lot, but she can also play herself. I like it because it's actually an active game.

Jenga
Chicky boom
For adults/teens, I LOVED to play Balderdash in high school. There are these long vocabulary words and you have to write down what you think the word means. The person who is the leader for that round writes the correct definition. Then shuffles all of the responses and reads them. You have to guess which is the real definition. I have never laughed so hard in my life.