Make your next family game night effortless and memorable. Here’s how families across the UK are choosing:
• Pick your style of fun.
Love routes and gentle strategy? Try Ticket to Ride (think trains and maps). Enjoy table-talk and trading? Catan/Settlers scratches the itch. Prefer cooperative warmth? Beat the clock together in Pandemic or Forbidden Island (a brilliant cooperative game where everyone wins—or learns—together).
• Match the age & table size.
Kids can jump in with Candy Land/Candyland, Mouse Trap, Connect Four, Bop It, and Chutes and Ladders/Chutes for pure giggles and motor skills practice. Bigger groups? Party games like Codenames, Cranium, or Exploding Kittens are perfect games to play after tea. Short on time? Go fast paced with dice game bursts and micro player games you can play in 10–20 minutes.
• Ease of setup, heaps of replay.
Clear rulebook, quick how to play, tactile game pieces (from chunky cubes to crisp letter tiles) and varied gameplay keep every session fresh. Many titles offer expansions, new board modules, or extra playing cards for even more paths to victory.
• From classics to modern award-winners.
Alongside classic games by Parker Brothers and Winning Moves, you’ll spot game of the year darlings, smart deck building game engines, welcoming tabletop/table top adventures, and new board games from clever game designer teams and family-friendly publishers like Blue Orange and Fantasy Flight.
• Play across moods & group sizes.
Quiet afternoon? Solo solitaire or a quick rummy/poker hand. Evening company? Multiplayer titles where you’ll roll the dice, make guesses, follow clues, and out-think your opponents—always kind, always “good game”.
Age-band pointers (guidance, not rules)
- 3–6 (preschool / early years): bright colours, simple turns, big pieces (think Candyland, Mouse Trap, Connect Four, beginner puzzle game jigsaw, light bingo).
- 6–9: dexterity and reading grow—Jenga, Dominoes, Pictionary, Cranium family editions, starter dice tower moments, gentle cooperative board titles.
- 8–12: gateway strategy—Ticket to Ride, Carcassonne, Dixit, Forbidden Island, Codenames, Kingdomino/Five Tribes-style building game choices.
- 10+ & teens: step into engines and deeper choices—Dominion (deck building), Wingspan, Lords of Waterdeep, Scythe/Euphrates-style Euro vibes, even history-leaning titles like Twilight Struggle for budding gamers.
Little details families love
Components that invite play: sturdy cardboard, smooth pawns, readable boards (sometimes hexagonal), satisfying dice rolling, tidy inserts to keep track of bits.
Learn once, love forever: most are easy to learn yet rich in decisions; every game to play remains playable in 30–60 minutes, with options to go up to three or more players depending on the box.
Screen-free connection: swap video games for a night of playing board games together—laughs, little rivalries with your opponent, and “one more turn?” energy for the whole family.
You’ll also find brilliant curios—Mahjong, Cribbage, Memory game ideas, Jigsaw side-quests, even gentle “learn to play a board game” titles with timer aids and family-friendly mechanic twists.
Do you prefer something a touch “geek chic”? Dip into accessible fantasy (Dungeon romps, space-tinged galactic settings), or modern popular board games that started on Kickstarter and became household favourites. We routinely add new games, pre order/ preorder arrivals, and deluxe/collector editions for board gaming enthusiasts.
Whether you’re laying out Community Chest on a Monopoly board, flipping playing cards in a breezy card game, or teaching a first game where little ones learn to take turns, every box here is curated for smiles, stories, and together time. Set the table, choose your game from the list, and play a game that makes tonight a memory.
