Research Guides: TableTop Games: Family Games

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A family game is one you'd be comfortable playing with your mom and your (elementary school-aged) kid. And, ideally, you could play with both simultaneously and everybody would be happy. Mixed ages/abilities playing together is the crucial element of a family game -- which also tends to mean it plays fairly quickly, is easy to learn, keeps everybody engaged until the end.

Family Games

Battleship
Battleship was originally a pencil-and-paper public domain game known by different names, but Milton Bradley made it into the well known board game in 1967.
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Each player deploys his ships (of lengths varying from 2 to 5 squares) secretly on a square grid. Then each player shoots at the other's grid by calling a location. The defender responds by "Hit!" or "Miss!". You try to deduce where the enemy ships are and sink them. First to do so wins.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2 Players
Playing Time: 30 Minutes
Age: 6+
Blink
The two-minute-long, two-player card game Blink bills itself as the fastest game in the world. Without taking turns, players race to empty their hands by matching the color, shape, or number of symbols on their cards in hand to the top card of the two discard piles in the center of the table.
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As soon as a player lays down one card, they can draw another, up to the hand size of three cards. If both players can't play, they can both draw a card directly onto the discard pile at the same time and then continue play. The first player to empty their hand and draw pile wins.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-3 Players
Playing Time: 10 Minutes
Age: 7+
Boss monster
Inspired by a love of classic video games, Boss Monster: The Dungeon Building Card Game pits 2-4 players in a competition to build the ultimate side-scrolling dungeon. Players compete to lure and destroy hapless adventurers, racing to outbid one another to see who can build the most enticing, treasure-filled dungeon.
Butt-Ugly Martians
The famous martian hunter, Stoat Muldoon, has captured Dog and is holding him captive deep within his secret silo. Without Dog, the Butt Ugly Martians can't transmit their phony battle report to the old swagtar, Emperor Bog.
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If Bog doesn't receive his update in time, he'll take matters into his own hands, and conquer earth. It's up to you to help the hyperkinetic Butt Ugly Martians get into butt kickin' mode and rescue Dog. It's easy to get lost in Muldoon's maze, so follow the arrows and try to stay on track. The first person to race through the silo and reach Dog wins.

Each turn the player roll the blue die and moves his/her pawn in the direction of the arrows. If the space where you land is a Butt-Ugly Martian space or aStoat Muldoon space, draw a corresponding card and immediately do what is says. Keep going. Landing on a room space ends your turn.

When you land on a Emperor Bog Dr. Damage space, roll the black Emperor Bog die. If Emperor Bog Dr. Damaged is rolled, move him one space closer towards earth. The first player to reach Dog wins the game. When Emperor Bog reaches the earth, before Dog is rescued, the game is lost.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 20 Minutes
Age: 8+
Candyland
A child can begin by just recognizing basic colors. Each player advances along the rainbow path through the peppermint stick forest, the gingerbread plum tree and the gumdrop mountain.
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“The Legend of the Lost Candy Castle” is printed inside the box and can be read out loud. The game parts can be stored below it. The game board is colorful and has lots of yummy candy references. You play the game by moving the gingerbread playing pieces on the gameboard spaces that match the colors and pictures of the drawn cards. The object is to be the first player to reach the candy castle. There are specific directions to play. You can play with one color block, two color blocks and picture cards. If you are the first person to reach the last purple space, or move beyond the last purple space, you reach candy castle and have won the game. There are barriers along the way, like the gooey gumdrops, getting lost in the lollipop woods, or stuck in the molasses swamp.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 30 Minutes
Age: 3+
Carcassonne
Carcassonne is a tile-placement game in which the players draw and place a tile with a piece of southern French landscape on it. The tile might feature a city, a road, a cloister, grassland or some combination thereof, and it must be placed adjacent to tiles that have already been played, in such a way that cities are connected to cities,
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roads to roads, etcetera. Having placed a tile, the player can then decide to place one of their meeples on one of the areas on it: on the city as a knight, on the road as a robber, on a cloister as a monk, or on the grass as a farmer. When that area is complete, that meeple scores points for its owner.
About the Game:
# of Players: 2-5 Players
Playing Time: 30-45 Minutes
Age: 7+
Chutes and Ladders
Players travel along the squares sometimes using ladders, which represent good acts, that allow the player to come closer to nirvana while the snakes were slides into evil.
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About the Game:
# of Players: 2-6 Players
Playing Time: 30 Minutes
Age: 3+
Disney Villainous
In Villainous, each player takes control of one of six Disney characters, each one a villain in a different Disney movie. Each player has their own villain deck, fate deck, player board, and 3D character.
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On a turn, the active player moves their character to a different location on their player board, takes one or more of the actions visible on that space (often by playing cards from their hand), then refills their hand to four cards. Cards are allies, items, effects, conditions, and (for some characters) curses. You need to use your cards to fulfill your unique win condition.

One of the actions allows you to choose another player, draw two cards from that player's fate deck, then play one of them on that player's board, covering two of the four action spaces on one of that player's locations. The fate deck contains heroes, items, and effects from that villain's movie, and these cards allow other players to mess with that particular villain.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-6 Players
Playing Time: 50 Minutes
Age: 10+
Game of Life
This game attempts to mirror life events many people go through from going to college, raising a family, buying a home, working and retiring.
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The intent of the game is to have the most assets at the end of the game, assets are earned primarily by working and earning tokens with dollars amount on them. Additionally the first person to complete the course gets additional money tokens.

There is a very linear board that you move along by spinning a wheel or landing on spaces that tell you to move to a specific space or forward or back. There are a handful of intersections where you can choose to go one direction or another but they ultimately have similar spaces and meet back up quickly. There are a handful of choices regarding insurance and investments but for the most part it is a game of luck.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-6 Players
Playing Time: 60 Minutes
Age: 8+
Guess Who
The mystery face game where you flip over a collection of faces with different color hair, eye color, hair, hats, glasses etc. to deduce who the secret person is that your opponent has chosen. You flip over the hooked tiles as you narrow your choices by asking characteristic questions.
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About the Game:
# of Players: 2 Players
Playing Time: 20 Minutes
Age: 6+
Hardback
Hardback is a deck-building word game, a prequel to Paperback. As an aspiring 19th-century novelist, you work to pen your next masterpiece, earning prestige along the way. Specialize your deck in certain genres to exploit card combinations, and press your luck to draw extra cards — but make sure you can still string a word together!
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Players build a deck of letters with various powers and race to 60 fame points to win. Some of the features:

No wilds in your deck - any card can be wild.
Push your luck for more cards with the Ink system.
Match genre colors to gain bonus abilities on your cards.
Fight over the coveted Endorsement cards.
New Persistent cards stay in play, until someone uses them!

In addition to the competitive race mode for 2-5 players, the base game includes several variant rules, including Literary Awards, Adverts, Player Powers, and Events; and a co-op mode for 1-4 players, in which players join forces against one of four simulated opponents, each of which is proficient in a different deck genre.

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-5 Players
Playing Time: 45-90 Minutes
Age: 10+
Hungry Hungry Hippos
This children's game is as much of a toy as it is a game. Each player has a plastic hippo that is arranged around a plastic arena.
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When you push the tail it will reach its head onto the playing field - perhaps trapping one or more marbles to be pulled back to a private player marble gutter, perhaps just sending marbles bouncing around the playing field. Some marbles are released onto the playing area; players attempt to get their hippos to eat as many marbles as possible.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 10 minutes
Age: 4+
Kingdomino
In Kingdomino, you are a lord seeking new lands in which to expand your kingdom. You must explore all the lands, including wheat fields, lakes, and mountains, in order to spot the best plots, while competing with other lords to acquire them first.
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The game uses tiles with two sections, similar to Dominoes. Each turn, each player will select a new domino to connect to their existing kingdom, making sure at least one of its sides connects to a matching terrain type already in play. The order of who picks first depends on which tile was previously chosen, with better tiles forcing players to pick later in the next round. The game ends when each player has completed a 5x5 grid (or failed to do so), and points are counted based on number of connecting tiles and valuable crown symbols.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 15 minutes
Age: 8+
King of Tokyo
In King of Tokyo, you play mutant monsters, gigantic robots, and strange aliens—all of whom are destroying Tokyo and whacking each other in order to become the one and only King of Tokyo.
Let's go Fishin'
This kids game features an electronic turntable filled with 21 plastic fish. As it rotates, the fish raise and lower, opening and closing their mouths.
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Players all have toy fishing poles and simultaneously try to catch fish buy having them close their mouths on their lure and pulling out of the rack. The player who catches the most fish wins.e points!

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-4 Players
Playing Time: 10 minutes
Age: 4+
Love Letter
Love Letter Premium takes the familiar Love Letter game and enhances it in two different ways. First, the cards are supersized and much thicker than normal, the hearts that players claim are large and wooden, and the hard-sided box has a magnetic closure.
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Second, the game now plays with up to eight players thanks to the inclusion of an additional set of cards, such as the Assassin (0) which eliminates an opponent if that opponent forces you to reveal it and the Sycophant (4) who must be the target of a played card until it's covered on the next turn. The rules for Love Letter Premium dictate which cards to use depending on the player count.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-6 Players
Playing Time: 20 - 30 Minutes
Age: 8+
Mah Jong
Mah-Jongg (Chinese 麻將/麻将 Májiàng [game of the] sparrow) is a traditional Chinese game using illustrated tiles, with game play similarities to rummy. It is a popular gambling game, but wagering real stakes is by no means necessary to have fun playing.
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About the Game:
# of Players: 3-4 Players
Playing Time: 120 Minutes
Age: 8+
The Mind
The Mind is more than just a game. It's an experiment, a journey, a team experience in which you can't exchange information, yet will become one to defeat all the levels of the game.
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In more detail, the deck contains cards numbered 1-100, and during the game you try to complete 12, 10, or 8 levels of play with 2, 3, or 4 players. In a level, each player receives a hand of cards equal to the number of the level: one card in level 1, two cards in level 2, etc. Collectively you must play these cards into the center of the table on a single discard pile in ascending order but you cannot communicate with one another in any way as to which cards you hold. You simply stare into one another's eyes, and when you feel the time is right, you play your lowest card. If no one holds a card lower than what you played, great, the game continues! If someone did, all players discard face up all cards lower than what you played, and you lose one life.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 20 Minutes
Age: 8+
Operation
Operation is a dexterity game in which you must extract silly body parts from a hapless patient. In the course of the game you acquire cards which dictate that you must remove a certain piece from the body of the patient.
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To do this you use a set of tweezers that are attached by wire to the game board. If you are sloppy and touch the metal sides of the hole where the item is located, the patient's pain is indicated by a sudden buzzer and light-up nose. Successful extractions net cash, and the player with the most cash at the end of the game is the winner.

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-6 Players
Playing Time: 10 Minutes
Age: 6+
Scotland Yard
In Scotland Yard, one of the players takes on the role of Mr. X. His job is to move from point to point around the map of London taking taxis, buses or subways.
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The detectives – that is, the remaining players acting in concert – move around similarly in an effort to move into the same space as Mr. X. But while the criminal's mode of transportation is nearly always known, his exact location is only known intermittently throughout the game.

About the Game:
# of Players: 3-6 Players
Playing Time: 45 Minutes
Age: 10+
Scrabble
In this classic word game, players use their seven drawn letter-tiles to form words on the gameboard. Each word laid out earns points based on the commonality of the letters used, with certain board spaces giving bonuses. But a word can only be played if it uses at least one already-played tile or adds to an already-played word.
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This leads to slightly tactical play, as potential words are rejected because they would give an opponent too much access to the better bonus spaces.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 90 Minutes
Age: 10+
Shadows in the Forest
You are deep in a dark, ancient forest with only your lantern to guide you. Tall, looming trees cast shadows all around. Off in the distance you hear a faint rustling sound and your heart begins to race. Could the legend be true? Will you finally discover the creatures who hide in the forest shadows?
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Shadows in the Forest is a thrilling, immersive play experience that brings a distinctive twist to game night - you play it in the dark! One player moves the LED lantern around in search of Shadowlings, mysterious creatures who avoid the light. The lantern illuminates the forest and trees, casting real shadows on the game board. The rest of the players work together, strategically moving their Shadowlings to stay out of the light in this innovative board game for kids and families.

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-8 Players
Playing Time: 15 Minutes
Age: 8+
Splendor: Marvel
Bring together a team of super heroes and prevent Thanos from ending the world!
The Infinity Stones are scattered throughout the Multiverse. Use their essence to recruit heroes and villains and gain Infinity Points.
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Assemble the Avengers, acquire locations and when ready, claim the Infinity Gauntlet! Pick your tokens carefully, recruit characters to gain Infinity Points and bonuses. These bonuses help you recruit more powerful heroes and acquire locations… until you gather enough characters, power, and Infinity Points to trigger the endgame!

Even though Splendor Marvel uses Splendor’s core rules and high-quality materials, it has a different color structure, a new endgame trigger, and new victory conditions. You can also gain Infinity Points with the Avengers Assemble tile that can be passed from one player to another several times during the game!

About the Game:
# of Players: 2-4 Players
Playing Time: 30 Minutes
Age: 10+
Unlock!: Escape Adventures
Unlock! is a cooperative card game inspired by escape rooms that uses a simple system which allows you to search scenes, combine objects, and solve riddles. Play Unlock! to embark on great adventures, while seated at a table using only cards and a companion app that can provide clues, check codes, monitor time remaining, etc.
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Unlock! Escape Adventures includes three separate scenarios for you to explore:

In The Formula, you enter a secret laboratory to recover a mysterious serum that has been developed by a scientist. Will you solve all the riddles and get out in less than an hour?
In Squeek & Sausage, you need to thwart the plans of the despicable Professor Noside!
In The Island of Doctor Goorse, you must visit the island of an eccentric antique collector billionaire and overcome its traps!

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-6 Players
Playing Time: 45-75 Minutes
Age: 10+
Unlock!: Mystery Adventures
Unlock! is a cooperative card game inspired by escape rooms that uses a simple system which allows you to search scenes, combine objects, and solve riddles. Play Unlock! to embark on great adventures, while seated at a table using only cards and a companion app that can provide clues, check codes, monitor time remaining, etc.
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Unlock! Mystery Adventures features three "escape room" scenarios that you can play on your tabletop:

The House on the Hill: What's going on in this run-down manor? Explore the sinister pieces and foil the curse that haunts this desolate place. Designed by Fabrice Mazza, illustrated by Pierre Santamaria.

The Nautilus' Traps: Attacked by a sea monster during a dive, you seek shelter by opening a hatch in an old submarine. Find a way back to the surface! Designed by Arnaud Ladagnous, illustrated by Florian de Gesincourt.

The Tonipal's Treasure: Captain Smith hid his treasure on Tonipal Island. Unravel the mystery before Johnson, another treasure hunter, beats you to it! Designed by Billy Stevenson & Sebastien Pauchon, illustrated by Sergo.

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-4 Players
Playing Time: 45-75 Minutes
Age: 12+
Unlock!: Star Wars
Unlock! is a co-operative card game inspired by escape rooms that uses a simple system which allows you to search scenes, combine objects, and solve riddles. Play Unlock! to embark on great adventures, while seated at a table using only cards and a companion app that can provide clues, check codes, monitor time remaining, etc.
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Star Wars: Unlock! uses the Unlock! game system to send you on three new adventures full of ships, droids, and action!

(1) An unforeseen delay

You are smugglers in the Outer Rim, facing danger and the unexpected every day. Today, while transporting expensive cargo belonging to Jabba the Hutt, you are intercepted by an Imperial Star Destroyer!

(2) Escape from Hoth

Echo Base, an important Rebel stronghold, has managed to remain hidden on the ice planet Hoth for some time. The hostile climate provides excellent cover and protection from the Empire- but you must always remain vigilant!

(3) Secret mission on Jedha

You are an Imperial spy sent to infiltrate the Holy City of Jedha. An Imperial pilot transporting a crate of priceless kyber crystals crashed their Zeta- class cargo shuttle on the surface.

About the Game:
# of Players: 1-4 Players
Playing Time: 60 Minutes
Age: 10+
Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze
Unmatched Adventures: Tales to Amaze, which is themed around the pulp adventures, tall tales, and local legends of the mid-20th century, gives you a whole new way to play Unmatched.
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About the Game:
# of Players: 1-4 Players
Playing Time: 20 - 60 Minutes
Age: 9+