Overview: Are you looking for games for boys to enjoy? Games for family night which are filled with action and will make them want to participate? Here are our favorites!
Our family enjoys spending time together. We love everything from watching movies, to reading books aloud, to listening to audio dramas, to having campfires in the backyard, to going on hikes in the woods, to exercising together.
We just enjoy being with each other.
One of our favorite things to do as a family, however, is to play games. When we look at the calendar and find that we have a whole evening with nowhere to go, someone usually recommends picking a game for us to play.
Here are our 10 favorite games for family night:
1. Pictionary – My son, Sam absolutely loves this game. He enjoys drawing and laughing… so when he gets to combine both things, he’s on board with it for sure. We have the version with pencils and notepads, but this new version with a whiteboard looks pretty cool!
2. Pandemic – This is one of our newer favorites. I enjoy playing cooperative games, where we all band together to try to beat the game. That’s exactly how it is when you play Pandemic. The object is to wipe out the diseases before they spread across the world. It sounds morbid, but it’s really super fun!
3. Dominion – This game takes a little concentration to learn… but once you have it figured out, it’s super fun! It doesn’t take very long to play, either, so it’s a great one to play if you have someone with a shorter attention span in your family. Just figure it out first and then call them over to play! 😉 I sometimes watch the tutorials on BoardGameGeek.com so that it takes me less time to figure new games out.
4. 7 Wonders – This game is super fun and super fast. It doesn’t take incredibly long to pick up, either, so it’s another good one to play with those non-gamers in your family.
5. Settlers of Catan – This is my personal favorite. One thing I like most about this one is that there aren’t long periods of waiting time as people take their turns. Everyone participates during each player’s turn, which makes it more fun. This game does take several hours to play, though, so it’s probably best for people with older kids. Plus, they have lots of different expansion sets which change up the game slightly. The Seafarer’s Expansion set is almost required, in my opinion. The water pieces make the actual board larger, which makes the game a lot more enjoyable.
6. Code Names – Our sons introduced us to this game in the last year or so. This can be played by 2 players but it’s more fun with at least 4. The cards are all facing down but one person on each team knows what’s on them. It’s that person’s job to give one word clues to their teammates that he thinks will help them identify the most cards correctly. This is a great game for working on logic skills!
7. Clue – Here’s another one of my childhood favorites. If you haven’t tried playing this with your kids, be sure to give it a try. Another great game for strengthening logic skills! I’m always Mrs. White.
8. Pit – This game is loud and fun and exciting. It’s a fun, hands-on way to teach your kids about being on the stock market exchange floor. This is a great game to play with energetic boys! You may want to wear earplugs, though, because the bell ringing can get pretty loud.
9. Risk – Yet another game from my childhood. What can I say?!? Sometimes the classics are the best. And what better way to spend the evening than with attempting world domination? LOL
10. Goat Lords – If you’re looking for a game that doesn’t take a lot of time, this is a great option. It’s a card game that’s easy to play and the names on the cards will make your sons giggle. We enjoy this one when we only have a short amount of time to play something.
Does you enjoy games for family night? If so, what are some of your favorites? Please leave a comment below.
I loved playing Bonkers as a kid, it’s so much fun.
It is, isn’t it?!?!? Another favorite from when I was a kid is Stop Thief… but I couldn’t find that one at a reasonable price so I didn’t want to recommend it.
We haven’t played any of these (because I have not heard of them) but I think we would enjoy them. Thanks for the list of new games!
You’re welcome! Yes, I think you and your son would love them. Fun stuff!!! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Boardgamegeek.com! I wish I had known that existed long ago! Thanks for the tip! Great game suggestions! We love Clue, Monopoly, Urban Myth, and just about every card game! Great post! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Gwen. I haven’t heard of Urban Myth. I’ll have to check that one out! And yes, Boardgamegeek can save you TONS of time from trying to figure out game rules by just reading the instructions. 🙂
The only games I’ve heard of on this list are Pictionary and Pandemic – my kids play an online version of Pandemic on their electronic devices, and I’ve looked over their shoulders watching. Had no idea there was a board version. I want to try that one. We loved the old-fashioned Battleship, but only two can play it at a time. Does Bat. Express allow more people to play?
Yes, Battleship Express allows for 4 players. 🙂 And I think you’ll love Pandemic. It’s super fun!
What fabulous game recommendations!! We have a few (Risk is the boys fav & I love Pictionary!). I’ll be using this list for birthday ideas for sure!
Glad I was able to help. I’m always looking for game recommendations as well. 🙂
Thanks for this great list of suggestions! We must own 30 games, but many of these are new to me. Some of our family favorites are Spades (a card game), Dutch Blitz, and Sequence.
Hey, I’m glad I could suggest a few new ones to you! We love playing various card games as well. I haven’t heard of Dutch Blitz or Sequence, though. I’ll have to check those out. Thanks! 🙂
We have done a lot of card games, such as UNO, Go Fish, and a few others. I find that I still haven’t figured out how to store board games where pieces don’t end up missing. My kids have enjoyed playing Clue, which is one of the games I grew up with. I would love to check out other games as well, so this gives me a neat list. 🙂 Some I have played or heard of, but others are new. Thanks for sharing your list!
Oh yeah, Uno is another favorite! 🙂
Pandemic is one of our favorites, too! 🙂
We are also big game fans here! We love Ticket to Ride, Scattergories, boggle, Quirkle, Blokus, Stratego, in addition to your great list
Oh yes, we also love Ticket to Ride and Stratego. I’ll have to check out the other ones you mentioned. Thanks for the suggestions!
We cannot get enough of Catan! Our boys (8 and 10) beg to play at least 3 nights a week. If we arent playing that, we are playing Castle Panic, Ticket To Ride, or Phase 10.
As a kid we loved Payday and Sequence… but I’m excited to try some of these new ones!
Yes, Catan is one of my very favorites. I recommended that one several months ago in another list of some other games that we love, if you’re interested: https://www.homeschool-your-boys.com/gifts-boys-10-games-boys-will-love/
Thankyou! We were all tired of the games we have and have just bought payday,pandemic and pit,looking forward to enjoying them.
Awesome! I hope you enjoy them as much as we have. 🙂
Thank you for giving me more ideas for games for our family. Now that my children are getting older, I’m always looking for new game ideas.
Oh, and I love Bonkers. I had it as a kid and would love to find it to play with my children.
You’re welcome. And yes, Bonkers is super fun. I’m so glad I hung onto a bunch of my childhood games! I hope you’re able to find one. Check Amazon and Ebay!