It’s not often we talk about board games here at Plugged In, but when we do, the eyes of my coworkers turn to look at me.
And I get it. I like to buy and play board games. I’ve got party games, long-form strategy games, social deduction games, engine builders, classics, all sorts of Eurogames and Ameritrash and much more. My favorite board game is Twilight Imperium, which we only play annually because of the 10+ hours it takes to finish a single game. At one point, I even ran Focus on the Family’s staff board game group over lunch.
I’ve already written two blogs on board games before, found here and here. But that barely scratches the surface of the great games available to families, and new games are being made all the time.
So my coworkers asked me to put together a list of five more of the best family board games out there. (And when I say “best,” I mean games that are both accessible and fun). And just for a little variety, the five games below will offer unique gameplay from each other. I’ll also organize by complexity, so the farther down the list you scroll, the more rules the game will have.
Combining this blog with those named in our earlier blogs, you’ll have 15 games from which you can browse to improve your family game nights.
Men at Work
Player Count: 2 to 5
Price: $50
Gameplay Style: Dexterity
The simplest game on our list, Men at Work is a bit like reverse Jenga with a brick or two thrown into the mix. The premise tasks players with building up a chaotic construction site, complete with girders, beams, bricks and construction workers. Players must stack these components as directed by a randomly drawn card—which sometimes will throw a metaphorical wrench into the mix, forcing the player to stack with only one hand or in a specific manner. Cause the pile to collapse too many times and Boss Rita will take away your safety certificates, throwing you out of the game entirely.
Men at Work is what’s known as a dexterity game, meaning it’ll be your physical prowess that decides if you win or lose. The simple game comes with a tiny rulebook and an optional gameplay obstruction in the form of a crane players must build around. For those who want a game about taking risks rather than any clever thinking, Men at Work might be a great choice.
Wavelength
Player Count: 2 to 10+
Price: $35
Gameplay Style: Clue-Giving
Your friend spins Wavelength’s giant wheel, and he glances at it. You can’t see where the target is on it, but he can, and he’s formulating his answer based on what he sees. Then, he looks up at you, and he tells you the topic: “Hot or Cold.” Then, he gives you his answer: “Florida.” You begin to think about that word. Florida is certainly hot, you think, But it’s not as hot as the equator. Or lava. Or the sun. But very few people would describe Florida as cold. Second-guessing yourself the whole way, you eventually decide to choose somewhere leaning on the “hot” side of the wheel—but not to the most extreme side of that category. You watch as your friend reveals how close to the target you got.
That’s the essence of Wavelength as (usually) two teams compete against each other to prove that they’re the better team at reading their clue-giver’s mind. The team who guesses closer to the target based on their clue-giver’s word will get more points, and the team with the most points wins! The game is so simple, usually a single round of play is all that’s needed before everyone, regardless of age, knows exactly what to do. Though the game markets itself as 2 to 10 players, this is a game that could theoretically be played by as many as you wish—as long as you have room in your house. For families who enjoy clue-giving games, Wavelength will be a welcome addition to their shelf.
Forest Shuffle
Player Count: 2 to 5
Price: $30
Gameplay Style: Tableau Builder
Before you stand a variety of woodland creatures and trees. You’re allowed to take two of them—but which would be the best? You could take the butterfly, since you already have three, and their point value grows exponentially with each additional one. Maybe you’ll grab a Linden tree, too; if you have the most out of everyone, you’ll get three points per Linden. Oh, but that’ll leave the fox you need up for grabs, and you’re not confident another player won’t grab it first before it comes back to your turn. You look down at the forest you’ve built before you, filled with its many animals. Will it be enough?
This is where our list moves from simple party games and introduces a bit more decision-making. Forest Shuffle is a Tableau Builder—a game in which, over time, players accumulate a personal display of point-scoring or benefit-generating cards before them (in the same realm as Wingspan or Everdell). Each card they take has a different ability, and many of these cards will directly reference or play off other cards, leaving gamers with a variety of strategies to win. That means players can return again and again to try their hand at new ways to impress others around the table. For those who want a strategy game that is relatively quick to teach and has a cute aesthetic, Forest Shuffle is a prime choice.
Cryptid
Player Count: 2 to 5
Price: $45
Gameplay Style: Logical Deduction
You stare at the map on the table. You don’t know where Bigfoot is—but you do know one thing: the hairy guy does not live in the desert. No one else around the table knows that, though. In fact, everyone else has their own clue as to where Bigfoot may—or may not—be. Wanting to be the first to discover the beast’s existence, you’ll go around the table, pointing at hexagons on the map and asking another player, based on their clue, whether Bigfoot could possibly live there. Over time, you’ll start to deduce what your opponents’ clues might be—and if you can figure all of them out, you’ll find the one hexagon where Bigfoot lives for certain.
It’ll likely take a full game before players truly grasp how to play Cryptid, but when they do, they’ll have a blast working out what their opponents’ clues are. In many instances, a player will think they’ve finally figured out someone else’s clue—just before new information comes that breaks that theory. Because the game requires a bit more logical deduction, this will be a game that works better with older kids. But for families looking to one-up each other in competitive competition, Cryptid will be a fun game to collect.
Captain Sonar
Player Count: 2 to 8
Price: $50
Gameplay Style: Real-Time Team-Based
Somewhere to your side, your radio operator listens to the enemy submarine, attempting to discover where their sub is. You, as the captain, command your own submarine to turn west, and steam hisses out of a broken pipe. Not to worry, the engineer is on that. “Captain, the torpedo is ready,” your first mate advises. “Once we find them, we can blow them out of the water.” Suddenly, alarms flare. The enemy submarine just used sonar—and they’ve found you. Battle stations ready. You’ll only survive by working together.
Though you can play with just two players, in my opinion, Captain Sonar is most fun the closer you are to eight. In the game, each player takes a different role in operating a four-man submarine, and each role is vital to your success or failure. With a divider splitting your side of the table from the other team, it’s the radio operator who must locate where their submarine is. The first mate charges all weapons, radar and stealth abilities of your submarine. The captain directs where the submarine heads next. And for every move the captain makes, something breaks down in engineering, forcing the engineer to determine repairs. And the only way you’ll win is by finding and destroying the other team’s submarine (who has the same roles) before they find and destroy you first.
Captain Sonar is a very thematic game, making players genuinely feel as if they were operating a submarine together. It is also much more complex than the previous games on this list, mostly in that each role has its own gameplay style and rules, each of which influence the other roles on your team in their own way. Because of that, explanation of the game will take a chunk of time. But once everyone settles into their roles and the game starts, you’ll be forced to work as a machine (well-oiled or otherwise). For older families searching for a competitive team-based bonding experience, you may want to ping Captain Sonar.
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