Game Recommendations

It's no secret that we LOVE games!  I grew up playing games all the time and we play a game of some sort pretty much every night.

I get asked often about our favorites and recommendations and while I've mentioned games in Friday Favorites and other various posts over the years I decided to give y'all a peek into our game closet and share a fairly comprehensive list of some of our favorites.  (Yes... we have a lot of games... I know.  I think games are a great way to spend time together as a family, practice math, reading and spelling, work on critical thinking skills, and the list goes on and on)

We love a card game - our favorites are Farkle Flip, Skip Bo and Uno.  Blink is a new game that we got for Christmas and it would be GREAT for younger kids because you're making matches based on color, number or object... it's like the card game speed but more kid friendly.

My favorite card game is  Skip Bo... Mason started playing it when he was around 6 and Griffin is catching onto it as well. It's family friendly, doesn't take forever and it's just a lot of fun.  Farkle Flip is a new game to us as well and while we're just getting the hang of it we're all loving it.  

 

Moose in the House is my boys favorite along with Sleeping Queens (which I still haven't been able to figure out - hahaha) and if it's just Griffin she loves Skip Bo Junior  , Go Fish or  Crazy Eights.

We have a few other toys stored up here as well including  counting bears,  pattern play, and some  alphabet puzzles. The bottom basket holds pieces to the boys Kodo discovery ramps set.

We also keep our "games in a bag" in door organizer as well.  I love these kind of games because they're perfect to toss in my bag for waiting rooms, dinners, etc.   Zip It is twelve big letter cubes that you roll and try to make word grids.  It's also great for early spelling and even letter recognition.  Bananagrams is another great one, although it has a TON more pieces so it can be a bit harder to keep track of.   Mobi is our new favorite game - it's essentially scrabble with numbers and operation symbols - it's so much FUN!

On to larger games....

Stratego is for two players and is possibly Luke's favorite game.  He's recently gotten Mason into it and now that Mason's understanding more of the nuances and strategy they're having a blast.

Yahtzee is a favorite pre-bedtime pick and  Tri-ominos is a game that we grew up playing with my grandparents growing up.  It's essentially 3-sided dominoes and all three of the kids love tri-ominos.

Headbandz is HILARIOUS with kids and  Dr. Eureka is one of my favorite gifts to keep on hand for birthday parties - it's a speed and logic game that can be played independently or against an opponent and I love the problem-solving aspect as well.

Ticket to Ride Europe is AWESOME if you love the original Ticket to Ride.  It's a little more complex - it has more routes, tunnels and ferries  AND it takes longer than the traditional Ticket to Ride, but it's a blast.

We were introduced to  One Night Ultimate Werewolf while we were in Broken Bow with friends over the summer and it's such a fun party game for adults (or older kids who can understand strategy).  It's not a game we can play as just a family because it works better with a large group  - but we seriously had to make ourselves go to bed (after playing for hours) while in OK and again on NYE.  If you have teens/preteens or play games with friends it's a total winner.

Two of our other family favorites are  Quirkle and  Rummikub.  Both of these are great for families with older and younger kids... Griffin can participate in both of these and totally "gets" them, but they're still fun for Luke.

I'm the first to admit that I'm not the biggest Monopoly fan... it takes FOREVER and I just don't find it all that entertaining BUT we have McKinney-Opoly (we found it at our local Wal-Mart) and it is pretty fun to have a version with lots of our favorite places on the board.

Quick Cups was a Christmas gift this year and we've really loved it.  You flip over a card and it'll have an image on it with colored objects and you have to stack your cups in the same order.  All three kids can play this together and while it gets pretty competitive it's super fun.

Rush Hour is a one-person logic/critical thinking puzzle game that we really enjoy because it has challenges of all different levels so all three kids can play it and feel successful.  My brother and I had this game growing up and I can remember taking it on road trips and playing it at my grandparents cottage :)

Guess Who is an oldie, but a goodie and one of Griffin's very favorite games.

I feel like I've talked about  Ticket To Ride a bunch - but I think if I was going to recommend one game that would be it.  

Ingenious is a newer addition to our game closet and is kind of like Quirkle meets Dominos.  It's also great because up to four people can play it but it can be played solo as well.

We love Rummikub so much that we decided to try out  Rummikub Twist - and it's definitely more of a challenge.  It's for ages 8 and up and has more jokers - but the strategy and sequencing are similar to the original.

I feel like  Yeti in my Spaghetti is this generation's version of "Don't Break The Ice" :)  It's not my absolute favorite game to play but the kids love it and it's quick - so that's a winner.

Sorry is another game that everyone understands and enjoys - and it's also another one that I grew up playing as well.  We've given it as birthday party gifts and I'm always surprised by how many people haven't played it before!

So there you go!  I'd love to know what games your family loves to play!  Leave me a comment and let me know! 

One last note - you can find the door organizer that we have HERE and it's currently 30% off and doesn't require screwing anything into your door!

Happy Thursday, friends!

PS - this post contained affiliate links... thank you so much for reading and supporting my blog!