Luck
First Orchard
Ages 2+1–4 playersAbout 10 minCooperative
Pick the fruit together before the raven reaches the orchard.
Builds: Colors, Turn-taking
Fun fact: A toddler version of Orchard, a classic German cooperative game from 1986.
Game Night
Board games for the whole table
Games that work for kids ages 3 to 8, including cooperative games where everyone wins or loses together.
Ages, player counts and play times are approximate. Check the box before you buy.
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Racing
Candy Land
Ages 3+2–4 playersAbout 15 minCompetitive
Draw color cards to race through a sweet-filled world.
Builds: Colors, Turn-taking
Fun fact: Created in 1948 by Eleanor Abbott, a schoolteacher, while she was recovering from polio, as a game for children.
Racing
Chutes and Ladders
Ages 3+2–4 playersAbout 15 minCompetitive
Climb ladders, slide down chutes and race to square 100.
Builds: Counting, Turn-taking
Fun fact: Based on Snakes and Ladders, an ancient game from India that used the board to teach lessons about good and bad deeds.
Racing
Count Your Chickens!
Ages 3+2–4 playersAbout 15 minCooperative
Spin and count to help Mother Hen gather her chicks.
Builds: Counting, Teamwork
Fun fact: From Peaceable Kingdom, a company known for cooperative games where everyone wins or loses together.
Luck
Hi Ho! Cherry-O
Ages 3+2–4 playersAbout 15 minCompetitive
Spin to pick cherries and fill your bucket first.
Builds: Counting
Memory
Memory (matching cards)
Ages 3+1–6 playersAbout 15 minCompetitive
Flip cards two at a time to find matching pairs.
Builds: Memory
Fun fact: Ravensburger first published its version of the matching game in 1959.
Racing
Snail’s Pace Race
Ages 3+2–6 playersAbout 10 minCompetitive
Roll colored dice to move six snails toward the finish.
Builds: Colors
Dexterity
Animal upon Animal
Ages 4+2–4 playersAbout 15 minCompetitive
Stack wooden animals without toppling the pile.
Builds: Fine motor
Matching · Racing
Hoot Owl Hoot!
Ages 4+2–4 playersAbout 15 minCooperative
Work together to fly the owls home before the sun comes up.
Builds: Colors, Teamwork
Fun fact: From Peaceable Kingdom, a company known for cooperative games where everyone wins or loses together.
Tile laying
My First Carcassonne
Ages 4+2–4 playersAbout 20 minCompetitive
Place road tiles to finish roads in your color.
Builds: Matching, Spatial thinking
Fun fact: Based on Carcassonne, inspired by the medieval walled city in southern France. The original won Germany’s Game of the Year award (Spiel des Jahres) in 2001.
Matching
Spot It! Jr. Animals
Ages 4+2–5 playersAbout 10 minCompetitive
Race to spot the one animal two cards share.
Builds: Observation, Speed
Fun fact: Every pair of cards shares exactly one picture, thanks to a branch of math called projective geometry.
Matching
Zingo!
Ages 4+2–6 playersAbout 10 minCompetitive
Slide the tile dispenser and race to match pictures on your card.
Builds: Observation, Speed
Matching
Dominoes
Ages 5+2–4 playersAbout 20 minCompetitive
Match the ends of tiles to build a chain.
Builds: Counting
Fun fact: The earliest known dominoes come from China, centuries before the game spread to Europe in the 1700s.
Tile laying
Dragomino
Ages 5+2–4 playersAbout 20 minCompetitive
Explore an island with domino tiles to discover baby dragons.
Builds: Matching, Spatial thinking
Fun fact: A kids’ spinoff of Kingdomino, it won Germany’s Children’s Game of the Year award (Kinderspiel des Jahres) in 2021.
Strategy
Mancala
Ages 5+2 playersAbout 15 minCompetitive
Sow stones around the board to capture the most.
Builds: Counting, Strategy
Fun fact: Part of one of the oldest families of board games still played, with versions played across Africa and the Middle East for centuries.
Deduction
Outfoxed!
Ages 5+2–4 playersAbout 20 minCooperative
Gather clues together to catch the fox who stole the pot pie.
Builds: Memory, Reasoning
Path building
Race to the Treasure!
Ages 5+2–4 playersAbout 20 minCooperative
Build a path to the treasure before the ogre gets there.
Builds: Spatial thinking, Strategy
Fun fact: From Peaceable Kingdom, a company known for cooperative games where everyone wins or loses together.
Dexterity
Rhino Hero
Ages 5+2–5 playersAbout 15 minCompetitive
Build a wobbly card skyscraper and move the hero to the top.
Builds: Fine motor
Strategy
Catan Junior
Ages 6+2–4 playersAbout 30 minCompetitive
Build pirate hideouts and trade resources on a family-size island.
Builds: Trading, Strategy
Fun fact: A kids’ version of Catan, the 1995 German game by Klaus Teuber that helped spark the modern board game boom.
Strategy
Checkers
Ages 6+2 playersAbout 20 minCompetitive
Jump your opponent’s pieces and race to be crowned.
Builds: Strategy
Fun fact: Versions of this game have been played in Europe for many centuries.
Strategy
Connect 4
Ages 6+2 playersAbout 10 minCompetitive
Drop discs to get four in a row before your opponent.
Builds: Strategy
Fun fact: Released by Milton Bradley in 1974.
Deduction
Guess Who?
Ages 6+2 playersAbout 20 minCompetitive
Ask yes-or-no questions to find your opponent’s mystery person.
Builds: Reasoning, Asking questions
Fun fact: Created by Ora and Theo Coster and first published in 1979.
Dexterity
Jenga
Ages 6+1–8 playersAbout 10 minCompetitive
Pull blocks from the tower without knocking it over.
Builds: Fine motor
Fun fact: Created by Leslie Scott and launched in 1983. Its name comes from the Swahili word for “to build.”
Tile laying
Qwirkle
Ages 6+2–4 playersAbout 45 minCompetitive
Line up tiles by color or shape to score points.
Builds: Matching, Strategy
Fun fact: Susan McKinley Ross came up with it in 2005 after watching friends play a word game at her house. It won Germany’s Game of the Year award (Spiel des Jahres) in 2011.
Route building
Ticket to Ride: First Journey
Ages 6+2–4 playersAbout 30 minCompetitive
Collect train cards to connect cities and complete your tickets.
Builds: Strategy, Geography
Fun fact: A simpler version of Alan R. Moon’s Ticket to Ride, which won Germany’s Game of the Year award (Spiel des Jahres) in 2004.
Puzzle
Blokus
Ages 7+2–4 playersAbout 20 minCompetitive
Fit your colored pieces on the board while blocking everyone else.
Builds: Spatial thinking, Strategy
Fun fact: Invented by French engineer Bernard Tavitian and released in 2000.
Puzzle
Labyrinth
Ages 7+2–4 playersAbout 20 minCompetitive
Shift the maze walls to reach your treasures.
Builds: Spatial thinking, Strategy
Fun fact: Designed by Max Kobbert and first published in Germany in 1986.
Card game
Uno
Ages 7+2–10 playersAbout 20 minCompetitive
Match colors and numbers to be first to empty your hand.
Builds: Colors, Numbers
Fun fact: Invented in 1971 by Merle Robbins, an Ohio barber, after a family argument over the rules of Crazy Eights.
Storytelling
Dixit
Ages 8+3–6 playersAbout 30 minCompetitive
Give clues about dreamlike pictures and guess the storyteller’s card.
Builds: Imagination, Language
Fun fact: Won Germany’s Game of the Year award (Spiel des Jahres) in 2010.
Dice
King of Tokyo
Ages 8+2–6 playersAbout 30 minCompetitive
Roll dice as giant monsters battling for Tokyo.
Builds: Strategy, Luck
Fun fact: Designed by Richard Garfield, who also created the card game Magic: The Gathering.
Tile laying
Kingdomino
Ages 8+2–4 playersAbout 15 minCompetitive
Build a kingdom from domino tiles to score the most crowns.
Builds: Strategy, Spatial thinking
Fun fact: Designed by Bruno Cathala, it won Germany’s Game of the Year award (Spiel des Jahres) in 2017.
Card game
Sleeping Queens
Ages 8+2–5 playersAbout 20 minCompetitive
Wake the sleeping queens with kings, knights and a little math.
Builds: Math, Strategy
Fun fact: Invented by Miranda Evarts when she was six years old.
Card game
Sushi Go!
Ages 8+2–5 playersAbout 15 minCompetitive
Pass hands of cards to build the best sushi meal.
Builds: Strategy, Math
Fun fact: Designed by Australian game designer Phil Walker-Harding and first published in 2013.
Game night, plugged in
Video games to play together
You grew up with a controller in your hands. Now it’s your turn to share the fun: these are our favorite games to play with your kids, side by side on the same couch.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
E2023 · Nintendo Switch
1–4, same couch
The Mario you grew up with, reinvented. Drop-in co-op means you can jump in and help when your kid gets stuck.
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
E2017 · Nintendo Switch
1–4, split screen
Smart steering and auto-accelerate let a 6-year-old race a grown-up and actually win sometimes.
Super Mario Party Jamboree
E2024 · Nintendo Switch
1–4, same couch
A board-game night on screen, full of short minigames that reward luck as much as skill.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
E2020 · Nintendo Switch
1–4, same console
A calm island to build together, with nothing to lose and no way to fail.
Overcooked! All You Can Eat
E2020 · Switch, PlayStation, Xbox, PC
1–4, same couch
Running a chaotic cartoon kitchen together. Teamwork and shouting instructions included.
Snipperclips: Cut It Out, Together!
E2017 · Nintendo Switch
1–4, same couch
Puzzles you can only solve by cutting each other into the right shapes. Pure teamwork.
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
E2020 · PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC
1–4, same couch
A bright, gentle platformer built for playing side by side.
Luigi’s Mansion 3
E2019 · Nintendo Switch
2, same console
Funny, not scary, ghost hunting. Player two plays a gooey double who can’t really get hurt, which is perfect for younger kids.
Unravel Two
E2018 · PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Switch, PC
2, same couch
Two little yarn creatures tied together by a single thread. You literally can’t succeed without each other.
Ratings are from the ESRB (E: Everyone, E10+: Everyone 10 and up, T: Teen). We don’t list video games for kids under 6. Before you play, set up parental controls on your console to turn off chat with strangers and limit purchases; the ESRB’s family guide at esrb.org walks you through it. Platforms change over time, so check the store before you buy.