The Best Board Games To Play With Friends & Family
Great For Kids…
Taco vs Burrito, £19.99
Created by seven-year-old Alex Butler via a Kickstarter campaign, Taco vs Burrito is the unpredictable card game where players compete to create the weirdest, wildest meal. Ideal for between two and four players, and appropriate for ages seven and up, each player is dealt five cards before playing the remaining deck to put an ingredient, tummy ache or hot sauce boss into their own or another player’s taco or burrito.
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Dobble, £12.99
A game of speed, observation and reflexes, players must race to find the one matching image between one card and another. Images may be different sizes and placed on any part of the card, which makes them that bit more difficult to spot. Every card is different and has only one picture in common with every other card in the deck. Trust us when we say this one gets competitive – fast.
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5 Second Rule (Mini Version), £9.99
This mini version of the classic question and answer game makes it portable and easy to lay out and clear away. With just five seconds to answer what should be a simple question, this fast-paced game will have you saying whatever comes to mind. With ridiculous answers likely, expect plenty of laughs from this fun-filled family game.
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Silly Sausage, £20
Fans of the classic Bop-It will love this kid-friendly option. Keep up with Silly Sausage by responding to his five commands of twist me, shake me, dip me, stretch me and poke me. If you’re not fast enough or do a different action to what he says, then the game is over and Silly Sausage will tell you your score. Try to acquire the highest score or beat an existing one set by another player.
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Exploding Kittens, £19.99
Another game born from Kickstarter, Exploding Kittens has found a cult-following among card game enthusiasts. With almost $8.7m in sales, the numbers speak for themselves. It works by placing all cards on the table while players take turns drawing from the pack. Most cards will earn you special privileges (look out for the ‘diffuse’ category) so that when you draw the dreaded exploding kitten card, you may not find yourself out of the game quite so quickly.
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From TV & Film…
Stranger Things Dungeons & Dragons, £25.99
Go native with the hit Netflix series and embark on a hunt for the Thessalhydra in a campaign "created" by Stranger Things character Mike. Whether you’re new to Dungeons & Dragons, or looking for a new adventure, this roleplaying game includes everything you need to play, including detailed rules and information on different strategies and tips.
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Paddington Bear's Sightseeing Adventure, £21.99
Fans of the films will love this family-fun board game, where players race as Paddington Bear to find the Brown family. On the way, he must visit famous London locations and collect pictures for his scrapbook.
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Harry Potter: A Year At Hogwarts, £34.99
Having been “accepted” into Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, students from Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin must compete against each other for the House Cup. The house with the most points at the end of the year wins the game. With three different game modes, players face off against fellow students in duel battles, and use spell cards and potions to enhance attacks or to defend themselves. You can play alone or with others, and as your favourite heroes, whether that be Harry, Ron, Hermione, Luna, Neville, Ginny or Draco.
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Jaws, £24.99
One for families with children aged 12 and above, one player must menace the island of Amity as the three-tonne great white, while the others go on the hunt as the classic movie’s characters Brody, Hooper and Quint. Split into two ‘acts’, each game (which lasts, on average, up to an hour) will turn out differently as events unfold to favour either the crew or the shark.
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221b Baker Street, £23.99
Seek out your inner sleuth with the ultimate detective board game. With 75 fiendishly twisty cases, 221b Baker Street is the perfect opportunity to follow in the footsteps of Sherlock Holmes. Make your way through the cobbled streets of Victorian London, collecting clues and deducing your solution before racing back to Baker Street to boldly announce to your opponents how elementary it all was. Suitable for players aged ten and above, and for two to six players.
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Very British Problems, £24.99
Those familiar with the cult Twitter account or Channel 4 programme will love the board game based on the social awkwardness only Brits can truly understand. Find out how awkward you and your family are by cringing your way through hundreds of question cards, written by the same author behind the tweets and the books. Suitable for up to eight players, and ages 12 and up.
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The Classics…
Uno Extreme, £29.99
An oldie but a goodie, we love this ‘extreme’ version of the classic card game. The already fast and furious game becomes even more frantic due to the motorised card launcher in this version. Like the normal game, a player who can't take their turn must add to their hand, making victory less likely. But in Uno Extreme, the stumped player must hit the button on the launcher to determine their fate on how many cards they will be forced to pick up.
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Quicktionary, £12.99
Like Pictionary but for words, Quicktionary is the fast-paced card game with countless combinations, which will stretch your vocabulary and help you build a repertoire of unusual lexicon to astound friends and family. Win by thinking fast and being the first person to shout out a word or phrase that meets the criteria on three cards.
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Articulate, £32.99
Bring everyone together with this fast-talking description board game as players try to describe as many card entries as possible within 30 seconds – no "rhymes with" or "sounds like" allowed. Describing a word without saying it might sound simple. But when you’re racing the timer and being heckled by the other team, it’s anything but. With kid-friendly versions available, as well as dedicated options for catchphrases or everyday life, there’s an updated twist on the classic out there to suit you.
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Monopoly, £20
With more time on our hands, now’s the time to invest in a full family session of Monopoly. With a multitude of different versions and themes now available – think everything from Friends to Only Fools And Horses – we like to keep the property trading game classic. Players roll two six-sided dice to move around the game board, buying and trading properties, and developing them with houses and hotels. Collect rent from your opponents, with the goal to drive them into bankruptcy and declare victory.
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Trivial Pursuit, £25
Missing your weekly pub quiz? Take it back to basics with this all-round general knowledge favourite. With more than 2,400 questions across six categories – geography, entertainment, history, art and literature, science and nature, and sports and leisure – players move around the board answering questions. When a player lands on a category space, they'll earn the corresponding coloured wedge if they answer the question correctly. The first player to collect six different coloured wedges and answer a final question correctly, wins.
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Jenga, £15
Putting a different meaning on the term ‘block party’, Jenga is one of the easiest games to play anywhere, anytime. The rules are simple: pull out one block at a time, stack it on top, and hope the tower doesn’t crash down in the process. Either play it safe and pull the loosest block you can find, or take a chance on a block that’s a tighter fit. You can even play it solo – just try to beat your highest tower.
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Strictly Adults Only…
What Do You Meme?, £29.99
Think you've got what it takes to out-meme your friends IRL? Compete to create the funniest meme by pairing caption cards with the photo card in play. A rotating judge picks the best combination each round. With more than 300 cards (255 caption cards and 45 photo cards), there’s bound to be a different result every time you play.
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Would I Lie To You?, £24.99
Based on the famous quiz show, this game calls for a cool head and a well-practised poker face. It’s down to you to fool your opponents with an on-the-spot lie, or invent a bizarre tale that sounds more convincing than a bizarre truth. Either way, some of the facts are true, some are not, but it’s up to the other team to decide.
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Cards Against Humanity, £27.99
One the most inappropriate – and hilarious – card games out there, each round, one player asks a question from a black card, and everyone else answers with their funniest white card. Expect some truly despicable combinations – while the black card judge chooses which combo they like best. The winner is the player who wins the most combinations by the time the pack is finished.
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