Ways to use this list
- Weekly rota: last week's winner spins for this week's game, which gives everyone a reason to play their best.
- No board games in the house? Press No board games: everything there needs only paper, pens or nothing at all.
- Teenagers at the table: With teens has bluffing and quick-thinking games, like Werewolf and Two truths and a lie, that older kids genuinely enjoy.
- Grandparents on a video call: charades, twenty questions and a family quiz all work well over a screen.
- Three-game evening: spin three games, play all of them and give a point per win, so one bad round doesn't decide the night.
- DIY night: spin Make up your own board game, draw the board on the inside of a cardboard box lid and use buttons as counters.
Press Spin the wheel, tap the game or press the Space bar. Change the list in the box as you
like: add your own, delete what doesn't suit you, or write *2 after an entry to give it double the
chance. The game buttons switch the same list to a duck race, hat, claw machine and more.
The full list (52 entries)
- Charades
- Twenty questions
- Hide and seek
- Sardines
- Musical chairs
- Simon says
- Hangman
- Tic-tac-toe
- Dots and boxes
- Snap
- Go fish
- Crazy eights
- Spoons
- Cheat
- Rummy
- Memory pairs
- Chess
- Checkers
- Dominoes
- Bingo
- Pig (dice game)
- Drawing guessing game
- Who am I? with sticky notes
- Word association
- Categories
- I spy
- Would you rather
- Family quiz
- Treasure hunt
- Balloon volleyball
- Indoor bowling
- Telephone (whisper game)
- Story chain
- Freeze dance
- Hot potato
- Pass the parcel
- Card tower contest
- Karaoke
- Talent show
- Blind drawing
- Two truths and a lie
- Rock paper scissors tournament
- Guess the hummed song
- Jigsaw race
- Spaghetti and marshmallow tower
- Home escape room
- Make up your own board game
- A board game from the cupboard
- Animal charades
- Sleeping lions
- Werewolf
- Kim's game
Questions people ask
What games can a family play without board games?
Lots: charades, twenty questions, hangman, dots and boxes, categories, story chain, two truths and a lie, and Who am I? with sticky notes on foreheads. A deck of cards adds snap, spoons, cheat and rummy.
How do you play Spoons?
Put spoons in the middle, one fewer than there are players, and deal four cards each. Everyone passes one card to the left at the same time, trying to collect four of a kind. The first to do so grabs a spoon, everyone else grabs too, and the player left without one is out of the round.
What family games work with teenagers?
Games with bluffing, speed or a bit of drama tend to win them over: Werewolf, cheat, spoons, two truths and a lie, a drawing guessing game or a home escape room. Let a teen host the family quiz and they're usually all in.
How do we stop little ones getting upset when they lose?
Mix in team games where a younger child plays with an adult, and choose some games where luck matters more than skill, like snap or bingo. Praise good tries out loud, and let whoever lost spin for the next game.