Board games for grown-ups can sometimes be a bit straight-laced and boring, what with the focus on depth and strategy. So if you’re a fan, you might be scratching your head over what kid-friendly games make good introductions. After all, most children love to game and aren’t all that well served by the shelves of toy stores.
It’s good, then, that there are lots of great games that are good enough to give hours of fun to children and discerning adults alike. A lot of them are dexterity games, which make up the bulk of this list, and no shame in that. Not only are they raucous entertainment, simple and quick, but they need a skill kids do better than thick-fingered adults.
The list below is divided up into age groups. For the very youngest, don’t be afraid to let them get out your grown-up games with pretty pieces and let them play how they like. It develops imagination and familiarity. And once they’re through with these, take a look at our best board games for beginners list to find entry-level games made for older kids and adults.
Board Games for Toddlers and Preschool-Age Kids
Go Away Monster
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It’s hard to imagine a better first game than Go Away Monster, designed to teach basic turn-taking while reducing fear of scary things under the bed. Players alternate pulling cardboard shapes blindly from a bag. Most are bits of bedroom furniture, which you use to decorate your bedroom play mat. One, though, is a cute monster which the player must throw away while intoning the game’s name. It’s a lovely little ritual that delights kids and less self-conscious adults too.
Orchard
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Another super-simple game for little ones, Orchard introduces a die and a jigsaw puzzle. Roll the die and take a matching fruit from the orchard, or two of your choice if you roll a basket. If a raven comes up, though, you must add a piece to the raven puzzle. Empty the orchard before the puzzle is complete for a co-operative win. With bright wooden fruits and the cheeky raven character, this is sure to capture lots of little imaginations.
Animal Upon Animal
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Once kids have developed a little dexterity, at around age three, the wonderful world of stacking games opens up. Animal Upon Animal is a great place to start and is fine fun for adults too. A die roll decides who gets to choose an animal shape and who will stack it. Cause the pile to fall, and you must take some of the toppled animals: first to clear their pieces wins. It’s the shapes that really make this game, a brilliant set of designs that open up a myriad of stacking options that reward clever play.
Board Games for Elementary School-Age Kids
Loopin’ Louie
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The next step up the dexterity game stack is this ridiculous slice of motorized mayhem. Louie sits in a weighted plane on a battery-powered boom, so he circles above all the player’s precariously balanced chicken discs. Left alone he’ll start knocking them off. So it’s good each player has a lever to knock Louie away. Time it right and he’ll smash right into someone else’s chickens: unless they’re fast enough to bash him right back at you. There are all sorts of fun licensed versions of this game around, such as Loopin’ Chewie and Bobbin’ Bumblebee.
ICECOOL / ICECOOL2
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ICECOOL and ICECOOL 2 also use weighted pieces in a very different dexterity game. This time the weights are in penguins that you flick around, allowing you to make jumps, swerves and all kinds of trick shots. For most players, the aim is to leap and collect fish tokens pinned above doorways on the modular board, built out of the box itself. One though, the hall monitor, has to hunt down the naughty penguins for detention. Everyone takes a turn at being hall monitor in this fast, frenzied flicking game, and then most points wins.
Coconuts
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The titular nuts are irregular rubber spheres that players launch at a field of cups using a monkey shaped catapult. The aim is to land nuts in cups, but those tricky blighters bounce and roll in unexpected ways, adding to the chaos. It’s a simple dexterity delight for the whole family, but there’s more anarchy to enjoy if you also use the included cards. These cause players to have to make trick shots of various kinds, adding to the wow factor if one lands on target.
Pitchcar
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All the entries in this section are dexterity games, but Pitchcar is the one most likely to last well into adulthood. It needs a big, flat surface to play on. The pieces in the box allow you to build a variety of racing circuits, around which players have to flick little discs. First to the finish line wins. It’s far trickier and more exciting than it sounds, with all sorts of techniques to master and thrilling pass shots to take the checkered flag. Various expansions add crazy track pieces like a jump or a loop the loop.
Board Games for Middle School-Age Kids
Shadows in the Forest
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This is one of those games with a premise so awesome it feels irresistible, even for adults. It’s played in the dark, using an included LED lantern and a luminescent die. The board has several big cardboard trees on it that cast shadows and, in the darkness, the Shadowling players move their cute masked pieces. The Seeker player, meanwhile, moves the lantern, trying to catch Shadowlings in the light. Fellow players can rescue any so pinned, but only if they can find areas of shadow to reach the space, leaving them at risk of discovery. A brilliant idea, and a unique game.
Zombie Kidz: Evolution
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At first, this seems too simple for this age bracket. Players move their characters over the school map, eliminating zombies. If they can meet and lock the gates against the zombie horde before being overrun, they win. But as each scenario is passed, the real magic of the game unfolds. This is a “legacy” style game for kids, where each game adds to a growing narrative. Your choices also make your copy unique with pens and stickers and unlockable envelopes of new rules and other content. It’s a wild ride of imaginative customization that children will love.
Fireball Island: The Curse of Vul Kar
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Some readers may find all their nostalgia buttons pushed by the words “Fireball Island.” Well, it’s back, it’s bigger, and the volcano god Vul-Kar is badder than ever. Gone is the roll-and-move of the original for an action card system that adds strategy without complexity. But, really, what you’re here for is the huge 3D plastic board around which red marble fireballs wreak havoc. It’s a race to collect treasure and escape the island before the fire, or one of its many other perils, set you back too far. Silly, yet satisfying fun from yesteryear, given a spanking modern update.
Source: IGN.com The Best Board Games for Kids