Now that the nights are drawing in and the weather is on the turn, why not ditch the rubbish TV and spend some quality time with the kids by playing a board game. From deciding on what token you’d like to navigate around the board with to choosing who gets to roll the dice first, board games are fun and bring the whole family together. Board games are also great for keeping guests occupied at family gatherings such as Christmas and birthdays. So, why not take a look at our pick of the best family board games for a not so quiet night in!
Ghostel, RRP £33
With Halloween on the horizon, what better time to buy and play Ghostel than now? Ghostel is a semi-cooperative family game for 2-4 players that takes around 45 minutes to play. The game is about Creepstone Manor, a haunted mansion that has been revamped into a hotel. The original ghostly residents aren’t very happy with the new hotel guests and the players act as the ghosts in a bid to be the scariest ghost of the night and frighten all of the hotel guests. Who will be top ghost?
Rapidough, RRP £24.99
Played in two teams, Rapidough is perfect for creatives. Putting your artistic talent to the test, each team selects a modeller and a guesser. The modeller in the team takes a card and attempts to sculpt the words or words shown into a shape (as seen on the card) while the guesser begins to frantically blurt out what they believe is being made, similar to the classic game of charades. In each round, the first team to correctly guess what’s been modelled is the winner. The winning team then takes a block of the losing team’s dough which gives them less to sculpt with and your team the upper hand.
FReNeTic, RRP £22.99
Whether you know the periodic table like the back of your hand or it’s a distant Chemistry class memory, the word game FReNetic is sure to jog your memory as it cleverly teaches players the symbols on the periodic table while helping to improve their spellings. Ideal for the big kids (8 years+), players race against the clock with just 45 seconds to form as many words as possible using the element symbol tiles, adding the atomic numbers of each tile used to work out how many points you’ll get. For example Ba Na Na spells banana which equates to 78 points.
Word Bandit, RRP £24.99
Word Bandit by Drumond Park Games is a word-spotting game that comes with a fast and furious wheel spinning arm that the kids will love to pull. This brain-teasing family-friendly game requires minimal set up time and is suitable for children aged 8 and above. The game uses from one to four rows of random letters to: find famous people; think up words in well-known categories or spot short words spelled out by the letters on a show.
What’s your favourite family board game? Let us know in the comments below!