Home Giveaways 12 Family Board and Card Games Worth Buying and GIVEAWAY!

12 Family Board and Card Games Worth Buying and GIVEAWAY!

by Jamie

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

I have an unusual, happy, game lovers post for you today! Consider it a recipe for fun that involves Zero Dirty Dishes. I love the sound of that, don’t you. 🙂 I’m sharing with all of you on this cold December day, a list of 12 wonderful board or card games that would be worth buying this Christmas. These are all games that I have played with friends and/or family and have enjoyed a lot. You’ll notice I have included the recommended age, number of players and average cost for each game as well. I am trying to keep you in the know, here.

As an added bonus (and because I love ya, and so appreciate you coming here to read my blog) I would love to give one lucky reader THREE OF THE GAMES FEATURED BELOW.  The winner will be able to personally select the three games they would enjoy the most from the list below (within this post, not the comment section). To enter the giveaway just leave me a comment below telling me what your favorite family game is, and why you love it. It can be any of the games I have listed here if you would like, or something totally different. Can’t wait to hear your recommendations. I said it was going to be a fun post, didn’t I? You can enter the giveaway until Tuesday December 10th at midnight. The winner will be announced Wednesday December 11th and contacted by email.

Be sure to join me next week for my annual week of Christmas Treats! I will be posting daily, Monday through Friday, and have some amazing new recipes to share with you.

Now, on to the list of games…

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Blokus Game is a favorite of everyone in my family. I especially like to play it with my 7-year-old twins. It’s fun to see them develop skills for strategy. Would you by surprised if I told you sometime they beat me? They do, and I have no shame in admitting that I let them. The game is suggested for ages 5 and up, and requires 2-4 players. It retails for around $15.00

 

 

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Loaded Questions is a great game that helps players get to know each other better. I think I have spent more time laughing while playing this game, than any other. Find yourself some funny friends and enjoy! It’s recommended for ages 12 and up and requires 4-6 players. However, in the past we have opted to play with up to 10 players. We just kept score on a pad of paper instead of using the game board. It retails for around $20.00

 

 

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Telestrations the Telephone Game Sketched Out! is a fun game that is a mix between the popular game Pictionary and Telephone. The suggested appropriate age is 12 years and up, however kids a bit younger than that could play quite easily. You can have up to 8 players involved.  It retails for around $20.oo.

 

 

 

Image1Ticket To Ride is one of our favorite games. It’s a cross-country train adventure game. The game board is a large map of the United States with many of its major cities marked. Players build trains joining these cities to earn points and complete destinations. It’s fast-moving (as long as MyHandsomeHusband doesn’t ponder his options too long) and fun! It requires 2-5 players, is recommended for players 8 years and up and retails for around $40.00.

 

 

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Bicycle Canasta Games Playing Cards I love a good game of Canasta. I’m sure this fun card game has been around as long as people have been chewing gum and baking pies. And I can see why. Love it. My teenagers have been learning to play the last few years and we have a good time. We usually play with four players, but you can play with 2, 3 or 6 as well. It’s recommended for ages 10 and up and usually costs $10.00 or less.

 

 

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Qwirkle Board Game is a strategic match game. It’s recommended for ages 6 and up, requires 2-4 players and  retails for around $20.00 My friends Shane and Tricia introduced us this game to us last year. It’s fun to play with adults and kids. I’m planning to buy it this year to add to my collection. Don’t tell my kids, okay?

 

 

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Cranium Family Fun Game
 is a great family game. It’s recommended for ages 6 and up, players can be broken up into 2, 3 or 4 teams (which means you can play with a large crowd) and it retails for around $50 on Amazon though I have seen it other places for much cheaper. Teams are asked to do a variety of fun activities during the game including molding clay, using a some intellect, acting out phrases and even answering questions. It’s a lot of fun!

 

Skip BoSKIP BO Card Game This fun card game was introduced to me by my new brother-in-law Peter Derrek. It’s an easy-going game you can play while you have a nice chat with your friends or family. Recommended for ages 7 and up, it requires 2-6 players and retails for around $10.00.

 

 

CarcossonieCarcassonne Basic Game I love this game. I try to get anyone and everyone I can to play it with me whenever possible. Sometimes when my kids see me rounding the corner with it in my arms they pretend to be asleep on the couch. Not because they don’t love it and all…they are just tired of losing to me. 🙂 Bwahahahahahaha. I will warn you that the rules are a bit tricky to understand at first, but once you have it down its pretty simple. It’s similar to Settlers of Catan, only it doesn’t take nearly as long to play. Players work with tiles to build roads, castles and farming areas. It takes a fair amount of strategy (I can only win when I play with my kids…I get slaughtered if I play with any of my brothers in law. Go figure! I’m a girl with a simple mind, I suppose). It’s recommended for ages 8 and up, requires 3-5 players and retails for around $25.oo.

Quidler
Quiddler
 is a fun, easy (and cheap) card game where players earn points based on how many words they can spell with their cards. It’s recommended for ages 10 and up, requires 2-6 players (we have played with as many as 8) and costs around $12.00.

 

 

Image147 Wonders is an awesome game my friend Julie introduced me. It takes a while to figure out the rules, (search for a You Tube video tutorial on how to play to speed up the “rule reading” process, like Julie did. She’s a good friend, right! 🙂 Players build empires from ancient civilizations. The graphics are really beautiful and it’s fun to come up with different strategies for winning. It’s recommended for players age 10 and up, requires 3-7 players and is around $30.00

 

 

Image19Scrabble Crossword Game This is one of my families all time favorite games. We don’t use the board, just the letter blocks. We play a version of speed scrabble that’s really fun. I wrote a detailed post about it a couple of years ago. You can access that post HERE. I would recommend it for ages 8 and up, you can as few as two players and up to 10. It retails for around $15.00.

 

Leave a Comment

322 comments

susanne December 7, 2013 - 10:54 pm

Our very favorite game in the world is Settlers of Catan. My grandkids and I love Blink.

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Sheryl Eccles December 8, 2013 - 12:57 am

My favorite game is Mexican Train Dominos. We challenge each other while having our favorite appetizers for dinner and lots of laughs.

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Ezel February 8, 2014 - 3:06 am

I’m looking to buy a ceursir motorcycle for the first time but have no real clue what to look for when it comes to bikes.What would you recommend is a good starter motorcycle for someone with very little too no experience when it comes to motorcycles? I would like to keep it under $4,000 and I’d prefer a Honda or Yamaha ceursir.

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janet December 8, 2013 - 5:57 am

We love playing SkipBo!

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Kodi P December 8, 2013 - 8:23 am

My new favorite game is actually telestrations! My brother has it and I make him bring it with him whenever he comes for dinner! It is so fun, we can actually get our dad to play! And that’s sayin’ something!

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Judi December 8, 2013 - 9:44 am

We love to play poker and Cranium!

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Chris Urdi December 8, 2013 - 9:52 am

Our favorite family games are Apples to Apples and Seasons. Apples to Apples is great when we want something light. I like it because its accessible to everyone and has endless replay value. Seasons is great when we want to have a more serious game. Seasons is beautiful, fun and my 10 year old daughter loves it!

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Tracy December 8, 2013 - 9:54 am

Our favorite game is Mexican Train Dominoes. We can play for hours!

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Cynthia December 8, 2013 - 10:11 am

We love to play all sorts of games. A great local store that carries all these games and more is Funfinity. We like to play Settlers of Cataan and Carcassonne.

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Chantal December 8, 2013 - 11:22 am

The game of Life is and has been a favorite in our house for years

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Denise M. December 8, 2013 - 1:04 pm

I love Board games but love to listen to my boys play games they create with balls/pucks (usually a variation of the sport on the TV at the moment) and adapted to the house landscape (e.g. knee hockey). It’s fun to listen to the rules they make up and enforce them as they play.

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Brenda Carter December 8, 2013 - 2:19 pm

I have 3 boys and they were introduced to Settlers of Catan several years ago by their cousins who live 9 hours away now. So every Christmas when they come back they get together to play Settlers of Caton together for about 3 whole days. My boys recently got me to play with them during our snowed in days. I had never played before and found myself clueless on all the strategies of it. But I came in 2nd place and they were proud of me. Then I wanted to play again to see if I could beat them but no one would take me on again. I think its because I took so long on all my turns like your husband to figure out my stategy. Oh well we had a fun time being cooped up in the house anyway.

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libby December 8, 2013 - 2:30 pm

We love to play Apples to Apples Disney. It is a game the whole family can play.

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Shanna December 8, 2013 - 5:17 pm

Our family likes to play Spot It, Qwirkle, and Ticket To Ride as a family. I also like to play the fast-paced game Snarf aka Nerts.

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Kat December 8, 2013 - 5:45 pm

In my family, we like to play Spot It, Ruckus, Who knew? and What(gift from Canadian friends). Looking forward to trying some new games mentioned here and in the comments. Thanks!

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Jennie December 8, 2013 - 7:05 pm

We love playing Mexican Train.
We get together with some couple friends and have a evening of playing. So much fun!

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Anna December 8, 2013 - 8:21 pm

My sons and I play Candyland, Sorry and SkipBo, but my eight-year-old’s favorite game to play with me, believe it or not, is poker.

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marybeth December 8, 2013 - 8:48 pm

We (my daughters and I) play classic board games usually (Monopoly, Sorry, Clue, Etc) but I do like playing specialty games as well.

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Amanda December 8, 2013 - 9:02 pm

We love to play Scribblish with the whole extended family, getting everyone to play is so much fun!

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Michelle December 8, 2013 - 9:04 pm

Our very favorite game is Spot It! We love it because all of us from age 4 to adult can have fun playing.

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Eliza December 8, 2013 - 9:35 pm

We love to play Bohnanza, because it isn’t too competitive, and it’s so unique!

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Amie Kiecolt December 8, 2013 - 10:26 pm

First of all, I just wanted to say that I love your blog. I get so many great recipes from it. Our family’s favorite game is Apples to Apples. We get some great laughs out of it, and it really brings the family closer together.

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Tera December 8, 2013 - 10:45 pm

We love canasta, spades, hearts (all card games), apples to apples, and scattegories for year round fun.

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Michelle December 9, 2013 - 4:44 am

Our family was just introduced to Ticket To Ride a few weeks ago and loved it! I’ve been wanton to buy it but it wasn’t fitting into the Christmas budget this year. Our favorite games seem to change in fits and spurts but some of the recent favorites have been Sleeping Queens, Left Center Right, Uno, Skip Bo, and Mexican Train.

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Ann December 9, 2013 - 5:57 am

I bought a new board game a few weeks ago called “What’s It?” Everyone playing is on a team against the game so you all win or lose together and it is honestly fun for the entire family. I’m gifting it to everyone I know this year:)

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SarahW December 9, 2013 - 6:48 am

We played Uno so much while we are growing up. Love that game. It’s also a tradition in my in-law’s family, to play games after Thanksgiving dinner. There’s always the traditional “Oh, Heck” which is kind of like solitaire on speed and my sisters always beat me (for the past 15 years I’ve won only twice). They are so fast that their eyes can not only concentrate on their own cards but everyone else’s too. I would love to bring a new game next year where I MIGHT have a chance of winning. Board games are one of the best ways to bond with your family. I appreciate your great post and will use it to help pick out a new game for our family.

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Heather December 9, 2013 - 7:21 am

We love to play skip bo or Hearts. Simple but fun too!

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Egg Nog Sugar Cookies December 9, 2013 - 7:31 am

[…] you are looking for a fun family game to buy this Christmas, I posted some of my favorites HERE. You can also enter to win three games at the bottom of that post. Giveaway ends Tuesday […]

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Pam L. December 9, 2013 - 7:57 am

Uno is our family favorite

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Jamie Klaassen December 9, 2013 - 8:18 am

We LOVE ticket to ride and Phase 10. Playing games with the family is our all time favorite activity.

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Sarah Stedman December 9, 2013 - 9:30 am

We found a great game at a bookstore called Forbidden Island. You have to collect the artifacts and get off the island before it sinks. Also, you are working with the other players to escape instead of against them to beat them. It’s a lot of fun.

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Tricia Toponce December 9, 2013 - 10:35 am

We love Dominion lately. We also love Pictureka with our younger kids.

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Gloria December 9, 2013 - 10:51 am

The game that has given us the most laughs and we still do at the memories. My son in law got the word “kabart” his definition was the noise a donkeys butt makes when it’s going backwards. This game is called “Balderdash”.

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Shelby December 9, 2013 - 10:54 am

We were recently introduced to Telestrations. So funny! My Dad isn’t a game player and even he will play with us because it’s so fun!

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Tami G. December 9, 2013 - 10:59 am

Our favorite family game is Monopoly…each of us try to purchase the same properties we always buy before one of the other family members can…usually my daughter wins…she always somehow winds up with them one way or the other.

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Myrna December 9, 2013 - 11:11 am

My family loves board games. We can’t wait to try some of the ones you suggested.

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anji phippen December 9, 2013 - 11:30 am

One of our favorite games to play is Five Crowns. It is a card game similar to hearts but fun for the family

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Yvette Mc December 9, 2013 - 12:43 pm

We love to play lds family bingo, my kids Love it!! They get so excited to play. We just played loaded questions at a family get together and had so much fun laughing!

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Cindy December 9, 2013 - 1:46 pm

We love to play Word on the Street and Hoopla (although I don’t think that is still available). The great thing about Hoopla is that you all play against the clock (so nobody gets mad if they lose). 🙂

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Ashlee December 9, 2013 - 3:14 pm

At our house we love Headbanz-it’s fun for kids and adults!

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Elizabeth December 9, 2013 - 5:26 pm

We too love to play board games we started with Memory when our oldest 2 were just 3 and 4, now we have moved on to harder games like skipbo, monopoly, taboo, and many more, I would say our favorite ties between connect 4 x4 (where you actually have to watch 2 sides of a connect four board) or apples to apples

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Karen Gaines December 9, 2013 - 6:01 pm

Uno and dominos are the games we play with a 7 yr old and 5 yr old.

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Sesty February 7, 2014 - 11:22 pm

I have a jammer strip santa cruz creiusr and I ride on OJ Hot Juice 78a Skateboard Wheels 60mm which are great wheels and give a good ride the only problem is they tear really easily. All I do is cruise I don’t do tricks or anything so I don’t know why they break so fast I try not to ride over rough surface either. What would be a better urethane for cruising?

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Tadalafil March 16, 2015 - 10:22 am

Slam dunkin like Shaquille O’Neal, if he wrote informative articles.

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Amy December 9, 2013 - 6:40 pm

We love scattergories and scrabble as well as just about any card game.

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becky December 9, 2013 - 6:41 pm

I love the original Barbie and Life games. They made me want to be a grown up (if I had only known).

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Elaine December 9, 2013 - 6:51 pm

Our family loves to play Phase 10 and Rummikub.

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Soly Fernandez December 9, 2013 - 7:00 pm

My favorite game is Candy Land because I always loved the idea of it taking place in a magically land of candy. Candy Land was always a fun game to play with family. Plus I got a sweet tooth! ;o)

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Natalie December 9, 2013 - 9:36 pm

I have a love hate relationship with Settlers of Catan. We are both competitive and end up mad at each other in the end. It’s pretty entertaining for whoever is playing with us. For the record…I have won more than he has! 🙂

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Heidi E December 9, 2013 - 9:59 pm

My family is addicted to sequence!

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Amy L. December 9, 2013 - 10:32 pm

Our favorite family game is Apples to Apples because we laugh so hard we almost pee our pants! Love it!

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Tahlia Kirk December 9, 2013 - 11:41 pm

My husband and I are pretty hard core gamers (we consider Ticket to Ride to be a light game, haha). My parents were the ones who taught me to love games, but they definitely like more mainstream stuff, so I’m going to give two recommendations–one for the nerdy gamer family and one for the casual gamer family. For nerdy families (those who have already mastered Catan, Ticket, and Carcassonne) I recommend Dominion because it has so much replayability. For casual gamers, I’ve never met anyone who hasn’t loved Dixit. It’s like an illustrated Apples to Apples with gorgeous whimsical artwork. Forbidden Island is also a great game if you have bright kids because it’s a team building cooperative game while still being a challenge for the grown ups.

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Maria Rivera December 10, 2013 - 6:16 am

We love playing dominoes. Even my 5 year old can play it.

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