Family game nights are great for spending time together and bonding over the games you play. However, with how busy our lives have become, they can be challenging to plan and execute. You might also only have a few hours to spend together, so it is best to find games that last only a short time. Here are some that do not require much or take too long.
Monopoly
This is a great game to play with the family if you have an hour or two to spare. It is an economic-themed board game played by two to eight players. Players roll two dice so they can move around the board. As they do, they buy and sell property. They then develop their properties with hotels and homes.
Players charge their opponents rent, trying to bankrupt them and get them out of the game. Players can also land in jail, where they cannot move until they have completed a condition. The game uses official and house rules depending on who is playing. The custom rules make the game more interesting by building on the original rules.
Pictionary
Pictionary is accessible as it only requires a board, something to draw with, and an eraser. The players are split into two teams. A person from either team gets a prompt that they have to draw. After thinking about what they want to draw, they start, and the two teams have to guess until one gets it.
As with other games, Pictionary can also have house rules. For example, the family can pick a theme for what they want to draw to make it easier for the guessers. They can also set a time limit or limit the number of guesses to stop the game from lasting too long.
Charades
This game is similar to Pictionary in that there is a prompt, teams, and guessing. However, charades involves the person who reads the prompt acting out what they have read instead of drawing it. Also, only the team of the person enacting the prompt can answer. There is a timer for guessing, and lip movements and words are not allowed.
Charades is a fun game to play when bored and have a few hours to spare. Hilarity ensues from the person trying to act on the prompt and their team’s guesses.
Family Cornhole
Cornhole is an easy and fun game if you can pick up a bean bag and throw it into a hole. The game uses two cornhole boards and four bean bags for each team. You can get a personalized cornhole board to make the game feel more special and beanbags of different colors for each team.
You start by placing the cornholes facing each other about 30 feet apart. You can reduce this distance if you wish, depending on what you prefer. Next, the two team leaders choose who will be on their team. The teams take turns throwing the beanbags, aiming for the holes.
Any beanbag that lands on the board gets a point, and one that goes through the hole receives three. Points are not awarded for a beanbag that touches the ground, no matter how slightly. The team that gets to 21 points first wins.
Scavenger Hunts
Because they can take a long time, planning a scavenger hunt when you have a lot of time to spare, such as on the weekend, is best. The game has a facilitator who hides the items, creates the teams, and keeps score.
The facilitator finds some things to hide, and the players need to find them. Toddlers do well with picture-based hunts that use familiar items, while teenagers prefer something more challenging. Their scavenger hunt could include riddle-like clues and more challenging hiding spots.
There can be as many items as the facilitator likes, but up to seven items is the sweet spot to stop the game from getting boring.
What’s in the Bag?
This is another accessible game because you likely already have everything you need to play the game. The game uses opaque bags and a few items you have lying around the house. The game starts with one person putting various household items and sealing them. The other family members then guess, with a correct guess earning the guesser one point.
The person running the game should ensure no peeking, but players can adjust the rules to allow them to touch the bags and get an idea of what’s inside. What’s in the bag is an excellent game for younger players as it can help them build object recognition skills.
The winner is the player with the most correct guesses once the players have guessed all the items or when the game ends. The person running the game can switch up the items or put new items in the bags for another round.
Scrabble
This is the most popular family game as it has numerous iterations. It uses a board and tiles where players are handed seven tiles at the start of the game. They then have to place correct words on the board, linking these words with others on the board to score points. Once they have done so, they have to replace the tiles using tiles in a bag. Since they cannot see the tiles, the selection is entirely random.
Each tile has different points, and the board has special squares that multiply a player’s points. Players can challenge the validity of the words placed on the board, in which case, they can use a Scrabble dictionary to check their validity.
Up to four players can play the game simultaneously, but the players can choose to use teams instead of individual players. The game ends when one player has no tiles left and no more tiles are in the bag for them to pick.
Spending time as a family is important, and playing family games is one of the best ways. While the best games are fun and engaging, consider playing games that require skill and that teach everyone something new.