Our favorite Family Board Games by Genre

Looking for good clean summer fun and learning, critical thinking skills, creativity, collaboration? Board games have it all!  Not only do we love playing board games on holidays, but they are one of our favorite vacation and long summer afternoon activities!

If you’re like most families you have a pile of board games sitting in a closet somewhere, waiting to be dusted off and played ‘round the table. Put it on your schedule once a month- or week- to pull out an old favorite- or try a new- board game!

We’ve gathered 50 of the best board games by genres; each one with a specific focus. And while we love board games where it’s every man – or woman- for themselves, we also love cooperative games, where everyone playing works to achieve a common goal.

Resurgence of Board Game Playing in the last 10 Years

It’s probably no surprise that the Board Games sales increased by 20% in 2020, jumping in on the decade-long resurgence of board game playing, with many people playing board games more than once a week. What you might not know is that the Indie Board Game Industry has taken off, with many new designers getting their games in front of enthusiasts with social media and crowd-funding resources. In fact, there are more board games available than ever before and it’s a multi-billion dollar business! And from an educational point of view, I approve. There are so many great lessons to be learned from board games, including critical thinking, strategy, cooperation, negotiating, and economic analysis, internal decision making, tree-style thinking, and situational awareness. Board games might seem like mindless fun; often they are chock full of learning opportunities! 

With the plethora of games on the market, it can be tough to sort through which ones are worth the money. So, with the help of one of our good friends and Board Gaming Aficionado, we’ve compiled a great list. But, before we get to it, let’s chat for a minute about the genres of board games, of which there are many.

Genres of Board Games

Abstract Strategy Games (AS)

This often refers to games of perfect information with alternating turns and no randomness.

Cooperative Games (C)

These are board games where the players cooperate together to achieve a common goal. So, for game players that love cooperation rather than competition, this is for you!

Deck Construction Games (DC)

Each player possesses their own deck of cards which they continually cycle through, reshuffling the discard pile to form their deck when needed. The cards often represent a type of currency and players can purchase new cards for their deck, increasing its effectiveness. Also many deck building games also give players the ability to discard less useful cards.

Dexterity Games (D)

Players achieve their goals by using manual dexterity or eye-hand coordination, using hands or other body parts to accomplish a challenging action. 

Dungeon Crawler Games (DC)

This is a type of fantasy role-playing game in which the hero navigates a labyrinth environment (i.e. a dungeon). The hero must avoiding traps, battling monsters and creatures, solving puzzles and collecting or looting any treasure they can find. 

Party Games (PG) 

These are games that are played at social gatherings to facilitate interaction and provide entertainment and recreation.

Resource Management Games (RM)

These include most strategy games and involve spending limited resources to completing a task or earning points. 

Strategy Board Games (SG)

Players make uncoerced, autonomous decisions that have a high significance in determining the outcome. Strategy games require  decision tree style thinking and very high situational awareness. 

War Games (WG)

This type of game realistically simulates warfare

Worker Placement Games (WP)

Players control a pool of workers, in the form of meeples. Each round, players assign their meeples to various places, or locations on the board, most often with a limited number of spaces per meeple.

What is a meeple you ask? A meeple is a playing piece, used to represent a player in a board game.

Genres can be a really useful tool as we incorporate them into our educational plan or family time. We can choose games based on fun, or to learn or enhance  specific skills!! 

So, without further ado, check out our Mega list of fun and challenging board games! 

1. Settlers of Catan (RM)
2. Lords of Waterdeep (RM) + (WP)
3. Agricola (RM) + (WP)
4. Eclipse (RM)
5. Terraforming Mars (RM)
6. Wingspan (RM)
7. Puerto Rico (RM)
8. Dice Wars (RM)
9. Ticket to Ride (RM)
10. Rails and Trails (RM)
11. Small World (RM)
12. Pioneers  (RM)
13. Tzolkin; the Mayan Calendar (WP)
14. Stone Age (WP)
15. Rise of Tribes (WP)
16. Lords of Waterdoom (WP)
17. Imperial Assault (DC)
18. Hero Quest (DC)
19. Pandemic (C)
20. Knights of Arrethtrae  (C)
21. Lord of the Rings Journey’s in Middle Earth (w/app) (C)
22. Flick ‘Em Up (D)
23. Star Trek Conflict (D)
24. Jenga (D)
25. Caroms (D) vintage
26. Pirate Ships (D)
27. Twister (D)
28. Dominion (DC)
29. Thunder Stone (DC)
30. Legendary Marvel (DC)
31. Axis & Allies (WG)
32. Risk (WG)
33. Risk Legacy (WG)
34. Star Trek Ascendancy (WG)
35. Eclipse (WG) 
36. Hellenica: Story of Greece (WG) 
37. Blokus (AS)
38. Sagrada (AS)
39. Stratego (AS)
40. Azul (AS)
41. Chess (AS) 
42. Checkers (AS)
43. Chinese Checkers (AS)
44. Code Names (PG)
45. Apples to Apples (PG)
46. Decrypto (PG) 
47. Scattergories (PG)
48. The Game of Things (PG) 
49. Pictionary (PG)
50. Exploding Kittens (PG)

For all the scoop on board games, check out BoardGameGeek.com  – the webpage for board gaming. 

For kids who want to get a jump start on winning, or creating thier own board games, Informal and Formal Logic is a great place to start!