# The 14 Best Family Board Games

> A few are holiday staples, a few end in a toppled tower and a lot of laughing. Each pairing asks which box your family would grab first.

*By YPB Team · Published October 28, 2026 · https://youpick.best/ranking/the-14-best-family-board-games*

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## Current results (no votes yet)

1. **Ticket to Ride** — score 1000/1000
   Alan R. Moon's 2004 train game where players claim rail routes across a map, a Spiel des Jahres winner.
2. **Animal Upon Animal** — score 551/1000
   HABA's dexterity game of stacking wooden animals into a teetering tower.
3. **Codenames** — score 551/1000
   Vlaada Chvátil's team word game of giving one-word clues to find secret agents, Spiel des Jahres 2016.
4. **Carcassonne** — score 551/1000
   Klaus-Jürgen Wrede's tile-laying game of building a medieval landscape, Spiel des Jahres 2001.
5. **Qwirkle** — score 466/1000
   Susan McKinley Ross's tile game of matching colours and shapes, Spiel des Jahres 2011.
6. **Catan** — score 466/1000
   Klaus Teuber's 1995 trading and building game that brought modern board games into family homes.
7. **Azul** — score 363/1000
   Michael Kiesling's tile-drafting game of decorating a palace wall, Spiel des Jahres 2018.
8. **Dixit** — score 363/1000
   Jean-Louis Roubira's storytelling game of guessing dreamlike picture cards, Spiel des Jahres 2010.
9. **Outfoxed!** — score 363/1000
   Gamewright's cooperative whodunit where players track down the fox who stole Mrs. Plumpert's pot pie.
10. **Camel Up** — score 363/1000
   Steffen Bogen's camel-racing betting game with a pyramid dice shaker, Spiel des Jahres 2014.
11. **Splendor** — score 363/1000
   Marc André's gem-collecting engine builder that plays in half an hour.
12. **Rhino Hero** — score 0/1000
   HABA's card-stacking game where a superhero rhino climbs an ever-wobblier skyscraper.
13. **Forbidden Island** — score 0/1000
   Matt Leacock's cooperative game of rescuing treasures from a sinking island.
14. **Blokus** — score 0/1000
   Bernard Tavitian's abstract game of fitting coloured polyomino pieces onto a shared board.

Tags: games, children, family, board games