Family games for every age at the table, including the sulker

No. 02Light

Ticket to Ride

Photo: JIP, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Shows the game in play; editions and box art may differ.

Ticket to Ride

Collect coloured cards and claim train routes across a map. Quick to teach, satisfying from the first turn, and the meanness (blocking someone’s route) is quiet enough that nobody storms off.

Watch out: Longer with five players. Younger kids may need help planning their routes.

No. 06Light

Kingdomino

Photo: El Pantera, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Shows the game in play; editions and box art may differ.

Kingdomino

Dominoes, but you’re building a tiny kingdom of wheat fields and swamps. Fifteen to twenty minutes, very little reading, and adults still have to think about it.

Watch out: The scoring at the end needs an adult the first few times.

No. 22Light

Forbidden Island

Photo: Ferinancat, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0. Shows the game in play; editions and box art may differ.

Forbidden Island

Everyone works together to grab four treasures before the island sinks. You all win or you all drown, so there’s nobody to blame except the island.

Watch out: One confident player can end up running everyone’s turn. Let each person make their own call.

No. 09Light

Dixit

Photo: JIP, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Shows the game in play; editions and box art may differ.

Dixit

Dreamlike art cards and one clue: too obvious and you score nothing, too obscure and nobody gets it. Kids are often better at it than adults, which is good for everyone’s humility.

Watch out: Needs at least three players to work.

No. 07Light

Sushi Go Party!

Photo: El Pantera, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Shows the game in play; editions and box art may differ.

Sushi Go Party!

Pass hands of cards, pick a dish, hope the dumplings come back around. Up to eight players, about half an hour, and cute enough that nobody notices how cutthroat it gets.

Watch out: Simple enough that serious adults may want something meatier after one round.

No. 37Light

Cascadia

Photo: El Pantera, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Shows the game in play; editions and box art may differ.

Cascadia

Build a stretch of Pacific Northwest wilderness and place wildlife where they like to live. Calm, clever and very hard to be nasty in, which some families need.

Watch out: Scoring takes a few minutes at the end. Hand it to the maths enthusiast.

No. 13Light

Just One

Photo: Harrison Keely, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Shows the game in play; editions and box art may differ.

Just One

Everyone writes a one-word clue to help one person guess a word, and identical clues get cancelled. A co-op with almost no rules that gets the whole table laughing.

Watch out: Needs three or more, and it’s best with a crowd.

King of Tokyo

Giant monsters roll dice and punch each other for control of Tokyo. Fast, noisy and over before anyone sulks for long.

Watch out: Players can be knocked out early. Keep games short so nobody waits long.

Horrified

Classic movie monsters terrorise a village and the family teams up to stop them. A co-op that feels like a film night with homework.

Watch out: Ten-plus on the box, and a bit long for younger kids.

No. 03Light

Carcassonne

Photo: JIP, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0. Shows the game in play; editions and box art may differ.

Carcassonne

Draw a tile, place it, build a medieval countryside one road at a time. The rules fit on a napkin and the game still holds up decades later.

Watch out: Stealing someone’s city with a cleverly parked meeple is legal, but may cost you dessert.