Our Favorite Games (Master List)

This is a fraction of the board games we own. Seriously. Ben and Ava recently "hacked" Candyland into a fun game. More on that soon.

We play a lot of board games. I think I've mentioned this before, but one of the things I love about board games--and Michael actually read this somewhere--is that they're totally pointless, and so when you play a board game with your child, you're saying, "This is time I want to spend with you." It's simple, but really quite lovely, don't you think? 

Plus, the return on your investment is huge. One way we save money for board games is by putting $5/hour in a "game jar" whenever Ben and Birdy are babysitting each other. We don't do this if Michael and I are working (in which case, it's more of an everyone-pitching-in situation). But if Michael and I are going out without the kids, we put money towards a new game--usually one we have our eye on already. I cannot recommend this enough as a way to deal with the babysitting/money issue, and as a way to save up for new games.

For big-investment games, I recommend borrowing them first from a friend or testing them at a game store before you invest. There is really little worse than a $40 game nobody wants to play. Except, maybe, grilled eggplant that isn't cooked enough.

I'm assuming that you already have basic word games, such as Scrabble, Yahtzee, Boggle or, better yet, the utterly fabulous Big Boggle (which our kids prefer to play without a timer) or even the utterly fabulouser Super Big Boggle (you can't score any words with fewer than 4 letters), as well as Bananagrams--all of which are crucially excellent games. 

The games below are organized into these categories:

• Heavy-duty Strategy Games
• Less Intense Strategy Games
• Games That Are Mostly About Speed and/or Dexterity
• Games for Younger Children
• Party Games
• Travel Games
• Puzzles

The suggested ages are somewhat random, of course, since when someone's ready to play any particular game really just depends on their interests and previous experience and comfort level with whatever skills are required.

[And for even more game-recommending excellence, please see the lists of my friend Josh Glenn, co-author of the fabulous Unbored, and  Unbored Games, which are books we love:

http://unbored.net/all-day-games/

http://unbored.net/cooperative-games/

http://unbored.net/after-dinner-games/

http://unbored.net/rebooted-games/

http://unbored.net/two-player-games/]

Heavy-duty Strategy Games

These are serious strategy games, often European in origin, that involve very little luck and very little boring down-time. They tend to be deceptively simple to learn and wildly complex to play, but not always; some are so hard to learn that Ben has had to pre-digest the rules for us by sitting with them for hours on end until he's can explain them (I realize that this is a hindrance, but worthwhile). The games are almost always physically lovely, with heavy-duty, beautifully made wooden and cardboard pieces. Also, they're often relatively expensive--but I have never regretted investing in one, since we get so much play out of them. If there's a gamer's store near you--you know, once of those places where a bunch of fragrantly-male adolescents is exclaiming over their Magic cards--see if they offer a game night where you can come and try a game that you're thinking of buying; besides the wise preview factor, it's also a fun (free) night out. Most of the games I mention here are good for kids 7 and up, though Birdy has been playing them a bit longer than that (not that she had a lot of choice in the matter). A word of warning: once you play these games, some of the games you've been loving for years (Monopoly, Clue, Sorry, Uno) will suddenly seem so boring you will wonder what you were thinking.

Agricola

Once, when we were playing, a friend stopped by, and later I said, "Did we actually talk to her?" And Michael said, "I think we yelled, 'Hello.'" It's like that.

Oh, Agricola. Someone here first recommended it to us, and it is my all-time favorite game. It is very difficult to learn, it takes forever to play, and it is the most edgy edge-of-your-seat stressful strategy game ever. Nonetheless, two hours of your life will whiz by in a blur of delightful anxiety while you try to feed your people and expand your house and do a million more things that you DON'T HAVE ENOUGH TURNS TO DO. It is very crazy and fun, and everyone who bothers to learn it loves it.
2 to 5 players
Ages 8 or 9+

(A special shout-out here to Agricola: All Creatures Great and Small, the mini two-player version, which we play a lot, and which I plan to review in full at some point. It's like a mini bag of Fritos. It's not enough, but it's better than no Fritos.)

Carcassonne Hunters and Gatherers

Another all-time favorite game, and our long-ago introduction to European-style board games. It's almost deceptively lovely: you lay out forest, meadow, and river tiles (there's not actually a board) to create a stone-age landscape full of woolly mammoths and fish ponds and rambling woods. And then it's just this crazy mix of simple (draw a tile, lay a tile) and mind-blowingly strategic As a person who grew up with such maddeningly-competitive-but-numbingly-boring games as Monopoly and Risk, I honestly had no idea that a game could be so engrossing. Brace yourself for a bit of culture shock when you unfold the directions: there's a steep but swift learning curve, and I swear it's not actually that hard to play. I also love it because it's finite: as with all the Carcassonne games, you simply play until you run out of tiles, which takes around 45 minutes.
2-5 players
Ages 7+

Edited to add: This version has become pathologically expensive (maybe it's out of print?), but the original Carcassonne is a great game, and while it's still expensive, it is only normally so.

Ben's favorite version is also the least expensive: Carcassonne New World is an expansion-themed game (as you might guess from the worrying title) and a great one. It is a complete game, not an expansion. (Game nerd alert: I used "expansion" twice to mean two different things!)

2-5 players

Ages 7+

Settlers of Catan

Okay, this game too: when we play it, I'm a hundred percent positive that it's my favorite game. Partly it's because it's got this super-cool play element whereby you are completely involved even when it's not your turn, and partly it's because it is just another beautiful, beautifully designed strategy game where you're gathering resource tiles to build settlements, cities, and roads. There's lots of trading, which we think is incredibly fun, but which a younger child might find kind of stressful. Also, even though you only need ten points to win, it can take well over an hour. That said, one of the things I love about this game is that Birdy is just as likely to win it as anybody else, even though the whole time we're playing I am secretly thinking that her strategies are completely crazy. Go figure. There are lots of "expansions" you can buy to complicate play and increase the number of players. See below.
3-4 players (more if you get an expansion)
Ages 8+

Seafarers of Catan, the most famous Catan expansion, does something weird to me, and I can’t pretend it’s good. And by weird I mean testosterone. During a recent game, I got so mad at Michael that I had the humiliating experience of the kids saying, “Mama, Mama, he wasn’t trying to screw you. You have to get over it or it’s really not going to be fun for you.” Sigh. Still, I always want to play. And the kids, who are better sports than I am, love it. The Cities and Knights expansion also adds a ton of play value and can be played in conjunction with Seafarers. Again, it is about as easy to learn as Organic Chemistry, and it makes Michael and me want to choke each other to death in competitive homicidal rage, but it is really worth it. Just to add a weird gamer's caveat: for the expansions, you need to have the original Settlers of Catan game as well or you won't be able to play it.

Ticket to Ride

Every time I play this game, I say, "I think this is actually my favorite board game," and the kids say, "You always say that." It's a cross-country train-themed game, and you're trying to complete various routes (from the Destination Tickets you draw) by laying out trains (using the Color Cards you draw). It's both insanely easy to learn, and truly challenging to play; the game's designer describes it this way: "The tension comes from being forced to balance greed – adding more cards to your hand, and fear – losing a critical route to a competitor." Greed and fear! And also, a little bit of screwing other people. But it's so much fun, I swear. And you really don't know who is going to win until it's all over--which I love, especially compared to a game like Monopoly, where usually you're spending more than half the game experiencing your own agonizingly slow defeat. 
2-5 players
Ages 7+

Zooloretto

The summer we got this game, we played it every single day; we were obsessed. And we still love it. It's insanely demanding, strategy-wise, and yet it's easy to learn, and the sweet animal-themed tiles has made it lots of fun for Birdy, who had been initially put off by some of the other strategy games we were playing. Like the others, though, this one is beautiful--a mix of sturdy cardboard and wooden pieces--and it feels like it offers layers and layers of play: you learn it and think you get it, but then the more time you spend with it, the more you start to understand other ways to think about it. You're trying to fill your zoo with just the right number of animals (And if you get a mating pair you can have a baby! Yay!), and the play is finite (it's over when the tiles are gone) and there's no clear winner until the very end.
Note: we downloaded the expansions for free from the Rio Grande website.
2-5 players (but best with 3 and up)
Ages 7+

Dominion boasts "massive replay value" and this is more true than I know how to describe. We opened it two days before Christmas, and I'm not sure that a day has passed since during which we haven't played at least once. It takes around a half an hour, and there are many variations, and we all seem to win sometimes. When you read the description, it's all weird second-person dungeons-and-dragons "You are a monarch, a ruler of the peasants, an eater of the mutton, blah blah," and that's not at all what it's like to play. You're trying to amass resources, and it's more like an algorithm of logic and strategy than a narrative. I'm just saying. Gosh, I am really turning into a gamer. Do I smell like a gamer yet? Maybe. We also have and love the money-themed Prosperity expansion and are currently borrowing the complexity-themed Intrigue expansion from a friend who has all her expansions organized in a very special labeled box.
2-4 players
Ages 8+

It is so not okay to use as the theme of your game the Colonial occupation of an island nation, especially given that the indigenous people who weren’t wiped out by violence and disease were enslaved by the same brutal plantations that this game celebrates. So. If you are up for doing a little thematic intervention about the terrible politics of the game, then Puerto Rico is an excellent game, from the standpoint of gaming: complex, strategic, always interesting. My children are willing to play even given that I have to speak constantly about how offensive it is, so you know it’s a good game.
3-5 players
Ages 9+

Stone Age

This resource-gathering game is like a cross between Puerto Rico and Agricola, but not as hard to learn as either of them. We are currently addicted to it. It's one of those not-enough-turns-to-do-everything games: you need more people to get more stuff, but the more people you have, the more food you have to gather to feed them, etc. Fantastic.
2-4 players
Ages 9+

Acquire

Acquire is a densely strategic game that's a little bit brutally competitive, like Monopoly that's been infused with testosterone. For instance, I sometimes feel like I'm going to punch Michael in the face when we're playing. They call it a "High finance game of speculation and strategy"--but really they mean "Screw or be screwed." You're trying to control the biggest hotel chains on the board, and along the way your children will learn terms like "merger" and "majority shareholder." If capitalism is not your bag, take a pass; but if you crave the catharsis of board-game rage, this is a great one.

3-6 players

Ages 10+  (Ben played younger, but he's totally obsessed with money)

Small World

This is a big, long doozy of a serious strategy game--and we've been playing it a lot. I have to tell you that I don't love it, because it's like Munchkin crossed with Risk, and I love neither of those games. That said, Ben LOVES it with a capital LOVES and it is the game he always picks if he is getting to pick the game we all play. Michael, who also loves Risk, loves it too. If you are needing a new strategy game, this is a good one, since it has, like, a million expansions you can collect.

2-5 players

Ages 10+

7 Wonders

It's kind of like a cross between Stone Age and San Juan and Dominion. How's that for Dorksville comparisons to other games you've never heard of? Sorry. But it's engagingly strategic without being nail-bitingly stressful, which can be a nice change of pace to, say, the merrily unbearable Agricola. Plus, it plays like a long game, but only really takes half an hour or so.

3-7 players

Agest 9+

I lifted this photo from BoardGameGeek.

Splendor is kind of a classic accumulate-resources-to-get-more-resources game, as many strategy games are, but it's a lot faster, easier, and quicker to learn than, say, my beloved Agricola or Catan. Plus, there's a jewel theme, which is appealing, and the jewel chips are weighted in a lovely way that makes the game feel well-crafted. I have to paste this, though, from their own description, because what? "As a wealthy Renaissance merchant, acquire mines and transportation, hire artisans and woo the nobility. Create the most fantastic jewelry to become the best-known merchant of them all! Acquire precious stones to trade them for development cards. Use development cards to acquire more gem stones. Use your gems and gold to create the most fantastic jewelry, and appeal to the nobles to gain the prestige you need to win." Who knew!

2-4 players

10+

Machi Koro is an awesome city-building card game that I'm pretty sure one of *you* recommended to us! (Thank you.) I'm linking to the deluxe edition here because it includes both the Harbor and Millionaire's Row expansions, which we have and love, but you could also give the original, which is smaller and less expensive, and then you can save the expansions to give separately when birthdays come around! Right? It also happens to have really great graphics and colors. It's your kind of classic--say it with me--get-resources-so-you-can-get-more-resources game, and, as with most good games, every time we play, the wheel in my brain turns another notch, and I think: Aha! That's how you play! 

2-4 players

Ages 10+

Takenoko is a full-on game, with awesome panda graphics, Catan-style tiles, a cool die, and colorful wooden pieces. 

You are growing bamboo to feed a giant panda, and it's got a little of the Catan juggling-goals flavor, but definitely refracted through, like, the cheerful feeling of Totoro. That is, it is appealing to younger players, and while there are a number of rules, it is not hideously impossible to learn. Plus: totally adorable.

2-4 players

Ages 10+

Less Intense Strategy Games

Qwixx. 

This fast, easy card/dice game is somehow the perfect mix of strategic and untaxing, like Yahtzee crossed with Shut the Box crossed with Blackjack. We have played in clam shacks, at home, in our tent, and even at the Laundromat while we were waiting for our bedding to dry after a campground thunderstorm. On the very off-chance that the rules confuse you, here are the two issues we clarified (geek alert): 1) The active player can take the initial white dice. 2) The active player can take only one combination of white and colored dice. 

2-4 players (good, and different, with different numbers of players)

Ages 7+

Rolling America is like a slightly more complex version of the always-terrific Qwixx, but with similar game play and materials. You roll dice and fill in numbers (the whole country/state thing is kind of a red herring, in terms of strategy), and you need to put certain numbers next to others, and no two whatevers can be next to something else, and men with knitted woolen ties can't sit next to women drinking tea, so how would you arrange the luncheon buffet? No, it's not like the GREs. It's just dice and numbers. And it's an excellent game. 
2-4 players
Ages 7+

Also from Gamewright, Sushi Go is a great, smallish, stocking-stuffer-y choice that makes a really good introduction to strategy games. It's got a weird preemptive psychological element to it, like the way rock-paper-scissors does if you play too many rounds with the same person, and I love that. Plus the sushi-themed art is adorable and the colors are fantastic.
2-5 players
Agest 7+

Tsuro. 
Everyone here is making fun of me for mentioning this game here, now, because we've had it for years, and I used to be convinced it was boring and stupid. But, uh, maybe it was me, since we discovered this year that it's great: a deceptively simple maze-type game that has a fair amount of evilness built into it. Ben describes it as "A mix of spatial planning and sabotage." Also, it's got a lovely design and doesn't take very long--so if you're being tortured, it will all be over quickly.
2-4 players
Ages 7+

Love Letter is small, inexpensive, attractive, easy to learn, relatively quick, and like a cross between Hearts, Stratego, and a Jane Austen novel. Plus, it's totally streamlined and lovely, and comes in a little velvet draw-string bag, which is so wonderful.
2-4 players
Ages 8+

Hanabi
This is a heavy-strategy card game that I heard about when someone recommended it to me here, and it’s unique, cooperative, and sleekly, bafflingly excellent. (Thank you!) I asked the kids to describe it, and Birdy said, utterly unhelpfully, “It’s the mind-boggling game of reversed!” “Reversed?” “Yes. Reversed.” And then, like a commercial narrator, “In this wild, logical game, you can look at every hand, except your own!” Ben’s decription: “You try to play cards in a particular order, while giving your teammates advice about their cards, without ever looking at your own. The ultimate goal is to create fireworks for a party.” That’ll have to do.

2-5 players
Ages 8 and up

We never tire of Chinese Checkers around here, and I think it's partly because we can play with 2, 3, or 4 (or 5 or 6) players. And partly because it's always a pleasure. We’ve been playing with  “super" version rules, which is insanely fun and, if you know the game, really eliminates that boring mid-game congestion that can sap your will to live. Do try to get the version of the game that comes with iridescent marbles. They’re so beautiful I always want to put them in my mouth (Maybe that’s not a selling point?). Our friend Ava, whose family has the same set as us, has named all the colors: Dragon, Gubble Bum, Mustard, Ocean, Fire, and, my favorite, Almond Bath Bubble.
2-6 players
Ages 6+

We discovered Bohnanza when someone here first recommended it. (Thank you!) At first you'll think it's really stupid. It says something on the box like, "The fun bean-trading game!" and you'll wonder if I only like it because of my weird obsession with pinto beans. But the strategy kind of creeps up on you in a great way. Plus, it's super-easy to learn and not that expensive. I don't love the art (I'm kind of picky that way), but it's a fun game, and has been a long-standing go-to birthday present.
2-7 players
Ages 8+

Ben thinks this card looks like a friend of ours. Chris Perry? Is that you?

Rummikub

This is one of my own personal favorites, and it's a game we play often if we've got a bit of time, but don't have the full hour or hour-and-a-half that the Euro board games require. It's a rummy-type of strategy game, and you're trying to get rid of your 14 tiles by laying them out in runs or sets--but you can actually rearrange and pilfer from the tiles that are already out, which makes for a really challenging and entertaining level of play. That said, though, it's one of those great easy-to-play games that is just as likely to be won by the youngest kid as by the mathiest adult.
2-4 players
Ages 7+

Blokus

Surely you've played Blokus, right? You're trying to fit as many of your pieces out onto the grid as you can--more than anyone else does--before you run out of space. There's, like, one rule, but somehow the game is crazy-spatially-challenging. It seems to involve some really particular part of your brain, because when we play with our friends Peggy and Nina, who are both math professors, only one of them is good at it. But Birdy, who plays with her own "snuggle" strategy ("I'm snuggling all your pieces, Mama!") often wins. The only downside is that you really need four people for it--no more, no fewer--which is slightly limiting, since often 3 of us will want to play, and then we've got to rope the other person in. 
Best with 4 players
Ages 5+

Gobblet

We first played this game at the hostel where we were staying on Cape Cod, and we always call it "Globbet"--I think because Ben used to say "Pliget" instead of "Piglet." It's a beautiful, wooden 2-person game that is divinely simple and pure strategy. And even though it gets described as a "tic-tac-toe" game, it's got some crazy elements (you can "gobble" a player's pieces with your own) and is almost chess-like in its intensity--but much, much quicker to play, obviously. I admit that sometimes Ben gets it out and I say, "Oh, Ben, pick something that won't make me have to think so much," but I tell you that only as a lame confession, since I tend to think that thinking is a good thing. 
2 people
Ages 7+

Quarto is a lot like Gobblet: a streamlined, beautifully made tic-tac-toe-style two-person strategy game that seems stupidly easy until you lose and slap your own forehead and say the f-word. The heirloom-style wooden pieces make it an especially lovely gift. Because it's only a two-person game, we sometimes have Quarto play-offs, and the people waiting their turn play Gobblet or Connect Four in the meantime. Fun!
2 people
Ages 7+

Games That Are Mostly About Speed and/or Dexterity

Our coffee table continues to be covered in white paper, and this continues to be a great thing.

Animal Upon Animal: Small and Yet Great! Game

You are going to think this is a German little-kid game that's been awkwardly translated, and you are going to be right. But oh, it is so strangely wonderful. I first laid eyes on it in a Facebook post by Jessica Lahey (who also wrote a fantastic piece about games for the Atlantic), and it has been a favorite ever since: a simple, maddening, tiny, aesthetically divine, fabulous stacking game. There are other versions of this game, including the original big one, and we've never played any of them because this one is so perfect. I keep it in a little mint tin in my bag, and it is our go-to restaurant game for that awkward stretch of time when the chicken wings still haven't come out.

2 people (but can be played in quick round-robin-style tournaments)

Ages 5+

Set

Surely you know The Family Game of Visual Perception, right? This is the game that forces your brain to see trios of cards in terms of their likeness or unlikeness, and it is, for grown-ups, an excellent barometer of how much you've had to drink. Very fun, totally engrossing, and a game with great longevity: we've been playing it for 20 years, Michael and I, since the kids were just a twinkle.

1-5 players

Ages 6 and up

The unassuming little game Anomia has been cracking us up completely. It's tiny, which makes it a great travel game, and it's very silly, which makes it a great all-ages game. Plus, your children will maintain the sober evening high ground when you face off over the category "vegetable," and they say "zucchini," while you laugh and laugh beerily after blurting only, lamely and illegitimately, "vegetable." Anomia means, more or less, "without a name"--like amnesia, around what things are called. You'll see when you play that your middle-aged brain functions about as effectively as a cracker barrel, while your children's seem to hum along like microchips. Alas.

3-6 players 

Ages 8+

Anomia Party Edition

As Ben puts it, "Anomia, but more so. The categories are zanier and wackier than before." And that's not even including his friend Ava's homemade category, "Say the word hinkumbooby"! Six brand new decks make for tons of play value, and it's really the ideal party game. The kids and their friends (and sometimes us grown-ups) play it all the time, and it is our most-requested, "Will you bring ___ when you come over?" game.

3-6 players

Ages 8+

Duple is fantastic. It's basically like Anomia crossed with a really great word game, like Boggle, and a really terrible neurological disorder, like amnesia. Or, from the company's description: “Players flip letter cards in turn until the symbols on two players' cards match. Matching players face-off by being the first to shout a word which contains the letters on both cards. Sound easy? Think again. Correct answers must be at least 5 letters long and conform to ever-changing categories.” So, for example, when the category was “verb,” and the letters on the table were f and u, Ben yelledfrustrate, while my mind was still turning over a verb that was more obvious but neither long enough nor not an obscenity. “Wow,” Ben said. “That really shot out my word hole!” Indeed. Sadly, my own personal word hole is producing only a demented trickle.

3-6 players

Ages 8+

Dutch Blitz

Is it the vague Amish theme? The fact that it says "A Vonderful Goot Game" so campily on the box? I don't know--but make no mistake, this is one of our family's very most-played-ever games. In fact, we played it so much over the summer (it was the only game we took on our trip) that I got blisters from shuffling, and our cards, which had been new, ended up looking like something excavated from a ruin. That said, we often find ourselves being so very loud when we play this game--swearing and muttering and singing crazy songs--that we have sworn off playing it in public for a while. It's got a very simple Solitaire-style of play (stacking consecutive cards) and is all about speed and concentration rather than, say, strategy. It's a great game to play a few rounds of if you've got just 15 or 20 minutes to kill, and it's good with 2, 3, or 4 people. We've given it as a present at least a dozen times. I'm never quite sure what makes it so much fun, but it is, and we continue to play it regularly.
2-4 players
Ages 6+
(Note: Reader Liz asked me to point out that this is the same as the card game Pounce, for which you need only a deck of regular playing cards for each player. Google it for the rules, and spare yourself the buying of a new game! Though you will miss the Amishness. . . )

Slamwich

Slamwich is like a fancified version of that old you-snooze-you-lose card game Slap Jack. But the sandwich theme is lots of fun, and the game cards doubled for Ben and Birdy as the makings of a sandwich shop, that they ran almost continuously from their pretend kitchen. That was actually kind of a long time ago, which makes me feel a little melancholy.
2-6 players
Ages 4+

Jenga

Speaking of classics: right? Oh, Jenga. Michael and I used to babysit kids in Santa Cruz, for whom "Jenga!" was their all-purpose exclamatory swear. And boy did we play a lot of Jenga with them. It's a totally physical game--you need some dexterity, a little bit of a steady hand and common sense--but it's not a heavy strategy one or anything. And it's fun for everyone when all the pieces fall down (Ben and I played just last week at a family gathering, and it was as much fun as ever.) Plus, the pieces double as great, all-purpose building blocks, and get tons of use.
2 or more players
Ages 4+

Booby-Trap
Try to extract pieces without the spring moving, and if you pick a truly bad one, then they all fly up, and it's very exciting. Again, not for the extremely faint of heart (it was too much for Ben until he was about 5 or so), given the suspense factor and the possibility of losing somewhat dramatically. There seems to be a new-fangeld version that gets poor reviews. For the original, look on ebay! 12 bucks will get you the exact version we have, which is both delightful and esthetically pleasing. But if your kids are the sort to argue over potential turn-ending nanovibrations during pick-up-sticks, this is not the game for them.

Operation

Speaking of the suspense factor: we spent years playing Operation with the batteries removed, as it was simply too nerve-wracking for the kids to anticipate the awful buzz of their own clumsiness. But later, when they were maybe 8 and 5--or 7 and 4--they played a ton, and enjoyed it. We have the Homer Simpson edition (I'm not sure why, and it appears to be $90 now!), and the buzz is accompanied by "Doh!" along with other classic Homeric exclamations, which is a good or bad thing, depending. If dexterity completely eludes your child still, maybe hold off on this one (or remove the batteries).

Games for Younger Children
I spared you Mousetrap, despite my children's hearty nostalgia for it, because it is simply to significant a pain in the ass to deal with. It just is. Also, I am not linking to Uno. As the kid in a trail hut once said to 5-year-old Ben--after Ben announced pleasantly, "You have Uno? So do we!"--"EVERYBODY has Uno." 

Harvest Time
If the idea of a "cooperative board game," makes you want to weep with boredom, well. . . weep away. But we got this game when Ben was very small and very panicky over the idea of "winning games." We played it hundreds of times then, and hundreds more times when Birdy was the same age, with the same panic (and we still play it when our littlest friends are over). It's a sweet little game where you work together to get the harvest in before winter comes--but I'm warning you: you have to put out a lot--a lot of drama and enthusiasm and suspensified horror--or else it is deadly dull. When it's over, you can offer each other the products of your harvest ("Who wants a jar of my famous carrot pickles?") even though you won't find this detail in the rules.
2-4 players
Ages 3+

Dwarves and Dice

This is a sweet little German tile game, where you roll the dice and race to spot the dwarf dressed in that same trio of colors. It's pretty and simple, and also Birdy always called it "Gorvin Dice," which we loved for no particular reason. "Dwarf" turns out to be a tricky word for her, given that only recently she asked if it was only his helpers, or of Santa himself was a "dorf." That website seems to have lots of lovely little German games. 

2-8 players

Ages 3+

Hi Ho Cherry-O

This was another favorite of the early years, and we played and played until I poked a hole in my head with a fork and my liquefied brain dripped out onto the floor. Did I ever tell you how once, when I was doing some consulting for Hasbro, they showed me all their games, and when we got to this one, I announced, "Oh! Hi Hi Boring-O! Believe me, I've played it." Always a class act. Still, this game is all about the little plastic cherries. That's, like, the most exciting thing ever, and so your small children will love it.

2-4 players

Ages 3+

Mastermind for Kids

Now this, on the other hand, is an unboring game. It is similar to--but easier than--the regular version of Mastermind, and it requires the same process-of-elimination strategy. It is probably the first strategy game we ever played with either kids, and they loved it mostly because the pieces are shaped like animals and the colors are great.

2 players

Ages 5+

Sleeping Queens

I love Gamewright games (Rat-a-tat Cat is another good one, as is Zeus on the Loose) and this one might be the one we played the most when the kids were younger. It's got a little bit of memory, a little bit of strategy, some silliness, and great art. Plus, it only takes about 20 minutes to play, which makes it good for those useless little windows of time that my life seems to be pocked with.
2-5 players
Ages 6+

Make Me a Cake goes down smooth and easy, even with the littlest players, and the kids love it not because it challenges their strategic thinking (it doesn't) but because it's cake. The pieces are pretty and sparkly, and the cakes are glam and gorgeous. Who won? Who cares. (This seems to show up on Amazon as a "book supplement," but it's a game, trust me.
1-4 players
Ages 3+

Guess Who?

This was the first game Birdy really loved, and it's a great introduction to the process of elimination as well as to racial and gender stereotypes. Plus, it's very quick to play! Which is good, because it's also boring and offensive. I'm just saying.
2 players
Ages 5+

Sorry

When the kids were younger, it was our favorite family board game for ages. It's mostly a game of luck, but I actually love it for the way it teaches kids resilience in the face of getting screwed--especially because, in our family at least, you have to say "Sorry" with an irritatingly drawn-out mix of meanness and irony whenever you send someone's piece back to home. And you've just got to comport yourself with grace in the face of it: a good lesson, I'm not even kidding. (Hasbro calls it "the game of sweet revenge.") Plus, it's a pretty fun game, a pleasantly mindless one, and the kind that's never over til it's over.
2-4 players
Ages 6+

Party Games

Snake Oil

This is an Apples to Apples type of party game: players toss out pairs of cards to create a product to match the theme, then they try to “sell” their product, so the judge of each round can decide on a winner. So for example, one time the theme was “couch potato,” and Ben tossed out the cards “oven” and “powder” then sold it as a unique solution to cooking your food ("Just sprinkle oven powder on it!") without getting up. Birdy, on the other hand, sold her own unique laziness solution with the handy defecetory product “poop carpet.” Got it? 
3-10 players
Ages 8 and up.

Dixit is a fantastic game: like a cross between the dictionary game (or Balderdash, if you're high-tech like that) and Apples to Apples and something totally different--with super-weird, pleasantly creepy art and buckets of creativity. It's also insanely easy to learn. We played it with my parents and Ben and Birdy--and the fact that everybody loved it, and scored similarly (except for one person who won because this is kind of what she, ahem, does professionally) proved to me its tremendous value. Birdy has also used the cards as creative-writing prompts, because that's the kind of person she is.

3-6 players
Ages 7+

The above-mentioned Balderdash and Apples to Apples Jr. are our other favorite party games, as is the homemade game fish bowl. As well as a game Ben invented that is very hush-hush for now.

Travel Games

Pocket Yamslam is a good, easy keep-in-Mama's-bag at all times game, which means it's what we play when we're waiting for our chicken wings. It's like Yahtzee, but much quicker.

Farkle or Pocket Farkle

Farkle is another of our favorite travel games, since you just need the six dice and a score sheet, and play is quick--for instance, you can get in a few rounds while you're waiting for your burgers, as long as you lay a napkin on the table to mute the sound of the clattering dice. It's simple to play (you need 5s and 1s to score) and it's not so much a strategy game as a gambling one: we are forever slapping our own foreheads and bemoaning our own greed and foolishness. Plus, it's so much fun to say, "Excuse me, I farkled." If you aren't giving this as a gift, and if you already have 6 dice from your Yahtzee set, then you can simply look the rules up on-line and skip the whole packaged aspect of it. Just be sure to play with the "piggy" rules to maximize your fun. (Google them if they're not included in your set.)
From 2 to loads of players
Ages 5+

Phase 10

Another rummy-style game, though this one is simply a deck of cards, which makes it great for travel. You need to complete 10 "phases"--ten specific hands--in the correct order, without falling behind your opponents, and it's a game that Ben and I used to play together a lot, just the two of us, even though it's fun with more people (but slower too). It is somehow engaging without being exactly strategy-driven, and it's also small and inexpensive enough to be a good stocking stuffer. 

2-6 players

Ages 7+

FitzIt is a small, good-natured word game that forces you to synthesize various categories into single, point-scoring words.
2-10 players
Ages 7+

Coloretto

This is pretty much a color-themed card-game version of Zooloretto (see above), and we were lucky enough to find a copy at the Salvation Army! I know! It's a little quicker, a little easier to learn, a little less competitive, and not nearly as cute. A great travel game. 

2-5 players

Ages 7+

Puzzles

Colorku
This is sudoku, but instead of numbers, you use colored balls to complete the puzzles (there are a hundred challenges that get progressively harder). All four of us love it, and the level of challenge-feeling ranges from a kind of brain-churning competence to something like a tangled, numbing conviction that that there is something wrong with your mental processing apparatus. We work on it alone, or in pairs or clumps, and it is deeply engaging and fun and companionable. I cannot recommend it enough. Plus, the pieces are painted wood, and there is something very beautiful about them. The pastel ones remind me of Dutch mints. (Full disclosure: I actually had to quit this game for a while. The family refers to this period of time, gravely, as "Mama's Colorku addiction.")

Wait, this isn't a video game? They told me it was a video game.

This is Perplexus Epic. Do you need a large, clattery, and expensive ball of plastic in your house? Kind of! It’s a 3-D maze and, for us, it’s sort of a compromise—like a mechanical version of a video game, given that the kids don’t do a lot of screen stuff. It seems good for the old hand-eye coordination and logic-development, if you go in for those sorts of things. Plus, it’s great for odds and ends of time and, strangely, social: they watch each other play, even though you can’t begin to imagine why. If your kids are new to this large, clattery, expensive plastic phenomenon, then start with the original, less-epic Perlexus.

A total trip down candy-memory lane, right?

If a large, fun jigsaw puzzle is in your holiday-vacation plans, please allow me to recommend Candy Wrappers. We did it with our friends Meg and Pete over the summer, and I can’t think of one I’ve liked better. Oooh, except for this one, which is delicious in more of a Frank Lloyd Wright kind of way.

Gum Wrappers

What can I say? White Mountain puzzles are my absolute favorite: relatively inexpensive, hard but not too hard, and with great nostalgic themes that captivate even the most reluctant passersby (except my father).

Avian Friends Jigsaw Puzzle. Oh, this puzzle. I have now done it twice this year, on two different vacations, and I loved it both times.

Yes, I'm in my pajamas doing a puzzle with a huge group of children. So?

It's pretty much a perfect puzzle, with exactly the kind of perfect, pretty sections you can pick out and do, and then a nice hard-but-not-impossible border situation. I won't be shocked it I end up doing it again.