The family game nights that stick use games everyone can join straight away, like wink murder, the hat game, consequences, camera roll roulette or a quiz about each other, played in mixed-age teams with a few house rules so nobody storms off.
The board game cupboard is where family game night goes to die. Half the pieces are missing, the rules take twenty minutes to read aloud, and the one game everybody knows ends with somebody owning all of Mayfair and nobody speaking.
Most of the best family games need a pen, a bowl or nothing at all. Here are eighteen of them, split into games you can start in thirty seconds and bigger nights built around phones or a theme, with a quick reference table for ages and kit, and the house rules that keep the evening friendly.
What makes a game work for a whole family
A game suits a family when the youngest player can take part without being carried, the oldest does not need the rules explained twice, and a teenager can play it without it looking like effort. Games that reward knowing each other pass that test far more often than games that reward knowing things.
Short rounds matter more than clever rules. A game with five minute rounds lets a toddler wander off and back, lets someone put the kettle on, and gives the person in last place a fresh start every few minutes. Anything that eliminates players early needs a job for the people who are out.
For a large family, and anything above eight counts, favour games where everyone plays at once or in teams. A game where each person takes a turn in sequence leaves eleven people watching one person think.
All eighteen at a glance
Ages are a guide. A keen six year old can hold their own in most of these with an adult teammate.
Idea
Ages
Needs
Time
Wink murder
6 and up
Nothing
15 minutes
The hat game
8 and up
Paper, pens, a bowl
30 to 45 minutes
Name, place, animal, thing
7 and up
Paper, pens
20 minutes
Consequences
7 and up
Paper, pens
15 minutes
Telephone pictionary
6 and up
Paper, pens
20 minutes
Sticky note who am I
6 and up
Sticky notes
15 minutes
Twenty questions
4 and up
Nothing
10 minutes a round
Sardines
3 and up
A house with hiding places
30 minutes
What's the time, Mr Wolf
2 to 7
A hallway or garden
10 minutes
Musical statues
2 and up
Music
10 minutes
Camera roll roulette
10 and up
Phones
20 minutes
Forehead guessing on a phone
6 and up
One phone
15 minutes
A quiz about each other
5 and up
Paper, or a phone each
45 to 60 minutes
Our Family Fortunes
7 and up
A survey sent beforehand
40 minutes
Minute to win it night
5 and up
Cups, biscuits, balloons, a timer
45 minutes
Indoor Olympics
3 and up
Household objects, a medal table
1 hour
Homemade murder mystery dinner
10 and up
Character cards you write
2 hours
Film night bingo
4 and up
Bingo cards, a film
One film
Start in thirty seconds: no boxes, no batteries
Ten games that need at most a pen and some paper. Good for the nights when nobody planned anything, and for car journeys and holiday cottages.
01
Wink murder
Players6 or moreTime15 minutesNeedsNothing, or a pack of cards to deal roles
Everyone sits in a circle and one person is secretly chosen as the murderer, by drawing cards or by a non-player tapping them on the shoulder. The murderer kills by winking at someone, who waits a few seconds and then dies as theatrically as they like. Anyone can accuse the murderer, but a wrong accusation puts the accuser out.
Tip: Pick a detective who leaves the room while the murderer is chosen, and give them three guesses. Small children make excellent, very slow, very dramatic victims.
02
The hat game
Players6 to 20, in two or more teamsTime30 to 45 minutesNeedsSlips of paper, pens, a bowl or hat, a timer
Each player writes five famous names, or family members, on slips and folds them into the bowl. Teams take turns sending one player up for a minute to get their team to guess as many names as possible. Round one, describe it in any words. Round two, one word only. Round three, mime. The same slips go back in for every round, so the jokes build.
Tip: Allow names from inside the family. Watching Grandma mime your uncle is the whole reason to play.
03
Name, place, animal, thing
Players3 to 10Time20 minutesNeedsPaper, pens
Each player draws columns for name, place, animal and thing. Somebody recites the alphabet in their head until another player says stop, and the letter they landed on is the letter for the round. Everyone fills a word in every column as fast as they can, and the first to finish shouts stop. Unique answers score ten, shared answers five.
Tip: Add a column for the family, where the answer must be something only your family would understand. Arguments over "is that a real thing" are part of it.
04
Consequences
Players4 to 12Time15 minutesNeedsA sheet of paper each, pens
Everyone writes a man's name at the top, folds it over and passes it on. Then a woman's name, where they met, what he said, what she said, and what the consequence was, folding and passing each time. Unfold and read the stories aloud.
Tip: Use people everyone in the room knows. A story in which Dad met the dinner lady at Legoland is funnier than any celebrity.
05
Telephone pictionary
Players5 to 12Time20 minutesNeedsA few sheets of paper per player, pens
Everyone writes a phrase at the top of a sheet and passes it left. The next player draws the phrase, folds the words away and passes it on. The next writes what they think the drawing shows, and so on, alternating until each sheet is full. Then read every chain from the start.
Tip: Nobody needs to be able to draw. The worse the drawings, the better the chain goes wrong.
06
Sticky note who am I
Players4 to 15Time15 minutesNeedsSticky notes, a pen
Each player writes a person, a character or an animal on a sticky note and sticks it on the forehead of the person to their left without them seeing. Players take turns asking yes or no questions about themselves until someone guesses who they are.
Tip: For younger children, use animals and let them ask what noise they make.
07
Twenty questions
Players2 or moreTime10 minutes a roundNeedsNothing
One person thinks of something, anything at all, and the others have twenty yes or no questions between them to work out what it is. Whoever guesses it thinks of the next one.
Tip: Start younger players with "animal, vegetable or mineral" so the first question is always easy.
08
Sardines
Players4 or moreTime30 minutesNeedsA house, ideally with the lights low
Hide and seek in reverse. One person hides, and everybody else counts and then searches separately. Whoever finds the hider squeezes in with them quietly, until the last seeker finds a wardrobe with most of the family in it.
Tip: Put the fragile rooms out of bounds before you start, not after.
09
What's the time, Mr Wolf
Players3 or more, with at least one toddlerTime10 minutesNeedsA hallway, a long room or a garden
The wolf stands at one end with their back to everyone. Players chant "what's the time, Mr Wolf" and take as many steps as the time the wolf calls out. When the wolf shouts "dinner time", they turn and chase, and whoever they catch is the next wolf.
Tip: Grandparents make the best wolves because they can chase from a chair and still win.
10
Musical statues
Players3 or moreTime10 minutesNeedsMusic on a phone
Everyone dances while the music plays and freezes when it stops. Anyone who moves is out and becomes a judge, which is the job every toddler secretly wants.
Tip: Let the youngest control the music for a round. They will stop it at the cruellest possible moments.
House rules that keep it fun
Pick the game for the youngest player at the table, then make the oldest their teammate.
Mix the ages in every team. A parent and a teenager versus a grandparent and a nine year old is a real contest; parents against children never is.
Phones face down in the middle unless the game uses them. Whoever picks theirs up first chooses the next game, which is punishment enough.
Appoint one judge per game, rotate the job, and allow a single appeal each. Everything else the judge says is final.
Keep rounds short and stop while people are still enjoying it. Ending on a high is how you get a second game night.
Take turns choosing the game, so the teenager gets one pick a week and is far more willing to play the others.
Anyone knocked out gets a job: timekeeper, scorer, snack runner or official heckler.
Give the loser something to do next week, such as choosing the snacks or the first game, rather than a forfeit.
Quizriella
Hand the question writing to the family
A quiz about each other is the idea on this page that works best for every age at once, and it is also the one that needs someone to write it. Quizriella takes that job away. Everyone gets a code, opens it in a browser on their own phone, and secretly writes a few questions about the others.
The questions come back as a presenter-led game show that plays on the television: hot seats, a buzzer race, a wheel of dares, breaking news bulletins about whoever is losing and a podium. Very small children can be marked as little ones, which gives them their own segment and points for the whole table.
Nothing to install, it runs in a browser
Teams can pair up a big family automatically
Save the family as a group and reuse it next week
Costs nothing for a full night with simple avatars
Eight ideas that take a little setting up, and are the ones the family will still be talking about on Monday. These suit teenagers and large families especially.
01
Camera roll roulette
Players4 to 10Time20 minutesNeedsA phone each
Somebody calls out a random date. Everyone scrolls their camera roll to the photo nearest that date and places the phone face down. Phones are revealed one at a time, and the rest of the table guesses where and when it was taken and what was going on. The owner awards a point for the best guess.
Tip: Everyone has the right to skip one photo with no questions asked, which keeps teenagers playing.
02
Forehead guessing on a phone
Players4 or moreTime15 minutesNeedsOne phone with a word list on screen
One player holds a phone to their forehead showing a word from a list, from a forehead guessing app or just a note, and the family shouts clues against a one minute timer. The player tilts the phone to skip or moves on when they get it. Most words guessed in a minute wins.
Tip: Write your own list of family in-jokes. It takes five minutes and it will beat any ready-made deck.
03
A quiz about each other
Players4 to 20, in teamsTime45 to 60 minutesNeedsQuestions written about the family, paper or phones for answers
Instead of general knowledge, every question is about someone at the table: where Mum and Dad went on their first date, what Grandad did for a living, what the youngest wants for their birthday. The person each question is about decides the right answer. Run five rounds of six questions and make the last worth double.
Tip: Ask each person to write three questions about the others in secret, so the quizmaster gets to play as well.
04
Our Family Fortunes
Players6 or more, in two teamsTime40 minutesNeedsA short survey sent to friends and relatives a week before
Send ten questions to the wider family by message a week before, like "name something Uncle Pete always brings to a barbecue", and count up the answers. On the night, two teams take turns trying to guess the top answers. Three wrong guesses and the other team can steal.
Tip: "We asked twelve relatives" gets a bigger laugh than any real statistic.
05
Minute to win it night
PlayersAny number, in teamsTime45 minutesNeedsPlastic cups, biscuits, balloons, straws, a timer
Set up six or eight challenges that each last one minute: stack cups into a pyramid, move a biscuit from forehead to mouth without hands, keep two balloons in the air, move sweets between bowls using a straw. Teams pick who does each challenge, and every win scores.
Tip: Make sure each team has to use every member at least once, or the most competitive parent does all of them.
06
Indoor Olympics
Players4 or moreTimeAbout an hourNeedsHousehold objects, paper plates for medals
Each family member invents one event: paper plate discus, sock basketball into a washing basket, a slow bicycle race on a scooter, a spoon and potato relay. Hold an opening ceremony, run the events, keep a medal table and finish with an awards podium on the stairs.
Tip: Toddlers are the best event inventors in the house. Whatever they come up with, you all do it.
07
Homemade murder mystery dinner
Players6 to 12TimeTwo hours, over dinnerNeedsCharacter cards and clues you write beforehand
The host writes a simple crime, one character per guest with a secret or two, and three rounds of clues handed out between courses. Everyone plays their character through dinner and makes an accusation before pudding. The murderer reveals themselves at the end.
Tip: Give teenagers the showiest characters and let them dress up. They will complain about it right up until they start enjoying it.
08
Film night bingo
PlayersAny numberTimeOne filmNeedsBingo cards made for the film
Pick a film everyone has seen, and make a bingo card for each person with things likely to happen on screen or on the sofa: a car chase, a character says "we need to talk", someone asks who that actor is, the dog barks at the television. First line wins a prize, full house wins the remote.
Tip: Different cards for different people, or everyone shouts at the same moment and nobody believes anyone.
Wink murder, the hat game, consequences, name place animal thing and telephone pictionary all need nothing more than paper and pens. For toddlers, sardines, musical statues and what's the time Mr Wolf need nothing at all. A quiz about the family itself is the best option for mixed ages.
Choose team games where everyone plays at once, like the hat game, a family quiz, Family Fortunes with your own survey or minute to win it challenges. Split into teams of three to five across the generations. Avoid games where each person takes a turn in sequence, because twelve people cannot all wait.
Let them choose a game each week, allow phones in games that use them, and give them a starring role such as the murderer in a murder mystery or the judge. Camera roll roulette, forehead guessing and the hat game tend to work. Keep it short, and never make attendance feel like a punishment.
Musical statues, sardines, what's the time Mr Wolf and twenty questions with animals are all simple enough for a two or three year old. Keep rounds to ten minutes and let them hold a job like stopping the music. Toddlers enjoy being the judge far more than winning.
Camera roll roulette and forehead guessing with a list typed into your notes app are free and need nothing to download. Browser games where one screen hosts and everyone joins on their own phone also work, and several have a free tier, though many party packs are paid.
Mix the ages in every team, keep phones face down unless the game needs them, rotate who picks the game, and appoint one judge per game whose decision is final. Give anyone knocked out a job, and stop while people are still having fun so they come back next week.
Quizriella is one. Each person secretly writes questions about the others on their own phone, and it turns them into a game show with teams, dares and a podium on the television. A whole show is free to play with simple avatars.
Hot seatBuzzersWheel of fateBreaking news
Make next week the family game show
Add the family, share one code, and let everybody write a few questions about the rest before Friday. Quizriella turns them into a show with teams, dares and a podium that plays on the living room television.
