Monopoly may be the best-selling board game, but if you are looking for new games to play with the kids you’ll definitely want to take a look at these completely different board games to play with the family:

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Playing a board game is a really fun family activity – it’s amazing how competitive everyone gets no matter what age they are!

There are lots of board games to play with the family all together, but if you’re fed up of the usual suspects like Cluedo or Scrabble, why not try one of these fun games?

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Different Board Games To Play With The Family

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Pass The Pigs

Be the first to 100 points by throwing your pigs and seeing how they land. Will you get a Leaning Jowler? A Double Snouter? Or maybe the infamous Piggy Back?

Each turn involves one player throwing the two pigs, each of which has a dot on one side. The player gains or loses points based on the way the pigs land.

2 or more players, ages 7+

Buy Pass The Pigs from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Carcassone

Carcassone is a clever and exciting tile-laying game for 2-5 players that develops the area around the southern, French Medieval city of Carcassonne. Players build roads, cities, cloisters and meadows and then deploy their followers “meeples” farmers, knights, monks and thieves.

The rules are easy, the game is never boring because each time you play the board is built from scratch and there is an infinite number of combinations of tiles and strategies. This is a world best seller and major award winner, it’s a must in your board game collection!

2-6 players, ages 8+

Buy Carcassone from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com or Boardgamer.ie

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Catan

In the board game Catan, previously known as The Settlers of Catan, you have to negotiate and exchange raw materials to successfully build settlements and roads. Every time, a whole new world is created on the board.

On each turn dice are rolled to determine what resources the island produces. Players collect these resources to build up their civilizations to get to 10 victory points and win the game.

The base game can be expanded with other packs and the number of players can be increased to up to 6 players by adding additions.

3-4 players, ages 8+

Buy Catan from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com or Boardgamer.ie

Dixit

Dixit is a multi award-winning game, testing your logic, ability to bluff and your powers of deduction, while keeping the rules to a minimum.

In every round a player becomes the storyteller, calling out a phrase or word that describes one of their cards. The other players then choose one of their cards that best matches what the storyteller calls out. The cards are then uncovered and the players vote secretly to try and guess the storyteller’s card.

Dixit is brilliant, simple and great fun. It can adapt to any age and there are extensions with extra cards which means it never gets boring.

3-6 players, ages 8+

Buy Dixit from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com or Boardgamer.ie

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King of Tokyo

In King of Tokyo you play mutant monsters, gigantic robots and other aliens, all of whom are happily whacking each other in order to become the one and only King of Tokyo.

When it is your turn to play, you throw six dice with symbols, that allow you to win destruction points, hoard energy, restore your health or whack other players into understanding Tokyo is YOUR territory.

The fiercest player will be crowned King of Tokyo… and will end up facing all the other monsters alone!

2 to 6 players, ages 8+

Buy King of Tokyo from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com or Boardgamer.ie

Cranium Junior

You’ll have to use all your acting, puzzling, sketching and code-cracking skills to win this brain-teasing Cranium Junior game.

There are 4 colour-coded activities for kids to try every round. Spell, puzzle, act, hum or just guess your way to victory!

2 or more players, ages 5+

Buy Cranium Junior from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Labyrinth

Labyrinth is a race for treasures in a moving maze, and one of the best-loved board games to play with the family.

Be the first to collect all your treasures by shifting the walls of the labyrinth to create a clear path. Players take turns to search the Labyrinth for their magical objects and characters by carefully moving through the constantly changing maze.

It is up to you to strategically move the walls so you can collect your treasures, but block the path for the other players.

2-4 players, ages 7+

Buy Labyrinth on Amazon.co.uk  or Amazon.com

30 Seconds Junior

30 Seconds Junior is a team game where each team member has 30 seconds to try to explain as many of the 5 concepts on their chosen card as they can. The more terms your teammates guess, the more spaces your team can move forward on the board. The first team to reach the finish line wins.

3 or more players, ages 5+

Buy 30 Seconds Junior here

Blokus

Blokus is a simple game that anyone can play. Each player has 21 pieces, and there’s just one rule – each piece you play on the board must touch another piece of the same colour, but only at the corners.

Protect your territory by fitting as many of your pieces on the board as you can while you strategically block your opponents.

2-4 players, ages 7+

Buy Blokus on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com or Boardgamer.ie 

Ticket To Ride

Ticket to Ride can be learned in less than 15 minutes and enjoyed time and time again, whether it’s your first time building a rail empire or an old favourite.

Players embark on a cross-country train adventure, collecting train cards that allow them to lay claim to colour-coded railway routes across a map of USA. The longer the route claimed, the more points they earn – but the more cards they’ll need to save up to claim it.

By establishing longer routes connecting multiple cities, players try to complete destination tickets offering major bonus points for linking up two specific cities (or get a penalty for failing!).

There’s also a version of the game that you can play along with Alexa, or have Alexa teach you how to play as well.

2 to 5 players, ages 8+

Buy Ticket to Ride on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Animal Upon Animal

There’s pandemonium on the farm. Who can stack the hen on top of the sheep? And is there any space left for the dog?

Animal Upon Animal is a stacking game. You roll the die and stack the given animal on the matching tile and any other animals already stacked on that tile.

2-4 players, ages 4+

Buy Animal Upon Animal from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com or Boardgamer.ie

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Othello

Use cunning tactics to outwit your opponent with the Othello board game. In this classic fast-paced strategy game, you must try to trap your rival’s playing pieces and turn them over. The lead can change at any moment with a flip of a disk and the player with the most pieces of the same colour wins.

2 players, ages 7+

Buy Othello from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Battle Sheep

Opposing sheep herds go to head to fluffy head in a strategy game the whole family will love. The goal is to occupy the most pastures with your sheep. On their turn, players split a stack of their sheep and move a portion as far is it can go in a straight line to a new pasture.

Watch out for sneaky sheep and plan your moves carefully to fence out your foe! A different playing board is assembled before every game, so Battle Sheep is full of new challenges every time you play.

2-4 players, ages 7+

Buy Battle Sheep from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

Azul

In the game of Azul, as a tile-laying artist, you have been challenged to embellish the walls of the Royal Palace of Evora. Players take turns drafting coloured tiles from suppliers to their player board.

Later in the round, players score points based on how they’ve placed their tiles to decorate the palace. Extra points are scored for specific patterns and completing sets; wasted supplies harm the player’s score. The player with the most points at the end of the game wins.

2-4 players, ages 8+

Buy Azul from Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com or Boardgamer.ie

Abalone

In Abalone, players take turns pushing the marbles around the board with the goal of pushing six of the opposing player’s marbles off the board. The central idea is that a column of marbles has weight given by the number of marbles in line.

Someone will need to push with a heavier group of marbles in order to push the column along that axis. However, with six possible directions, it is difficult to defend yourself completely.

2 players, ages 7+

Buy Abalone on Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com

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Do you have any of these board games at home? What other unique board games to play with the family would you recommend? Leave a comment below and let us know – we’d love to hear from you!