Your family game night means more than just a few hours of entertainment at home. Board and card games help keep kids’ minds active, which is especially important during summer, and build companionship among family members… at least until someone builds their fourth hotel on Park Place. Amirite!? While you can’t go wrong with classics like Monopoly and Scrabble, we recommend going local for family game night by adding these Utah-made games to your rotation as well.
Paperback
Players in this game try to help down-on-her-luck author Paige Turner complete a series of novels by creating words using cards with letters on them. Words gives players money to buy more cards or finish a book.
Once you get the hang of ghostwriting for Turner, you’ll be ready to move on to the unabridged edition.
Balloon Pop
Balloon Pop only takes 10 minutes to play, but plan on playing several times at the next family game night. Players roll dice to see how high they can fly balloons, keeping in mind that they’ll pop if they go too high. Keep track of how high your balloons go on a scoring sheet — kind of like Yahtzee.
Don’t Bump the Table
Named for what you’ll have to remind your 10-year-old throughout the game, Don’t Bump the Table has players stack animal-shaped figures on top of one another, creating animal towers and branches going across the kitchen table. The game will become a go-to for family game night.
Squatch
Squatch takes players to a swimming hole, forest, abandoned cabin and cave in search of Squatch (the game’s Sasquatch). To win the game, you’ll have to catch Squatch, but keep in mind that another player can easily throw you off your path.
The hairiest player goes first.
Getaway Driver
You can play with four players, but we prefer two: parent against child. The game mimics a high-speed police chase, as one player takes the role of the police and another takes the role of a getaway driver trying to escape the law. While the getaway driver has tricks to evade the police (driving on two wheels, handbrake turns, etc.), the fuzz have a motorcycle, armored car and even a helicopter at their disposal.
“It’s especially good for families, because, even though it is competitive, there is nothing especially aggressive or violent about it,” says Jeff Beck, the game designer. “It’s a game I’ve played with — and lost to — my kids many times.”
Read more of our family content in our Kid-friendly blog roll.
