Target released their Holiday Shopping Catalog recently. It features all sorts of great toys and all of the expected video games (Skylanders, Disney Infinity, etc), but it also featured a whole page of family friendly board games. The layout of the page was a little intense and didn’t give much of an explanation for any of the games listed. I did some homework. The following are some additional details to help you choose the best games for your family.
Disclaimer: Engaged Family Gaming has only reviewed one of these games so far (Robot Turtles). This is simply intended to give you more information than a name and an age range.
Jenga (6+):Jenga is a classic game at this point. You both know it and own a copy, or you aren’t interested.
Bounce-Off (7+): Bounce-Off is a challenge based game where players are tasked with bouncing ping pong style balls onto a playing field. The trick is that you have to try and line them up in patterns based on challenge cards that are drawn from a deck.
Tapple (7+): Tapple is a time-based word game. Players choose a category card and have 10 (SHORT!) seconds to come up with a word from that category. They then press down the first letter of the word they named. Play continues around the table. The catch? Letters that have already been pressed down cannot be used!
Robot Turtles (4+):Robot Turtles is amazing. You can read our review here!
NFL Rush Zone (7+): NFL Rush Zone is a dice rolling, math-centric game based on the NFL Rush Zone license. It features the helmet characters for all 32 NFL teams. We’ll be playing this one soon, but it at least appears to be ideal for families who don’t share a common team. There aren’t many games that include all 32 teams.
Family Challenge (6+): Family Challenge includes twenty-seven mini-games that line up in four categories: Vision, Agility, Smarts, Luck. Families compete in teams to see who can win the most challenges.
My Monopoly (6+): This is classic monopoly with blank spaces and stickers that allow players to customize their game.
Moustache Smash(7+): This looks like a hilarious reflex game. Players hold a fake mustache under their nose and watch as cards are flipped over in front of them. They then race to slap their mustache swatter onto the card that matches the shape and/or color.
Disney Jr. Super Stretchy (3+): This is, for all intents and purposes, Twister featuring Disney Junior characters as opposed to colors.
Bananagrams Wild Tiles (7+): This is the base Bananagram game, but it features wild card tiles.
Disney Frozen 6-in-1 Game Box (3+): There is nothing particularly fancy here, but it include Frozen themed family friendly classics like Bingo, Go Fish, Crazy 8s, Four in a Row, Dominoes and a matching game.
Pictopia-Family Trivia Game: Disney Edition(5+): Disney Pictopia is a trivia game that features a broad range of Disney topics including theme park attractions, movies, and TV shows.
Disney Frozen Surprise Slides! (3+): Chutes and Ladders gets the frozen treatment here. There are, however, a few interesting twists that make the game board a bit different each time you play.
Telestrations (8+): Telestrations kicks the telephone game up a notch by forcing players to draw the phrase they hear and interpret other people’s drawings. I don’t even know how this game is possible!
Shark Mania (6+): Shark Mania is a dice rolling game that takes place while a shark rampages through the game board. This game is worth keeping an eye on for the quality construction alone.
The Settlers of Catan (12+): What is there to say about Settlers that hasn’t already been said? This is a complex strategy game that involves trading with other players and making difficult decisions. We are working on a review here at Engaged Family Gaming, but a YouTube search should give curious parents a look at what the game play experience looks like.
The Settlers of Catan 5 and 6 Player Extension (12+): See Above. If your family is bigger than four people and you think you would all like strategy gaming, then this is a great add.
Catan Dice Game (10+): The Catan Dice Game is intended to condense the grand experience of Settlers of Catan into a bite sized experience. This is a great way to see if that type of game will be good for you or your family.
Full disclosure: purchasing games using the Amazon links above will result in revenue for Engaged Family Gaming to help keep the lights on.
