9 Fun (& Brainy!) Group Games for Family Gatherings
Whether it’s a family gathering, office holiday party, or friend group game night, high-quality group games are a great addition to stimulate conversation, connection, and brain power! Here’s a roundup of 9 fun group games to try this year that also count as a brain workout:
Incohearent Family Edition
- Ages: kids and adults
- Players: 4+
A judge holds a card so that participants see a gibberish phrase. They race to decode the real words that only the judge can see!
Blank Slate
- Ages: 8+
- Players: 3-8
Individuals write a word to complete a phrase, but the challenge is that you want to match responses with only ONE other player.
Bamboozled
- Ages: kids and adults
- Players: 2-8
A game that’s quick to learn, involves some strategy, and even some bluffing?! This simple dice and card game is a great addition to family gatherings to entertain all ages and bring you all together.
Herd Mentality
- Ages: 10+
- Players: 4-20
This hilarious game brings out some quirks and preferences you may not know about the people around your table! You get a question card and try to come up with the same answer as other players to be in the majority. If you’re the odd one out, you get the pink cow of doom. 😉
All of Us
- Ages: 12+
- Players: 4+
This is a trivia game that brings generations together. Team up or work independently to answer trivia questions tied to a particular generation or time period!
Outsmarted!
- Ages: 8+
- Players: 2-24
Turn your family gathering into a game show! This interactive and immersive game connects with an app to automatically adjust question difficulty & context by age of each player to create a level playing field.
Wits and Wagers
- Ages: 6+
- Players: 3+
Like the idea of trivia games but know you don’t stand a chance against certain family members who have a brain that’s filled with random facts? This is the game for you! Not only do you earn points for correct answers; you can also wager on which player will know the answer and get points for their smarts, too.
Snake Oil
- Ages: 10+
- Players: 3-10
Pitch crazy inventions to creative customers in this interactive group game! Players draw cards that say what type of customer you’ll be, and the rest of the players have to pitch a product using 2 random object cards from their hand.
Telestrations
- Ages: 8+
- Players: 8 (or 12 with the party size!)
Each player begins with a phrase and draws their rendition in a book. The book passes to the next player, who guesses the phrase and writes what they think it is on the following page. The next player draws based off of that guess, and play continues until the book returns to the original draw-er!
Building Brain Skills Can Be Fun!
Each of these games targets key brain skills like memory, attention, logic, processing speed, and more. If you notice that you or a family member really struggle in one area, it can be helpful to dig deeper and see how your brain skills rank!
Take our FREE Brain Skill Quiz here today >>
A Roundup of More Favorite Games:
- Games and Activities to Build Visual Processing Skills
- Fun Logic Games to Build Reasoning Skills
- Screen-Free Travel Games and Activities that Build Brain Skills
- Games That Strengthen Working Memory
- 5 Word Games to Improve Your Child’s Reading and Spelling Skills
- Smart Mom’s Toybox 2022: Games and Toys that Build Brain Skills
