Quick family games under 20 minutes
You don’t need a free evening to play a game together. All of these games finish in about 20 minutes or less, so they fit before dinner, before bed, or while waiting for food.
We pick games on their merits. Links go to Amazon, and we may earn a small commission if you buy, at no extra cost to you.
1.Hoot Owl Hoot!
Players work together to fly the owls back to their nest before the sun comes up. Colour matching, no reading.
Parent tip: Perfect first co-op game. Nobody loses alone, which takes the sting out for little ones.
Check price on Amazon2.My First Carcassonne
Lay tiles to build roads and race to place your figures. A simplified version of a modern classic.
Parent tip: Kids pick it up after one round. Later they can graduate to the full Carcassonne.
Check price on Amazon3.Outfoxed!
A cooperative whodunit: gather clues and use a decoder to work out which fox stole the pot pie before it escapes.
Parent tip: Teaches deduction without reading. Older siblings enjoy it more than you’d expect.
Check price on Amazon4.Race to the Treasure!
Build a path together to collect three keys and reach the treasure before the ogre does.
Parent tip: A gentle introduction to planning ahead. Short enough for a bedtime game.
Check price on Amazon5.Rhino Hero
Build a wobbly card skyscraper and move the superhero rhino up the floors without knocking it over.
Parent tip: Great for building fine motor skills and for getting the whole family laughing.
Check price on Amazon6.Blokus
Fit your coloured pieces onto the board corner to corner while blocking everyone else.
Parent tip: Explained in thirty seconds, and still interesting after a hundred games.
Check price on Amazon7.Exploding Kittens
Draw cards and avoid the exploding kitten, using skips, shuffles and defuses to survive.
Parent tip: The humour is silly rather than crude in the original deck. Check which edition you buy.
Check price on Amazon8.Labyrinth
Shift the walls of a moving maze to reach your treasures before everyone else.
Parent tip: A great spatial-reasoning game. Kids often beat adults at it.
Check price on Amazon9.Spot It!
Every pair of cards shares exactly one symbol. Be the fastest to spot it and shout it out.
Parent tip: Comes in a small tin, ideal for restaurants and travel. Younger kids can play with a head start.
Check price on Amazon10.Dragonwood
Collect sets of adventurer cards and roll dice to defeat creatures and dragons for points.
Parent tip: Lots of dice rolling keeps younger players excited even when they’re behind.
Check price on Amazon11.Ghost Blitz
Flip a card and grab the right wooden object first. Sometimes it’s the one shown, sometimes it’s the one that isn’t.
Parent tip: A fast reaction game that levels the playing field between kids and adults.
Check price on Amazon12.Hey, That's My Fish!
Penguins hop across melting ice floes collecting fish, cutting off opponents as tiles disappear.
Parent tip: Simple rules with real strategy. Kids learn to think a move ahead.
Check price on Amazon13.Kingdomino
Pick domino-style tiles to build a 5×5 kingdom of matching terrain. Quick, clever and easy to teach.
Parent tip: Six-year-olds can usually play with a little help counting the score.
Check price on Amazon14.Sleeping Queens
Wake up the sleeping queens with kings, steal them with knights, and practise simple maths along the way.
Parent tip: Invented by a six-year-old. Younger kids can play with help adding.
Check price on Amazon15.Sushi Go Party!
The bigger version of Sushi Go!, with more dishes to choose from and room for up to eight players.
Parent tip: Pick this over the original if your family gatherings are big.
Check price on Amazon16.Sushi Go!
Pick a card, pass the rest. Collect the best combination of sushi dishes over three rounds.
Parent tip: A great introduction to card drafting. Inexpensive and travels well.
Check price on Amazon17.The Mind
Play numbered cards in order as a team without talking. It sounds impossible; it isn’t.
Parent tip: Odd and magical. Works best when everyone takes it seriously for a few minutes.
Check price on Amazon18.Codenames: Pictures
Two teams race to find their agents using one-word clues that link several pictures at once.
Parent tip: The picture version is easier for kids than the word version, which is rated 14+.
Check price on Amazon19.Love Letter
Sixteen cards, endless bluffing. Deduce who holds what and be the last player standing each round.
Parent tip: Fits in a pocket. Rounds are very short, so players who are knocked out don’t wait long.
Check price on AmazonTips
- Keep one small card game in your bag or car. Spot It!, Sushi Go! and Love Letter all travel well.
- Short games are great for "best of three". If someone loses the first game, they get a quick shot at revenge.
Looking for something else? Try the game picker to filter by age, players and time.