My girls are obsessed with Heads Up on my iPhone. Anytime we are hanging out on the couch or in the car, they break out the game and try to have beat my husband or me. We actually all really enjoy this game- it’s really fun to hear what words our kids come up with to describe certain animals or inanimate objects!
If you are a family who loves to play games but doesn’t want to own a closet full of them, you’re in luck! There are tons of game apps you can download for free (some may have in-app purchases) on your tablet or smartphone that will allow you to engage in some quality family time without the clutter (or the stress of missing pieces. Despite my best efforts, I can never seem to keep all the pieces of any given board game in one place!).
Best Family-Friendly Game Apps
- Charades: play this fun act-it-out game with one family member or many. One person draws a virtual card and has to act out the person or item on the card and make other players guess who they are. There are lots of different decks of cards to choose from so there should be a topic that everyone enjoys, from movie characters to fairy tales and animals to state legislature.
- Shoutrageous: engage your tweens and teens with this fast-paced trivia that tests your knowledge on a variety of topics, from sports to celebrities. Some of the topics are sure to leave you ready for another round.
- Hot Potato: Family Party Game (only available on iOS)- This game is hot potato gone a little wild! When the phone or tablet gets passed to you, you must do whatever challenge is listed on the screen before you are able to pass the “hot potato” along. Like in the original game, you don’t want to get caught with the phone when the timer goes off!
- Don’t Forget the Lyrics: think you’re a music buff? Test your music knowledge with this fun game where you have to finish singing lines and lyrics from well-known songs before time runs out. Advance to higher levels by guessing the correct lyrics to 6 of 12 songs in each level.
- Just Dance Now: get moving and grooving with your family with the Just Dance Now app for your phone (my tween would be mortified if she knew I just typed the words “moving and grooving!”). Learn the moves to more than 500 dance combinations originally made for the console game. 24K Magic by Bruno Mars, anyone?
- Do You Know Me?: Nothing makes my younger kids happier than stumping me on questions about them. Let your kids fill out the answer to questions about themselves (such as favorite color or favorite animal) and then you take a turn trying to guess which color or animal they selected as their favorite. I always try to throw the game because it just makes my kids laugh so hard that scoring a zero is totally worth it.
- Would You Rather?: Laugh out loud when you challenge friends and family to a game of would you rather? Pick between two goofy extremes such as “Would you rather be an ugly genius or a hot moron?” There are lots of topics to play to keep this game funny and entertaining.