17 Fun Family Games for Large Groups

A variation on Scrabble, each player in Bananagrams picks a certain number of tiles and then players race against each other to form personal crossword puzzles using all of their letters. There are endless opportunities to modify for kids and it's great spelling practice!

Jennie Utsinger said:  My entire extended family has been playing this game for years - always a favorite!

Joseph Kelley said:  A fun twist on a matching game! This is a fast paced family game where you must pick out the matching symbols out of a large group of symbols. Great for a when you have some kids who are reading and some who aren't because there are no words in this game. The storage tin makes it a great game to take along for a road trip.

Players ask “yes” or “no” questions to try and guess the animal, food or object on their playing card.

Brittany Kozielski said:  Hedbanz is one of the all time best family games in our house. You put on a headband and put a mystery card in the clip so that you can't see it. The other players give you clues and you have to guess what the picture is on the card on your head. Lots of laughs. We have even made our own personal cards over the years to give the game a little more variety.

A combination of Pictionary and the telephone game, where you draw and pass sketches around in a circle.

Kelly R said:  This is one of our go-to family games for a mix of ages, and it's best if you play it with a larger group. My 10-year-old daughter loves it the most of all of us.

Codenames is a word game where two teams compete to guess the identities of their agents. Each team has a spymaster who gives one-word clues that can point to multiple words on the board. The other players on the team try to guess their team's words while avoiding the words of the other team. The first team to guess all of their agents wins.

Kelly R said:  There are 2 teams, and one member of each team gives clues to teammates to get them to guess certain words on a grid of cards. While younger kids can do well as part of a larger team, kids need to be older to play on their own because some of the clues or words are more advanced. This makes it a great board game for teens and tweens! It's especially perfect for playing when you have a larger group, because teams can be any size and the full rules can be learned within minutes.

In this fast-paced card game, players aim to create sets of three matching cards. When someone completes a set, they grab a spoon from the middle. The last player without a spoon loses the round.

Players come up with lists of words related to a topic, but with challenges that change with each topic: match as many players as possible, match one player, or match no players. Modify it for a larger group by adding extra pawns to the board, or breaking up into teams.

Up the excitement playing this dice game with a large group by replacing the chips with quarters or dollar bills.

Players pick a card from their hand that they think best matches the word chosen by the judge. The player with the best match (according to the judge) wins the round.

Use the Heads Up! app or this party edition board game for a fast-paced guessing game the whole family will enjoy.

Kelly R said:  We were big fans of the kids edition of Sequence during the early years, and switched to this regular version when they became tweens. Still a family favorite! We like playing as teams, as you work with a partner but can't discuss strategy...this makes it more unpredictable and exciting.

A fast-paced family game perfect for larger groups that combines elements of charades, scavenger hunts, karaoke and physical challenges.

A classic family game that is perfect for large groups. Divide into teams of at least two people each, and take turns drawing on a white board while your teammates try to guess what you are drawing. You can buy the board game with prompts, create your own, or use a free online word generator.

Silly and competitive game where players give clues to try to get their teammates to guess words and phrases. The catch? They can only use single-syllable words, caveman-style.

Kelly R said:  This is a great game to play with a large group for a holiday, family gathering, etc. I believe we've even played it with more than 8 people. The object is to write down as many answers as you can in a given category (for example, breakfast foods) and take turns reading them off. If you read and answer that nobody else wrote down on their own list, you're out. It's good for kids and adults to play together - if you have kids under 12, you might just have to skip some cards that they don't understand.