Family games a high school student, middle school student and an elementary student can all enjoy
Finding a game that everyone enjoys can be a difficult endeavor; especially when you have a big age range amongst your kids. In our family we have a sixteen year old (high school), a thirteen year old (middle school) and a ten year old (elementary school). It can be hard to find games that all three enjoy and where all three have a (moderately) equal chance of winning.
Here are the games that all three kids enjoy playing. (As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.)
UNO
I will begin with the most popular game in the family: UNO.
If this game is offered as one of the gaming options to the family it is almost certainly a lock to get the majority vote. The kids get obsessed.
In case your family becomes obsessed as well there is one nice thing about UNO that can help stave off staleness: There are a multitude of variations. You can mix things up by getting a new version without having to spend too much money and the game feels fresh again.
If you opt to purchase a themed version of UNO it will most likely include a unique rule. The favorite custom UNO game in the family is The Office version. In this edition you have cards themed from the US TV show, The Office. In addition there is a special wild card featuring Kevin’s Chili. If someone plays that card, everyone has to drop their cards and the last person to drop their hand has to draw some extra cards.
Some of the other versions of UNO we have tried (and enjoyed) are the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles edition and the NFL Edition (the bonus rule for this version involves “kicking” a field goal with a paper football). The Emoji version’s extra rule didn’t sound exciting but ended up being hilarious and fun. If you get hit with the Emoji card you have to make an emoji’s face for a period of time.
The one version that doesn’t work for our family is the UNO: Show ‘Em No Mercy edition. That ended up being too much for the collective competitive nature of the group and has since been retired. Feel free to try it if you dare.
Rat A Tat Cat
Rat A Tat Cat is a simple card game. I’m always surprised when the kids want to play it (and when they don’t want to stop playing it). Each player is dealt four cards face down. You arrange them in a lower row of two cards and an upper row of two cards. Each player is allowed to look at their bottom row of cards but not the top. Then each player takes turns drawing a card and deciding if they want to replace any of their four cards. (Of course, you take a risk replacing one of the top cards you haven’t seen yet.) The goal is to get the lowest score possible each round. If you think you have a lower score you can shout “Rat A Tat Cat” and finish the round early.
Jenga
Another classic game with a short game play time is Jenga. Simply build the tower and then each player takes a turn pulling a block out and placing it on top. The player that makes it tumble loses.
Fire Tower
Fire Tower is the newest game we have tried as a family. I thought the beautifully designed fire gems would be enough to convince the kids to try this one but they were all hesitant to play at first. Once they got a few minutes into the game, however, they were hooked.
Each player chooses a tower to protect from a wild fire. Then, on their turn, they have an opportunity to use the cards in their hand to either protect their tower or send the fire toward another player’s tower. It, as is the case with a lot of games, sounds complicated at first but once you start playing each player tends to get it pretty quickly.
Playing a game doesn’t take too long. The only downside is it works as an elimination game so once one player is out they can get bored and antsy while they wait for the rest of the players to finish playing.
Sushi Go
The kids love sushi so it was inevitable that we tried Sushi Go. This game happens in three rounds. Everyone starts with the same number of cards. Each player picks one of the cards from their hand to keep and then they pass the cards to the player on their left.
What makes this game fun (and frustrating) is you end up seeing all the available cards and simultaneously see what combinations other players are trying to make. This means you occasionally realize that your goals for earning points are going to get undermined by another player.
It’s a really fun game played in three rounds which go fairly fast. Although your kids will probably want to play again once they finish a game.
Okay! Best of luck with your next game night. I hope you find a game that everyone in the family enjoys.
HOPOLOGETICS 
