These are the games we've packed and played on our own family holidays. Here's which ones suit which ages, which work for the whole family at once, and which we'd save until children are a bit older.
The best family travel games are ones children can genuinely join in with, not adult games made slightly easier. These are the ones that have worked for us, with the ages we've actually seen them work for.
The rules take seconds to explain, and being an experienced gamer gives almost no advantage, so adults and children are on a level playing field. Games last around five minutes, and the small tin also works on a plane.
Tiny, simple and gloriously chaotic. It's not a game for a long evening, but for ten or twenty minutes of noise and giggling it's hard to beat.
A cooperative card game with character cards, an adventure theme and a flip-out board that helps everyone follow the story. It's our 13-year-old's favourite version of The Crew, and the missions gave us roughly ten hours of play over one holiday.
Our 8-year-old picked it up without any problems. The chunky pieces also make it one of the few games that works outside or on a plane.
Our 13-year-old plays it comfortably and our 10-year-old can play with some help, but both prefer Family Adventure. Deep Sea is the more strategic version with almost endless replay value, so we think it's best when older teens are playing with adults.
A cooperative word game for three to seven players. It's simple enough for children but just as funny for adults, and it can easily fill an evening.
A cooperative game where everyone works together to defuse a bomb. Our 10 and 13-year-olds loved it so much they chose it over the on-site entertainment every night of our caravan holiday. It's recommended for ages 10 and up, and at around 27 × 27 cm and 1 kg it's one for car-based holidays rather than flights.
Every game here has worked for us with children joining in. New games appear here automatically when we mark them as good with children.
One of our favourite games to take on holiday, especially for adults. Small enough to pack easily, with almost endless replay value and enough depth to keep us playing all evening.
Small
10–20 min
A tense, funny cooperative game our children wanted to play every night of our caravan holiday. Too big for a flight, but brilliant when you have the space.
Large
~30 min
A brilliant two-player card game in a tiny box. Unpredictable, tactical and perfect for a plane, it's now a game we take on every holiday.
Small
~30 min
A brilliant, story-led version of The Crew that our children (even our 13-year-old) prefer to Mission Deep Sea, with around 8–12 hours of missions.
Small
10–20 min
Tiny, simple and chaotic. It's one of those games that can generate a surprising amount of laughter from little more than a deck of cards.
Tiny
10–20 min
A very easy game to recommend for holidays: quick, compact and ideal when you want something that fills 10–20 minutes without committing to a long game.
Small
~15 min
An excellent holiday game for two people. The chunky pieces make it particularly useful when you want to play somewhere that wouldn't suit ordinary cards.
Small
10 min
Brilliant with children and ideal when you've got 10–20 minutes to fill. Individual games are extremely quick, although we find it becomes repetitive if played for too long.
Tiny
~5 min
A simple and very funny family word game that's excellent for an evening, particularly with a larger group.
Medium
20–30 min
A very funny group game that gets better with more players. The full box is bulky, but it becomes a much better travel game if you take only the cards and keep score on paper.
Small
~15 min
The retail box is unnecessarily large for travelling, but take the cards out and Exploding Minions becomes a compact, simple and very good holiday game — particularly with more players.
Tiny
~30 min
Forbidden Desert is a great evening game, but it's more involved than the others, with more rules and around 45 minutes per game. We haven't marked it as good with children, and we'd choose one of the games above for younger players.
Pack one quick game and one longer one. A five-minute game fills gaps before dinner, and something like The Crew can carry an evening.
Try a cooperative game. In The Crew and Just One everyone wins or loses together, which can mean fewer sulks than games with one winner.
Leave big boxes at home. Games like Exploding Minions and Herd Mentality take far less space once you pack just the cards.
Let them choose one. Children are more likely to want to play a game they picked and packed themselves.
Dobble. The rules are very simple, games take about five minutes, and the small tin barely takes any luggage space.
Just One works brilliantly with a bigger family group. For children from around 8 right up to teens, The Crew: Family Adventure is our favourite.
Often, yes. Everyone works together towards the same goal, so younger players can be helped along without anyone feeling they've been let win.
A couple of simple accessories we use ourselves to protect games and cut down the amount of packaging we need to take away.
We use these sleeves with our card games, including The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, Exploding Minions and The Fox in the Forest. They add a little bulk, but they help protect games that get handled and shuffled a lot while we're away.
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, Exploding Minions and The Fox in the Forest
These simple deck boxes are useful for leaving bulky game packaging at home and taking only the cards you actually need. Different colours also make it easy to keep several games separate in your luggage.
The Crew: Mission Deep Sea, Exploding Minions, Herd Mentality and The Fox in the Forest
We wouldn't bother using one for Just One because you still need the other components from the original box.
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