Stay at home contemporary family game nights for New Year’s Eve (or anytime) fun! If standard board games and puzzles have become passé in your house, you can play these games favorite party games on just about any computer, electronic platform, streaming service, or modern console. Contemporary Family Game Nights are the BEST cabin fever cures (even if you don’t leave the house).
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Contemporary Family Game Nights
I came to realize the need for contemporary family game nights when I realized my kids weren’t having as much fun playing a dusty old Monopoly game or weren’t quite as enthused about Col. Mustard in the Library with a candlestick as I was.
As a family, we’ve adapted to modern family game nights slowly. As much fun as we have as a family, my kids just weren’t into playing board games as much as they used to when they were younger. So, rather than fight technology, we (mostly I) adapted to it.
Modern games, like the ones we discuss below, have come a long way. They’re simple to play. In fact, so simple even grandma and grandpa enjoy them. Basically, they’ve come up with family board game concepts (trivia games, win lose or draw, opinion games) and applied them digitally. They move more quickly, often employ their own brand of humor, and are very pleasing to the eye.
If you can stream, you can play. Our favorite games run on desktop PCs and laptops, gaming consoles like Nintendo Switch, Xbox, PlayStation 5, and even streaming devices like Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV. We play ours on my son’s Xbox and hook it up to our big family room TV. Best of all, instead of video game controllers, you use your phone as your controller to enter the game.
Initially, I felt like I was giving into the Dark Side – video games. I watched my son melt into eSports so much through the years it scared me… and now here I was flopping on the couch next to him and jumping in. Once the whole family was having fun together (equally), it was time to admit “Ok, these games are just better”.
Contemporary Family Game Nights – Jackbox Games
Our favorite contemporary family games come from packages from Jackbox Games. Jackbox games titles are are easy to pick up and play for gamers and non-gamers alike. Again, easy and fun to play for anyone literally. The titles skew a little young (think tween to young adult) but even oldsters (like me) can have fun. Most game packs (Party Packs) include 4 or 5 games – a type of trivia game, guessing game, drawing game, or other fun game. Most “Party Packs” have 2 or 3 really entertaining game, and 2 or 3 duds. With most games, you can play with up to 8 players – making it perfect for New Year’s Eve stay at home fun with the family. Most packages cost around $15-30 (depending on the platform).
So far, our favorite games on to play from Jackbox are: Poll Mine, Trivia Murder Party, Patently Stupid, Fibbage, and Guesspionage.
Contemporary Family Game Nights – Other Games
We also love any of the fun, family racing games that are easy and fun to play. Split-screen racing games like Beach Buggy Racing 2 (or any of the Mario Kart games) fit the bill.
Contemporary Family Game Nights
Even if you don’t love to play contemporary family games on family game nights, they’re just as entertaining to just watch. Just remember to get your butt handed to you by your kids when playing these games :D.
After our evenings of Contemporary family game nights fun, I’m reminded that family game nights of the 70s, 80s, & 90s are fun… but your kids might not necessarily think so. I think it might be time to box up Monopoly, CLUE, and SORRY for good.
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What are your favorite contemporary family games?
As a mom of three teens, I can gladly say that our family still LOVES board games — you just have to let your board game collection “grow up” as your family does. Teens and preteens may not want to play Monopoly, but there are HUNDREDS of other board games out there, for every theme and level you can imagine. Kids will always be entranced by video games, but if we parents put in the effort to find board games that suit our kids’ interests, it is effort well spent. Most hobby stores have the type of games I’m talking about — although silly games like “What Do You Meme?” can be really fun, too! If you want your kids off screens for family game night, all hope is not lost!
Great stuff Stephanie! We definitely have to upgrade our board game stash to include some fun (and modern) new ones