The best games for family game night are the ones where a seven-year-old and a thirteen-year-old can both win. That rules out most trivia, most reaction games, and most things marketed as “family” games. What’s left: drawing games, team games, word games, and anything where luck does some of the work. All twelve below are free or already on your shelf, and eight of them work over a video call.
Family game night falls apart for one reason more than any other, and it isn’t screens. It’s that the ages don’t match.
Someone is always too young to keep up or too old to care. The nine-year-old wins everything, the six-year-old cries, the teenager is on their phone by round two. Most game-night lists ignore this completely — they hand you twenty games and let you find out the hard way which ones cause a fight.
So this one is sorted by the problem you’ve actually got: how many people, how far apart their ages are, and whether everyone’s in the same room.
First: how many people, and how far apart?
Two of you. Not really a game night — that’s a different and honestly easier problem. Our guide to free online family games covers it, sorted by how much time you’ve got rather than how many people.
Three to five, similar ages. The easy case. Almost anything works. Skip to the main list.
Three to five, wide age spread. The hard case, and the one this guide is built for. You need games where reading speed and reaction time don’t decide the winner.
Six or more, or people in different houses. You need something with a room code and phones as controllers. Jump to the video-call section.
The comparison
| Game | Players | Age spread it handles | Time | Where | Cost | What makes it work |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gartic Phone | 4–20 | Very wide (6–adult) | 20 min | Either | Free | Bad drawings are funny at every age |
| Skribbl.io | 2–12 | Wide (6–adult) | 15 min | Either | Free | Guessing beats drawing skill |
| Codenames | 4–8 | Wide, if you pair up | 20 min | Either | Free | Team play carries younger kids |
| Jackbox Party Pack | 2–8 | Moderate (10+) | 30+ min | Either | Paid | Phones as controllers, one purchase |
| Charades | 3+ | Very wide (4–adult) | 15 min | Either | Free | No reading, no tech |
| Mad Libs | 2+ | Wide (7–adult) | 10 min | Either | Free | Silly wins, not skill |
| Scavenger hunt | 2+ | Very wide (4–adult) | 15 min | Video call | Free | Everyone runs at their own speed |
| Yahtzee | 2–6 | Wide (7–adult) | 20 min | Either | Free | Dice luck flattens the field |
| Bingo / Loto | 3+ | Very wide (4–adult) | 15 min | Either | Free | Pure luck — the great equaliser |
| Pictionary (paper) | 4+ | Wide (6–adult) | 20 min | Same room | Free | Teams hide the skill gap |
| Two Truths and a Lie | 3+ | Wide (8–adult) | 10 min | Either | Free | Knowing each other is the skill |
| Mysh | 1–2 | 8–11 | 20–30 min | Same device | Free | Where the one kid who’s out goes |
Free means free — no purchase required to play. Jackbox is the one paid pick, and only the host buys it.
Why the age gap breaks game night
Worth understanding, because it tells you what to avoid.
Reaction games punish young kids. Anything where speed decides — slap-the-deck, buzzer trivia, most party video games — will be won by the oldest person in the room every single time. A six-year-old losing eleven rounds in a row is not playing a game, they’re watching one.
Trivia punishes them worse. General-knowledge questions are a proxy for years alive. There’s no version of this that’s fair.
Reading speed is the hidden one. Loads of “family” games assume everyone reads at the same pace. A card that a teenager scans in two seconds takes a seven-year-old fifteen, and by then someone’s answered.
What actually works: luck (dice, bingo), teams (pair a small one with an adult), creativity with no right answer (drawing, storytelling), and physical silliness (charades, scavenger hunts). Every pick above is one of those four.
Best games for a wide age spread
Gartic Phone
A sentence becomes a drawing becomes a sentence, and by round six it’s nonsense. Free, browser-based, works with four to twenty people. The single most reliable pick on this page for a mixed-age group, because a terrible drawing from a six-year-old is exactly as funny as a terrible drawing from an adult.
Use a private room. With random players the prompts turn inappropriate fast.
Charades
No tech, no reading, no cost. Works from about four upwards, and small kids are often better at it than adults because they’re less self-conscious. Write prompts on paper slips and scale the difficulty per person — nobody minds if the youngest gets “cat” while the teenager gets “photosynthesis.”
Bingo
Pure luck, which is exactly the point. A four-year-old has the same odds as a grandparent. Make your own cards around anything — words, pictures, numbers, French vocabulary if you’re feeling ambitious.
Codenames
The one strategy game here that survives a wide age gap, because it’s team-based. Pair each younger child with an adult and they contribute genuinely rather than being carried. Free to play online.
Yahtzee
Dice do most of the work, so a seven-year-old beats a grown-up often enough to stay invested. Quietly teaches probability, though don’t tell them that.
Best games for a video call
Eight of the twelve work when you’re not in the same house. These four are the most reliable.
Jackbox Party Pack
One person buys it and shares their screen; everyone else joins from a phone with a room code. No app, no purchase for anyone but the host. The most reliable option for more than three people on a call. Check the rating on each pack — some are firmly not for kids.
Scavenger hunt
“Find something blue — go.” Zero setup, zero technology beyond the call, and it works with a four-year-old and a grandparent simultaneously. Undefeated at holidays.
Gartic Phone and Skribbl.io
Both work over a call — everyone opens the same room link, and you keep the video window open for the reactions, which are most of the fun.
Mad Libs
Free templates online, one person fills in, everyone shouts suggestions. Ten minutes, no rules to explain.
When “family game night” is really just two of you
Some nights it’s one parent and one kid, and the group games above don’t fit. A four-player drawing game with two people is just drawing.
Mysh is built for this. Your child types who their character is — a dragon detective, a robot baker, their little sister — and then, each turn, types what that character does next. The story responds to what they wrote. It’s a storytelling game rather than a competitive one, so nobody loses, which matters if the reason game night ended in tears last time was that someone did.
It reads aloud, so a slower reader can play without stalling, and it waits for them instead of running on a timer. Stories save in chapters, so one can carry across several weeks — a game night that continues rather than restarting. No chat, no strangers, no purchases, and the whole story is saved so you can read it afterwards. Free in the browser at playmysh.com.
Where it doesn’t fit: it’s one device, taking turns, and it’s built for ages 8–11. It won’t work across a video call, and it won’t work with six people. For a full-family night, use the picks above and save this for the two-person version.
(Mysh publishes this guide. It’s here because it’s genuinely the answer to a narrow question — the two-person night — and it’s the wrong answer to most of the rest of the page.)
How to run a game night that doesn’t end badly
- Let the youngest pick first. They’re the most likely to disengage, and choosing buys you twenty minutes of investment.
- Play in teams when the ages are wide. Pairing a seven-year-old with an adult beats handicapping, which kids spot.
- Two games, not five. Stop while they’re asking for another round. Game night dies of exhaustion more often than boredom.
- Decide the ending before you start. “Two rounds and then we’re done” prevents the argument at the end.
- Nobody keeps a running score across weeks. It sounds fun. It creates a permanent loser.
Frequently asked questions
What are the best games for family game night? For a wide age range, drawing and team games work best — Gartic Phone, Skribbl.io, Codenames, and charades all let a young child compete genuinely. Avoid trivia and reaction-based games, which the oldest player wins every time.
What are some free family game night ideas? Charades, bingo, Mad Libs, Two Truths and a Lie, and paper Pictionary cost nothing at all. Online, Gartic Phone, Skribbl.io, and Codenames are free in a browser with no download or account.
What are good virtual game night ideas? Jackbox Party Pack is the most reliable for groups, since everyone joins from a phone. For zero setup, scavenger hunts and charades work over any video call. Gartic Phone and Skribbl.io both work if everyone opens the same room link.
What games can you play over FaceTime or Zoom with family? Charades, scavenger hunts, Mad Libs, and Two Truths and a Lie need nothing but the call itself. For something with more structure, Jackbox or a shared browser game like Gartic Phone works well.
How do you do family game night with a big age gap? Choose games decided by luck, teams, or creativity rather than speed or knowledge. Bingo, Yahtzee, charades, and drawing games all let a six-year-old and a teenager play the same game fairly. Pair younger kids with adults on anything strategic.
What can we do for game night with just two people? Most group games fall flat with two. Try a two-player classic like Connect 4 or chess, or a storytelling game like Mysh where the point isn’t winning. Our guide to games for one parent and one kid goes deeper.
How long should family game night be? Shorter than you think. Two games, forty minutes, ending while everyone still wants more. Long sessions are the main reason kids resist the next one.
Where to start
- Wide age gap, same room → Gartic Phone or charades
- Six or more people → Jackbox, or bingo if you want free
- Everyone in different houses → scavenger hunt for zero setup, Jackbox for structure
- Someone always ends up crying → bingo or Yahtzee, where luck decides
- Just the two of you tonight → Connect 4, or Mysh if they’d rather make something than win