Board games are a fairly robust and universal source of fun. People of all ages can enjoy them, and most importantly, you can play them with others, making them more of a social occasion than sitting down to play a video game solo.
However, not all board games are appropriate for every age, and that becomes a problem when you’ve got kids, young relatives, or friends with children who need to be entertained. Board games are a minefield because they need to be more complicated than card games used to help babies learn about shapes and colors, but they can’t be so complex that all the rules just go over their heads. In this article, I’m putting all my knowledge at your disposal because I’ve been playing board games with my nephews for over a decade.
The best board games for 7-year-olds
Below, I’ve listed the best board games for 7-year-olds that I’ve played with my nephews and nieces over the years. While they’re older now, I’ve played these games with 7-year-olds and some of their relatives who were even a little younger at the time. You’d honestly be surprised at how much they can understand and want to engage with the game being played.
I’ve ranked these board games with the best at the bottom of the list and the worst at the top. However, all of them are great and worth a try if there’s a 7-year-old you need to entertain and you don’t want to stick them in front of a screen.
15. Pop Up Pirate
Pop Up Pirate is a pretty simple game that 2-4 people can happily play together. The pirate goes into the barrel and is set in place until someone puts a sword into the wrong hole. Every player takes turns to place swords in the holes in the barrel and hopes they’re not the ones to trigger the pirate to launch out of it.
This game is loads of fun to play with children and adults alike. I’ve played multiple games where we’ve all been incredibly cautious and tactile and have reached the end of the barrel with one slot left. At that point, it’s like watching the final player walk the plank, and it’s always hilarious.
14. Snap
We’ve all played Snap in a pinch. It’s a game you can make with two decks of cards if you’ve got absolutely nothing else, but it works better with a dedicated product that includes it. Most sets include at least a few games, and you can make your own up after you’re done with Snap for a while.
For anyone who doesn’t know, Snap is a simple card game where you and each player place cards down face up from a pile until you see two in succession that match. When that happens, you must shout “snap” and slam your hand down on the pile to claim it. Each player loses as they run out of cards.
7-year-olds are at just the right age when they’re good at Snap, and they love that. It’s an easy game everyone knows, and they’re the masters. Giving them a game they’ve got an advantage in will help it go on for longer and feel better by the time they’re finished because they’ve probably won most of the rounds.
13. Cheat
Cheat is a game you can play with one standard deck of cards. Everyone takes seven cards and goes around in a circle, saying what their card is as they place it next to the face-up card in the center. Their card must be the same suit or one number higher or lower than that card.
At the start, this game is easy because you can cheat, and no one can call you out on it. But as it goes on, it becomes incredibly difficult not to laugh as you lie about the card you’re placing down. You have to call another player’s bluff to get them to pick up the pile of cards that are amassed on the table, but if you get it wrong, that pile is yours.
This game is fantastic for 7-year-olds because it gives them the ability to lie without hurting anyone. It’s cheeky fun but still restricted to the board game itself.
12. Uno
Uno is an absolutely fantastic board game for 7-year-olds because, like many in this article, it can go on forever. There are a few different game types you can play with a single deck, but the most common uses colors and numbers, requiring you to place your cards, switch the direction of the rounds, or block someone from making you pick up more cards or skipping a turn.
This game is hilarious for 7-year-olds because they think they hold all the power. To be fair, they do. They know the game better than anyone and can ruin your day by placing a blocker or skip card just as you think you’re about to place your last card and win the entire game.
11. Connect 4
Connect 4 is a classic board game you can play for hours with people of all ages. But 7-year-olds just have more stamina for it. This is a game they know they can beat you at, and they’re going to make you play again and again until they’re on a losing streak and want it to end.
The goal of the game is simple: get a line of four counters in your color. I’ve had to play this game for almost a full day while my nephews, niece, and my own kids rotated through playing against me. It’s a winner for any rainy day or just when you need a board game to break up the hours.
10. Kerplunk
Kerplunk never gets old. It’s a structure through which you must poke dozens of sticks before pouring marbles over them and getting them stuck. Then, and only then, does the game start. You take it in turns to pull sticks out and collect marbles, and you want to get the best sticks possible so you earn the most marbles on your turns.
This game teaches strategy and a little bit of deception. It’s loads of fun and only requires a few minutes to set up for each round. The random way the marbles fall is what makes it so engaging for a 7-year-old, and because it feels different each time, it can be played over and over for hours.
9. Guess Who?
Guess Who? is a great game to play with any 7-year-old. Each player has a board of characters and must choose one as the character that their opponent has to identify by asking questions about their appearance. It sounds simple, and it really is, but the fun is in how you ask the questions.
I’ve had the best time with younger family members asking about hair and eye color in the strangest way possible. If you lean into the silly side of the game and have fun with it, this can be a true banger of a game that keeps on giving.
8. Battleships
Battleships is a classic game I’ve been playing since I was a 7-year-old. Each player has one side of the game and must place their ships around the sea. You then take turns firing shots at various places on that ocean, trying to score a hit on your opponent’s ships.
This game makes you feel like some sort of naval strategist as a 7-year-old, and you feel pretty great when you nail a hit as an adult as well. What I like about it is that everyone is on even ground. A 7-year-old knows the shapes of each ship and is out for your blood in this game. It’s brutal.
7. Settlers of Catan: Junior
I’ve played the normal version of Settlers of Catan with a 7-year-old, and it’s been fine, but I have to recommend the Junior version just in case this is your first time with the title. It’s a simplified version of the game that will prepare young people for the complexity of the full version.
The Junior version of the game is essentially the same, but it’s a bit faster-paced to better keep everyone’s attention. If you’re a family who loves the base game, I can’t recommend this enough because it will mean you get to play Catan for years to come.
6. The Game of Life
While the recommended age for The Game of Life is 8+, if you’ve ever played it, you know that you can grasp it at 5 years old. This is an incredibly simple board game that’s about as linear as it gets. You go from one end of the board to the other and make choices based on dice rolls along the way.
The idea with this game is to get your 7-year-olds used to playing board games at all. It’s easy for them to win, and there are enough variations for each run that make it feel new each time you play. This is the preparation game for more complex things to come.
5. Monopoly
Monopoly needs little introduction. It’s a game in which everyone starts with a set amount of money and must buy up property as they move around the board to, hopefully, charge other players and increase their rent by adding to those properties over time.
The best part about this game is the metagame that forms between every player as it goes on. You can end up becoming a property mogul and charging your dad or your uncle a fortune just to keep a roof over their heads for the night. It’s fantastic fun, but you need to know when to let the game end before it sparks an argument.
4. The Garden Game
The Garden Game is an oldie, but it’s pure gold. It’s a unique board game with gorgeous artwork and an incredible boar with polystyrene gardening plots that you must play to plant your seeds in. Each type of plant adds pints to your score, but some add more points if planted with others.
The game is almost educational in the way it teaches you about plant pairing, but it’s also a fun game. Cards will wash out your plants and ruin your day or give you some serious growth, depending on what you get. It’s great fun for all ages, but it’s a game you’re going to have to pick up a second-hand copy of from eBay. they pop up all the time but are well pout of print at the time of writing.
3. Chess
Chess is a startlingly simple game, but one that few people have a decent boxed copy of in their homes. It doesn’t take much to learn the rules, but mastering them is a lifetime’s work. Some people can make a career out of the game if they’re good enough.
I think this is an essential game to play with any 7-year-old because it teaches them the basics of a board game they can love for the rest of their lives and go on to play with anyone in the world. There’s no way you can sit down at a public Chess corner without knowing the game, and being part of that feels like a rite of passage for everyone.
2. Draughts/Checkers
Draughts is a board game that’s a bit simpler than Chess, but it can be no less strategically advanced. The idea is to take all of your opponent’s pieces still, but there’s a layer of extra play you can add with various rulesets that see you gain pieces back for reaching the opposite side of the board.
As with Chess, I think this game is essential for anyone to learn as young as possible. It teaches you a game you can play forever and one that pretty much everybody can interact with. It opens doors in the future and it’s a game you can use to pass the time even if all you have is rocks and some sand.
1. Blokus
Blokus is the ultimate game to play with 7-year-olds because they can see strategies you’d never notice. Every player picks a color and must place their tiles across the board. However, you can’t place a tile unless one of its corners touches the corner of another already set piece.
This gets really difficult by the end of the game, with the board becoming a mosaic of multiple colors of tiles. The thing I’m always impressed by with my nephews is how they manage to thrash me with ease. Once they get it, they can see the way to set every tile they have before you’ve worked out your next move.
Published: Aug 3, 2024 11:02 am