Best Board Games For 8 Year Olds (And Some To Avoid)

Your child is eight years old and if you have searched for and found this article it is likely you are in the market for some great board games. I have researched the most popularly rated games to find you the best games for your 8 years old.

There are plenty of board games available for your 8 year old but finding the right one can be tricky. Here are my recommendations for the very best board games for your 8 year olds.

From 2 player upwards I have recommended collaborative board games, games they can play with ther older or younger siblings and even some to avoid.

Read on to find the best board games for your 8 year olds.

Table of Contents

• 8 year old development stage
  • Emotional/Social Changes
  • Thinking and Learning
• How I picked the best board games for 8 year olds
• Best family board game for 8 year olds
• Best 2 player board game for 8 year olds – Gunslinger Vs Samurai, Dice Throne: Season 2
• Best 2 player board game alternative for 8 year olds – Santorini
• Best 3 player board game for 8 year olds – Toy Story: Obstacles & Adventures
• Best 3 player board game alternative for 8 year olds – Century Spice Road
• Best 4 player board game for 8 year olds – Ticket to Ride
• Best 4 player board game alternative for 8 year olds – Kingdomino
• Best 5 player board game for 8 year olds – Dixit
• Best 5 player board game alternative for 8 year olds – King of Tokyo
• Best board game for 8 year olds with younger siblings – Outfoxed
• Best board game for 8 year olds with older siblings – Carcassonne big box
• Best board game for an 8 year old with both younger and older siblings – King of Tokyo
• Best collaborative board game for an 8 year old – Toy Story: Obstacles & Adventures
• Best holiday or travel board game for an 8 year old – Kingdomino
• Board games for 8 year olds to avoid

Before we get into the best board games for 8 year olds, I looked up some information on the development stage your child is currently in. Hopefully this will help guide your decisions about what sort of games you wish to purchase.

8 year old development stage

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) groups 8 year olds in the 6-8 year age group. In their Middle Childhood (6-8 years of age) article they note that your child is beginning to be more independent.

They can do more for themselves such as get dressed and tie their own shoelaces. It states that this is a critical time for the child to develop confidence throughout their life.

Taken from “Middle Childhood (6-8 years of age)” on CDC website.

The Center for Parenting Education in their post, Child Development by Age, writes that at 8 years old the child is generally ‘Lively and Outgoing.’ They also list that the child may have a more intense relationship with the mother and also cite that they may want to play more board games with her.

They also note that your 8 year old, “likes to acquire, barter, arrange, classify, and gloat about possessions.” Well that sounds like a great opportunity to play that out through board games to me.

Which brings me nicely onto this post about the best board games for 8 year olds.

How I picked the best board games for 8 year olds

We all know the classic games of Scrabble, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit and Clue (Cluedo in the UK) and there are plenty of these versions for children of 8 years and younger. So I won’t be listing those here in order to bring you something new to play.

Of course the good old classics are always worth buying and introducing to your loved ones. However, if you are looking for something a little different then read on as I have some great choices for you.

I have categorised the different board games for your 8 year old so that you can quickly find the best games for your family.

I have included are best board games for:

• 2, 3, 4, and 5 players.
• 8 year olds with younger siblings.
• 8 year olds with older siblings.
• 8 year olds with younger and older siblings.
• Collaborative board games for 8 year olds.
• Best holiday or travel board games for 8 year olds.
• Finally, I have mentioned a few games to avoid.

Let’s start with the Best Family Board Game for 8 year olds as this will be the most inclusive.

Best family board game for 8 year olds

I have included games here that will not only be perfect for your 8 year old but also the whole family too. Whatever your family size these games will enable you all to join in and enjoy playing.

So let’s have a look at the best family board games that your 8 year old will love.

I have broken down the games so you can easily see which are best depending on the number of players. Starting with 3 players and working up through 4, and 5 players.

Finally I have put a couple of board games together for collaborative play and parties.

So, there is plenty of room for expansion if you like it and will enable you to play with more players.

This would be my recommendation as it could lead to hours of fun once mastered and give huge flexibility with game modes that can include 1v1, 2v2, 3v3 or even 2v2v2. There is also an expansion to enable a cooperative mode of play called Dice Throne Adventures.

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	2	8	20-40	7.7	Buy at Amazon

The 3D board is also imaginative and looks great. Check out the full Santorini review here if you are interested in finding out more.

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	2-4	8	20	7.5	Buy at Amazon

This is a deck building game which means as you progress through the adventures more cards and characters are added to the game.

If you want to find out more about what a deck building board game is then take a look at the Wikipedia entry here. You can also find my full review here.

The game is based on the Harry Potter deck building engine so this would make a perfect progression game from 11+. It is beautifully designed and the graphics are excellent.

This game gives you the flexibility of playing with two to five players but three is the sweet spot. And hence it is my recommendation for 3 players.

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	2-5	8	45-90	7.7	Buy at Amazon

There are more mechanics that ensure that there is plenty of strategy to this game. The game play makes the spice cubes a really valuable commodity to be used carefully.

In a 3 player game it ends at the end of the round where the 6th points card is picked up. Adding up the points the player with the most points wins.

This is really a card game but I have included it as the alternative recommendation because it is a really fun game which I think teaches a lot of valuable lessons.

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	2-5	8	30-45	7.4	Buy at Amazon

The original Ticket to Ride is a great game to add to your collection. It will be a game that will entertain your children and also be something you will want to play once they are tucked up in bed.

The objective is to finish the game with the highest score. To get points you complete routes, destination cards, finishing the game with the longest route, and points for each station you still have at the end.

The game takes 30-60 minutes to play and is pretty easy to learn. The build quality is excellent and they even throw some spares in in case you lose any. The graphic design is really pleasing and the board is sturdy.

This is the best family board game for your 8 year old and why I recommend it.

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	2-5	8	30-60	7.4	Buy at Amazon

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	2-4	8	15	7.4	Buy at Amazon

Each player takes turns to be the storyteller and chooses a card from their own hand. They will then speak a word, sentence or phrase that describes the card image. They then put it on the table so no one else sees.

The storyteller’s objective is to get some but not all of the players to guess their card.

Each player also adds a card from their hand to storytellers and all the cards are shuffled and placed face up.

Now each player except the storyteller votes on which card they think is the storyteller’s card. If no one or everyone guesses correctly then the storyteller get a zero score and every other player gets 3 points.

In the case that one or more (but not everyone) guesses correctly then each player plus the storyteller gets 3 points.

A point is also awarded to each player who had a card incorrectly guessed.

This is an easy game to pick up and learn and ideal if friends are over and you want to play a game. Dixit won the 2010 Spiel des Jahres and is definitely my recommendation for 5 or 6 players.

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	3-8	8	30	7.2	Buy at Amazon

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	2-6	8	30	7.2	Buy at Amazon

The game starts with the foxy thief on one side of the board and the 16 suspect cards face down around the board. Two suspects are then turned over and revealed.

At each player’s turn they must decide if they want to roll for suspects or clues. If they are successful for suspects then two more suspect cards are revealed. Clues will allow them to take a clue disc and put it on the clue decoder to reveal the clue.

If they are unsuccessful at rolling the dice for their choice of suspect or clue then the fox moves 3 spaces closer to his lair.

If you guess the fox correctly before he reaches the foxhole then you win, else the naughty fox is down the hole and you will never catch him.

This is a fun game for two to four players and as it is only 20 minutes long it will be perfect for your 8 year old and their younger sibling(s).

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	2-4	5	20	7.2	Buy at Amazon

Carcassonne is a german-style tile game where the players work together to build cities, towns, roads, and fields together as the game progresses.

The players have a number of meeples each and through careful placement on a road, field or city the player accrues points. Once the game is completed there is a final score added to each player. Then the player with the highest score wins.

This sounds simplistic and it is but there is more to Carcassonne and it is a really good game to play. One that can be played with older siblings and in fact another good choice for the whole family to play.

It is best to start off with the base game and then add the expansions as you grasp the rules and mechanics.

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	2-6	7	35	8.2	Buy at Amazon

Once rolled you can select a number of the dice to reroll a further two times. This will result in each dice displaying either a number, heart, lightning, or claw.

You need three of the same number to score that amount in points plus one point for every die over the three with the same number e.g. 2-2-2-2 will result in a total of 3 points.

For each heart symbol you will regain 1 health as long as you are not in Tokyo. Every lightning die you will earn 1 energy. Collecting energy allows you to buy power cards which give you abilities to wield against the other monsters.

Finally the claw will deal damage. If you are currently in Tokyo then it will deal 1 damage to each player outside Tokyo. If you are outside Tokyo then it will deal damage to the Monster who is currently in Tokyo.

When your health is zero you are out. To win, be either the last monster standing or the first one to 20 points.

Whilst the game is for 8+ the Board Game Geek community considers this to be suitable for 6+ so it is a good choice for 8 year olds with younger and older siblings.

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	2-6	8	30	7.2	Buy at Amazon

It is also my recommendation for the best collaborative board game too. The combination of the adventures following the movies and the additive nature as you complete each one together is great to play.

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	2-5	8	45-90	7.7	Buy at Amazon

Kingdomino is my recommendation to take with you and play away. You can read the description of the game earlier in this article here.

	Players	Age	Playtime (m)	Rating
	2-4	8	15	7.4	Buy at Amazon

Board games for 8 year olds to avoid

I would like to make a few things clear before we look at the games to avoid. This does not make them bad games. Purely that whilst researching I have noted that these games may actually be more appropriate for an older age group.

Obviously each child is different and if your child is able to play more advanced games then games like Pandemic Fall of Rome are some of the highest rated. So they could actually be good choices. If not then wait a few years and the game will be perfect.

So, bearing the above in mind, let’s have a look at the list.

Game	Rating	Publishers Age	BGG Community Age	Complexity Easy 0-5 Hard
Pandemic Fall of Rome	7.7	8	10	2.45
Sentinels of the Multiverse	7.7	8	12	2.21
Raccoon Tycoon	7.4	8	10	2.13
Blue Lagoon	7.2	8	10	2.01
Photosynthesis	7.1	8	10	2.28
Tripoley	5.5	8	10	1.48