Best Board Games for 8-Year-Olds

We have an awesome collection of board games to keep your 8-year-olds entertained!

It’s important to focus on communication and strategy skills when choosing the perfect board game for 8-year-olds. By this age, children’s cognitive skills have developed to the point where they can focus their attention for longer and create more complex strategies. This makes for a great list of fun games to play. 

Let’s look at the best board games for 8-year-olds!

Our Top Picks for Best Board Games for 8-Year-Olds

In a hurry? Take a quick peek before you go.

09/20/2023 10:00 am GMT

Zombie Kidz Evolution

Players: 2-4
Playing time: 5-15mins
Age: 7+
Difficulty: Easy

Zombie Kidz Evolution is a cooperative, dice-rolling, introduction to legacy games for your 8-year-old. While at school, the kids are attacked by a zombie invasion! It’s up to players’ quick wits and problem solving abilities to lock the doors and save the school.

In the game, players must work together to eliminate zombies and seal the 4 exits before the school is overrun. The more you play, the better your characters get! Move on to missions and win trophies for group and individual successes.

What we Liked

The “evolution” mechanism of this game is fantastic. The game actually grows with your kids and allows them to experience new things each time you sit down to a game.

What Could be Better

The game can be a bit predictable, especially for experienced gamers and may not offer as many surprises as you’d like. It is, however, a great gateway to both legacy and cooperative board games.

Magic Maze

Players: 1-8
Playing time: 15 mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy

Oh no! A mage, a warrior, and a dwarf have all been stripped of their possessions. With nowhere left to turn they must rob the local Magic Maze shopping mall for all the equipment needed for their next adventure. Can they pull off this heist and dash to the exit?

What we Liked

Magic Maze is a fantastic cooperative board game without the alpha-gamer problem. Each player can control any hero they choose, in order to make that hero perform a specific action. Different types of actions include bravely exploring a new area to even just riding the escalator. To do so, communication and rigorous cooperation is needed.

What Could be Better

While fun and sometimes a bit tense, it might be difficult for 8-year-olds to maintain silence during the game without breaking the “no talking or gesturing” rules!

However, while moving through the map in a grid movement, children learn important skills all while having fun as a group. With a sand timer putting on the pressure, loiter to the best of your abilities before the mall security guards nab you! 

My Little Scythe

Players: 1-6 
Playing time: 45-60mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy to Medium

My Little Scythe is a competitive family-friendly game where players embark on an adventure in the Kingdom of Pomme. Inspired by the best-selling game Scythe, My Little Scythe is an exploration fantasy game where little players take turns choosing to move, seek or make, all in the hopes to be the first to earn four trophies.

What we Liked

Credited with having very high-quality cute playable characters, young gamers can be introduced into the wonderful world of Scythe. This is a wonderful game for nearly all ages and skill ranges.

What Could be Better

As a kids’ game, it lacks depth and can be considered nothing more than a point salad Eurogame that frequently ends in ties.

Many adults, however, have just as much fun as the kids in this easy-to-learn Scythe prequel! By completing quests, learning magic spells, and even engaging in a pie fight kids can be challenged all while spending an enjoyable time together.

Sushi Go Party!

Players: 2-8
Playing time: 20mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy

Get ready to make some maki, savor some sashimi, and taste some tempura!

Sushi Go Party! is a fast and easy pick-and-pass card game where players try to grab cards as they whiz by to create the best sushi combos possible. The better combos you make, the more points you score at the end!

What we Liked

Sushi Go! is the perfect game to gift to kids (and newbies) to get players into the hobby. It teaches kids the card drafting ability without any fuss and has adorable artwork to boot!

What Could be Better

While not a deep or challenging game by any stretch, Sushi Go Party! offers a fun party game experience for a variety of age groups. If you can avoid the runaway leader issue, everyone will have a blast.

If you’re a fan of card drafting mechanics or games like 7 Wonders, you’ll love Sushi Go!

Azul & Azul: Summer Pavilion

Players: 2-4
Playing time: 30mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty level: Easy

At the turn of the 16th century, the king commissioned Portugal’s greatest artisans to construct a grandiose building. The king ordered a summer pavilion to honor the most famous members of the royal family but unfortunately, the king died before construction could even begin.

In Azul: Summer Pavilion, players take on the task of constructing and completing the most beautiful designs. With the finest materials, players draft tiles and place them on their individual player boards to score points, but be careful to avoid wasting your supplies!

What we Liked

Azul is a wonderful introductory game into card drafting and pattern building. As a great addition, Azul: Summer Pavilion adds the ability to gain a single wild tile that can be placed on your board.

What Could be Better

While most of the components are great, the individual player boards could be a bit sturdier.

If you’re looking for a game with design and patterns for your children Azul will have your kids creating intricate designs with beautiful tiles.

Lanterns: The Harvest Festival

Players: 2-4
Playing time: 30mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy to Medium

The harvest is in and it’s time to celebrate! Decorate the palace lake with beautiful floating lanterns to prepare for the upcoming festival.

In Lanterns: The Harvest Festival, players take turns to place tiles on the lake and all players receive lantern cards based on how they place the tile. That’s right, even your opponents get cards! When you create a set you earn points and more importantly bring honor to your family, of course.

What we Liked

Lanterns: The Harvest Festival is a great board game for 8-year-olds as it includes many different types of mechanics like tile placement, hand management network building, and set collection. It definitely covers a lot of bases!

What Could be Better

The only thing we didn’t love was that there are definitely major luck-based aspects of the game as to what tiles are drawn, which takes away a bit of the strategic depth of the game.

With colorful lantern cards and a cute wooden boat, however, this is an awesome abstract game with wide appeal.

Ingenious

Players: 1-4
Playing time: 45mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy to Medium

The ultimate family strategy game, Ingenious is another tile-placement game that’s perfect for family game nights. 

The game is made up of hexagonal shapes in which you lay your tiles. Players take turns placing color tiles on the game board. Players earn points when they match colored symbols. But there’s a trick to these ingenuous hexagons. The player with the highest score in their lowest score color wins!

What we Liked

Although it may sound a little complicated, Ingenious is really easy to learn, simple, and actually quite addictive! If you’re a fan of pattern building, you’ll love this domino-solitaire-style game that leaves little to chance. 

What Could be Better

While it’s a challenging abstract board game, Ingenious lacks the aesthetics of similar games like Photosynthesis.

Ingenious is a rare game that appeals to serious gamers as well as casual non-gamers, and with its high replayability, it’ll have the family entertained for hours!

Dragonwood: A Game of Dice and Daring

Players: 2-4
Playing time: 20mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty level: Easy

Do you dare to enter Dragonwood? In the deep heart of a mystical forest lurks the angry ogres, goblins, and even dragons. Will you be the bravest and emerge victoriously?

Dragonwood introduces strategic skills to beginner players as the landscape of the game is ever-changing. By collecting sets of adventure cards, players earn dice they can roll against their foes. This game includes some fun activities for your characters like shrieking at a grumpy troll, stomping on some fire ants, or even striking a menacing dragon with a magical sword.

What we Liked

Dragonwood is highly recommended for children around 8 years old as it’s easy to learn as well as a good introduction to fantasy games. Dragonwood seamlessly combines card drafting with dice rolling.

What Could be Better

We tend to shy away from luck-based and push-your-luck style games, so while this isn’t our favorite mechanic, Dragonwood is a fun and silly dice game that can be entertaining… as long as you don’t roll a 1.

What a wonderful game for little adventurers. Take a walk through a mystical forest and let your imagination run wild… if you dare.

Agricola: Family Edition

Players: 1-4
Playing time: 45mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy

Guide your family to health, wealth, and prosperity!

Agricola: Family Edition is the introductory edition to the celebrated classic. To make it more family-friendly, the game features no cards and simplified rules. Players will begin with two family members on their farm but, of course, can grow their families throughout the game.

What we Liked

This gives players a little more freedom while teaching the importance of having enough food. It can be challenging! A simplified worker placement game, Agricola: Family Edition gives children the satisfaction of creating a well-built farm, no matter who wins the game!

What Could be Better

As a simplified version of the original, it lacks some variability and can be a bit flat at points. Also, we’re not huge fans of the one-time use scoring sheets. But for what it is, it definitely is a fun gateway to Eurogames.

Get your kids hooked into the world of Agricola and soon they’ll be top-notch farmers.

Karuba

Players: 2-4
Playing time: 30-40mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy

Karuba is an addictive tile-based puzzle game for a family of treasure hunters. 

A team of adventurers is dropped off on the beach of a mysterious island. They must explore the jungle to hunt for treasure with the ultimate goal of ransacking ancient temples. 

Think Indiana Jones meets the ultimate puzzler. Karuba is a network-building board game in which players lay their tiles on a grid to form paths. The game gets really fun as players are racing against each other to snatch the loot first.

What we Liked

In this fast-paced strategy game, every game can feel different as players take turns leading expeditions. With enough strategy for kids, Karuba feels a bit like a mix of Bingo and tile-laying games, but with colorful artwork.

What Could be Better

Basically a game of optimization, Karuba requires a fair bit of planning and misses out on a lot of the social aspects of board gaming that we love.

Karuba encourages children to find new ways of thinking all while having fun in the short playtime.

5-Minute Marvel

Players: 2-5
Playing time: 5 mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty level: Easy 

If you too have children obsessed with the Marvel universe, 5-Minute Marvel will have children begging for game nights!

5- Minute Marvel is a cooperation card game that’s very fast-paced, hence the 5 minutes in the name. Players will choose a Marvel hero and team up with other players to defeat the evil villains. 

What we Liked

The game can be frantic and chaotic, sure to keep everyone’s adrenaline pumping, even if just for 5 minutes. By slapping down cards to match the villain symbols, you’re able to destroy them. Quickly swipe the cards aside and move on to the all-powerful Thanos. 

What Could be Better

With “5 Minute” in the name, you know what you’re getting into, but even so, it’s a bit hectic for some players. At points, it can be almost too fast to enjoy.

5-Minute Marvel encourages teamwork, communication, and strategy, with just a sprinkle of luck. With such a simple premise and a game that’s truly quick to play, 5-Minute Marvel is fun for all ages!

Forbidden Island

Players: 2-4
Playing time: 30mins
Age: 10+
Difficulty: Easy

The island is sinking and time is running out! In Forbidden Island, players join a team of intrepid adventurers whose mission is to save sacred treasures from a sinking island before it’s too late.

Each turn, players are faced with new challenges, like rising water levels and using each player’s role to the best effect.

What we Liked

Cooperative games are wonderful for young children, getting them to work together and succeed as a team. Forbidden Island encourages communication and cooperation, as players talk through their solutions for saving the treasures (and themselves).

What Could be Better

The roles are a bit unbalanced as far as usefulness and at no point do you ever feel unsafe (like in Pandemic). That being said, it’s perfectly suited to a younger audience and can get them ready for the more intense cooperative games.

Carcassonne: Safari

Players: 2-5 
Playing time: 35mins
Age: 7+
Difficulty: Easy

Inspired by the classic Carcassonne, Carcassonne: Safari takes you to the savannahs of Africa under the blazing African sun.

In Carcassonne: Safari, players join a safari group to explore the plains, spotting any wonderful animals that live there. Walk the paths, hide in the bush, and blaze new trails with a range of vehicles as you observe the watering holes where animals come to peacefully gather.

What we Liked

If your children are big animal fans like I was, Carcassonne: Safari will take them on a journey to discover many different exotic and beautiful animals.

Just like in the original, this game is a classic tile-laying game but just with a unique setting. With monkeys swinging and lions roaring in the shade, players have the option to place their figures on features they discover to score points. As in a normal safari, variety is key, so keep your eyes open as you explore the beautiful vistas of Africa.

Although a favorite version of Carcassonne for children, Carcassonne: Safari is great for all ages. Get your hands on this exciting stand-alone game and outsmart your opponents while observing the majesty of nature.

What Could be Better

Safari is a lovely version of the game with a few new rules that may or may not be useful to the game. The biggest problem with this version is that it’s almost impossible to find! In that case, it might be better to stick with the original.

Labyrinth

Players: 2-4
Playing time: 20mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy

Ah, this Ravensburger classic, Labyrinth. Many parents will have fond memories of moving through the mazes themselves.

Labyrinth is an excellent puzzle-solving game for children that challenges players to move around the shifting paths of the labyrinth as quickly as possible to collect the treasures. To add a challenge, players will only know the next treasure after they find the one before.

What we Liked

Labyrinth is a tried and tested classic for children as it’s engaging and challenging. The rules are quick to learn and as players move through the mazes, tile-placing and network-building skills can be developed, all helping to practice essential cognitive skills.

What Could be Better

It’s hard for me to say anything bad about this game as I have loved playing it since age 6! It can, however, be a frustrating maze game for kids at points. With the paths constantly shifting, it can be hard to plan a good path.

Invest in this classic and find your way through the maze!

Don’t L.L.A.M.A

Players: 2–6
Playing time: 20mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy

Decisions, decisions, decisions…

Can you beat the llama? In this colorful card game, players get three options on every turn. Play a card, pick a card or quit. The goal is to play all your cards so you don’t get stuck with markers. Don’t let llamas and markers accumulate. 

What we Liked

Although the rules are simple, Don’t L.L.A.M.A is definitely not as easy as it looks, bringing a little challenge and a lot of decision-making skills into play.

What Could be Better

Although this game may seem like an UNO rip-off at first glance, it has more strategy and substance. Goodbye UNO…. hello llama!

With colorful cards and an adorable llama on the box, Don’t L.L.A.M.A is an enticing, fun, and family-friendly game!

Marrakech

Players: 2–4
Playing time: 30mins
Age: 6+
Difficulty: Easy

Pay a visit to the carpet markets of Marrakech and display your carpets beautifully and tactfully!

The bazaar is bustling and the market organizer inspects the rugs to determine which of them is the best. Marrakech is a game of area control in which players try to force opponents to move Assam onto your carpets so they must pay you with their coins.

Essentially, players are trying to cover their opponent’s carpets. The rules are very simple and easy to teach making it a light family-friendly game.

What we Liked

A Mensa Select award winner, this game is great to build up strategy skills and learn about area control.

Marrakech is an excellent introduction to strategy games for children as it requires some critical thinking skills but the game time is quick and fun. With unique and beautiful board and pieces, Marrakech is an underrated gem.

What Could be Better

If you dislike luck-based games and random outcomes, this game could be a bit of a letdown. However, for getting kids acquainted with board game mechanics, it does have its place.

Scotland Yard

Players: 3-6
Playing time: 45mins
Age: 10+
Difficulty: Medium

Scotland Yard: a compelling detective game of dodging racing cornering and chasing.

Get ready to travel all around London chasing the mysterious Mr. X. Players take on the roles of detectives in Scotland Yard and your job is to trace Mr. X’s routes as he travels around London.

Mr. X teases the police when he changes between taxis, buses, and the London Underground, all while trying to evade capture. Players devise plans and strategies to try and capture him before he strikes again.

What we Liked

In Scotland Yard, 8-year-olds can develop their deduction skills by guessing and using various clues to find the fugitive’s new location.

What Could be Better

While a simple hide-and-seek-style game, the gameplay can be a bit dull for older children and adults as it focuses more on logic than exciting movement. It does, however, prepare kids for the more intense Fury of Dracula later on!

Scotland Yard needs a team of daredevil detectives, can you capture Mr. X?

Hanabi

Players: 2-5
Playing time: 25mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy to Medium

Race the clock, build the fireworks, and launch your rockets!

Hanabi is a clever deduction card game with an electrifying twist! Players work together and must share as well as remember important information to play cards in the correct sequence.

As players cannot see their own cards, communication and cooperation are of the utmost importance. Hanabi teaches children key social skills of working as a team.

What we Liked

A fantastic board game with many mechanisms, Hanabi is easy to learn and play all while growing deduction, memory, and cooperative skills.

What Could be Better

Hanabi can be quite group dependent, leading to some players getting easily frustrated and others giving up. But that’s the whole point! You’ve got to communicate to solve problems.

Light them all to create a dazzling display and avoid a fizzling fiasco!

The Great Dragon Race

Players: 2-4
Playing time: 25-45mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy

The Great Dragon Race takes racing to the next level!

It’s the first day of the international dragon championships and the first event is the prestigious obstacle course known as the Great Dragon Race. Take on the role of a skilled dragon rider and race your way to treasures!

What we Liked

The Great Dragon Race is a fun fantasy game in which players can delve into storytelling and immerse themselves in the backgrounds of each dragon and its rider. With bold and colorful artwork, this game is wonderful for children.

What Could be Better

The game could get overly aggressive if players decide to stop others from finishing the race (rather than advancing their dragon).

While dodging attacks like ballista bolts and flaming balls, players use special cards to advance to the finish. Encouraging imagination and adventure, the Great Dragon Race is a fantastic game for creative minds.

Kingdomino Duel

Players: 2 
Playing time: 20mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy 

Inspired by the classic Kingdomino, Kingdomino Duel is a territory-building board game that captures the medieval theme all in a compact package. This game is travel-friendly making a great for family trips or to play at school.

Kingdomino Duel is a two-player fantasy game in which players take turns rolling dice, putting them in pairs, and creating the dominoes they want. Slowly filling up your map, gather power from wizards who can cause powerful spells to allow you to rule over all the lands.

What we Liked

If you’re looking for some one-on-one time with your 8-year-old, Kingdomino Duel is a perfect game as it’s a strictly 2-player duel. Kingdomino Duel encourages independent decision-making in a stress-free-style game with only one other player.

What Could be Better

Low player interaction and less interesting art on this version make it a clear runner-up to the original (which plays well with two, by the way).

Roll, write and build your kingdom!

Apples to Apples Junior

Players: 4-10
Playing time: 30mins
Age: 9+
Difficulty: Easy

A game of crazy combinations!

Based on the popular party game Apples to Apples, the Junior version keeps the same hilarious fast-paced fun while building cognitive skills. Players match the red Apple card, a noun, with one of their green apple cards that contains an adjective.

What we Liked

Apples to Apples Junior is a delightful game that helps children expand their vocabulary and thinking skills. With 576 cards, Apples to Apples Junior has high replayability for hours of fun! Cards include a wide range of people places things in events, the game is easy to learn and play, and sure to provide loads of entertainment.

What Could be Better

As with the original, this game is highly dependent on who you’re playing with. But as long as you can find some common ground, Apples to Apples can play up to 10 players making it perfect for kids’ parties and get-togethers!

Bang! The Dice Game

Players: 3-8
Playing time: 15mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy

In the Wild West, officers and bandits continue their fierce fights on the outskirts of the city. Suddenly, a swarm of arrows darkens the sky. The sheriff and his deputies must battle against the bandits and outlaws to bring peace to the West.

Bang! The Dice Game is a card game in which players each take on a role card. Roles can vary from sheriffs to outlaws and renegades. The last players alive, win!

What we Liked

At the heart of this game is some good ol’ fighting in which players must bluff and deduce who has which role card. By using a process of elimination, children can learn deduction skills all while exposing or defeating the ruthless gunmen that surround them.

What Could be Better

This game is not terribly strong as a social deduction game as it’s usually obvious what each player is up to. It is, however, a good intro to bluffing games for kids.

It’s the Wild West, can you survive?

Dixit 

Players: 3-6
Playing time: 30mins
Age: 8+
Difficulty: Easy

A storytelling game for kids and adults, Dixit shows that a picture is worth a thousand words!

In each round, a player picks up a card and thinks of a sentence that’s inspired by the card, then places it face-down again. The other players choose cards that they think would match the sentence. After secretly voting, the best match wins!

What we Liked

Encouraging imaginative storytelling, Dixit is a classic light-hearted game in which your imagination unlocks the tale. With gorgeous artwork, players can be inspired and create their own stories.

Dixit is a fantastic game for children’s imaginations as the cards are fantastical, dream-like situations that prompt creativity and storytelling.

What Could be Better

Like other voting card games, the fun of Dixit is highly dependent on the group you’re playing with and whether or not you can find common ground (or have inside jokes).

Wrap-Up

We hope you enjoyed our list of the best board games for 8-year-olds! Did we miss any of your children’s favorites? Which of these have you tried?

Board games can help children develop many cognitive and social skills in a stress-free environment. What board game did you play when you were 8 years old? Let us know your favorite childhood games in the comments down below!

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Zombie Kidz Evolution
Magic Maze
My Little Scythe
Sushi Go!
Azul
Lanterns: The Harvest Festival
Ingenious
Dragonwood: A Game of Dice and Daring
Agricola: Family Edition
Karuba
5-Minute Marvel
Forbidden Island
Carcassonne
Labyrinth
Don’t L.L.A.M.A
Marrakech
Scotland Yard
Hanabi
The Great Dragon Race
Kingdomino Duel
Apples to Apples Junior
Bang! The Dice Game
Dixit