WIRED has updated its family board game recommendations for July 2026, adding Sell Me a Sasquatch and Pegasus Spiele’s Boss Fighters QR, mentioning In a World, removing several older selections, and revising listed prices.
The guide is built around years of weekly family game nights, according to WIRED, with selections shaped in part by two children who are now 14 and 17. It deliberately leaves out familiar mass-market fixtures such as Clue, Monopoly, Connect 4, Scrabble, Operation, Chutes and Ladders, Battleship, Jenga, Guess Who, Pictionary, Uno and Risk. That is a useful editorial choice: most households do not need another explanation of Monopoly unless the goal is litigation training.
WIRED also discloses that its editors choose featured products independently, while the publication may receive compensation from retailers or purchases made through its links.
What WIRED highlighted
Ravensburger’s Labyrinth is presented as an accessible starting point. The game uses a shifting maze: players collect treasure cards while pushing tiles into the board, changing paths and sometimes ruining someone else’s plan. WIRED lists it for two to four players, ages 7 and up, with a play time of about 30 minutes.
Pegasus Spiele’s Boss Fighters QR is one of the new additions. WIRED describes it as a cooperative fantasy game that combines deck-building cards with a mobile app. Players scan cards during play, and the boss monster responds to those choices in real time. The listed format is two to four players, ages 10 and up, with sessions around 60 minutes.
Catan, credited in the guide to Klaus Teuber and formerly known as Settlers of Catan, remains on the list. WIRED describes the core loop as collecting and trading resources across a randomly generated board of hex tiles, then building toward victory points. Dice rolls add luck, trading drives table politics, and the robber mechanic lets players steal cards and block resources. WIRED says it works well with three or four players and usually takes about an hour.
Thames & Kosmos’ The Crew: Mission Deep Sea is the cooperative card pick shown in the update. WIRED describes it as a trick-taking game built around underwater missions that increase in complexity. Players must complete tasks together, but they cannot openly discuss the cards in their hands. The guide lists it for two to five players, ages 10 and up, with a play time around 20 minutes.
Onitama is WIRED’s two-player recommendation in the visible list. It pits each player’s master and four pawns against the other side, with victory coming by defeating the opposing master or taking their temple. Movement depends on shared cards, so players can see what options are coming and plan accordingly.
For fully cooperative play, WIRED includes Asmodee’s Pandemic, shown as a pick for working together.
The game-night operating manual
- Use YouTube tutorials when rulebooks start turning into ambient noise.
- Put snacks out before play starts to avoid mid-game food outages.
- Use a themed soundtrack or instrumental music to set the table mood.
- Seat players so everyone can actually see the board.
- Keep phones away between turns because they slow the game down.
- Set an end time before a long game curdles into family resentment.
- Let children rotate who chooses the game.
- Mix familiar games with new ones.
- Pick cooperative games when the table is too competitive for its own good.
This story draws on original reporting from WIRED.
